ASNA Set to Open Road from RPG to .NET
by Dan Burger

RPG programmers, welcome to .NET. Come on in and get comfortable. Those are pretty much the sentiments ASNA would like to pass along to application developers troubled by what many consider a dead end for their RPG skills and perhaps their jobs. On August 24, ASNA begins rolling out AVR for .NET, an avenue of opportunity, the company says, for RPG programmers and companies with big investments in that language and in their employees who are proficient in it. READ MORE >

Baan to the Bone: One on One with SSA GT's Graeme Cooksley
by Alex Woodie

Since being resurrected from bankruptcy in 2000, SSA Global Technologies has put on a clinic for how to do acquisitions. Last month, the Chicago software conglomerate completed its biggest acquisition yet: a $135 million buyout of Baan, the once high-flying ERP software vendor that lost a lot of money but has a good product and hopes for a comeback. (Sound familiar?) Graeme Cooksley, the SSA GT executive charged with righting Baan, recently spoke with Guild Companies about the acquisition and how it fits in with SSA GT's agenda. READ MORE >

Road Builder Implements Positive Pay, Curbs Check Fraud
by Robert Gast

Sully-Miller Contracting is completing a huge road-building and paving job at Pier 400, an expansive new 343-acre freight terminal in Los Angeles Harbor. Visible across the harbor is Terminal Island Federal Penitentiary, home for those convicted of check fraud and other crimes. Weeks earlier, more than $100,000 in fraudulent checks were submitted for payment to Sully-Miller's bank account by a well-organized check-fraud ring. Luckily, Sully-Miller had already taken steps to stop these white-collar criminals in their tracks. READ MORE >

TREAD Act Flying Under the Radar of OS/400 Shops, ISV Says
by Alex Woodie

While many OS/400 shops in the automotive food chain should be taking steps to address and comply with the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act, passed by Congress in reaction to the Bridgestone/Firestone tire recall in 2000, few of them are, says Ron Ezsak, channel director at Active Web Services. The situation isn't confined to OS/400 shops, as ERP packages in general lack TREAD Act functionality, he says, but OS/400 shops' penchant to avoid fixing what's not broken magnifies the issue. READ MORE >

Linoma Releases Object Filter, Command Prompter, Encryption Tool Upgrades
by Dan Burger

Surveyor/400, from Linoma Software, appeals to its growing list of users because it offers better tools than those that come standard on the iSeries. System and database administrators use it to manage objects and database files, and find it particularly useful when searching and removing unused objects. Developers are more likely to use the file editor when adding, changing, deleting, or viewing database records. Last week Linoma introduced its latest release of Surveyor/400, which includes new graphical filters and command prompters. READ MORE >

News Briefs and Product Shorts

Varsity Logistics Releases Packing Automation Software . . . MAPICS Takes on Customer Management, Warranty Tasks . . . BCD Takes Customer Support Increases in Stride . . . Extending RPG to Java with ABSTRACT from ASC . . . Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Teams Up with CARCO Group . . . ERP Vendor Web-Enables Its Applications . . . READ MORE >

Coming Tuesday, August 19
Guild Companies' Special Security Edition
VPNs, Single Sign-on, IFS Security, and more!

Reader Feedback and Insights

We value your feedback and insights. Feel free to send a letter to the editor. Letters may be printed, unless otherwise specified, and edited for clarity or length. READ MORE >