The Lean, Mean RPG-5250-DB2/400 Machine
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Microsoft has been getting a lot of attention for its future consolidated line of application software, dubbed Dynamics and created under the code-name "Centro." Dynamics will be launched on top of its "Longhorn" Windows Vista platform starting next year, and it will include the future Exchange Server 12 release of the company's groupware and messaging products as well as accounting software. Dynamics will be tightly integrated with Microsoft's Office suite, and by 2008 will merge the code bases of its Great Plains, Axtapa, Navision, and Solomon product lines. This is a serious move by Microsoft, and one that the iSeries has to counter with more than rhetoric. READ MORE >

Notes/Domino 7 Brings New Collaboration Technology, Performance Gains
by Dan Burger

Businesses have to grow, and usually with growth comes complexity, whether you are talking about business models, product lines, or customer needs. Complexity has become such a monkey-on-the-back issue that IBM and many of its biggest competitors in the groupware space have been focusing on reducing complexity with collaboration software. The release last week of IBM's Notes and Domino 7 represents the latest collaboration technology that Big Blue can apply to the complexity problem. READ MORE >

Continuous Data Protection: A Hot Topic that's Getting Hotter
by Mary Lou Roberts

In the hellish wake of Hurricane Katrina, our country is still focused on rescue, relief, and recovery efforts. We've only begun to measure the human toll that is staggering. It will be some time yet before anyone has any kind of serious estimate of the property damage and the cost of rebuilding or re-establishing the physical structures that have been destroyed by wind, water, and fire. It will probably take even longer to establish (if, indeed, we ever can) the ultimate cost to American business and employment. READ MORE >

IT Pundits Espouse Linux Benefits Including and Beyond TCO
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

For several years now, there has been a lot of mud slinging between the advocates of the Linux platforms and the advocates of the Windows platform. There is a lot of talk about total cost of ownership (TCO) differences between the platforms, and big companies with a lot at stake on both sides of the slinging (and some on both sides, ironically) expend a lot of effort and spend a lot of dough talking up Linux or Windows. The firm establishment of Linux as a viable and vibrant alternative to Unix and Windows has done nothing to change this. READ MORE >

   But Wait, There's More

Secunia Issues Alert on SMNP Security Hole After IBM Creates a Patch for It . . . IBM Issues PTF to Patch Bug in Shark Disk Arrays . . . BCD's Figura Joins iSeries ISV Advisory Council . . . ProData's Suite of Tools Added to the iSeries Developer's Roadmap . . . Lakeview Technology Opens Office in Singapore . . . LANSA Webinar Series Focuses on Application Modernization . . . AMR Says Hosted CRM Market More than Doubled in 2004 . . . READ MORE >

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