Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

IT Jungle) Running iSeries and AS/400 boxes because they are perfectly dependable and more than capable of handling the workloads that are heaped on them keeps many companies from riding the upgrade cycle as fast as IBM would prefer. So what does Big Blue do to light a fire? It promotes new hardware by making a case based on the costs of not upgrading. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Getting in bed with IBM on a backup and recovery solution has never been more enticing. "Ha!" say the disbelievers. That temptation never even crossed their minds in the past. So what has changed? Well, you could say that Big Blue has turned on the lights in its hot backup site data center so you can clearly see what you will get for your money and you won't be paying for features you don't need. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) The biggest problem with RPG is that programmers have been slow to make use of the modern features that IBM has been adding, says Paul Tuohy, a well-known and highly respected expert in the field. When people talk about Java, PHP, EGL, or other options as replacements for RPG and that IBM is unsupportive of RPG, Tuohy says they are missing the point. READ MORE >

(MCPress) When the new operating system becomes available in early 2008, who will be loading it on their machines and why? Much of that is undetermined because little is known about the features V6R1 will contain. A few things you can count on are that older boxes aren't equipped to run it (hardware upgrade required) and certain programs will need to be converted. Some will be easy and others will be a kick in the head. READ MORE >

(SearchCIO) That outsourced data center idea that looked so smart several years ago has more than a few people rubbing their eyes now as contracts are being rewritten with rising charges due to energy costs and increased demand in certain markets. After finding yourself caught between a rock and a hard place, you could have the choice of either paying the piper or relocating your servers to another hosted data center. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) What is the measuring stick for your IT department? According to the IT industry analysts at Gartner, you need to measure up when it comes to deploying and redeploying hardware and software assets to support changing business conditions. OK, boys and girls, it's time to calibrate those measuring sticks. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) While we're on the topic of evaluations, here's something new in the field of benchmarking. It's designed to gauge the performance of enterprise message-oriented middleware servers and message queuing software that links distributed applications and the servers that support them. READ MORE >

(System iNetwork) When you hear about survey results that track overall IT trends, do you ever wonder if they are an accurate reflection of the System i user base? Maybe and maybe not, says analyst Clay Rider of the Sageza Group. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) Perhaps this is a slight exaggeration, but I would estimate that half the fun of being a programmer comes from using your imagination. If you are experimenting with PHP, I'd predict your imagination is getting a pretty good workout. Some new toys are on their way for you PHP-ers. Here's a preview of the fun to come. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) It doesn't get any better than this. I'm not talking about a medium rare steak and an ice cold beer or a comfortable bed after a long day's drive. I'm talking about bug-free software development. If you are wearing yourself out tracking down the bugs in your software, relax and take a look at this. Ahhhh. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Although there's a lot of "Look at me . . . I'm a PHP programmer" going on these days, the fires over at Camp Java continue to burn bright. Web 2.0-style functionality (emphasis on functionality, please) is making application modernization news. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Would you like to Turbo size that storage hardware order? Users of big System i iron will be seeing some new disk and tape products soon. Bigger, faster, and more automated features take on new meaning when you are on the A-list of a System i customers. Hear about what money can buy. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) In the casino business the only thing that's bigger than the stacks of money is the mountain of data that's recorded on System i servers. It seems the casino owners don't like to gamble on inferior systems. They also won't bet that applications will run as expected without proper advance testing. There may not be such a thing as a sure bet, but there are safe bets. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Your work schedule may look like a freight train loaded with deadlines--one right after another and another. What's one more deadline, right? Well, the deadline for compliance to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) happens to be a big one. If you need help before this train pulls into the station, check out this white paper. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) It may not be conclusive evidence, but for those who believe that money can't buy happiness, this could possibly change some opinions. First of all, you have to be the type of person who derives pleasure from spending the company's money on IT products. If you pass that test, take a look at the discounts on some of these storage-related deals on items such as disk drives, RAID disk controllers, tape drives, Ethernet cards, and other goodies. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(IBM) Short of pulling the plug, what can you do to tame the power-hungry IT beast? This 12-question tool promises to deliver energy efficiency improvements through increased awareness of power-related issues and data center planning. Data centers that use less energy, generate less carbon dioxide, take up less space, and can also save big bucks. READ MORE >

(IBM) A side-by-side comparison of iSeries and AS/400 models with the new System i Express 515 and 525 models is presented. Included in the comparison are topics such as monthly cost of operations, workload throughput, software maintenance costs, and power consumption. IBM describes this tool as a way customers can find the right replacement system. READ MORE >

(PowerTech) "PCI Compliance for IBM System i (AS/400)," is a white paper that examines the 12 main requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and explains the steps to reach compliancy in i5/OS terminology. The company's Compliance Monitor software plays a large role in this process; however, much of the information is vendor neutral and useful to those who do not use PowerTech products or services. READ MORE >

(COMMON) If you haven't played "Whack a Ghoul," (WaG) you just haven't had enough Halloween fun yet. WaG is brought to you from those crazy folks at the COMMON user group. You may recognize the some or all of the ghouls, but the winning the game doesn't depend on facial recognition skills. It's all about how fast and how accurate you are when you bring the hammer down. Guaranteed to be more fun than smashing pumpkins. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

November 3 -- Norwalk, California- A hands-on educational session titled "RPG Web Development by Example" will be presented at Cerritos College. This is an eight-hour, class that provides the opportunity to develop browser-based applications using native RPG and SQL, XML, AJAX, and Web services on your own PC. The class is presented by Jim Cooper of SMI North America. LEARN MORE >

November 5-9 -- Orlando, Florida - More than 250 technical sessions ranging from system management and security to VoIP and high availability are on the agenda for the fall 2007 version of the System i Tech Conference. Featured topics include business resiliency, security, and compliance; featured technologies include Java Virtual Machine, BladeCenter to System i storage across iSCSI-based networks, and application development with free-format SQL. Frank Soltis, IBM's Chief Scientist for System i, will be a guest speaker. LEARN MORE >

November 6 -- Orlando, Fla. - Guest speaker Kyle Wurgler will be talking about integrating BladeCenter and System x servers using the iSCSI connection to the System i during the Central Florida Midrange Users Group meeting. Wurgler, an IBM product manager, will provide a technical overview and cover the latest announcements concerning multipath I/O support and virtual storage support for VMware. The meeting takes place at the Orlando campus of DeVry University and begins at 6:15 p.m. LEARN MORE >

November 8 -- Maryland Heights, Missouri - An all-day session on disaster preparedness will be presented by Richard Dolewski, an award-winning speaker and noted author on the topic. Dolewski will talk about planning, security, and varying degrees of high availability, among other things. LEARN MORE >

November 13 -- Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois - The OMNI Day of Education one-day conference is scheduled to take place at IBM's training facility. Visit the OMNI user group Web site for a list of sessions, speakers and registration information. LEARN MORE >

November 14 -- Woodbury, New York - The Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting will include two topic presentations. The first session will have guest speakers Charles Guarino and Paul Trapani explaining their experiences of installing and configuring PHP on System i. They will also talk about learning PHP and building PHP applications. The second session, which begins after dinner, features IBM's PHP expert Erwin Earley. This presentation will concentrate on programming with the PHP language and how to use it to Web-enable i5/OS resources. LISUG meetings are held at the Fox Hollow Inn and begin at 6 p.m. LEARN MORE >

November 14 -- Webcast - IBM/Lotus Domino and its collaborative capabilities for System I will be the focus of this online session presented by the COMMON user group. Products covered will include the recently announced versions of Notes, Domino, Sametime and the new Quickr capability. Guest speaker is Bill Hume, IBM;s Director of Domino Development. This event begins at noon EST. Attendance is open to everyone regardless of COMMON membership. LEARN MORE >