MPG Helps to Size Boxes in a User-Based Pricing World
by Alex Woodie

With the new user-based pricing scheme introduced this spring, sizing a new System i box has gotten a lot more complicated. For starters, while you may know exactly how many users need access to your i5/OS applications, how do you count how many concurrent user licenses you need? Also, how can you be sure the new entry-level 515, with its limitation on disks, can deliver the performance you need? A new release of Performance Navigator from Midrange Performance Group can answer these questions--and more! READ MORE >

Vision's Product Plans Change Little Post Lakeview
by Alex Woodie

Vision Solutions's plans for its i5/OS high availability products have changed very little following the acquisition of Lakeview Technology two weeks ago. In the short-term, the company plans to "cross-pollinate" some of the successful features that mark its iTera HA, ORION, and MIMIX product lines. The long-term strategy is less clear at the moment, but one thing is certain: It will be influenced heavily by Vision's relationship with IBM, which suddenly got a lot closer. READ MORE >

Don't Overlook Hardware-Based High Availability Alternatives
by Alex Woodie

If you are a System i shop in the market for a high availability solution, you may want to consider a hardware-based solution. IBM offers several options, including solutions based on i5/OS clustering, iASPs, FlashCopy, the GlobalMirror and MetroMirror offering, and the System i Copy Services toolkit. While an external high availability setup may cost more than a software-based replication solution, it has the potential to be very reliable, as one former user of high availability software found out.READ MORE >

Halcyon Boosts Spool File Manager, Company
by Alex Woodie

Halcyon Software unveiled a new version of its Spool File Manager this month that should eliminate much of the manual processing users previously had to perform to get reports into the format they wanted. The English software house also announced the hiring of a new channel manager, Sean Gallagher, who has been tasked with expanding the company's presence around the world. READ MORE >