News Briefs and Product Shorts

Raz-Lee Using Open-Source ClamAV for OS/400 AntiVirus

Raz-Lee Security is using an OS/400 port of the open-source Clam AntiVirus software with its new iSecurity Anti-Virus offering, a spokeswoman with the company confirmed last week. The ClamAV engine was initially developed to protect Unix-based e-mail servers from viruses and other malware, and is currently available for close to 20 different operating systems, including Linux, AIX, Solaris, Windows, and Mac-OS, under the General Public License (GPL), according to the ClamAV Web site at www.clamav.net. The software, which is maintained by an international group of people, has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, and is currently being used to protect many large e-mail servers on the Internet, including the mail servers at SourceForge, which is also hosting the ClamAV development effort. The ClamAV database of virus definitions is updated by supporters several times a week, if not daily, and product support is provided free via mailing lists. Besides Raz-Lee, more than 60 other commercial software and services companies are either using ClamAV, or have incorporated the software into their own products. iSecurity Anti-Virus 1.0 is expected to become available from Raz-Lee on November 15. For more information, see Raz-Lee Developing Native iSeries Antivirus Software in last week's issue of Four Hundred Stuff.

AppWorx Positions Job Scheduler for SOA

OS/400 shops currently implementing, or considering purchasing, the enterprise job scheduler from AppWorx have several new features to play around with. With AppWorx version 7.0, which was unveiled in September, AppWorx has introduced new Web services capabilities through support for extensible markup language (XML), an application programming interface (API) for simple object access protocol (SOAP), support for Java Messaging Service (JMS), support for new databases via Java data base connectivity (JDBC), and heightened security using 128-bit secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption. The Bellevue, Washington, software developer also released a mainframe agent, adding to its collection of agents that support OS/400, Unix, Linux, Windows, and OpenVMS operating systems. While none of the new features in AppWorx 7.0 are directly geared toward OS/400, all AppWorx users, regardless of platform, should benefit from the new cross-platform capabilities, says Bill Wrenn, the company's chief executive officer. "The new version of AppWorx is the missing link in the enterprise infrastructure, integrating and automating processes across all applications and platforms to ensure maximum business performance," he says. Since AppWorx unveiled its OS/400 agent in version 6.1 earlier this year (see "AppWorx Brings Job Scheduler to OS/400"), the company has close to a dozen OS/400 shops either using the software in production or in the sales pipeline, a company representative says. AppWorx 7.0 is slated to ship in January at a starting price of around $70,000.

Teamstudio Focuses on Notes-Domino Security with New Services Offering

The Lotus Domino experts at Teamstudio are now offering their services to increase the security of Notes and Domino users. There are two components of its new Teamstudio Audit Services unveiled last week, including the Security Audit check and the Asset Audit check. As part of the Security Audit offering, Teamstudio will provide a report that details potential security vulnerabilities within the user's Domino server environment, including isolating lax procedures and database access, listing user access per database, and categorizing authorized and unauthorized users who have created agents. As part of the Asset Audit offering, Teamstudio will conduct a full review of Notes and Domino assets, including measuring database usage per user over an extended period, identifying functional relationships between and within databases and template inheritance, listing agents and any relevant schedules, detailing schedules among multiple servers, providing recommendations on application redundancy, and classifying non-conformities and other security concerns within Access Control Lists (ACLs). "With a lack of application control and well-understood security procedures, many Lotus Notes environments have become overgrown and unmanageable, and as a result, inefficient and open to abuse," says Nigel Cheshire, chief executive of the Beverly, Massachusetts, company.

nuBridges Takes a Seat on iSeries Developer Roadmap

Since IBM started including applications and tools from third-party ISVs on its iSeries Developer Roadmap earlier this year, there has been a mad dash by ISVs to get their products ServerProven and on the roadmap, where OS/400 shops can find them as they modernize their systems. The latest is nuBridges, an Atlanta software developer whose OS/400 product set--acquired with the purchase of TrailBlazer Systems--already enjoyed ServerProven status, but which weren't on the iSeries Developer Roadmap, until last week. Now nuBridges has five products on the roadmap, including truExchange EDI-INT and truExchange FTP for iSeries, which have been added to the Connectivity portion of the "Integrate Applications" station of the roadmap; truExchange Item Sync Retail and truExchange Item Sync Supply, which have been added to the Data Synchronization-UCCnet portion of the "Integrate Business Processes" station of the roadmap; and truExchange XML, which is now listed under the EDI/XML portion of the Integrate Business Processes section. Inclusion on the roadmap illustrates nuBridges commitment to iSeries users, says Rich Brown, vice president of ebusiness solutions at nuBridges. "This open, collaborative initiative provides customers with a reference tool allowing visibility into a variety of solutions to address complex business issues," he says. You can view the entire roadmap at www.developer.ibm.com/vic/hardware/portal/iii_pages/iii_tools_innov_roadmap#.

FormScape's Windows Software Gets ServerProven for iSeries

OS/400 shops implementing FormScape's document process automation software can feel comfortable they have chosen a proven and stable product now that IBM has granted FormScape ServerProven status for its products. Two FormScape offerings, including FormScape and Covus, made the ServerProven cut, which means they have met certain requirements, including a minimum number of real-world installations and support for the latest releases of OS/400. While FormScape's software document management and content management products don't actually run on OS/400 (although they do run on IBM "eSeries" systems, according to a press release), they are often called upon to integrate with OS/400 applications, such as J.D. Edwards. Such is the case at Trident Steel, an EnterpriseOne shop that uses FormScape to manage output from its ERP system. "In 2004, we made a decision to convert our Intel servers to IBM equipment," says Frikkie Rushmer, a business analyst the St. Louis manufacturer of pipe and tubing products used in the oil industry. "Therefore it's important that all our applications run on IBM hardware without a problem. FormScape's ServerProven certification gives us that assurance." Trident Steel runs FormScape version 3 on FASTt700 SAN and eServer BladeCenter systems.

Global Software Signs 59 New Customers in Three Months

One of the software vendors riding the continued upwelling in business intelligence spending is Global Software, which sells Windows-based solutions that provide a real-time connection between Excel spreadsheets and the accounting modules of popular OS/400-based ERP systems. Although the Raleigh, North Carolina, company is privately held and is not required to disclose financial results, Global decided to share some of its good news anyway (after all, you don't hear companies sharing bad news). Business was booming in the third quarter, according to Global, with more than 59 new customers buying software between July 1 and September 30, and a 263 percent increase in revenue compared to the third quarter in 2005. The company attributes the increase directly to new licenses signed by users of Oracle's J.D. Edwards ERP suite, Intentia's MOVEX ERP suite, and Jack Henry & Associates' core banking systems. "Accessing financial information from various ERP systems is a very hot space to play in," says Spencer Kupferman, Global's vice president for corporate affairs. "The third quarter presented Global with continued expansion as we opened up our London office through acquisition and are now in better position to penetrate European markets."