Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) Tweaking computers and squeezing out performance gains the likes of which are quantified by the often-cited axiom known as Moore's Law may be wiped from the designers slates in short order. Ah, you think you've heard this tune before, right? Didn't happen then doesn't mean won't happen now. Here's what's changed and how it factors into Power7 performance. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Hopscotching the globe in search of marketing momentum for the IBM i, the iManifest initiatives have been launched in Japan, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), and, most recently, in the United States. Yes, it should be IBM's job to effectively market the i, but ask almost anyone how that's worked out and you'll get an earful. Here's how things are ramping up while IBM twiddles its thumbs. READ MORE >

(IBM i Systems Magazine) You'd think this would be embarrassing to IBM. The iManifest initiatives are providing leadership that can't be found where you would most expect it. Meanwhile, IBM has quarantined all talk of i centricity as if mentioning of i or iSeries or AS/400 will get you a dishonorable discharge. Where are the other voices? Hello, COMMON? READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) Jeff Olen, the guy who has stepped up to lead the iManifest efforts in the United States, is looking like a hero. Here he gives his views on the enthusiasm, the momentum, and the iManifest Destiny in this quick Q&A followed by some interesting comments from readers. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) This is the story of when a good partnership goes bad. This IBM AS/400 business partner eventually bumped heads with Big Blue on a number of things, which led to a parting of the ways. Most of the headaches were caused by IBM fees and perceived shortcomings in Big Blue's commitment to the small and mid size business market. We all know that "shift happens." In this instance, the shift was from OS/400 to open source. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Let your imagination run with this a little bit. It's 1997 and RPG and OS/400 are open source. IBM has invested heavily in engineering and marketing this strategy. OK, you take it from there. Last week, Larry Ellison let his imagination run with a similar idea only Oracle and Sun technology had the starring roles. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) Like transporting a 10-foot ladder across town on a bicycle, information stored in the DB2/400 database is not particularly convenient to programs written in Java, PHP, and .NET. That's not saying access is impossible, it's just a bit awkward and labor intensive. This is a problem that needs an open systems solution. Some companies might say the solution is to get rid of the AS/400. Here's a better option. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Subscription-based software--you can call it software as a service if you like--is a way that gets the IT monkey off your back if you are a small to mid size company. One area where it's working is backup and recovery services that include high availability, electronic vaulting, and virtualized recovery. Is protecting all the major platforms just what you're looking for? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Managing application development might well be the first chapter in a book called "How to Survive a Regulatory Compliance Audit." Management is really an issue of tracking. The better you are at tracking, the more control you have over the project. This browser-based management tool steps outside the green-screen box to present data more conveniently and provides an audit trail that is truly useful. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) In your dreams you might see happy, non-technical managers at your company preparing their own reports on everything from sales and accounting to forecasting and production scheduling. No IT department involvement and no navigational nightmares to muck up the works. Well, wake up. This kind of efficiency is happening in the real world. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Small to mid size companies may be the garden where software as a service grows. And one niche that could prove to be particularly fertile is the wine industry where small-scale boutique wineries flourish. Business owners there realize the wine is the prize, but to get the kind of IT support necessary for business success a SaaS delivery may suit best. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Halcyon Software) This is an attention-grabbing name for a white paper: "51 Things You Can Automate on Your System i and Prove Return on Investment." The report includes a list of common principles and discusses how good systems management practices can lead to significant cost reductions for companies. READ MORE >

(CCSS) Successful implementations of performance monitoring, message management, and remote management software are recorded in these testimonials from companies such as Nippon Express, Newell Rubbermaid, Volvo, Mattel, and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Benefits such as optimizing infrastructure, reducing overhead are emphasized. READ MORE >

(NGS) Business intelligence on the System i and the new Power Systems servers comes in a variety of options. IBM is very fond of its own software called DB2 Web Query. New Generation Software, in this white paper, compares DB2 Web Query with the NGS alternative called NGS-IQ. Among other things, this report examines the capabilities of these two products, the cost of implementation, licensing terms, and product support. READ MORE >

(IBM) The IBM System i Virtual User Group is a Big Blue community that provides Power Systems users with technical information on IBM products. Visit the Web site to find past Webinars on topics such as work management, blade servers, backup and recovery, and external storage options. Past Webinars can be downloaded and replayed and presentation materials are available for each topic. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

October 8 -- Webinar - Secure connections with customers, suppliers, and all others who depend on uploading and downloading data with your organization will be discussed in this online session hosted by Linoma Software and featuring the company's GoAnywhere Services product. Topics of discussion will include industry standard data services such as FTP, FTPS, SFTP, and HTTP/s. As part of the product demo, Linoma will show how to set up and administer trading partner accounts, how to use event triggers, and how to monitor user and file activity. The session begins at noon EDT. LEARN MORE >

October 8 -- Webinar - Smart Business, an IBM program for mid size businesses, focuses on an integrated approach to hardware, software, and IT services designed so companies can focus on growing their businesses rather than spending time and resources to deploy and manage IT systems. Key points include increased efficiency, decreased complexity, and delivering business applications in a way that is easy to implement, operate and grow. The ERP software company VAI is hosting this session, which begins at 2 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

October 8 -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Two sessions will be presented during the monthly meeting of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association. Running SAP on IBM i will be discussed at 4:30 p.m. and single sign on will be the featured topic at 7:30 p.m. Guest speaker for both sessions is Kolby Hoelzle, a applications software engineer at IBM Rochester. In between the sessions will be dinner and networking with the members. LEARN MORE >

October 8 -- Maryland Heights, Missouri - Tom McKinley, one of IBM's top database experts on DB2 for i will discuss database modernization and SQL stored procedures at the monthly meeting of the Gateway/400 Group, a System i user group serving the greater St. Louis area. The meeting begins with lunch at noon and the presentation following lunch. RSVP no later than Monday before the meeting date. LEARN MORE >

October 8 -- Toronto, Canada - Gaining greater efficiencies and competing more effectively through energy conservation will be discussed at this seminar hosted by Scalar Decisions and IBM Canada. Topics on the agenda include creating an infrastructure that drives down costs, is intelligent, and secure. The session is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., including time for networking and cocktails after the presentation. LEARN MORE >

October 12-15 -- Minneapolis, Minnesota - The RPG & DB2 Summit is one of the top conferences devoted exclusively to the needs of System i developers. It is hosted by System i Developers, a partnership of IBM i educators and trainers that includes Susan Gantner, Jon Paris, Paul Tuohy and Skip Marchesani. The Summit instructor team also includes experts Scott Klement, Barbara Morris, Mike Cain, Kent Milligan, Bruce Vining and Aaron Bartell. Sessions provide practical, use-it-today tips and techniques on current technologies such as SQL, RPG IV, RSE (WDSC or RDi), DB2, ILE, PHP and other Web technologies suitable for RPGers. The conference registration fee is $1,295, which includes breakfast and lunch each conference day plus a banquet on the first night. Lodging at the host hotel is $99 per night if booked prior to September 25. In addition to the three-day Summit, there will be four half-day Headstart Seminars available on Monday, October 12. The registration fees for these seminars are $215 for one and $295 for two. LEARN MORE >

October 13 -- Bloomfield Hills, Michigan - Guest speaker John Sawyer will discuss solutions or supporting tape backup, recovery, and data encryption for the AS/400 and other systems at the regularly scheduled local user group meeting of the Southeast Michigan iSeries User Group. Sawyer will also discuss how a disaster recovery process can be incorporated from both the local and remote perspectives. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Bloomfield Hills Library located at 1099 Lone Pine Road. LEARN MORE >

October 19-22 -- San Jose, California - The Zend PHP Conference shines a light on the PHP community, including developers, Web experts and IT managers. Educational sessions will focus on learning advanced PHP techniques; deploying reliable, secure and high performance applications; reusing code and frameworks; managing application development teams, and solving real-world problems. A vendor expo as well as certification training and testing will be available. LEARN MORE >