Lawson Tells OS/400 Users It's Committed to the Platform

by Dan Burger

Lawson Software, although slow to deliver its latest software package for its OS/400 customers, is sending a message that it is, in fact, in the works, and that the company is committed to delivering a new product written in RPG IV. AS/400 and iSeries customers using Lawson Solutions, the ERP package from the St. Paul, Minnesota, based company, will have an upgrade path to Version 8.0 with features such as portal technology, enhancements to financial and procurement applications, and new capabilities in areas such as services automation, enterprise reporting, and international functionality.

Lawson will not tell us the date for general availability of its OS/400 Lawson Solutions software release, but it told its OS/400 customers in April, during Cube, the company's user group conference, that its commitment to the OS/400 platform has not wavered.

Lawson Solutions Version 8.0 for Unix and Windows was released in August 2001. It is considered to be Lawson's current core product. Sources at Lawson say OS/400 releases always lag behind Unix and Windows releases, and they say further that the situation will remain that way until Lawson's applications are totally converted to Java. Until then, Lawson sources say the company strategy is to "better control the lag time." Lawson policy is to not announce new products until the quarter in which the release takes place.

Lawson Solutions Version 8.0 is once again written in RPG IV for native support on iSeries and AS/400 platforms, and it will most likely become available late in 2002. The OS/400 version will coincide with an enhanced version of the Unix release of Lawson Solutions, tentatively dubbed Lawson Solutions 8.x. Customers are being advised to budget for an upgrade in 2003/2004. Lawson plans to announce a decommission date for OS/400 customers using Lawson Solutions 7.2.2 sometime after the release of Lawson Solutions 8.x. OS/400 V5R1 or higher will be required in order to run Lawson Solutions 8.x.

The inclusion of Lawson Portal technology is expected to be Version 8.x's most significant feature. Although the portal's popularity with Unix and Windows customers has made it a priority, the more subdued enthusiasm among OS/400 users would indicate that the portal option will drop from almost universal appeal among Unix and Windows users to maybe 50 percent of the OS/400 users. The other 50 percent will probably continue with a Client Access model.

Lawson will add some other new functionality in several other pieces of the Lawson Solutions suite. One area is services automation, which allows a company's service department to automate such things as requests for assistance and billing. The areas of enterprise reporting and international functionality are also slated for upgrades. Services Automation and Enterprise Reporting run on Windows only, but will be compatible with other Lawson 8.x applications running on OS/400 servers.

The Web server portion of WebSphere will be required in order to run 8.x, and, according to Lawson, subsequent releases may require WebSphere Application Server. In terms of user interfaces, both thin client (PC-based) and the Lawson Portal are the options to get into Lawson Solutions 8.x. A 5250 green-screen interface will not be available.

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