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.
  
  

• August 30
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• July 26

• Analsyts at Gartner who follow the server business say things are finally starting to perk up in the European market. Thanks to a weakening dollar, which makes exports from the United States cheaper than what they might otherwise be, companies in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have been able to get servers for less money than in the past several years, and lower prices are apparently increasing demand. Moreover, Europe more or less sat out the recovery in IT spending that began in North America a few quarters ago, but the combination of pent-up demand, the desire to move to more modern machines, and the need to consolidate workloads onto fewer servers to save administration costs is forcing even the stingiest European firm to loosen up the purse strings. According Gartner, revenues across EMEA for servers were actually up for the first time in years. Shipments have gone up dramatically, as average server selling prices have dropped like a stone, which is why revenues are only up only slightly. Gartner says that, across all vendors, server markets in EMEA were up by 21.3 percent, to 373,245 units, in the second quarter of 2003. Hewlett-Packard sold 146,345 servers in the quarter, giving it a 39.2 percent share and 20.9 percent growth from the second quarter of 2002. IBM's shipments came to 63,091 in the quarter, giving it the number-two spot, with 16.9 percent of the EMEA pie. IBM grew shipments by 41.4 percent and, because it is selling a lot of high-end machines, probably contributed a disproportionately large piece of the revenue growth in EMEA. Dell showed 29 percent shipment growth in the quarter, giving it 55,140 machines sold and 14.8 percent of the market. Fujitsu-Siemens and Sun Microsystems had 6.8 percent and 5.2 percent of shipments in the quarter, with Fujitsu-Siemens seeing 22.9 percent shipment growth and Sun seeing an 18.4 percent shipment decline.
  
  
• Gauss, a developer of OS/400 content-management software, has agreed to be acquired by Open Text, a dominant player in the knowledge-management-software arena that is based in Waterloo, Ontario, for $11 million, the companies announced last week. Gauss bolstered its Windows and Unix content-management line in the spring of 2000, when it acquired Irvine, California, based Magellan Software, along with Magellan's 1,000 AS/400 customers. Like many software companies, Gauss has been hit hard by the recent economic downturn, and it cut expenses during a restructuring earlier this year. Gauss will contribute key technology that will help Open Text become one of the leaders in the enterprise content management space, analysts said of the acquisition. "We can offer new applications, support, and services to our customers," said Ron Vangell, chief executive officer at Gauss. "It is clearly the right move for both companies." If approved, the Gauss software will be merged with Open Text products. Open Text grew its license fee revenues by 24 percent last quarter, and finished its fiscal year 2003, which ended June 30, with $177.7 million in revenue. Seventy-three percent of Gauss shareholders have approved the deal, but German law requires 75 percent. The companies are confident the deal will close by December.
  
  
• Rival printer manufacturers Genicom and Tally have merged. The two companies, which together develop a range of OS/400-compatible line matrix and laser printers and printing software, have come together under the TallyGenicom name. Company executives say customers will not experience any changes whatsoever. "Joining forces as TallyGenicom simply makes us a stronger supplier going forward, allowing us to bring exciting new products and services to market faster than ever before," says Tally chief executive Gebhard Morent, who is now the chief operating officer of TallyGenicom, behind chief executive Arthur Gallo. TallyGenicom's headquarters will be in Chantilly, Virginia, with a European base of operations in Ulm, Germany, the former headquarters of Tally. In Europe, the company will do business simply as Tally. The combined company will have annual revenues of about $200 million.
  
  
• Computer Configuration Services, an IBM reseller, is now selling Linux-based ERP. At the recent LinuxWorld show in San Francisco, the Irvine, California, reseller signed a marketing agreement with ABAS USA, the U.S. subsidiary of the German company ABAS Software, to sell the company's ERP package on iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, and zSeries iron running Linux. "Many of our clients run older legacy-based ERP solutions and are concerned with their investments," says Mitch Kleinman, Computer Configuration Services executive vice president. "Since the ABAS USA products are written for the Linux operating system, the cost of ownership can be considerably reduced." ABAS made a big push into the American market earlier this year (see "ABAS Ports ERP to iSeries Linux, Opens East Coast Office"). ABAS Software has more than 1,000 customers running the Linux-based version of its ERP package. Most of its customers are in central and eastern Europe.
  
  
• Looking for a good place to get a little IT training? According to market researcher IDC, you could do much worse than IBM, which IDC recognized last week as a leader in IT training. A new IDC report entitled "Vendor Needs and Strategies: Top 15 Worldwide IT Training Providers, 2002" portrays IBM as a flexible IT training provider serving its students with the rare combination of market acuity and multiple offerings. IBM says that it's able to deliver such broad training capabilities by leveraging its expertise in consulting, e-business integration, research, and product development. "Big Blue is now one of the largest providers of ERP training and is in a very strong position to grow its business through broad-based, enterprise learning solutions comprising services, infrastructure, and learning content, directed at both IT and non-IT audiences," the IDC report states.
  
  

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