But Wait, There's More. . .

• If you are trying to keep up with PTFs on OS/400 and related systems programs, check out the OS/400 PTF Guides, put together by our partner DLB Associates.
  
  

• March 29, 2003
• March 22, 2003
• March 15, 2003
• March 8, 2003
• March 1, 2003

• The Apache Web server, from the Apache Software Foundation, has a vulnerability that makes it susceptible to denial of service (DoS) attacks, it was revealed last week. The vulnerability is present in Apache 2.044, and most likely all preceding 2.XX releases, according to iDefense, the Reston, Virginia, security intelligence services firm that first described the vulnerability. The Apache Software Foundation has fixed the problem with the Apache 2.0.45 release, and has encouraged all Apache 2.0 users to upgrade to it. The iSeries' susceptibility to this vulnerability is not known. IBM uses the Apache server as the core of its integrated Web server, officially called HTTP Server (powered by Apache). Last year, IBM announced that it had released a version of the Web server based on the Apache 2.0.39 code. IBM was not available for comment at press time.
  
  
• Kroger, the $52 billion grocery chain, has joined UCCnet and will begin rolling out UCCnet technology and services to its 2,488 stores and suppliers later this year. UCCnet, a branch of the Uniform Code Council, is a nonprofit organization that has set up a database of information about products (such as number, height, or weight) that retailers and their suppliers need to coordinate orders, shipping, and the actual placement of products on shelves. By standardizing on a single set of product data, the GLOBALregistry, as the database is called, can help to eliminate inefficiency stemming from errors in product data, which studies have shown to cost the industry up to $40 billion per year. Kroger, whose brands include Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less, King Soopers, Smith's, Fry's, Dillons, QFC, and City Market, joins several other large retailers, including Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Wegman's, in participating in UCCnet. Last month, Albertson's, which operates 2,300 grocery stores in 31 states, joined UCCnet and announced it would begin rolling out UCCnet technology later this year. In December, Lowe's, which operates more than 800 home improvement stores in 43 states, also joined UCCnet. (For more information on UCCnet, see "Tech Insight: UCCnet Touted as Cure to Product Data Woes.")
  
  
• Host integration provider WRQ announced a new partnership last week with Best Software, a developer of applications--primarily Windows-based apps--for the midmarket. The partnership entails WRQ providing its host integration software, called Verastream, to connect Best Software's CRM application, called SalesLogix, to customers' host systems, which could be anything from IBM mainframes and OS/400 servers to Hewlett-Packard HP3000s and OpenVMS servers. Without an integration platform like Verastream, WRQ says, integrating a host system with an application such as SalesLogix is a time-consuming process. The partnership with Best Software is a coup of sorts for Seattle-based WRQ, as Best Software, the Scottsdale, Arizona, based subsidiary of British ERP house Sage Group--the fifth largest ERP software vendor in the world--owns a collection of popular small-business packages, including Abra, ACT!, and SalesLogix, used by a huge installed based of 1.7 million customers in North America.
  
  
• GT Software, an Atlanta provider of host access software, has formed a strategic partnership with MCM Software Solutions for software that allows access to applications and databases running on the iSeries and AS/400, among other platforms. The partnership gives GT Software the right to sell JEvolution in North America, while MCM Software, based in Miami, retains rights to sell the product in Latin America, the companies announced. JEvolution is a GUI development tool that incorporates a wizard-based development approach, which, GT Software says, allows "users with little or no knowledge" of Java, XML, or HTML to rapidly develop Web applications. In addition to creating GUIs from legacy systems, JEvolution provides a database access component, with support for the following databases: IBM DB2/400 (DB2 for OS/400), IBM DB2 Universal Database (for Unix, Windows, and Linux servers), IBM DB2 (for mainframes), Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Informix, and Progress SQL.
  
  
• Vision Solutions is two-thirds of the way through meetings with its worldwide channel partners in preparation for the mid-year roll out of Orion, its next-generation, multiplatform high-availability system. Two meetings--one for partners in the Americas, the other for those in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)--have already been held, and the third, for the Asia-Pacific region, will be held next month. The whole partner process got off to a start in early February with a meeting in beautiful Newport Beach, California. Vision kicked it up a notch with an announcement party at the House of Blues in New Orleans, where IBM held its PartnerWorld convention in February. That was followed up with the EMEA event in Cannes, France. At each three-day event, Vision is providing product training and certification, sales and marketing information, and speakers on a variety of topics. Vision's last event, originally scheduled for this month, will be held in May at the Kea Lani Resort in Maui, Hawaii.
  
  

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