IBM Launches New Gap-Filling iSeries Model 870
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

IBM geared down the Model 810 iSeries machine back in May to offer a machine with a lower sticker price and a smaller amount of performance that would fill a gap between the entry Model 800 and the Model 810 machines. This week, IBM will fill another gap in the iSeries product line, which was revamped in January. Big Blue is announcing a geared-down Model 870 machine to fill an even bigger gap between the Model 825 and the prior Model 870. READ MORE >

IBM Posts a Good Second Quarter in a Tough IT Environment
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

IBM last week reported what can only be characterized as a good second quarter in an IT spending environment that continues to be difficult on a worldwide basis. Big Blue reported overall sales of $21.6 billion, up 10.1 percent from last year's second quarter, with net income of $1.7 billion and earnings of 97 cents per share. Because IBM was getting out of the disk drive business and restructuring its chip businesses this time last year, charges against earnings brought net income down to a measly $56 million, or three pennies per share. This is obviously a big improvement on the bottom line, which explains why IBM ditched the disk and chip businesses. READ MORE >

HP, JDE Team Up to Push Apps on Wintel Iron
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Hewlett-Packard and J.D. Edwards are scheduled to start delivering in a few weeks a prebundled, preintegrated JDE 5-on-ProLiant solution that runs on top of Windows 2000 and Windows 2003. The bundle is targeted at small and midsized shops with 50 to 150 ERP users. This may not be the typical iSeries JDE customer, since JDE tends to be installed by larger companies, but it is certainly the heart of the iSeries market. READ MORE >

Admin Alert: Lessons from My WebSphere Express Installation Diary
by Joe Hertvik

I recently started playing with IBM's new WebSphere Application Server Express middleware in one of my iSeries partitions. Although I was new to the product, I had reasonable experience in installing and configuring WebSphere Express. To help other readers get started with Express, here are some impressions and notes from my first go-around with the product. READ MORE >

As I See It: What You Believe Can Hurt You
by Victor Rozek

What do eggs, drums, gongs, hoes, sheep, ivory, kettles, leather, nails, whale's teeth, and vodka have in common? I suppose it could be stuff found in your teenager's room after the mother of all parties, but it isn't. Give up? All of these items were used as money at one time or another. We don't usually think of money as having multiple faces, but it is not monolithic and never has been. READ MORE >

But Wait, There's More

Get the Updated OS/400 PTF Guide . . . iSeries Posts Big Performance on Domino, JDE Workloads . . . Elliot Appointed to IBM BP Advisory Board . . . COMMON Announces Speaker Excellence Awards for Indianapolis Show . . . IGEL Technology Entering Canadian Market for Thin-Client Computing . . . Gauss Inks Software Integration Deal with MDY Advanced Technologies . . . Ericom-JBoss Partnership Brings Host Integration to Open-Source Web App Server . . . READ MORE >

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