IBM Adds Disk Storage Options for i Shops
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Given its single-level storage heritage, getting the AS/400 and its successor machines to think of disk storage and main memory separately like other servers do has been something of a tricky bit of coding. But modern disk subsystems have their advantages, and companies support many different kinds of servers and therefore want to consolidate their storage as much as possible. The i platform can't be left out as the red-headed stepchild. Well, not all the time, anyway, and particularly not in the unified Power Systems world. READ MORE >

Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, and Thank Heavens We All Made It
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

There are many peculiarities to being alive. You spend the first quarter of your life not knowing much when you think you do. If you were honest with yourself in your youth, which is not really possible unless you are an old soul to begin with, you know the world's vastness gives it a complexity beyond anyone's ken. There is only so much one person can do in this world, only so much work you can do in a day. You learn that somewhere in the middle third of your life, or so. And maybe you learn how to use that knowledge in the final third. READ MORE >

Forrester: Brace Yourself for Slow IT Growth
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

A few weeks ago, George Colony, the chief executive officer at Forrester Research, one of the three big IT consultancies that does box counting and sales projections for all manner of IT goods and services, blogged about what 2008 was looking like in terms of IT spending and what he expected 2009 to look like. Now, Forrester has released the numbers behind the comments that Colony made. READ MORE >

As I See It: The Swami Speaks
by Victor Rozek

It's that time of year again when I try my hand at prognostication. And not a minute too soon. For seekers of truth, wisdom, and missing 401(k)s, questions abound. Will the Fates be kind to IT next year? Will the economy find its pulse, or is it twitching post-mortem? Is Wal-Mart hiring greeters, and if so, is there a trampling bonus? Only the Swami knows. Hence, properly turbaned, sitting cross-legged at my predicting station--the one with the broadband connection to the Wu-Wu channel--I dust off my crystal ball, and peer deeply into the mists of economic collapse. READ MORE >