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News Briefs and Product Shorts
As reported in yesterday's issue of The Four Hundred, IBM's iSeries Division is considering changing the way it responds to
iSeries security vulnerabilities that have been made public by the Computer Emergency Response Team. The desire to change the security
policy is being driven by IBM's muddled response to a recent security flaw that was discovered in the
Simple Network Management Protocol, which was the first vulnerability handled by the CERT
Coordination Center that could possibly affect OS/400.
Two vendors of OS/400 software--Fair, Isaac and
HNC Software--last week announced plans to merge their
companies and consolidate under the Fair, Isaac name. Fair, Isaac, based in San Rafael, California, owns a
business-intelligence software product that runs on iSeries and other major platforms and is aimed at
helping executives make the right business decisions when faced with a number of complex variables. HNC
Software, of San Diego, California, also writes analytics software aimed at companies in the financial
services, telecommunications, and software industries. HNC's software supports Windows, Solaris, AIX,
OS/390, OS/400, and Compaq's NonStop Himalaya platforms, among others. If approved by shareholders,
the merger will create a powerhouse in this niche sector. Last quarter, Fair, Issac reported revenues of $87.1
million, while HNC Software reported revenues of $55.3 million.
IBM lobbed one of its first benchmark shells in the
developing skirmish for Linux-on-Intel cost-performance
supremacy a couple of weeks ago. IBM announced that one of its xSeries servers running Red Hat Linux, WebSphere, and DB2 ousted a Hewlett-Packard Windows 2000 server running BEA's WebLogic enterprise Java-based Web application server at the top
of the ECPerf benchmark, which is designed to measure Enterprise JavaBean performance. IBM claims to
have almost doubled HP's performance with a system setup that was 39 percent cheaper.
Enterprise banking software provider Fiserv
announced last week that Waypoint Bank, the product of a recent merger, has chosen to install the OS/400-
based Fiserv CBS (Commercial Banking System) to keep track of the money. James Stewart, Waypoint
Bank's chief information officer, said the fact that Fiserv's software runs on the iSeries was a valuable
selling point for the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, bank, which inherited iSeries technology when it was created
in the 2000 merger of Harris Savings and York Federal. Waypoint's decision to grow from its thrift-bank
roots into a full-service commercial financial institution also provided motivation to standardize on a
scalable platform, the bank said. In addition to the CBS system, Waypoint licensed eCash, the Fiserv CBS
Internet-based cash management tool, and Desktop, the company's sales and teller servicing platform.
SSA Global Technologies last week started shipping
BPCS 8.1, the latest release of its OS/400-based ERP suite for distributors and manufacturers. The major
enhancement in this release is the expansion of field sizes, which represents the first phase in the company's
harmonization project, called "codification." In this first phase, SSA GT will provide field extensions to
help clients seeking standardized naming conventions for customers, suppliers, and products. Other new
features include a new outbound logistics module and support for Windows XP. This release also marks the
first release of the suite that is completely Web-enabled.
Geac Computer, one of the largest vendors of ERP
software for OS/400, became a member of the fledgling Web
Services Interoperability Organization last week. Geac joins a growing group of companies backing
WS-I, which was founded in February with the mission of providing a place where companies can come
together to create industry standards for Web services. There are currently more than 100 member
companies of WS-I, including technology providers such as IBM, Microsoft,
and J.D. Edwards, as well as technology users such
as Proctor and Gamble, AT&T, and Reuters. However, life is not all milk and honey in the land of new
Web protocols. According to published reports, there is a rift emerging between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. Apparently, Sun wasn't too happy that
IBM and Microsoft didn't extend an invitation for Sun to join the group when it was founded earlier this
year. IBM realized how inhospitable it was being and extended an invitation to Sun, leaving Microsoft as
the only WS-I member not to validate Sun's inclusion in the group. Sun and Microsoft, of course, control
the two competing and largely non-compatible sets of technology that Web services standards are
crystallizing on top of: Java and .NET.
HarperCollins Publishers will publish a book later this year about the greatest business turnaround of
our time. If you guessed that that book would be written by none other than former IBM CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr., then give yourself a pat on the back.
"This singularly important book . . . provides a candid and fascinating account of a truly dramatic story--
how the American icon, IBM, was pulled back from the brink of extinction," said Jane Friedman, president
and CEO of HarperCollins. Indeed, while many derided Gerstner's managerial style by calling him "Cookie-
Cutter Lou"--a dig at Gerstner's previous job as head of RJR Nabisco and the fact that Gerstner was the first
outsider to take Big Blue's helm--the turnaround effected by the decidedly non-technical Gerstner has to be
one of the greatest--if not the greatest--in the high-tech world.
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