Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) Those pencil-necked geeks over on the Microsoft side of the IT department are strutting around like Mick Jagger karaoke night rock stars ever since Intel brought its six-core Xeon processor to the party. If you were thinking about challenging them with some Power Systems 570 i Edition chutzpah, don't bother. Do you know what it's like to bring a knife to a gun fight? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Dear Mr. Mauri: Thank you for the letter to the System i community. It was encouraging to hear from the general manager of the Power Systems division that the transition is going "extremely well" and that IBM's commitment to the i platform was "solid and unchanged." We will be eagerly awaiting the IBM Q3 financial report on October 16 for more details on the i portion of the Power Systems division. If IBM continues its convoluted way of counting System i sales, we trust that you will help clarify how well the platform is doing. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) We are still a few weeks shy of Halloween, but here are a few horror stories that might put you in the right frame of mind. Warning! This article contains graphic illustrations and depicts IT department actions that resulted in gut-wrenching consequences. If this doesn't spook you, it's not because the author didn't give it his best shot. On the other hand, if your hands are shaking, drop the knife and walk away from that pumpkin. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) In the interest of the majority of System i customers who deal with important IT decisions, let's make a distinction between two types of white papers. One type contains information that is useful to the majority of users. It reveals data that impacts my organization in terms of data that is quickly and conveniently delivered to specified users at a cost that is accountable and comparable to other options. The other type of white paper comes on a roll and is found in the restroom. READ MORE >

(MCPress) Educated guesses about the current software market have 95 percent of us purchasing software the old-fashioned way and installing it on our systems ourselves. I think that qualifies software as a service (SaaS) as still a ground-floor opportunity. However, plenty of independent software vendors (ISVs) see the elevator going up. During the next five years, according to more best-guess scenarios, at least two-thirds of the vendors will offer SaaS. Offering it is one thing. Finding buyers is quite another. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) IBM officially announced the new Power 560 with 4-, 8-, and 16-core configurations running 3.6 GHz POWER6 processors, and says it's designed for consolidating multiple Unix, i, or X86 workloads. Also introduced were new features for the Express models of the Power 520 and Power 550 that included 4- and 8-core options for the i editions, and the capability for AIX and Linux users to add i on their systems. Also in the pipeline is the JS12 blade server running on BladeCenter, pre-installed with the i OS, and attached to DS3200 storage to create a SAN. These models will be available November 21." READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) Nobody wants to be treated like a fool, but that's what it feels like when your business becomes a victim of fraud. Perpetrators who know their way around corporate IT systems target items such as price lists and authorization lists. Some are very skillful at covering their tracks. Protections included such things as filters and alerts that prevent and notify administrators of suspicious activities. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Modernizing legacy applications can be a fairly simple procedure with a fairly simple goal of enhancing the user interface. Or it can get into things like re-engineering the business logic and modernizing the database in order to get greater efficiencies and non-proprietary code. This ratchets up the complexity, but it's nowhere near the level of dread that most people imagine. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Some folks have a particular talent for building mountains out of mole hills. They'd bring in a bulldozer to remove a pile of leaves. For instance, not every application modernization project requires mountains to be moved. If converting 5250 screens to Web interfaces will satisfy your desires, it can be accomplished easily without massive code changes, access to source code, or OLTP (interface) processing capability. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Does access to Lotus Notes and Domino e-mail, contacts, and calendar info from a handheld device put some ideas in your head about increasing the productivity of your mobile workforce? Maybe it did until you heard the horror stories about memory requirements and security holes. Ah, but things have changed. The iPhone has entered the business world. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Remember when "Question Authority" was found on bumper stickers instead of being on the minds of data center managers who were concerned about whether users were authorized and authenticated? Passwords and tokens are commonly used methods to prevent the unauthorized masses from entering forbidden zones, but they can easily be mismanaged or lost in a can of worms. My advice? Keep your eye on biometrics. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Seagull Software) The term "screen-scraping" has a bad reputation. Yet next-generation screen-scraping software can be an application modernization solution that solves the problems green screens present. In this white paper, you get the myths regarding screen-scraping plucked, cleaned, cooked, and served along with explanations regarding why these myths are preventing some companies from improving their business applications. READ MORE >

(Vision Solutions) The risk of data loss due to downtime is a factor in IT department decisions around the globe. This white paper provides insight on effective strategies and technologies that protect data and provide fast recovery when data is lost or corrupted due to accident or intentionally sinister activities. READ MORE >

(ARCAD) An archive of Webinars pertaining to topics such as testing productivity and automation, change management for application modernization, multi-platform deployments, managing ILE development, application analysis, and WDSc and RSE are available for viewing in exchange for your e-mail address. These recorded sessions are presented by well known experts Ray Bernardi and Trevor Perry. READ MORE >

(SafeData) This report covers data backup topics such as selecting the correct recovery option, avoiding common data-protection mistakes, and cutting costs without compromising data protection. The focus is on small to mid size businesses that have invested in a data availability and recovery solution yet remain vulnerable. 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 9 -- Webinar - This session on Web-enabling existing 5250 applications with no changes to RPG, COBOL, or DDS files will feature BCD's WebSmart Presto. The presentation includes topics such as including menus, subfile, and single-record programs and window look-ups in your Web-enabled applications, configuration options for professional applications, the use of images, drop-down lists, and other graphical features, and incorporating Web-enabled applications with other Web apps and Web content using BCD's Nexus Portal. This is a technical session. It begins at 12:30 p.m. EDT. LEARN MORE >

October 9 -- Wauwatosa, Wisconsin - Thinking inside the box is the topic of discussion that puts HarrisData's successful creation of browser-enabled applications in the spotlight. Greg Walker, the vice president of product development for HarrisData, will be the guest speaker. Walker has been with HarrisData for the past 27 years and has been involved in the IBM Midrange since 1975. His session will highlight how trusted code is developed in RPG on the IBM i. A session beginning at 4:30 p.m. will feature a high-level overview of the architecture and concepts and an explanation of what was done and why. It will also cover system requirements, cost, and return on investment information. A second session, at 7:30 p.m., will go deeper into the technical issues with a discussion on the separation of the business logic from the user interface and the addition of embedded SQL within our RPG code. Also included in this session will be the use of subprocedures and prototypes and the design of the architecture that allows flexibility in Web-enabling software with just about any browser-based logic, including NET.DATA, PHP, Python, and others. In between the two sessions is dinner and networking with the members. LEARN MORE >

October 9 -- Maryland Heights, Missouri - Barb Brown, a confessed system i bigot, devoted advocate for service oriented architecture and professional problem-solver, will discuss the System i Navigator as a database admin tool. Her presentation will include tips on how to use the basic visual explain features, the basic database mapping features, and understanding the key role of the database in developing an SOA strategy. The meeting is hosted by the Gateway/400 Group, an iSeries user group serving the greater St. Louis area. The meeting time is 11:30 a.m. with lunch at noon and the presentation following lunch. RSVP no later than Monday before the meeting date. LEARN MORE >

October 15 -- Seekonk, Massachusetts - Paperless solutions for the System i presented by Dennis Sylvestre of Quadrant Software, is the featured topic at the monthly meeting of the New England Midrange Users Group. This presentation addresses the planning and implementation of document management, imaging, workflow and related solutions. The session combines the business strategies behind paperless process management with case study examples. The meeting is held at the Ramada Inn and begins at 5:15 p.m. LEARN MORE >

October 19-22 -- Las Vegas, Nevada - IBM i development technologies and learning the skills to implement them will be presented at the RPG & DB2 Summit. The developer-oriented educational conference is hosted by System i Developer, a training organization headed by noted RPG and DB2 experts Jon Paris, Susan Gantner, Paul Tuohy, and Skip Marchesani. Sessions will include topics such as RDi development tools and IBM i 6.1, WDSc/RSE, ILE, SQL, RPG IV, DB2, PHP and XML. The instructor staff also includes many other well-known subject experts, including IBM's George Farr, who will also give a keynote address revealing the latest IBM developments relevant to i programmers. Four optional half-day workshops, separate from the Summit, are also available. Registration for the RPG & DB2 Summit is $1295 ($1095 for alumni), if confirmed prior to October 4. The half-day workshops are priced at $250 for one workshop, or $325 for two. LEARN MORE >