Data Quality is a BackOffice Associates Specialty
by Alex Woodie

You may have heard that old computer axiom garbage in, garbage out so many times that it's become just another meaningless catch phrase. For the folks at BackOffice Associates, however, it reflects a reality they see every day, which is that business computers are filled with data that is wrong or duplicated, and that these errors can cost a company hundred of millions of dollars. With an array of tools and services, BackOffice enforces data quality, and can help customers get the upper hand on their data quality issues. READ MORE >

Lawson's New Amazon Cloud-Based ERP Supports Customization
by Alex Woodie

Lawson Software plunged into cloud computing in a big way last week when it announced its complete line of ERP software will be available as a service hosted by Amazon's Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) platform starting in May. Lawson says its cloud service, which is believed to be the first full-featured ERP solution available via EC2, will help customers by eliminating server sizing concerns, reducing IT headcount, and providing a predictable subscription-based payment model--without compromising the capability to customize the ERP environment. READ MORE >

Original's i/OS Testing Kit Now Available in DBCS
by Alex Woodie

System i users in Asian countries will now be able to use Original Software's i/OS utilities to test their double byte character set (DBCS)-enabled applications, Original announced last week with the launch of TestBench for System i version 7. This is good news for large global customers of the U.K. software vendor who are moving into Japanese and Chinese markets. The new version also brings more granular support for independent auxiliary storage pools (iASPs), which should improve application resiliency. READ MORE >

Bsafe Launches New i/OS Security Tools
by Alex Woodie

Bsafe Information Systems recently announced the availability of a major new release of its security suite for i/OS. With Bsafe/Enterprise Security version 6.1, the company is now offering a new Identity Management module that gives administrators more powerful and finer grained control over access to System i resources. The new version also includes new multi-system capabilities, as well as a redesigned Report Generator that makes it easier to create custom security and audit reports. READ MORE >