But Wait, There's More

iSeries Marketing Exec Moves to IBM's Sales Organization

Specifically, Joy will now be global distribution channel manger for consultants and systems integrators in the Sales & Distribution unit. IBM says that she will be responsible for the worldwide marketing for global consultants and major systems integrators for the company across all industry sectors. Joy, who has been in the iSeries-AS/400 organization, came to the forefront in the iSeries marketing team in the wake of the departure of Kim Stevenson, who was vice president of iSeries marketing operations for nearly two years when Buell Duncan was general manager of the iSeries line. Stevenson left IBM for a marketing job at services rival Electronic Data Systems. Cecelia Marrese, a 20-year IBM veteran who replaced Stevenson, retains the top iSeries marketing job as vice president of iSeries marketing.

Don't Let that Ink Dry on 'iSeries' Tattoos

iSeries enthusiasts will be given the opportunity to express their love for the box by emblazoning themselves with temporary tattoos at the upcoming COMMON conference in San Antonio, Texas. The temporary tattoos are part of the new "iSeries.mySeries" marketing and image campaign created by IBM propagandist Malcolm Haines earlier this year to demonstrate the love users have for the Rochester product. But will the temporary tattoos wholly convey the intense devotion felt by hard-core users? Perhaps the most committed iSeries zealots would prefer to get permanent tattoos to show their decades-old dedication to the box? Actually, Haines says, it probably wouldn't be such a good idea to permanently ink yourself with the word "iSeries." "I don't know if I would recommend that as a permanent tattoo," he says, adding that a lot of people still call it AS/400.

The Rising Cost of RFID and UCCnet Non-Compliance

If you haven't made plans for radio frequency identification (RFID), you'd best get on it. That's the advice given last week by IT analyst Aberdeen Group, which said suppliers facing RFID implementation deadlines from Wal-Mart or the Defense Department in 2005 can do more harm than good by delaying. Putting off an RFID project can not only delay compliance, but compound the risk down the road, the Boston analyst group says. "Many [companies] are adopting a hold back strategy, letting others solve the inevitable problems and pass on the knowledge they acquire," says Tom Ryan, an Aberdeen vice president. "However, with the tight timelines for compliance, this strategy is exposing manufacturers to real compliance failure."

Adding to the analyst buzz over RFID is the Yankee Group, which, coincidentally, is also located in Boston. The Yankee Group says 30 to 40 percent of transaction information exchanged between suppliers and retailers is erroneous, and that every error costs from $50 to $200 to fix.

These numbers are in-line with an earlier study by AT Kearney, which found that 30 percent of item data in retailers' procurement catalogs did not match that of its supplier. AT Kearney said these product discrepancies--which are being addressed by the UCCnet data synchronization initiative--leads to about $40-billion worth of inefficiencies every year. However, the Yankee Group says the opportunity here is much bigger. Overall, the group says North American retailers and suppliers can eliminate $200 billion to $400 billion of waste in their supply chain by effectively wielding two key complementary technologies: RFID and UCCnet.

IBM to Acquire Large Indian Outsourcing House

IBM is acquiring an Indian outsourcing company, it was announced last week. Dakash eServices is one of India's largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, with 6,000 employees spread across its four BPO facilities near its headquarters in Gurgaon, and one new BPO facility currently under construction in the Philippines.

Dakash, which was created in 1999, specializes in call centers and provides back-office transaction processing services to a variety of companies, including Amazon.com. This will be the first BPO acquisition for IBM in India, although IBM already employs 9,000 people at its Bangalore subsidiary, which provides BPO services. The financial terms of the acquisition, which is subject to Indian regulatory approvals and is expected to close in May, were not announced. Following the acquisition, Dakash employees and customers will be absorbed into IBM Business Consulting Services. This is not the first time the companies have worked together. In March Dakash and IBM completed an installation of a PeopleSoft ERP package in just 20 weeks, which the companies said was a record. IBM Business Consulting Services performed the ERP implementation at Dakash facilities in India, the Philippines, England, and the U.S.

IBS to 'Optimize' on IBM eServers, Middleware

International Business Systems, one of the leading OS/400 ERP vendors with 5,000 customers around the world, and IBM have extended their strategic alliance to go after medium-sized manufacturers and distributors around the world. The two companies formed an alliance in January 2002, and as part of the extended alliance announced last week, IBM's sales force will push IBS' supply chain software, which IBM Global Services will install, integrate, and optimize for iSeries and xSeries servers. IBS also says it will "optimize" its core offerings for IBM's "open standards-based software and hardware," including WebSphere, Domino, and DB2 (curiously Linux was not part of the list). IBS' core supply chain solution, called the ASW Suite, runs on the OS/400 server. The Swedish ISV also develops a package called IBS Virtual Enterprise, which provides collaboration and integration capabilities and runs on OS/400, Windows 2000, and Unix operating systems.

Bill Gates, Windows Errors, and the CIA

Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates reiterated his company's commitment to developing good, secure software at the recent Gartner conference in San Diego, California. Of paramount importance in the development cycle is user feedback, the Windows developer said. But Gates admitted that, for some users, security concerns sometimes trumps the desire to provide feedback to Microsoft, which leads them to click the "don't send" option in Windows following an application crash. "When the CIA buys our products, they check that box," he said.

Get the Latest OS/400 PTF Guide

Our partner DLB Associates has been keeping track of IBM's PTF updates to OS/400 and its related programs. Here are the latest OS/400 PTF Guides:

March 13

March 20

March 27

April 3

April 10