|
But Wait, There's More
IBM Streamlines PartnerWorld Program
IBM customers and business partners have often complained about the complexity of Big Blue's support programs, which often assigns the same customer or partner multiple numbers with different support channels for each, based on the different products and services IBM provides. Well, the good news is that business partners will no longer be subjected to this fragmented process. Last week, IBM announced that it's making changes to its PartnerWorld program that should make it easier for its 90,000 partners to do business with Big Blue. IBM's old four-track PartnerWorld system has been replaced with a "single, simplified" program that delivers common membership criteria, benefits, and a single data infrastructure. IBM made several other tweaks to the PartnerWorld system, including the institution of a "clearly defined" points system that rates business partners as Member, Advanced, or Premier partners, based on their "total IBM achievement" across all IBM brands; new PartnerWorld Value Package and Value Options programs that give partners access to additional sales, marketing, training, and technical support for a fee; a single user ID and password for business partners to access online resources; and a revamped Premier level program that features a new emblem and new benefits focusing on joint sales and marketing. IBM rival Microsoft also revamped its business partner program last week, with the addition of a new entry-level partnership level, as well as several other changes designed to streamline partners' interactions with the software company.
April Sets New Record for Number of Security Alerts
OS/400 systems administrators may note, with some degree of professional righteousness, that the number of security alerts issued in April 2004 set a new record, according to Threat Focus, a Tustin, California, company that monitors vulnerability alerts and patches for more than 1,600 software products and operating systems. Major security alerts from Microsoft, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, all the major Linux distributors, and several other large network and computer system vendors helped to put April in the books with the highest number of security alerts for a month. The record, which Threat Focus announced three days before the month was even over, displaced September 2003 for having the most security alerts. Microsoft issued eight alerts for security holes in all major versions of Windows, as well as Exchange, SQL Server, and other products, while a target="new" href="http://www.ibm.com">IBM issued exactly zero security alerts for OS/400 and its associated software products for the month of April.
PeopleSoft Reports 62% Increase in Software License Fees
OS/400 ERP bellwether PeopleSoft reported $643 million in revenue for its first quarter ending March 31, an increase of $183 million, or about 40 percent, from the same quarter a year ago. The Pleasanton, California, ERP software company's license revenue increased by about $50 million, to $130.8 million, or about 62 percent. Pro forma net income for the quarter increased by about 62 percent, to $62 million, while profit dropped $14 million, to $24 million, on a GAAP basis, which includes charges related to PeopleSoft's acquisition of J.D. Edwards in 2003 (the company started providing pro forma results after the acquisition). Company officials say they met their goals for the quarter. "We announced a growth objective for 2004 that was by far the most aggressive in the enterprise application software business, and we are delivering to that plan," said PeopleSoft's president and CEO, Craig Conway.
Lawson CEO Says ERP Providers Out of Touch with Customers
Are large business software providers out of touch with their customers? According to the CEO of Lawson Software, which is itself a provider of business software to big companies, they definitely are. "Business as usual is broken," Jay Coughlan, Lawson's CEO, told a thousand Lawson users at the company's annual user conference, held in Atlanta last week. "We see good companies brought to their knees trying to implement applications that are too complicated and too cumbersome and are poor fits for the business at hand." Coughlan pledged that Lawson, which recently recommitted to delivering parity between its OS/400 and Unix and Windows ERP products, would no longer make those mistakes, and he announced a new company-wide initiative to focus Lawson's attention on a single goal: satisfying the customer. "Announced today, Lawson's initiative puts the interests of our clients unmistakably first. It also focuses on ensuring that business applications begin to fulfill their promise of improved control, efficiency, productivity, and bottom-line benefits to our clients," he said. Coughlan's plan will be implemented over the next 1,000 days, with progress reports provided every 100 days.
Sterling Completes Acquisition of TR2
Sterling Commerce, provider of OS/400-based EDI, UCCnet, and business integration software, last week announced it has completed its acquisition of TR2, a developer of data cleansing and synchronization software. Sterling, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of SBC, says that the acquisition of TR2, which is based in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and has hundreds of customers, gives the company an advantage in deploying hosted UCCnet data synchronization solutions for the retail and consumer packaged goods industries. Terms of the acquisition were not announced.
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:
April 3
April 10
April 17
April 24
May 1
|
RJS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS
