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OS/400 Edition
Volume 12, Number 27 -- July 14, 2003

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.

Amid all the hubbub about the "Madison" Itanium 2 processors from Intel, IBM has announced that the Power5 processors, which will be used in its future "Squadron" line of pSeries and iSeries servers, are up and running in its labs. While all IBM said for sure was that the Power5 machines will debut in the pSeries and iSeries lines next year, our sources say that the Power5 chips will debut in the pSeries line in April or May 2004, or maybe even a little earlier, if things go well. IBM will also use the Power5 processors as controllers in its TotalStorage server arrays. As we reported back in February, the 64-way Power5 server is expected to have about four times the performance of the first-generation 32-way pSeries Regatta-H boxes using the 1.3 GHz Power4 processors. That's about 1.6 million TPM. Back in February, IBM executives gave the impression that the performance leap was compared to the then-current results posted on the 1.3 GHz Power4 Regatta-H machines using Oracle databases, which suggested that maybe 2 million TPM was possible. IBM yesterday clarified that comparison. The Power5 servers will support AIX and Linux in the pSeries line, and will support OS/400, AIX, and Linux in the iSeries line.
Midrange storage vendor GST, which has recently burst onto the scene, has announced that it has partnered with Balboa Capital to provide leasing and financing services to customers wanting to acquire its storage products. Balboa, headquartered in Irvine, California, was founded in 1988 and offers equipment financing across the United States for computing gear, printing equipment, and health care, physical fitness, telecom, digital imaging, and other capital-intensive products.
The Hall-Mark reseller unit of Avnet last week announced the first of a series of tools it has created for IBM servers to help make it easier for its downstream resellers and customers to cope with new technology. The tool series is called Load 'n' Run, and the first one out of the chute is Load 'n' Run Linux for iSeries. Using the tool, customers can install Linux on an iSeries server in as little as seven minutes. (I've set up some Linux servers recently, and I can tell you from personal experience that this is astonishing.) The Load 'n' Run for Linux for iSeries tool sets up the Linux partition with print, file, and Web-serving components, and is intended to allow resellers and customers to quickly set up Linux partitions on the iSeries, onto which they can consolidate the same workloads running on outboard servers with Windows, Linux, or Unix operating systems.
There's a little surprise waiting for you with that new iSeries you're set to receive: a copy of BOScom's Jadvantage 5250 emulation software. Last week the Phoenix, Arizona, subsidiary of B.O.S. Better On-Line Solutions announced that IBM has agreed to include Jadvantage 5.0 with each iSeries server shipped after July 15. Jadvantage is Java program that provides on-the-fly, browser-based GUI emulation and includes macros, keyboard mapping, mouse support, SNA character stream printing, and toolbar customization. Jadvantage software runs on Windows or OS/400 hardware, and, with the release of Version 5.0 this spring, it supports Mozilla and Netscape browsers and Linux and Macintosh desktop computers, as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer on Windows PCs.
In other B.O.S. Better On-Line Solutions news, the company announced it has hired a new chairman, will implement a cost-reduction plan, and has complied with the Nasdaq stock market's listing requirements. In late June, Edouard Cukierman was appointed as chairman of the Teradyon, Israel, company, replacing Zvi Greengold, who remains with the company as chairman of the Boscom Ltd. subsidiary. The company is also reducing R&D and marketing expenses, closing offices, renegotiating supplier agreements, and cutting salaries in an attempt to save $1.2 million through December. "We have resolved to turn the company profitable by the end of 2003, by focusing on the marketing of our connectivity and IP products on the one hand and reducing costs on the other hand," Cukierman says. Cukierman is chief executive of the Catalyst Fund, BOS's largest shareholder, and sits on the boards of several other companies.
British systems management software provider CCSS is the newest strategic partner of Vision Solutions, the companies announced last week. CCSS recently launched a new version of its QMessage Monitor software that had earned the ClusterProven label after testing by IBM. It turns out that CCSS worked extensively with Vision Solutions, one of the dominant high-availability-software providers, to cluster-enable QMessage Monitor. Now the two companies are deepening their relationship, to offer Vision's high availability and clustering software to CCSS's users. "Systems management can experience difficulties in switching with high-availability software," says Ron Peeters, senior director of business development for Vision. "Users can now be assured that QMessage Monitor will function properly in a switchover or failover environment."
Don't forget the "international" in Create!form International. Last month the Massachusetts provider of document-output-management software announced three new reseller agreements with solution providers in England and Cyprus. The three new channel partners include two Gold Partners in England, Azur Group and KIR Consulting, and a new Silver Partner, Intelligent Output Solutions, in England and Cyprus. Azur Group, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, is comprised of several subsidiaries that resell J.D. Edwards, SAP, and QAD solutions. KIR Consulting is based in London and sells JDE solutions. Intelligent Output Solutions sells document management products and solutions.