News Briefs and Product Shorts

• Damon Technologies, which introduced the RPG Server Pages (RSP) development tool earlier this year, has created a new OS/400 utility for testing stored procedures, a task that has proved difficult for many AS/400 and iSeries programmers, the company says. The new tool, called Stored Procedure Test Environment (STE), streamlines the stored procedure testing cycle by allowing developers to invoke stored procedures from a 5250 interface. The utility then prompts the programmer for the parameters necessary to call the stored procedure, and displays the result set, or multiple sets, as well as any returned parameters. Damon Technologies president Schadd Gray says STE shortens development time and improves communication among OS/400 programmers and Web developers. "Before STE, there was not a simple way to execute a stored procedure and view the result set," Schadd says. "With STE, the programmer can set up a debug session for a stored procedure, execute STE, and, with great ease, begin testing code." STE requires V4R4 or a later version of OS/400, and costs $995 per server.

• IPNet Solutions has successfully implemented OS/400-based EDI-INT (electronic data interchange Internet integration) software at Athletic shoemaker K-Swiss, it was announced last week. The installation of IPNet BizConnect with the company's EDI software, TrustedLink iSeries Solution, from Inovis (formerly Harbinger), allows K-Swiss to send its EDI documents over the Internet. K-Swiss's EDI-INT implementation is expected to result in significant savings by reducing communications fees and other costs, such as charge-backs resulting from dial-up-communication disconnects. K-Swiss elected to go with IPNet's EDI-INT software because it had installed Inovis's OS/400-based EDI software, and IPNet BizConnect had proved itself with the TrustedLink iSeries Solution, says Gaylon Uptgraft, K-Swiss IT director. For more information about EDI-INT software, go to www.ipnetsolutions.com.
  
  
• ProData Computer Services recently announced a new database utility for users of J.D. Edwards enterprise software. The company's new DBU (Database Utility) plug-in is designed to let JDE users view and update their JDE database files, with the JDE data dictionary integrated, without having to use queries, the IBM Data File Utility (DFU), or programming, the Omaha, Nebraska, company says. The new DBU/JDE plug-in lets users edit the numeric field length attributes for the text, column heading, and aliases of files. It also helps users create DBU applications to make it easier to view data in the JDE database the next time around. DBU/JDE works with both OneWorld and WorldSoftware, and is available in green-screen and GUI modes.
  
  
• Island Pacific has continued its recent flurry of new customer announcements. Last week, the provider of iSeries merchandise management software for retailers announced that Hibbett Sporting Goods, a chain of stores in the Southeast, signed a contract to expand its use of Island Pacific software. The Birmingham, Alabama, based company is adding a decision-support package--developed by Island Pacific alliance partner IT Resources--called Buyer's Workmate, as well as extending its licenses for Merchandising, The Eye Explorer, Ticketing, and Warehouse, all of which run on the iSeries. The decision to stick with Island Pacific after 18 years was an easy one for Chuck Adams, Hibbett's vice president of information systems. "Island Pacific's planning system works the way my people think," Adams says. Hibbett, a publicly traded company, currently operates 378 stores in 21 states, and is growing quickly. In related news, Island Pacific's parent company, Carlsbad, California, based SVI Solutions, last week announced plans to take on the Island Pacific name. Earlier this year, SVI brought back the name "Island Pacific" as part of its "back to the future" campaign. The software division of SVI had been doing business as the company's SVI Merchandising Management System group.
  
  
• Quadrant Software announced a new version of its enterprise-level fax software for OS/400 servers earlier this month. FastFax/Enterprise eFax Server acts as a hub for sending and receiving e-mail in a network of OS/400, Windows, and NetWare clients, and can also be integrated with any SMTP e-mail server or groupware. With FastFax/Enterprise eFax Server Version 4.5.1, Quadrant has delivered several enhancements, including support for e-mail server clustering; support for load balancing among e-mail servers, and the capability to attach non-image files types, such as Microsoft Word, Excel spreadsheets, or PDFs, directly to outbound fax and e-mail documents. FastFax/Enterprise pricing starts at $10,700. See www.quadrantsoftware.com for more information.
  
  
• Portugal's largest bank, Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP), is outsourcing much of its computer operations to IBM Global Services to save money, it was announced last week. Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will manage BCP's IT infrastructure, which includes mainframes, iSeries, and Unix servers, located at the company's data center. IBM will also take over business continuity and disaster recovery operations for BCP. As a result of the deal, BCP expects to reduce its IT infrastructure costs by 25 percent. This deal has a total value of EUR 340 million (about $384 million at current exchange rates) for a period of 10 years. BCP owns about 25 percent of the banking business in Portugal and has banking interests in many countries around the globe, including Poland, Greece, France, the United States, Canada, Macau, China, and Mozambique.
  
  

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