But Wait, There's More. . .

• If you are trying to keep abreast of what IBM has been doing with PTFs on OS/400 and related systems programs, you have got to check out the OS/400 PTF Guides put together by our partner, DLB Associates.
  
  

• March 15, 2003
• March 8, 2003
• March 1, 2003
• February 22, 2003
• February 15, 2003

• Both Windows 2000 and Linux have security holes, and if you are running these operating systems in your shop in conjunction with OS/400, you had better get the patches that have just been announced. Last week, servers running Windows 2000 employed by the U.S. Army were hacked, using a previously unknown buffer overflow related to Microsoft's WebDAV group development extensions to its Internet Information Services Web server. Hackers submitting very long fake URLs--about 50,000 characters or more--can cause the Web server to puke all over itself, and thus allow hackers to enter main memory and run programs of their choosing. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the hackers attacking the Army servers were inside the network, mapping it out and sending data out of the network through TCP/IP port 3389, which carries encrypted traffic. Microsoft issued a patch for this on March 17. If you can't apply the patch now, disable WebDAV immediately. You can also download a tool called Urlscan that will disable long URLs from being processed by IIS Web servers. In addition, the Samba open-source implementation of Windows print and file serving for Linux has a big hole in it, which commercial Linux distributor SuSE discovered last week, after one of its customers was hacked. And Red Hat announced on Tuesday morning that another Linux kernel vulnerability had surfaced in the Linux 2.4.18 kernel; apparently there is a vulnerability related to the ptrace function that can lead to local users gaining root privileges. Go to your Linux supplier or www.linux.org to find out more about this security risk.
  
  
• J.D. Edwards shops in the Great White North have a new source for their purge and archive needs. DCSoftware recently announced that it has signed TeamCain as a distributor of its OS/400 purge and archive tool, ARCTOOLS/400. TeamCain is a Peterborough, Ontario, consultant that specializes in JDE implementations, including OneWorld and WorldSoftware suites. ARCTOOLS/400 is a collection of four utilities that help users track down old or seldom-used files, purge them from a production database, archive them in case they're needed later, and then reorganize the file structure so it runs more efficiently. Earlier this year, DCSoftware developed a new ARCTOOLS/400 module specifically for JDE applications that includes a series of scripts and procedures for purging files from commonly used JDE applications, such as Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, and Purchasing.
  
  
• ClientSoft, a developer of screen-rejuvenation and legacy-integration software, has launched a major new initiative to strengthen its sales channel. The initiative includes the formation of a new business unit that will manage all channel sales, including ClientSoft's the strategic alliance with Microsoft, reseller agreements, and contracts with IT consulting organizations. Hugh Raiford, formerly vice president of marketing, will oversee the new channel sales business unit as vice president of corporate development, although his primary duty will be to manage the Miami, Florida, company's relationship with Microsoft. While ClientSoft supports Java-based Web services and the exposure of OS/400 and mainframe processes as Java components, the company's core integration platform is Microsoft and .NET. Robert Evelyn, chief operations officer and senior vice president of technology at ClientSoft, put it this way: "With this new business group, we are making a clear commitment to the .NET Framework, as well as continuing to build out our Java and Web services capabilities through the channel."
  
  
• CRM software developer Touchtone and Varsity Logistics, a developer of shipping software, are teaming up to deliver a unified customer service and shipping solution that runs natively on the iSeries. Last month the two companies announced that they will combine Wintouch eCRM, Touchtone's CRM software, with ShipSoft, Varsity's shipping software--with the goal of making shipping status information available to every department within an organization. With one unified CRM and shipping application, users will be able to access real-time shipping status from any desktop, eliminating calls to the shipping department. Other benefits include the capability to send out invoices on the same day, to handle an order only once, to easily track packages, and to make real-time shipping information available to the service department, the companies say. Varsity is based in San Francisco, and Touchtone makes its home in Irvine, California.
  
  
• The ink is drying on a new partnership between Gauss, the developer of imaging software, and Genelco Software, a developer of OS/400-based policy management systems for insurance companies. As part of the new alliance, officially announced in early March, Genelco will integrate its Genelco Life+ and Genelco Group+ policy management systems with the integrated document management and workflow modules of VIP Enterprise, Gauss's enterprise content management. The Gauss integration is targeted at bringing unstructured content, such as memos, PC files, and print-stream reports in PDF and other formats, into Genelco's data-driven applications, thereby providing claims administrators with a more complete range of readily accessible information. The integration has already been tested at several Genelco sites, including Shenandoah Life, a Virginia life-insurance company with more than $1 billion in assets. Genelco is a subsidiary of Liberty Insurance Services Corporation, which is part of Greenville, South Carolina, based RBC Liberty Insurance.
  
  
• Cherbonnier, Mayer and Associates, IBM's largest premier business partner in the state of Louisiana, will be offering its customer base of 200 community banks new software as a result of Cherbonnier, Mayer and Associates' new partnership with Engineered Business Systems, a subsidiary of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, based banking software developer Tangent Solutions. Last week, Engineered Business Systems announced that it had formed a pact with Cherbonnier, Mayer and Associates to sell Automated Compliance & Evaluation System, its quality control application for mortgage bankers, and Engineered Business Systems' iXchange, a credit-checking application that pulls data from the big three credit agencies, Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. Tangent Solutions ported Automated Compliance & Evaluation System and iXchange to OS/400 in 2002, and received the value-added enhancement for those two products from IBM just last month.
  
  
• Companies implementing lean-and-flow-style manufacturing techniques with their OS/400-based ERP software from American Software have a new place to go for lean and flow education. (Lean and flow is a variant of the just-in-time manufacturing techniques created by Japanese companies in the 1980s.) Last week the Atlanta-based ERP software vendor announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with FlowVision, a Dillon, Colorado, company that educates and consults on lean and flow manufacturing techniques. The alliance gives American Software users access to Flow Vision's workshops and FlowVision services, such as a customized software applicability evaluation. American Software's Flow Manufacturing ERP applications run on OS/400 and Windows platforms.
  
  

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