News Briefs and Product Shorts

• The Robot is gearing up to ship a wizard. Help/Systems last week announced a new PC-based Product Maintenance Wizard, designed to help users update their individual Robot Automated Operations Solution products. Once users are aware of an update to their Robot product, they can use the new wizard to automatically download the Robot product files to their OS/400 server and to install them. The new wizard documents the update process with job logs, in case anything happens during installation. Help/Systems said its customers will be able to download the new wizard from its Web site when it becomes available at the end of the month (which is today).
  
  

• The country's largest seed treatment manufacturer has chosen Global Software's application to analyze its production data. Executives with Plano, Texas, based Gustafson will be using Global's Spreadsheet Server for BPCS and Executive DASH software to analyze data and build reports from its BPCS ERP system, Global Software announced last week. Spreadsheet Server works with Microsoft Excel software to enable real-time access to financial data housed in BPCS from the spreadsheet, while Executive DASH builds upon Spreadsheet Server to provide access to any DB2/400 data. Mike Jensen, Gustafson's controller, said the usability features of Spreadsheet Server for BPCS are second-to-none in the industry. "It is extremely configurable and suited to meet the needs of ever changing financial reporting requirements," he said.
  
  
• Teamstudio recently announced Edition 19 of Teamstudio for Notes, a seven-part tool suite that address common Lotus Domino development issues, such as database analysis, version control, global search and replace, and more. This edition features a new release of Teamstudio CIAO!, a version-control module. Teamstudio CIAO! Version 2.35 contains a new client information dialog box that should make it easier to configure locations, while the new release of Teamstudio CIAO! Server, Version 2.20, now supports Solaris Sparc and Linux x86 platforms. The search and replace component, Teamstudio Configurator, has also been updated in Version 2.80 to support searches for Access Control List (ACL) related items. The 2.80 release of the Teamstudio Librarian component, which is designed to let developer share a collection of reusable design elements, also includes new enhancements, such as the capability to access the Analyzer, CIAO!, and Configurator components directly from Librarian. Finally, the new release of Teamstudio Snapper, which tracks database changes, now supports Sparc and Linux x86 platforms.
  
  
• The city of Madison, Michigan, has selected New World Systems' OS/400-based Logos Public Administration software, the software vendor recently announced. The complete Logos suite will be installed on the city's new iSeries server, including financial management, government reporting/GASB 34, fixed assets, human resources and payroll, utility management, community services, business licensing, public works, and LogosNet.toGov components. The city of Madison, which is anticipating a doubling of population, to 30,000, over the next five years, expects the integrated computer system to pay dividends in several key areas. One important improvement is that the city's entire purchasing process, from requisition to vendor payment, will soon be automated, says Roland Robertson, an executive assistant to the city's mayor. "It will also give us better management control, especially in the budgeting arena. We will have real-time access to each department's encumbrance and expenditure status to help us stay within budget," Robertson says. More than 1,200 public sector agencies across the United States use New World Systems' OS/400- and Windows-based software. The city of Madison will be a "showcase site," city officials said.
  
  
• Attunity last week announced the availability of Attunity Web Services Gateway, a new tool designed to expose legacy applications (such as those running on OS/400 servers) as Web services. Attunity Web Services Gateway is a component of Attunity's Connect product line and uses the same series of back-end Connect adapters, including those for DB2/400, CICS, COM, BizTalk, and other protocols, databases, and integration points. Attunity says its new product features a Web Services Deployment Wizard, which automatically deploys Attunity adapters and then generates a standard-based Web services, with no coding required. The Web services support major protocols, such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Description Language (WSDL), and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI). Available iSeries adapters include RPG and DB2/400. The software is available now.
  
  
• Toshiba recently announced major enhancements to its Infinix dual-plane iSeries. The device, which features twin Intel Pentium processors and the "intuitive" Windows operating system, ships with enhancements that improve its capability to provide cardiologists with images of their patients' hearts during surgery. The Infinix DP-i system features dual C-arm-based image intensifiers, allowing surgeons to display cardiac images as well as images of the peripheral area at the same time, on two display monitors that mount on the base of the unit. Additionally, the Infinix DP-i system includes a high-performance liquid-metal bearing X-ray tube that present the industry's highest heat-capacity ratings while reducing radiation doses up to 80 percent. Raymond Dimas, a product manager with the company, summed up Toshiba's iSeries system the best when he said, "The Infinix DP-i series provides outstanding cardiovascular imaging at a lower dose with better spatial resolution providing superior fine vessel detail and small device visualization."
  
  
• Guild Companies has learned that Segway last week announced a major recall of its iSeries line of human transporters when it discovered that riders are falling off the devices when their battery gets low. The recall was initiated after three riders--none of whom are believed to be running for governor of California--fell off their human transporters during low-battery conditions; one rider required stitches after hitting his head. The voluntary recall issued last Friday by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Division describes how owners should contact Segway, of Manchester, New Hampshire, for a software upgrade that should correct the problem. Segway's pSeries and eSeries human transporters are also included in the recall.
  
  

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