News Briefs and Product Shorts

• Lakeview Technology recently started shipping a new release of its OmniReplicator data replication software for DB2/400, Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft SQL Server. With OmniReplicator 4.0, Lakeview has redesigned the architecture, which, the company says, has boosted performance and utilization of system resources, and it has added JDBC capabilities as well. There is also a new feature with this release, called Synchronization, which Lakeview bills as a combination of the Copy and Replication functions. Synchronization takes a snapshot of database tables while continuing to capture changes, then automatically applies the changes, the company says. A new Monitoring and Control GUI also debuts with this release, allowing users to check the progress of data movement without risking changes. Lakeview has also enhanced the software's capability to make complex row and column transformation decisions, and has added new capabilities that let data flow from source to target, through an intermediary, which assists data flow when there is a firewall present or a bottleneck in the network. Finally, security has been enhanced with this release through the use of the Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) implementation of the SSL and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols. The software is available now.
  
  

• OS/400 forms management vendor inFORM Decisions last week announced iDriver, a new iSeries driver that connects Toshiba America Business Solutions' e-STUDIO color multifunction laser printers to iSeries servers. With iDriver, the extensive array of finishing options, including output bin selection, hole punching, and stapling, can be accessed through a native interface on an iSeries workstation. Before iDriver, OS/400 shops required an external, Wintel-based component to pass the non-PCL commands controlling that extended printer functionality to the eSTUDIO printer. This added unwanted expense and complexity, as well as a new point of failure, to the configuration. Using iDriver eliminates all that, however, making printing to the eSTUDIO printer a snap, says the company's group director, Michael Alpert. "It's akin to a Windows environment, when you select file and then select print," he says. "The user sees a dialog box that presents several options that control the e-STUDIO's finishing features." The iDriver was jointly developed by Toshiba America Business Solutions and inFORM and is available through Toshiba America Business Solutions for about $4,000.
  
  
• Symantec last week started shipping a new release of its Enterprise Security Manager software that features enhanced support for OS/400. Symantec, which has a partnership with OS/400 security software vendor SafeStone Technologies for iSeries-resident "agent" technology, says the new version, Enterprise Security Manager 6.0, eliminates the proxy mechanism that previously connected Enterprise Security Manager and OS/400, making the connection safer with this release. Another advantage of this release is that OS/400 security can now be audited from a single console and compared with audit results from other supported platforms, including Windows, Unix, VMS, and NetWare. Other features added to Version 6.0 include new compliance modules that can help determine a company's vulnerability to industry initiatives, including ISO 17799, Sans Top 20, and HIPAA. New baseline compliance modules have also been added to help customers protect themselves against known vulnerabilities in leading databases and Web server platforms, which were not named. Enterprise Security Manager 6.0 performs more than 2,000 security and vulnerability checks on a variety of platforms, and is available now.
  
  
• LANSA announced last week that two more of its packaged applications have received ServerProven certification from IBM. The Chicago software vendor's UCCnet Direct and AS2 Direct applications--which run on the iSeries and on Windows, and let users comply with industry mandates--recently received the certification. UCCnet Direct and AS2 Direct join two other LANSA products that are ServerProven: Commerce Edition and Integrator. ServerProven applications can help save customers up to $5,000 when run on IBM hardware, LANSA says.
  
  
• IBM on Friday started shipping several more Express products, including WebSphere Business Integration Express, which let companies to integrate their business applications with UCCnet's Global Registry, for product data synchronization. The nonprofit UCCnet project has gained momentum as a way for retailers and their suppliers to increase efficiencies and to save up to $40 billion annually. Experts say that that amount is being wasted due to inconsistencies in product-naming schemes and the extra work it entails to fix them. Several software developers have already rolled out native OS/400 applications that allow companies to connect to UCCnet Global Registry, and it was just a matter of time before IBM got in on the game. The version of WebSphere Business Integration Express that IBM is shipping this week runs on Windows and starts at $7,000. IBM is reportedly working to develop other versions that run on OS/400 and Linux, which could be available by the end of this year.
  
  
• Saudi Telecom has decided to expand its use of CSG Systems' ICMS, an OS/400-based customer care and billing application for telecom providers, CSG Systems announced last week. Saudi Telecom uses ICMS to provide prepaid and post-paid mobile, wireline, and Internet connectivity for more than 8 million subscribers in Saudi Arabia and neighboring nations. As part of last week's announcement, IBM's Middle East professional services consultants, in conjunction with Saudi Business Machines' professional services unit, will join with Saudi Telecom on multiple ICMS-related projects, which were not described. ICMS is used by 35 companies in 20 countries around the world, and was sold by IBM to CSG Systems, of Englewood, Colorado, 14 months ago.
  
  
• In our quest to bring you complete iSeries coverage, we come across some pretty interesting things. One of them is Visible Inventory's iSeries line of vendor management inventory products. This Salem, New Hampshire, company sells a range of hardware and software products to help companies continuously measure inventory levels in the warehouse. The company's iSeries hardware products include the iBin, iShelf, and iPallet products, which can determine the quantity of parts in a bin, shelf, or pallet by monitoring weight. As an item is removed or added to a bin, shelf, or pallet, the devices sense the changes and send a radio signal that automatically updates the ERP, supply chain, or other business management system, using XML. Sounds pretty cool, right? It is, until you realize that on the software side of the iSeries family, there is iVision, which, sad to say, runs on Microsoft's Windows operating system.
  
  

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