Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(IT Jungle) If you think the more things change the more they remain the same, then you haven't been talking to CEOs. The amount of time they are wrestling with change is increasing across the board, but the success rate is more site-specific. With more CEOs pushing for innovation, the expectations are high that dealing with change will become an even bigger issue. Ready or not, here it comes. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) The "Blue Business" Smart Cube platform has been in the media spotlight during recent weeks as IBM inches its plans out the door and into the marketplace. North America and Europe may actually see the Cube in early 2009, but neither will be the first market. Last month the Smart Cube platform was rolled out in India. One version of the appliance-style, services-oriented box is based on a Power6 processor, runs the i 6.1 operating system, and supports the DB2 for i relational database. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) In theory, business continuity is something that flows like a river--a big, wide, steady and smooth current. In reality, that river sometimes overflows its banks and sometimes it runs at only a trickle. A well-conceived backup and recovery plan is crucial to business continuity. Less than 10 percent of System i users have a good plan in place, and a growing number of those are turning to IBM's Business Continuity and Resiliency Services to handle the details. READ MORE >

(System iNews) The topic of a native user interface for System i comes up from time to time. Usually IBM is scolded for missing the boat on this in light of the fact that Big Blue likes to make note of how it listens and responds to its customers. Is there anything that could persuade IBM to develop a native user interface? Money talks, so let's think about the potential for profits. READ MORE >

(Computer Technology Review) Inadequate personnel and budgetary resources are hampering organization's efforts to protect system and data assets. It's having an effect on the deployment of disaster recovery and high availability implementations says Nicolaas Vlok, CEO of Vision Solutions, in this interview that provides an overview of what his company does and who is using its products. READ MORE >

Vendor Announcements, Promotions, and Deals

(IT Jungle) The idea of rational life existing in many development environments is an elusive dream for many companies. Semi-organized chaos describes things on a good day. On the bad days, train wreck is a better description. Do the words source control, change management, and build management mean anything to you? What about the word Rational with a capital R? READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) The reason people don't toss all their keys into one drawer is the same reason there needs to be key management for those who are knee-deep in encrypting data and applications. It's kinda important to be able to find the right key when you need it. In the data center the potential for frustration increases with the number of platforms involved in the encryption plan. Creating, distributing, archiving, and managing the keys that allow encrypting and decrypting requires organization. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Let's say converting 5250 (and 3270) screens into HTML screens, or into Java or .NET objects for use in Web services is an idea that appeals to you. And the reason for that is because emulation software isn't the answer when it comes to connecting to the supply chain. Sound about right so far? Then let's talk about what clustering and enhanced security can do for this proposition. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Are you onboard the PHP train? A fair number of System i shops are. The development tools seem to be good fit for the RPG programmer with average skills and an interest in modern programming methods. If you are committed to PHP as your Internet programming language, or are leaning in that direction, check out the latest capabilities that are built into the commercial version of PHP that's compatible with System i. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) Lotus Notes users who can quickly think of nine different ways that productivity goes up when a handheld device delivers all their most used collaboration and business applications will be happy to hear about what Nokia has accomplished in cooperation with IBM. That's a lot of happiness considering there is an estimated 140 million Notes users walking around. READ MORE >

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Linoma Software) A new white paper titled "Beyond the Security Breach: Protect Sensitive Data Using Encryption and Key Management" points out how information assets need to be protected from theft and misuse. It explores the landscape of legal liabilities and identifies the technical hurdles facing both management and IT. READ MORE >

(Vision Solutions) "The State of Resilience and Optimization on IBM Power Systems," is a 20-page report that focuses on disaster recovery expectations, DR technologies, and the state of systems management. It's based on survey data from more than 2,000 technical professionals and executives involved with the management of IBM i and AIX environments. READ MORE >

(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 >

(IBM) System i integration with BladeCenter and System x allows businesses to operate heterogeneous environments that include Intel-compatible servers running VMware ESX Server in addition to core business applications on the i. Topics include planning and sizing, installation, backup and recovery, and managing the integrated ESX server. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

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

December 4 -- Orlando, Florida - Guest speaker Linda Cole will be talking about the transformation of application development for IBM i at the Central Florida Midrange Users Group meeting. The presentation will cover Rational Software and its role in modernizing asset management, architecture, skills, and application development infrastructure. Topics of discussion will also include V6R1, WebSphere Development Studio, Rational Development for i (RDi), and RDi for service oriented architecture. Cole is manager of the Rational Business Ecosystem and works out of the Toronto Lab. The Orlando campus of DeVry University is the meeting site. Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 7:15. LEARN MORE >

December 9 -- Beaverton, Oregon - A presentation on voice over IP by Tom Sammons, the technical marketing engineer for 3Com will be the highlight of the regular monthly meeting of the Cascade iSeries User Group. Sammons is a co-author of the IBM Redbook on System i IP Telephony. His presentation will include topics such as analyzing the return on investment, factors in the design of IP telephony, and the challenges of IP telephony deployments. The meeting will be held at the IBM offices, 15400 S.W. Koll Parkway. It begins at noon. LEARN MORE >

December 9 -- Norwalk, Connecticut - The Fairfield AS/400 Users Group monthly meeting topic is creating Web services from RPG applications and the guest speaker is Al Grega, IBM's WebSphere Product Manger for System i. Grega will explain IBM options such as integrated Web Services Server for RPG, which is part of IBM i; the Web Services Wizard, which is part of WDSc and RDi SOA; and HATS Visual Macro Editor and Web Services. FASUG meetings are held at the Norwalk Inn and begin at 5:30 p.m. LEARN MORE >

December 10 -- West Chester, Pennsylvania - The Delaware Valley Computer Users Group will host a presentation on the RPG improvements built into IBM I 6.1 and the modern RPG and COBOL development tools within Remote System Explorer. Guest speaker is Don Yantzi, the technical lead for WDSc and Rational Developer for System i (RDi). This is a half-day seminar beginning at 8 a.m. The session is being held at the West Chester University Graduate Business Center located at 1160 McDermott Drive. LEARN MORE >

December 10 -- Webinar - Managing logical partitions (LPARs) to reduce time spent balancing resources and moving tape drives while achieving faster application response times is being covered during an online session sponsored by Barsa Consulting Group and presented by COMMON. Barsa's APRM software--which monitors and responds to each partition's changing demands for CPU, interactive, and memory resources--will be highlighted. The discussion will include automating an LPAR environment to safely run repetitive tasks, partition performance tuning, and usage reporting for uncapped and pooled processors. This session begins at noon CST. It's open for everyone to attend. No COMMON membership is required. LEARN MORE >

December 10 -- Woodbury, New York - The Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting topic is creating Web services from RPG applications and the guest speaker is Al Grega, IBM's WebSphere Product Manger for System i. Grega will explain IBM options such as integrated Web Services Server for RPG, which is part of IBM i; the Web Services Wizard, which is part of WDSc and RDi SOA; and HATS Visual Macro Editor and Web Services. LISUG meetings are held at the Fox Hollow Inn and begin at 6 p.m. LEARN MORE >

December 11 -- Maryland Heights, Missouri - Scott Klement, an expert on RPG topics and one of the best known speakers on the topic, will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of 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 >

December 11 -- Kent, Washington - The Pacific Midrange Systems Association meeting features a session on voice over IP (VoIP) integration on the System i. The session will be presented by IBM business partner 3Com. VoIP provides the option to "be your own phone company" and replace private branch exchange (PBX) with a System i5 server running 3Com software. Reducing telephone expenses is the main benefit and cost cutting is on everyone's mind these days. The meeting begins at 11:30 a.m. LEARN MORE >

December 11 -- Wauwatosa, Wisconsin - Dawn May, a senior technical staff member at IBM Rochester, will be the guest speaker at the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association meeting. Her first presentation, at 4:30 p.m., features the performance tool called Performance Data Investigator, which is built into i 6.1. Her second presentation, at 7:30 p.m., features a performance data collector called Job Watcher. In between May's sessions is dinner and networking with the members. The meeting will be held at Alioto's Restaurant located at 3041 North Mayfair Road. LEARN MORE >