Service with a Smile--and a Wink and a Nod
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The AS/400, the iSeries, and the System i5 have a problem, and it is a big one. The problem is not any particular hard or soft ware. It is not that it supports legacy applications as well as modern ones. The problem is perception, both in the IT market at large and within IBM itself. At IT Jungle, we spend a lot of time dissecting and discussing the former, but because we are not inside the IBM Company, we can't really do much about the latter. READ MORE >

Analysts, Users, and ISVs React to the System i5
by Mary Lou Roberts

IBM's System i5 announcements on January 31 have neither shattered expectations nor set the IT industry in a tailspin. The specifics of the announcement are not cause for either alarm or for great celebration. They do, however, represent steady progress in what platform believers have come to expect in a continuing evolution as IBM attempts to hold onto its large installed base and capture new customers at the same time. READ MORE >

Which Way the Wind Blows for i5-Windows Integration
by Dan Burger

The use of Windows-based applications and databases in iSeries shops and their integration with the OS/400 platform will probably be one of the most wrestled with tasks companies deal with in the foreseeable future. By most estimates, nine out of ten iSeries shops have Windows servers for application or infrastructure purposes, beginning with file serving, and including such things as e-mail, SQL databases, Web serving, distribution of desktop tools such as Word and Excel, and, yes, even line of business applications. iSeries shops are deploying Windows apps and there is a need to lash them to the iSeries so they can get data and interface with RPG and COBOL applications. READ MORE >

Shaking IT Up: Don't Fear Silence, and Buy Some Duct Tape
by Kevin Vandever

I was driving my 13-year old daughter to school the other day and noticed a phenomenon that hadn't happened in a long time, if ever: Complete silence. I wasn't talking, she wasn't talking, and the radio wasn't listing the side-effects of the latest drug to hit the market. What made this more improbable was the fact that neither of us were listening in private to an iPod nor was this a five minute drive to school. My daughter attends a performing arts school and on good days it takes about 40 minutes to wind through southern California traffic to get there. Nothing but complete silence filled the air . . . and it was nice. READ MORE >