Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) Hello, RPG programmers. I'd like you to meet Enterprise Generation Language. You can call it EGL, for short. IBM is calling it the next business language for the System i. But before anyone gets their dander up, IBM wants you to know that RPG will continue to exist and Big Blue will continue to invest in it. Now, with the introductions out of the way, maybe you'd like to find out about your new application development friend. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Here's a very short, very succinct message to the people at IBM who are developing a blade server that will run i5/OS: "Get Shorty." IBM says it's making the small to mid size market a priority, but Hewlett Packard has a BladeSystem chassis, nicknamed "Shorty," that is first to market and providing HP with a competitive advantage. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) For the most part, people are still sizing up application modernization and trying to figure out how to balance the costs and the benefits. By taking a look at all the relevant pieces--the software, the hardware, and the services--and factoring in a potential leasing arrangement, you might find those costs and benefits coming into balance. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Rumors that up to 1,500 jobs were on the chopping block at IBM's Rochester, Minnesota, facility, where the System i and System p Power-based servers are manufactured for the North American market, are being vehemently denied by officials at Big Blue. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Arguments may ensue, but application developers are only as good as their tools. If you are doing development work in PHP, check out the just-released Eclipse PHP Development Tools from the Eclipse Foundation. You won't be the first to do so. According to the project leaders, more than 40,000 downloads have been registered to date. READ MORE >

(MCPress) The importance of Lotus Domino not supporting DB2 storage has been run up and down the flag pole a couple of times since Notes/Domino 8 hit the streets almost a month ago. According to this report, the nugget in all this slag is that Notes/Domino does access System i DB2 data through connectors and other APIs. Ditto for the System i programs needing to access NSF data. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) When you think about PHP application development, what vendors come to mind? Certainly the first is IBM, which has heavily promoted PHP to the System i user base, and introduced Zend Technologies as the integrated development environment that developers would need to get started. But now BCD comes into the mix. Not only does Zend have a competitor, but System i users have a choice. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) There's been some concern over the issue of S/38 and S/36 compilers being dropped in V5R4 and whether IBM intends to include them in the upcoming edition of the operating system. Will the compilers be onboard? You can count on it. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) In case you didn't realize it, 5250 emulation packages supporting Windows have grown in terms of numbers of products and in the features available. However, as you upgrade your PCs and consider emulating on Windows Vista, your choices are diminished. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) After Oracle swooped in to acquire the PeopleSoft/J.D. Edwards combo in early 2006, there was much conjecture about how those customers would get along with the new owners. One indicator of how that relationship has matured is the number of companies that have gone elsewhere for maintenance, support, and development services. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) If you recognize the names MAPICS and BPCS, you likely know about enterprise resource planning in the manufacturing sector. You probably also refer to the box that runs your ERP as the AS/400. Well MAPICS and BPCS are part of Infor now, and Infor is the largest provider of i5/OS ERP products--not only for manufacturers, but for many other sectors as well. In this era of mergers and acquisitions, there's a tremendous interest in product roadmaps and platform relativity. Infor customers are getting an earful on that topic. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) BizTalk Server is Microsoft's core integration platform for connecting a company's enterprise applications, including those running on IBM System i servers, with the enterprise applications of that company's partners. The latest iteration, BizTalk Server 2006 Release 2 (R2), introduces support for business-to-business technologies such as EDI, AS2, and RFID. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) There's always a catch. The September 28 release of Systems Director Virtualization Manager version 1.2 will allow a System i administrator to manage virtual machines created with VMware ESX Server, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, and XenSource's Xen offering. Here's the catch. It allows control of AIX and Linux virtualization on the System i, but not native i5/OS logical partitions. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Software vendors specializing in i5/OS-based applications for the transportation industry are continuing to consolidate. One of the most active has been TMW Systems, which has just acquired its third complimentary software company in the past year. READ MORE >

(MCPress) Out on the conference trail, Infor plays up a more loving relationship with IBM and System i during its user conference, while over at VoiceCon, Siemens and IBM walk arm in arm singing about Lotus Sametime and advances in telephony. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) The OpenOffice applications that were bundled into the release of Lotus Notes/Domino 8, which became available a month ago, are now being offered for free from IBM. "Now businesses can unlock their critical office information free of the costs and controls of any vendor," says one IBM executive. Any guesses as to which specific vendor this rock was hurled? READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(IBM) All programs that use the i5/OS Machine Interface will need a degree of conversion to run on V6R1, which is scheduled for release in February 2008. In order for a program to be converted, its creation data (sometimes referred to as observability) must be available. Programs created for V5R1 or later have their creation data automatically saved during program creation. Clients and ISVs with programs created for OS/400 V4R5 and earlier need to ensure that the creation data is available for the conversion process. This technical paper provides a focus on what you should expect in terms of conversion processes. READ MORE >

(IBM) To start learning the ins and outs of DB2 Web Query for System i, check out this FAQ document produced by IBM. It provides an overview of the product's features and capabilities, a comparison with Query/400, and other useful background information. READ MORE >

(Vision Solutions) If you aren't exactly sure how much one hour of downtime costs your organization, this white paper will assist in determining that figure and provide suggestions for effectively managing this risk. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

See our full calendar of events at
http://www.itjungle.com/fhm/fhm-calendar.html

September 20 -- Webinar - This 15-minute session explains how to convert AS/400 spooled files to fully formatted Excel spreadsheets without programming and without circumventing AS/400 security by using SpoolFlex software. Topics of discussion will include e-mailing reports directly from the AS/400 and archiving copies on the network server. The event begins at 2 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

September 25 -- Webinar - Preventing application failures form interrupting users or disrupting business operations through automated server recovery will be discussed during this online session sponsored by Vision Solutions and IBM. Among the topics that will be highlighted are cost issues related to planned and unplanned system downtime and evaluating high availability as a justifiable component to backup and recovery strategies. Guest speakers include Vision Solutions' CTO Alan Arnold and industry analyst Julie Fraser. Information provided in this session will be particularly focused on manufacturing companies. The event begins at 1 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

September 25 -- Miami, Florida - The CRM Acceleration Summit is a one-day event focused on customer relationship management best practices. Session topics include expanding typical CRM uses, structuring CRM around your customer approach; implementation, customer data management, and user adoption; and maintaining customer focus within your IT strategy. The event is hosted by CRM software vendor SugarCRM. LEARN MORE >

September 26 -- Webinar - Extending legacy applications to increase functionality and intuitiveness will be discussed in this online presentation by David Brault, product manager at LANSA. Highlighted in this session will be several examples of businesses that have transformed applications quickly and without major disruptions to their users. The event is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CDT. Additional Webinars, featuring additional customer deployments, will be held October 10 and 23 and November 15 and 28. LEARN MORE >

September 26 -- Webinar - This online session will discuss the strategies for success in combining business goals and IT capabilities. The guest speaker, George Heenan, is the CEO of the business development company Excelsius Partners. Attend the webinar and receive a copy of Thomas H. Davenport's and Jeanne G. Harris' book titled Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning," and be eligible to win a Tom-Tom GPS. The event is sponsored by software vendor VAI and system integrator DLT Business Solutions. It begins at 2 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

September 28 -- Webinar - This 15-minute session explains how to convert AS/400 spooled files to fully formatted Excel spreadsheets without programming and without circumventing AS/400 security by using SpoolFlex software. Topics of discussion will include e-mailing reports directly from the AS/400 and archiving copies on the network server. The event begins at 2 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >