SSA GT Strikes Again, Announces Intent to Acquire Infinium
by Alex Woodie

SSA Global Technologies struck again yesterday, when it announced its intention to acquire all outstanding shares of Infinium Software. The acquisition has the approval of Infinium's board of directors and would cost SSA GT about $95 million. If approved by a majority of Infinium's shareholders, the acquisition would further strengthen SSA GT's grip on market for OS/400 ERP software, which was bolstered earlier this year when SSA GT acquired the PRMS ERP suite from Computer Associates. READ MORE >

SEPE Ventures Beyond the Cozy Confines of FaxStar
by Alex Woodie

"And now, for something completely different. . ." That famous expression from the British variety show Monty Python could be used to describe the strategic direction of SEPE, the Costa Mesa, California, company that develops, markets, and sells FaxStar, the popular fax automation software. SEPE, however, doesn't want to be known only for fax software, and at the recent COMMON conference in Denver, the company surprisingly introduced a data mining application. READ MORE >

Coming to Grips with CFR 21 Part 11
by Alex Woodie

Five years ago, the Food and Drug Administration enacted a rule governing how companies in the pharmaceutical industry should handle electronic records. This rule, known as CFR 21 Part 11--or simply Part 11--pales in comparison with other IT mandates, such as Y2K, HIPPA, or the Euro conversion. However, there is some evidence that the FDA is stepping up its enforcement of Part 11, which is helping to create a market for Part 11 compliance tools. READ MORE >

RJS Software Touts Affordability of New Image Server/400 Software
by Alex Woodie

RJS Software Systems is rolling out a new imaging utility that it hopes will attract small and midsized OS/400 shops that have avoided implementing imaging technology due to high costs. Image Server/400, announced during the recent COMMON conference in Denver, allows organizations to store scanned images in an OS/400 database and deliver them to users through a Web browser. With a price tag in the $10,000 range, RJS has positioned Image Server/400 well below the traditional cost for imaging products. READ MORE >

ABL Announces New Pocket Strategi for Wireless Applications
by Alex Woodie

ADVANCED BusinessLink, a Kirkland, Washington, provider of Web and wireless middleware for the OS/400 platform, has announced new software that allows mobile employees to access their wireless applications even if the iSeries Web server it connects to is down, or if they've roamed outside of the cellular network. ABL developed the new application, which is called pocket Strategi, earlier this year for one of its clients, and plans to make it generally available starting in November. READ MORE >

News Briefs and Product Shorts

LANSA Lets Michigan Municipality Go Wireless . . . Infinium Launches Process Manufacturing 12.0 . . . Ironside Offering Free Six-Month Licenses for Order Status App . . . Intentia Announces "Breakthrough" Portal Technology . . . ASC Updates RIO's RPG-to-Java Conversion Capabilities . . . MPG Offers New OS/400 Server Performance Graphs with PerfNav 8.0 . . . READ MORE >

Reader Feedback and Insights

We value your feedback and your insights into the OS/400 market. Feel free to send a letter to the editor. We will consider your letter a candidate for the reader feedback column associated with this newsletter, but we will contact you before we make your email public. READ MORE >

Corrections

The article "SEAGULL's X-Caliber Replaces 5250 Data Stream with XML" has been edited since its original publication to correct several errors. The name of SEAGULL's new software, X-Caliber, was incorrectly spelled. SEAGULL is a Dutch company, not a Danish company, as originally stated. [Corrections made 10/23/02]

The article "Old Dominion's Web Site Finds New Life in Java on iSeries" has been edited since its original publication to correct several errors. The story stated that one reason for developing a new Web site in Java was that the RPG programmers who had developed the previous Web site had left the company. In fact, one RPG programmer and one Java programmer left the company. The company hired two Java programmers before the e-commerce manager came on board, not after, as implied in the story. The story misstated the number of reports available to users with the new Web site. There are four to seven different types of reports, not 47. Also, the company is now using stored procedures with its new Web site; they were not used previously, as stated in the story. [Corrections made 10/28/02]