But Wait, There's More. . .

• If you are trying to sort out the latest PTFs for OS/400 and its related systems programs that IBM has released, you need to check out the OS/400 PTF Guides, which our partner, DLB Associates, has compiled for you. The latest OS/400 PTF Guide is for Sept. 21. An archive of OS/400 PTF Guides published to date is also available on our site.

• IBM and Red Hat last week announced that they have forged a broad alliance that will see Big Blue push Red Hat's Linux Advanced Server on IBM's entire line of eServer products. IBM has several prior agreements with Red Hat, and has arrangements similar to this new Red Hat deal with competitors SuSE and Turbolinux. But Red Hat had been playing a little hard to get with IBM and had not come through with the same level of commitment for IBM's zSeries mainframes and pSeries and iSeries midrange machines as SuSE and Turbolinux. Under the deal, Red Hat has agreed to deliver "mainstream" support for Red Hat Linux Advanced Server on the zSeries, iSeries, and pSeries platforms from IBM. While, technically speaking, customers can download the open source versions of Linux and compile and run them on their machines, or use any PowerPC distribution of Linux on iSeries and pSeries machines, including Red Hat's own distribution, that is not the same as having a shrink-wrapped program that runs out of the box on these machines. By default, Red Hat's various Linux implementations are supported on IBM's Intel-based xSeries machines, using either 32-bit Pentium or 64-bit Itanium processors. For more information, see "IBM, Red Hat Team Up to Push Linux into Enterprises."
  
  
• Hewlett-Packard last week acquired a little OS/400 expertise as part of a $1.5 billion outsourcing agreement with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which is based in Toronto, Ontario. CIBC has two redundant data centers packed with HP's NonStop fault tolerant servers, IBM mainframes, and IBM AS/400 and iSeries equipment, as well as a bunch of Unix servers and Windows servers of all makes and models. This data center was managed by an HP-CIBC outsourcing organization established in 1998 called Intria-HP, which will be absorbed into HP Services as part of this deal. That partnership, which manages CIBC's two data centers as well as some of the IT assets of General Motors, Delphi, Halliburton, and a number of other Fortune 500 companies, also has 1,280 employees, many of whom have substantial AS/400 and iSeries experience. Now HP Services will be able to target big companies that use OS/400 and mainframe servers, and Ann Livermore, the head of HP Services, says that she intends to do exactly that.
  
  
• There is still time and space to register for COMMON's first annual IT executive conference, which will be held three weeks from now at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. COMMON is inviting executives of businesses that use OS/400 technology to attend this three-day event, which will feature six sessions about the iSeries and related issues, direct access to IBM's iSeries executives, and the chance to network with executive peers. Session subjects include "eServer Strategy: Where iSeries Fits," "The Benefits of Keeping Your Staff Trained," and "Industry Trends for IT Managers." Presenters will include Bob Tipton, president and chief executive of R.S. Tipton, Ian Jarman, IBM's iSeries marketing manager, Dan Galvan, IBM's WebSphere marketing vice president, Mark Endry, J.D. Edwards' chief information officer, and Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, chief information officer of The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. In addition to the seminars, the conference will feature continental breakfasts, luncheons, and golf outings, as well as visits to the COMMON expo floor, to the iSeries Nation Town Hall Meeting, and to the COMMON User Discussion. For more information about the 2002 IT executive conference, or to see the full schedule, go to www.common.org/executive. Registration for the event, which will be held October 13 through 15, costs $895 per person.
  
  
• The Robot is up to speed with the latest release of the iSeries operating system. Help/Systems announced last week that its entire suite of systems management utilities for OS/400 systems, called the Robot Automated Operations Solution, has successfully completed compatibility testing for OS/400 V5R2. As an advanced-level member of IBM's PartnerWorld program, Help/Systems gets early releases of new operating systems coming out of IBM's labs in Rochester, Minnesota, before they ship to customers. Tom Huntington, Help/System's vice president of technical services, said OS/400 V5R2 is a very stable release, like most releases of the operating system. For a list of which releases of Help/Systems' 16-member Robot suite are compatible with OS/400 V5R2, go to www.helpsystems.com/support/compatibility.html.
  
  
• Lakeview Technology has received an award from The Big Five accounting firm Deloitte Touche for being one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the Chicago region. Lakeview, an Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, company that develops OS/400 high availability software and a data replication application, reportedly experienced a 142 percent increase in revenues during the last five years, giving it the 27th spot on Deloitte Touche's Greater Chicagoland Technology Fast 50 list. As a privately held company, Lakeview does not disclose its revenue figures to the public. A spokesperson for Deloitte Touche said that the accounting firm used revenue figures submitted by Lakeview to establish the company's position on the list.
  
  
• SoftLanding Systems has established two new partnerships with companies that will resell its OS/400 software in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. SOSY, of Denmark, and Valok Holdings, of Australia, will become resellers and service providers for SoftLanding's software change management, data change management, and menu management utilities--TurnOver, TurnOver PDQ, and SoftMenu respectively. SOSY was founded in 1989 and has developed a successful business reselling systems management software from Help/Systems and providing education on a range of related OS/400 topics. Valok Holdings was founded in 1987 and provides application development, security, capacity and performance management, and change management education and services on an assortment of platforms.
  
  
• Banks-Hill Systems, an OS/400 software developer, iSeries reseller, and systems integrator in Edmonton, Alberta, will begin reselling the RODIN suite of business intelligence software developed by Coglin Mill, the two new partners announced last week. As part of the agreement, Banks-Hill will offer Coglin Mill's data integration and extract, transform, and load (ETL) tools to its customers, in a wide range of industries. Banks-Hill offers a range of RPG- and Java-based OS/400 applications and utilities, including financials, transportation management, customer-order entry, and cemetery management systems, as well as an OS/400 security utility. Banks-Hill has already been involved in a RODIN implementation at one customer site, and it plans to begin marketing the solution more aggressively this October, when the company holds its annual technology fair.
  
  
• What better place to find disgruntled HP 3000 users than at Hewlett-Packard's annual HP World user conference, being held this week in Los Angeles. And where unhappy HP 3000 users go, Big Blue is sure to follow. IBM is planning a major assault at HP World, where it hopes to convince midrange HP 3000 users to migrate to iSeries or pSeries systems running OS/400, AIX, Linux, or combinations thereof. IBM has rightly identified the iSeries and OS/400 as an excellent alternative to the HP 3000 and MPE/ix, the proprietary server's operating system. For starters, both platforms offer integrated databases, which is why both platforms developed a reputation for being easy to manage, plug-and-play-type solutions. For these reasons, HP 3000 users also tend to be loyal to their box, and are upset that Hewlett-Packard has chosen to pull the plug on the platform. IBM's sales reps and partners are hoping to swoop in at HP World and play hero to the disgruntled HP 3000 minicomputer base. Keep reading The Four Hundred to see how it all pans out.
  
  

Sponsored By COMMON

COMMON IT EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE Tell your IT Directors about the three-day event that is specially designed for them. Held October 13-15, 2002, in Denver, the IT Executive Conference will give iSeries Directors the opportunity to network and learn from well-known speakers in the iSeries environment, and receive new strategies for optimizing operations. To find out more, go to: www.common.org/executive