UCCnet Compliance Ensures Steady Supply of Booda Bones At Wal-Mart
by Alex Woodie

Wal-Mart's UCCnet compliance deadline of January 1 has come and gone, but you should still be able to find your dog's favorite Booda Bone snacks at your friendly neighborhood superstore. In late December, Booda Bone maker Aspen Pet Products connected its product data to the UCCnet GLOBALregistry, using software from Inovis. This put Wal-Mart and Aspen on the same page about details of Booda Bone shipments, but more important, it kept the tail of the world's largest retailer wagging. READ MORE >

IBM Gives HATS the Nod As Host Publisher Is Retired from HIS
by Alex Woodie

As expected, IBM has eliminated Host Publisher with the latest release of the iSeries and multiplatform editions of WebSphere Host Integration Solution. Host Publisher was the odd tool out as IBM sought to simplify a confusing array of competing Web-enablement tools. This paves the way for Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) to become the true Blue aficionado's tool of choice for screen rejuvenation jobs, for legacy OS/400 and Unix applications. READ MORE >

IBM Says ISV Adoption of iSeries Was Strong in 2003
by Alex Woodie

IBM sought to improve the iSeries' image as a stodgy legacy server over the Christmas holiday, when it announced that more than 300 applications were ported to the iSeries by independent software vendors during 2003. While traditional RPG and COBOL applications make up the vast majority of workloads on the OS/400 server, the 300 new applications IBM helped bring to the iSeries are Java and Linux applications, including a new transaction processing system from S2 Systems. READ MORE >

Quadrant Launches New High Availability Line of FastFax Servers
by Alex Woodie

Quadrant Software, a provider of electronic document distribution systems for OS/400 servers, is rolling out a new line of rack-mountable FastFax servers that include high availability features such as RAID disk protection and redundant power supplies. FastFax implementations typically include a Wintel box on which Quadrant preloads the FastFax fax and e-mail software. With the new line, the boxes have been beefed up to cope better with failed disk drives and power supplies. READ MORE >

News Briefs and Product Shorts

PeopleSoft Says It's Exceeded Roadmap Goals with New Integration Products . . . New B2B Web Site from Geac Prepares The North Face for Winter . . . Bytware Gets IBM ServerProven Cert for StandGuard Anti-Virus . . . Brooks Internet Ships New Version of Windows Print Utility . . . Royal Caribbean Claims $300,000 in Savings by Consolidating on "Shark" Array . . . Create!form Launches New GUI with Create!stream 3.0 . . . READ MORE >

A Letter from the Editor

Welcome to a new year with Guild Companies! We have a few changes in store for you in 2004, and as you probably already know, we have done some housecleaning with our stack of OS/400 newsletters. Among the changes, this newsletter, which used to be called Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition, is now called Four Hundred Stuff. Same emphasis on timely OS/400 product news coverage, but with some additional reader benefits and a new name.

As I said, we have some great stuff in store for you in 2004. Yes, you can still expect late-breaking and in-depth coverage of new OS/400 products and services each Tuesday. Thanks to our wonderfully supportive advertisers, we've been providing this information service free to you since late 2001.

In 2004, we're adding to our regular coverage. Four Hundred Stuff will feature a series of in-depth focus issues that explore the business technology issues you face on a daily basis. You'll find OS/400-specific product evaluations and purchase-selection advice that will help you sort through products and services. These special focus issues will be published every month.

We have made some changes to the Guild Companies Web site, too. There is a search engine that works (flawlessly, we hope) and there are new OS/400 forums that I encourage you to participate in. Last, we are encouraging all of our readers to update their account information in our improved subscription system. We will use this information internally to better target our content.

Once again, welcome to the premiere issue of Four Hundred Stuff, and thank you for helping Guild Companies publish the industry's best OS/400 news.

Alex Woodie
awoodie@itjungle.com