• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Infor Carves Out a Dedicated System i Division

    February 17, 2009 Alex Woodie

    Infor last week announced that it’s creating a new division that will be entirely dedicated to serving its installed base of 15,000 System i customers. The division, which will be headed by former IBMer Mark Wright, will result in the separation of System i-related sales, support, and most development resources within Infor. The move was made as recognition of the uniqueness of the System i platform and the special skills and knowledge that it demands.

    As senior vice president and general manager for the System i organization within Infor, Wright becomes the most visible head of the largest System i software vendor in the world. As a vocal proponent of the System i platform, Wright is also not afraid to let you know where his loyalties stand.

    “Truthfully, I think it’s the best platform ever invented,” he says in an interview with IT Jungle. “If I had a company, I’d run it on System i. I’m delighted to see that it’s still doing great. And I’m delighted to be involved in it again. I’ve never fallen out of love with it.”

    Upon leaving graduate school, Wright joined IBM as a sales rep in the early 1980s, cut his teeth on S/34 and S/36 hardware, and sold MAPICS, DSAM, and other popular packages of the day. He worked his way up IBM’s sales and marketing ladder, and in 2000 he worked as vice president of software sales for the North America region. For the next several years, Wright explored other pastures, founding a dot-com and a virtualization vendor that was bought by Citrix Systems. Eight years later, he’s back in the business where he started. “It’s interesting how life comes full circle,” he says.

    Wright is in charge of revitalizing and redefining Infor’s System i business. Acquisitions over the years have netted Infor many of the industry’s most popular OS/400 ERP applications, including MAPICS, BPCS, PRMS, PRISM, Infinium, System 21, A+, and many others. Infor has promised to never sunset a product as long as the underlying platform is viable, and has committed to providing ongoing maintenance. But that hasn’t stopped questions from arising as to Infor’s commitment to the ongoing development of the various products. There have also been questions about Infor’s long-term product consolidation strategy.

    “There was no customer revolt, no pervasive problem,” says Wright, who joined Infor in December. “Just a general understanding that the best way to address a market affinity group that’s so closely tied together is with a dedicated team that has the same skill sets they’re looking for. The company realizes that it is somewhat unique as a platform. It’s an integration of hardware and applications and operating systems that doesn’t really exist in too many other places. And therefore I think it requires a special dedicated sort of coverage.”

    As part of the System i realignment, Infor will be seeking to prove that it is committed to not only maintaining its extensive array of ERP systems, but actively developing them. To that end, Infor announced that there will be eight development labs around the world dedicated to System i product development. Infor will also move or re-assign employees to System i-exclusive posts in the areas of sales, pre-sales, and marketing. The exact number of employees in the System i organization was not immediately available.

    The end result will be a unified System i organization that is fluent in “i” across all components–product development, sales, and support. Above all, it will result in a group of workers that’s loyal to the platform, Wright says. “You’ve got, basically System i reps, but you could almost call them System i specialists, in a way,” he says. “They’re focused on this one platform. They’ve filtered and synthesized the requirements that they see over and over again. They bring those back into the product management community, and that gets transferred to development.”

    Wright will report to Greg Corgan, president of Infor’s global field operations and corporate senior vice president. Corgan in turn will report to Robin Peterson, who reports to CEO Jim Schaper and the board.

    Wright says the move marks a renewed enthusiasm for the System i within Infor, especially from a product development point of view. “I think it’s going to be a huge benefit to the company that we are working on products that customers want in the short term,” he says.

    What’s less certain is how the reorganization will affect Infor’s far-reaching SOA strategy. The eight System i development labs will contribute to Infor’s SOA product development, along with Infor labs focused more on Unix or Windows development, Wright says. But “On the SOA piece, that is a longer-term strategy, but I think our customers on the System i platform . . . believe that over a period of time, and I don’t know how long that is, that SOA is the answer for them,” he says.

    Infor operates what it calls a System i Center of Excellence, or iCOE, where it works on all of its i OS-based applications. This list includes: ERP LX (BPCS), ERP XA (MAPICS), ERP A+, ERP Infinium MM/PM, ERP KBM, ERP PRISM, ERP PRMS, ERP System 21, ERP Xpert, FMS Anael, HCM Anael, HCM Infinium, and CRM AutoRelease.

    RELATED STORIES

    Infor Shows Flexibility as Reseller Channel Evolves

    Infor Begins North American VAR Recruitment Drive

    Infor CEO Preaches Business Darwinism, Prepares for Hyper Business Future

    Infor Upgrades XA with Query, Inventory Enhancements

    Infor Launches EMEA Channel Recruitment Drive

    Infor Provides Details on SOA Roadmap

    In Formation: Q&A with Infor Chairman Jim Schaper

    Infor Tells Channel Partners to Focus on Infor Products



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    WorksRight Software

    Do you need area code information?
    Do you need ZIP Code information?
    Do you need ZIP+4 information?
    Do you need city name information?
    Do you need county information?
    Do you need a nearest dealer locator system?

    We can HELP! We have affordable AS/400 software and data to do all of the above. Whether you need a simple city name retrieval system or a sophisticated CASS postal coding system, we have it for you!

    The ZIP/CITY system is based on 5-digit ZIP Codes. You can retrieve city names, state names, county names, area codes, time zones, latitude, longitude, and more just by knowing the ZIP Code. We supply information on all the latest area code changes. A nearest dealer locator function is also included. ZIP/CITY includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $495 per year.

    PER/ZIP4 is a sophisticated CASS certified postal coding system for assigning ZIP Codes, ZIP+4, carrier route, and delivery point codes. PER/ZIP4 also provides county names and FIPS codes. PER/ZIP4 can be used interactively, in batch, and with callable programs. PER/ZIP4 includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $3,900 for the first year, and $1,950 for renewal.

    Just call us and we’ll arrange for 30 days FREE use of either ZIP/CITY or PER/ZIP4.

    WorksRight Software, Inc.
    Phone: 601-856-8337
    Fax: 601-856-9432
    Email: software@worksright.com
    Website: www.worksright.com

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Sponsored Links

    Vision Solutions:  Learn About Data Integration for Business Intelligence
    COMMON:  Join us at the 2009 annual meeting and expo, April 26-30, Reno, Nevada
    WMCPA:  24rd Annual Spring Technical Conference, April 1 & 2, 2009, Delavan, WI

    IT Jungle Store Top Book Picks

    Easy Steps to Internet Programming for AS/400, iSeries, and System i: List Price, $49.95
    Getting Started with PHP for i5/OS: List Price, $59.95
    The System i RPG & RPG IV Tutorial and Lab Exercises: List Price, $59.95
    The System i Pocket RPG & RPG IV Guide: List Price, $69.95
    The iSeries Pocket Database Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Developers' Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket SQL Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Query Guide: List Price, $49.00
    The iSeries Pocket WebFacing Primer: List Price, $39.00
    Migrating to WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    iSeries Express Web Implementer's Guide: List Price, $59.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries: List Price, $79.95
    Getting Started With WebSphere Development Studio Client for iSeries: List Price, $89.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    WebFacing Application Design and Development Guide: List Price, $55.00
    Can the AS/400 Survive IBM?: List Price, $49.00
    The All-Everything Machine: List Price, $29.95
    Chip Wars: List Price, $29.95

    SaaS to Get a Bump Up from the Down Economy? A Bevy of BIFs: Getting a Date is Easy with %Date

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 9, Number 7 -- February 17, 2009
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

LANSA
PowerTech
Maximum Availability
HiT Software
Twin Data

Table of Contents

  • Safestone Cracks Down on Excessive Authority with PUP
  • Infor Carves Out a Dedicated System i Division
  • FMS Solutions Finds mrc’s m-Power a Good Fit
  • looksoftware Developing Cloud Connector for i OS
  • Three New Log Apps Rolled Out By LogLogic
  • SAP Says Infor’s Customers and Partners Are Migrating to SAP
  • Centerfield Passes a Stimulus Package for i OS Applications
  • Inovis Launches a ‘Facebook’ for the Supply Chain
  • BOSaNOVA Taps Leostream for Virtualization Partnership
  • Stay-Linked Partners with Pragma for SSH Server

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • IBM i Development and Modernization is Getting A Fresche Start with Some Ground-Breaking Subscriptions
  • CloudSAFE And Focal Point Solutions Group Combine Services, Unify Brands
  • Guru: Partitioning Result Sets Using SQL
  • As I See It: Elusive Connections
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 47
  • AWS Inks Deal With Connectria To Have a Power Play
  • IBM i Shops Have Alternatives to Db2 Web Query
  • Eradani Lays Waste to API Payload Restrictions
  • Four Hundred Monitor, November 15
  • Old PHP and Other PASE Apps Break on IBM i 7.5

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2023 IT Jungle