News Briefs and Product Shorts

IBM Integrates ThinkDynamics Virtualization Software with Tivoli Provisioning Product

IBM last week announced the availability of ThinkDynamic Orchestrator Version 2.1, the latest piece of software to further IBM's vision of "on demand" computing. With this release, IBM has combined application software obtained through its acquisition of ThinkDynamics last year with its Tivoli provision software. ThinkDynamic Orchestrator is a Tivoli tool that that monitors resource utilization rates and workloads on datacenter systems, networks, storage, and solutions (including those running on iSeries Linux), and then, in conjunction with Tivoli Provisioning Manager 2.1, which IBM has included with ThinkDynamic Orchestrator, intelligently and dynamically provisions resources to support workload fluctuations, in accordance with business priorities. These two products can be used for so-called "pristine" installs on eServer xSeries and pSeries servers, and can be used to clone manually installed Linux system images under z/VM on the zSeries. It also can automate server and application provisioning and management for AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, z/VM, Windows 2000 and 2003 Server, and Red Hat and SuSE Linux on Intel or pSeries hardware, or SuSE Linux on zSeries or iSeries hardware; OS/400 is not supported in this release. For running ThinkDynamic Orchestrator on a managing iSeries server, it requires a model capable of logical partitioning, with a minimum of 450 CPW in a Linux partition.

GST Introduces New SAIT Autoloader for OS/400, Other Platforms

GST last week announced a new OS/400-compatible SAIT autoloader that can hold up to 10 cartridges, each of which can hold 1.3 TB of data, for a total capacity of 13 TB. The autoloader's single SAIT-1 drive can transfer data at 30 MB/second (or 108 GB/hour), a figure that increases to 280 GB/hour with compression turned on. The Southern California company tapped Colorado storage automation manufacturer Breece Hill for the robotics in the autoloader, which features a standard barcode reader for automated cartridge inventory and a single cartridge import/export slot for adding or removing cartridges. The new autoloader, which rounds out GST's family of SAIT products, which include single- and dual-drive configurations and midrange- and enterprise-level libraries, supports write once, read many (WORM) media for regulatory compliance, as well as SCSI or Fibre Channel connectivity to a variety of hosts, including OS/400, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Linux, and Windows NT. The autoloader is available in rack-mount or stand-alone configurations, and pricing ranges from $16,950 to $21,300.

IBM Validates Touchtone's WebSphere-Based CRM 'Portlets'

Touchtone's Wintouch for WebSphere, a CRM application that is served from IBM's WebSphere Portal Server, and can be accessed by users with a Web browser, a PDA, or a cell phone, has been validated as "Ready for WebSphere Portal," the software vendor announced last week. Originally launched this April, Wintouch for WebSphere includes six portlets that can be deployed using IBM's portal software, including a Wintouch menu, an account summary portlet, a contact summary portlet, a search portlet (for accounts or contacts), a search results portlet, and an activities portlet, or "to do" list, viewable by day, week, or month for every Wintouch user. The Wintouch for WebSphere application can run on the iSeries under OS/400 or under Linux running on iSeries, pSeries, or xSeries hardware. Pricing for Wintouch for WebSphere is the same as for the standard Wintouch eCRM application, which starts at $1,595 per user.

Zebra Ships New Read-Write RFID Encoder

Zebra Technologies last week announced the availability of its first high-performance printer for encoding radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, which will eventually replace, or at least augment, barcodes in many instances. The Zebra R110Xi UHF EPC is the first printer available with support for Class 0 (read only) and Matrics Class 0+ (read/write) RFID tags. "The top suppliers to Wal-Mart, Target, Albertsons, and the Department of Defense have less than six months to comply with the new RFID initiatives that these organizations have set forth for case and pallet labeling," says Bob Cornick, Zebra's vice president and general manager of RFID. "Zebra's objective is to provide a broad array of tools to help them meet this goal." Zebra is a working member of EPCglobal, the organization charged with forging RFID standards, and is also a member of the Department of Defense's RFID Expert Group. EPCglobal also last week announced the first set of RFID standards.

Avnet Hall-Mark's Five Pillars of i5 Workload Training

The iSeries distributor Avnet Hall-Mark last week rolled out new workload training designed to help its reseller network get up to speed quickly on the new eServer i5 boxes, which IBM started shipping this month. The San Antonio distributor's comprehensive education, training, and certification will focus on what it sees as five key workloads for the new i5: support for the AIX OS; Windows integration; WebSphere, including portals and integration tools; Domino messaging and collaboration; and Linux, "the fastest growing operating system," Avnet Hall-Mark says. Training and certification will be offered through the Avnet Partner Academy as well as through events and on-site education scheduled by the distributor's regional product specialists. In terms of Linux, Avnet Hall-Mark has proven itself quite capable of driving sales, says Mike Martin, IBM's Linux sales manager for the Americas. "They have dramatically increased the sales of Linux on iSeries through their enablement program" and tools like their "Linux Load 'n' Run DVD," he says.

PeopleSoft Certifies FormScape's Output Solution for EnterpriseOne 8.9

PeopleSoft has certified FormScape's e-output solutions for its EnterpriseOne 8.9 (formerly J.D. Edwards OneWorld) ERP application running on OS/400 and Windows platforms, FormScape announced last week. FormScape's Express for PeopleSoft allows users to interactively capture, create, store, view, print, or e-mail documents without leaving EnterpriseOne, which saves time and improves customer service, the Raleigh, North Carolina, software developer says. EnterpriseOne customers often augment the native PDF generation of their ERP systems with more flexible third-party solutions, which PeopleSoft, like J.D. Edwards before it, will certify to ensure the integrity of the transformation. A complete list of PeopleSoft's certified output partners for EnterpriseOne is available on the company's Web site.