News Briefs and Product Shorts

IBM Keeps iSeries in the Limelight with TV Ads, Case Studies

Officials with IBM have told us they're going to start ringing their iSeries marketing bell, and it looks like they are doing just that. After running the new batch of iSeries TV commercials during last Sunday's NFL match-ups (including an airing of the "I'm-the-man" commercial during a walloping of the Oakland Raiders by the San Diego Chargers and their workhorse tailback, LaDainian Tomlinson, who really is the man), Big Blue is now publicly touting one of their high-profile customers, the city of Orlando. Today IBM is expected to announce that Orlando, which has run the J.D. Edwards EnterpriseOne (formerly OneWorld) ERP package on OS/400 servers since 1998, has rolled out a new mobile application that's saving its police department time and money. Police officers patrolling in cars and on horseback are now using personal digital assistants (PDAs) to fill out and upload their reports to the city's iSeries servers electronically, which eliminates the requirement for officers to complete paper reports on scene and then re-enter that information into the computer when they get back to the office. Orlando, which recently hosted the COMMON conference, relies on seven iSeries systems to run more than 150 departments, such as City Hall, police, fire, 911 public safety, disaster recovery, and municipal operations, IBM says. In addition to running a powerful network of servers, the city is a power player in platform politics, as its deputy CIO and chief security officer, John Matelski, is president of the Quest J.D. Edwards user group. "IBM is pleased to know that the iSeries system remains the trusted platform for the city of Orlando to run important processes," says Mark Shearer, general manager for iSeries.

SAP Unveils 28 'Best Practice' ERP Kits for Midsize Businesses

SAP last week unveiled 28 new ERP software packages that it designed to help midsize businesses in a variety of industries get up and running on mySAP software quickly, while maintaining flexibility and minimizing the risks inherent in ERP implementations. The SAP Best Practices packages were customized for 15 industries (including automotive, chemicals, consumer products, consumer durables and home appliances, fabricated metals, high tech, home and personal care, industrial machinery, logistic service providers, mining, retail, pharmaceuticals, professional services, water utilities, and wholesale distribution), translated into 11 languages (including German, English, French, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean), and can be equipped with "cross-industry" add-ons that provide functionality in the areas of business intelligence, CRM, supply chain management, Web portals, human capital management, forms, and international accounting standards. Each package includes step-by-step methodologies, reusable documentation, and pre-configuration settings that SAP says "provide everything needed to run specific key processes 'out of the box' with minimal installation effort." What's more, the German software behemoth is encouraging its huge partner network to build micro-vertical packages that further streamline the implementation of enterprise software, or what SAP calls "business content."

iHOC to Provide Cross-Platform Support for Ad Hoc Queries

Programmers and DBAs looking for a way to run ad hoc SQL statements against DB2/400, SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL databases may want to check out a new tool from Stonewall Technologies called iHOC Query. The Windows-based program was initially developed with iSeries users in mind, but was quickly adapted to support other databases as well. The GUI makes switching between different database connections as simple as choosing a server from a drop-down box. Users can run SQL statements, filter their results, generate statistics with a built-in statistics generator, and export results in a variety of formats, including comma- and tab-delineated files, as a Microsoft DataSet XML file, or in the MySQL "dump file" format. iSeries users are also treated to an extra iHOC Query feature called the Database Explorer, which enables users to see the catalog structure of the database. iHOC Query provides native OS/400 support, and uses the DB2 .NET Managed Provider that ships with iSeries Access V5R3. The software is nearing general availability; contact Stonewall at www.ihocquery.com for more information.

Printronix Unveils XML-based Products for Generating Labels, Controlling Printers

Printronix yesterday rolled out a new XML-based forms package designed to make it easier for users to print barcodes and RFID labels on Printronix printers. The printer manufacturer also unveiled a new XML-based management platform, called Printronix Extensible Markup Language, or PXML, designed to provide third-party applications with better control of, and integration with, Printronix printers. "PXML allows third parties to configure, manage, and control 5r printers, and their hosts to communicate and understand each other directly from an application without additional software or layers," says Andy Chapman, chief technology officer of the Irvine, California, company. Printronix's 5r line of printers includes the ThermaLine T5000r and SmartLine SL5000r devices. The "5r" name refers to a Printronix marketing effort to connect the line of printers to five terms ("scalable," "innovative," "best of breed," "built for change," and "smart ready"), all of which reflect the fact that these printers can print barcode and RFID labels today, and can be easily upgraded to support new RFID standards in the future. The new Printronix XML Forms Printing product, meanwhile, gives users the capability to print bar codes and encode RFID smart labels. The product has been tested by ERP giants Oracle and SAP. Although Oracle has certified the new Printronix software to work with its products, SAP has not granted certification yet. The XML Forms Printing field kit is available immediately.

Visara Adds Failover Capabilities to ICON Line of Console Management Products

Visara International added new failover capabilities to its ICON line of console management products for OS/400 servers. Last week the Raleigh, North Carolina, company announced the third generation of its two console-management products, including the iCON-xT, which serves up a remote or local browser-based green-screen display session for managing single OS/400 server, and the iCON-xT, a rack-mounted device that manages up to 20 servers and features RAID. With version 3.0 of the products, Visara has modified the behavior of its Twinax adapters to enable two ICON servers attached to the same Twinax cable to alternately control the same display session. When this failover capability is put to use, one ICON device will actively serve up the Visara VT5250 emulator, while the other passively monitors the other. If a power failure or a Twinax cable failure causes the primary ICON device to stop responding, the backup ICON will automatically take over the session, Visara says, adding that the VT5250 client has also been enhanced to automatically follow the session to the alternate server. The other major enhancement delivered with version 3.0 is support for remote access using a dial-in modem. Visara says this new feature will be particularly useful for consultants and resellers, that will now have an easy way to access their customers' systems without incurring the expense of sending technical personnel to the customers' sites. The ICON line has been enhanced twice since Visara unveiled the new products about a year ago (see "Visara Launches ICON Line for Console Consolidation").

California Software Improves SOA Story with iSeries Migration Suite

California Software last week unveiled a new release of Infinite iSeries, a package of OS/400 application migration tools that enables RPG and COBOL programs to run under Windows, Linux, and Unix operating systems and to use Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases. The new version of Infinite iSeries (which, curiously, was not further identified by the company) features enhancements in the area of enabling migrated applications to function as part of a service oriented architecture (SOA). According to Lynette Kane, a vice president at the Southern California company, the new release delivers Web services that "are loaded with an editor that allows you to test the selected Web services description language (WSDL)." Other enhancements include the capability to define grids and graphs on an independent screen within the application, and the capability to access Infinite iSeries from a Visual Basic program to transfer files, the company says.