Top OS/400 Stories from Around the Web

(Guild Companies) More information is leaking out about IBM's upcoming Power5 and Power+ processor plans. Timothy Prickett Morgan quotes sources familiar with IBM's plans, and fills in the gaps on the future Power5 processors and their associated "Armada" kickers to the Power4-based "Regatta" iSeries and pSeries machines. This article contains good detailed information about processor speeds, L2 and L3 cache memory, and where the Power5 series is going with simultaneous multithreading (what Intel calls "HyperThreading").

(Guild Companies) As announced last week, Al Zoeller--former general manager of IBM's Lotus unit--became general manager of the Midmarket Server Division within IBM's Server Group, a division which includes the iSeries product line. Zoeller replaces Buell Duncan, who moves on to become general manager of developer relations at IBM's Software Group. The Duncan and Zoeller job description changes, as well as several other iSeries management shake-ups that occurred during 2002 are dissected in this article. You'll be surprised how many key positions changed hands in the past 12 months and how these developments may affect the iSeries plans in 2003 and beyond.

(Guild Companies) In a departure from previous conferences, the iSeries COMMON users group will be offering special educational tracks targeting manufacturing and distribution concepts at its Spring conference, March 9 through 13, in Indianapolis. What's more, these classes will be geared toward non-technical users, in order to help them understand how business concepts tie into software packages. And in a more dramatic departure, these new tracks won't shy away from mentioning how applications from third-party vendors can be implemented to solve a business problem--a practice that had previously been banned by COMMON rules. All of which makes for a more pronounced third-party vendor role at COMMON, a situation that could have been influenced by declining conference attendance in recent years, coupled with third-party vendor complaints about COMMON's expo.

(Guild Companies) In a surprise move, IBM has outsourced the manufacturing of its entire line of Intel-based servers to Sanmina-SCI, a contract manufacturer. The three-year deal is reported to be worth $3.6 billion. Sanmina-SCI will make all of IBM's xSeries servers except the top-end xSeries 440 machine and some BladeCenter servers. Why is IBM doing this? It could be because Big Blue cut $5 billion out of its supply chain and manufacturing costs in 2002, and it expects to do the same in 2003. IBM was very clear that no other product line was affected by this announcement, but you have to wonder whether Big Blue will eventually outsource pSeries and iSeries manufacturing to Hitachi, which already makes some models in the zSeries product line.

(Guild Companies) Faster than a NASCAR race car, here comes the industry news from this week's But Wait There's More section: DLB Associates has released a new PTF guide as of January 4; Business Computer Designs Int't is offering 20-to-50 percent discounts on its software through January 24. This deal includes ProGen WebSmart, Catapult, Spool Explorer, EZ-Pickin's, ProGen Plus, File-Flash, Docu-Mint, and Nexus; High-availability software executive Mike Campbell will manage a reseller network as iTera's new vice-president of "alternative channels"; Jack Henry & Associates acquired National Bancorp Data Services of Chicago, which gives it a much-needed footprint in the Chicago market; Document and forms management software vendor Create!Form International appointed Daniel Bradford as vice president of strategic alliances; Manhattan Associates completed its $20 million acquisition of Logistics.com, a developer of transportation management software for Windows, Linux, AIX, HP-UX, and the Solaris platforms; and host access and integration service provider NetManage announced an alliance with Tata Consultancy Services--India's and Asia's largest IT software and services company--in which Tata will deploy NetManage's OnWeb product.

Vendor Announcements, Promotions and Deals

(Guild Companies) Warehouse management vendor EXE Technologies has streamlined its implementation technologies and enacted aggressive pricing in an attempt to repackage its software to small- and medium-sized businesses, including iSeries and AS/400 customers. EXE is specifically targeting its EXceed 4000 and EXceed 1000 warehouse management systems at SMB shops; it will also be selling its Adaptive Inventory Manager and the EXceed 400i COBOL-based OS/400 software in that arena. EXE's move allows smaller companies with revenues below $1 billion to benefit from the sophisticated shipping, inventory, and collaborative capabilities that have traditionally been provided only to larger organizations, such as Coca-Cola and Safeway.

(Guild Companies) Help/Systems announced the availability of the new Robot/SCHEDULE interface to SAP, which provides expanded capabilities for incorporating SAP jobs with processes occurring on other applications, even applications running on non-OS/400 platforms. Using a special SAP command, Robot/SCHEDULE users can automate SAP processes running on iSeries, Unix, and Windows servers; monitor the status of their SAP jobs; and run non-SAP jobs in reaction to SAP jobs. And the best part is that up to ten SAP processes can be executed with a single Robot/SCHEDULE SAP command.

(Guild Companies) iTera announced that the new V2R1 version of its Purge & Archive data management tool includes several enhancements, including a new data interface, a "mock purge" function, and additional data grouping functions. The package also features new interfaces to other programs, as well the capability to simultaneously archive to both disk and tape.

(Guild Companies) IBM and Plasmon--a British manufacturer of high-end removable storage--unveiled an agreement last week to bring Plasmon's ultra density optical (UDO) technology to the iSeries. The products may not arrive until 2004. The expectations are that the UDO technology will find a ready market in insurance companies, banks, pharmaceutical companies, and other organizations that are suffering from increased storage needs due to new government mandates.

(Guild Companies) Shield Advanced Solutions announced FTP Security Manager/400 Version 2.1 (formerly FTP Manager/400), which includes a higher level of coverage for IBM's FTP client, as well as a new Shield FTP client. The new FTP client uses stored encrypted passwords for its transfers; these passwords can only be decrypted when data is sent to a remote site. The new version also features "anonymous" user profile log-on, as well as more control over where error logs are stored, including storage in message queues, database files, and inside the Integrated File System (IFS).

(Guild Companies) This week's News and Briefs covers OS/400 current events including the details of how kitchen appliance and housewares distributor PHD used EDI specialists Inovis and IPNet Solutions to create a new Internet-based EDI solution. WorksRight Software's (which just merged with Generic Software) announced Save Output Queue 8.8. WorksRight also announced it will no longer be marketing its 1099 and W-2 Magnetic Media Reporting Solutions package. Successfully converting 5250 green screens into Web screens while eliminating a significant amount of data entry problems is the subject of a report on Columbus, Ohio-based American Commerce Insurance Company, which used Results International Systems to get the job done. Solzon's announced the PRISM Radio Frequency Interface and the RF Actuator Suite for PRISM, which allows PRISM users to interface the wireless barcode system to an ERP suite without modifying any code. Better On-line Solutions, through its subsidiary BOSCOM, has a new Web site that focuses on connectivity issues involving its products. And Microsoft, which has gone through a series of name changes for its new enterprise operating system, recently announced it has decided on the name Windows Server 2003.

New Redbooks, White Papers, and Other OS/400 Resources

(Bytware) White Paper - Bytware, the iSeries and AS/400 monitoring, security and paging solutions company, has a free white paper – The Networthy iSeries – pertaining to security polices across a network of multiple systems. Topic areas include controlling access to, and functionality within, key services running on an iSeries server. To download the white paper in PDF format, go to http://www.bytware.com/landing_monitor_sgwp01.html .

(IBM) Redpaper - "Enabling Web Services for the IBM eserver iSeries Server" is an introduction to Web services and Web services technologies. This publication also demonstrates how to develop a sample Web services application with WebSphere Development Studio Client and how to enable iSeries Web services with the WebSphere Application Server.

(IBM) Draft Redbook – "Managing OS/400 with Operations Navigator V5R1 Volume 5, Performance Management" describes and provides examples of OpsNav Management Central performance management capabilities including system and job monitors, graph history, collection services, and Management Central - Pervasive.

(IBM) The "Lotus Software for iSeries Compatibility Guide" features charts showing which versions of Domino 5.0.x and Domino 6.0 are supported on OS/400 V4R5, V5R1, and V5R2. This guide also charts Lotus Sametime and Domino compatibility when running in the same LPAR; which Sametime releases are supported on various OS/400 versions; Domino and Lotus QuickPlace compatibility when running in the same partition; and QuickPlace and OS/400 release compatibility.

(IBM) "What's New with IBM Lotus Domino 6 for iSeries" reviews some of the changes between IBM Lotus Domino R5 and R6 running on an iSeries server. Also highlighted are some of the new functions IBM is providing with Domino R6 for iSeries.

(Better OnLine Solutions) Better On-Line Solutions' BOScom Web site offers suggestions for managing, troubleshooting, and upgrading BOScom products. The site includes product update information, a searchable knowledge base, an update center, customer tools, and contact support.

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

January 20 -- The iSeries Nation will host a presentation called "iSeries Strategy and Directions." Anne Lucas, project executive for iSeries, describes the content as an explanation of what it takes to make your server more flexible, agile, and responsive in the on-demand era. Start time is 11:30 a.m. EST. Pre-registration is necessary. Find out more and register at http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/nation/events/chat/chat_012003.html .

January 21 -- The Metro Midrange Systems Association--a Dallas and Fort Worth area IBM iSeries and AS/400 user group--will hold its January meeting at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Marriott. The featured speaker is Bill Langston, director of marketing for New Generation Software, and the topic will be "Data Warehousing: What You Should Know Before You Begin." The cost to attend is $20 for members and $25 for non-members, including dinner and presentation. For more information, go to http://www.metromidrange.org/index.htm .

January 26-30 – Get current with everything that is Lotus at IBM Lotusphere 2003 at the Walt Disneyworld Resort in Orlando, Florida. For more information, go to http://www.lotus.com/lotusphere/orlando.nsf/wdocs/lshome03 .

Now through February 28 -- IBM presents "iSeries and the e-Business on Demand Era," a one-day traveling road show presented in 72 venues across North America. IBM will discuss its 2003 product strategy and explain how the iSeries delivers an on-demand computing environment to manage multiple operating systems, including WebSphere, Linux, Windows, and OS/400. Registration is free. Go to http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/education/ondemand/ for more information and dates in your area.

February 3-5 – The Washington Area Midrange Users Group is presenting an "AS/400 and iSeries Security Fundamentals" full-day seminar with Wayne Evans, iSeries security expert. Wayne will discuss ways you can more effectively manage critical security issues on your AS/400s. Cost is $250 for non-members and $225 for members. The seminar will be presented in Richmond, Virginia, on February 3; College Park, Maryland, on February 4; and Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, on February 5. For more information, go to http://www.wash-midrange.org/evans0302.html .

February 10-13 -- Help/Systems will host its twelfth annual iSeries Operations Automation User Conference in Orlando, Florida. The conference agenda ranges from formal discussions on the future of the iSeries to personal development topics. To learn more and register, go to http://www.helpsystems.com/education/userconf.html .

February 16-19 – IBM will be hosting PartnerWorld 2003, its annual conference and expo in New Orleans, Louisiana. The three-day event allows IBM Business Partners and IBM executives to network and exchange ideas. For more information, go to http://www-1.ibm.com/partnerworld/pwhome.nsf/weblook/pw2003_index.html .

March 5-7 -- Registration is open for ASNApalooza 2003 in San Antonio, Texas. ASNApalooza is three days of ASNA Visual RPG (AVR) instruction and technical insight. For more information, go to http://palooza.asna.com .

Continuous -- A previously recorded Webcast featuring Doug Mack--product marketing specialist for DB2 UDB--discusses updates to V5R2's database, DB2 UDB compatibility with SQL stored procedures, and includes tips and techniques to avoid performance degradation. Go to http://search400.com/r/0,,8726,00.htm to listen to this presentation.