Profound Goes GA with i OS-based Web Portal, Atrium

January 12, 2010 Alex Woodie

Profound Logic‘s Atrium is now in the building. Last week the i OS toolmaker announced the general availability of the new Web portal, which provides a single repository where users can access all of their Web-enabled or modernized green-screen i OS applications. The product, which was first introduced in early 2009 at the COMMON conference in Nevada, also gained new functionality from the beta release in the area of macros.

Atrium is an i OS application portal that runs within a Web browser and provides centralized access to Web-enabled applications. The software is all about speed and safety: The speed to get users to the application they need quickly, and the safety to make sure proper security protocols are followed.

Atrium works with Web-enabled applications that have been built using Profound’s RPGSP or Genie tools as well as any other Web framework, the company says. That openness to support other Web frameworks is new; the portal only worked with Profound Web-enablement tools when the beta launched nearly a year ago.

When logged in to Atrium, users are presented with a unique menu system that provides access to all of the applications they are authorized to use. Application access can be set up to correspond with existing i OS user profile settings, or based on custom access settings administrators set up and maintain within Atrium.

This centralization of access provides a greater degree of security. It also brings advantages akin to single sign-on, because users don’t need to repeatedly log in when accessing different applications, Profound says.

The flip side of security is speed, and Profound is excited to talk about Atrium’s features, such as the navigation menu and tab-based access to application screens.

“Green-screen applications require users to navigate through several screens or maintain multiple open sessions on your desktop just to access different sections of your application,” David Russo, Profound’s project lead, says in a press release. “With Atrium, we eliminate all of the extra steps, and allow users to access multiple screens from one single interface without any difficulty.”

Atrium uses Web 2.0-style navigation components, including drop-down trees, “accordion” panels, pull-down menus, and toolbars. The navigation bar is fully customizable by the administrator, and always visible on the left side of the screen (see Figure A).

Figure A. In this example, an Atrium user is provided easy access to various reports from the left-hand navigation bar. Hyperlinks to other i OS applications are farther down.

While Atrium does not work with 5250 green screens, it does break apart the monolithic mold of the menu system, and allows System i shops to create their own menu systems for applications that have been Web enabled. (For companies that don’t have the time for a big modernization project, Profound offers its Genie on-the-fly modernization tool, which uses predefined “skins” to quickly turn 5250 screens into Web interfaces.)

With this GA release, Profound has added support for macros, which will further speed users’ capability to accomplish work within applications. Macros are critical elements of any terminal emulator. But step outside the green walls of the emulators, and it’s a whole different ball game. The addition of macros should help to smooth users’ transition from green-screen applications accessed through emulators to Web-based applications accessed through a Web browser–or an i OS-focused portal, like Atrium, running within a Web browser.

Profound will be hosting a Webinar on Atrium called “Integrate Your Modernization Efforts on the IBM i with Atrium” on January 27 at 1 p.m. ET. Interested parties can register at www2.gotomeeting.com/register/416330218.

Atirum works with all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. Customers only have to pay maintenance fees to obtain the software. For more information, visit www.profoundlogic.com.

Profound Logic Aims to Simplify Menu Navigation with Atrium

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Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

“Hosting” in this context can mean different things to different people, and in general, hosting refers to one of two scenarios. In the first scenario, hosting can refer to a client owned machine that is housed in a co-location facility (commonly called a co-lo for short) where the data center provides traditional system administrator services, relieving the client of administrative and operational responsibilities. In the second scenario, hosting can refer to an MSP owned machine in which partition resources are provided to the client in an on-demand capacity. This scenario allows the client to completely outsource all aspects of Power Systems hardware and the IBM i operating system and database.

The scenario that is best for each business depends on a number of factors and is largely up for debate. In most cases, pursuing hosting purely as a cost saving strategy is a dead end. Furthermore, when you consider all of the costs associated with maintaining and IBM i environment, it is typically not a cost-effective option for the small to midsize market. The most cost-effective approach for these organizations is often a combination of a client owned and maintained system (either on-prem or in a co-lo) with cloud backup and disaster-recovery-as-a-service. Only in some cases of larger enterprise companies can a hosting strategy start to become a potentially cost-effective option.

However, cost savings is just one part of the story. As IBM i expertise becomes scarce and IT resources run tight, the only option for some firms may be to pursue hosting in some capacity. Whatever the driving force for pursing hosting may be, the key point is that it is not just simply an option for running your workload in a different location. There are many details to consider and it is to the best interest of the client to work with an experienced MSP in weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each option. As COVID-19 rolls on, time will tell if IBM i hosting strategies will follow the other strong business trends of the pandemic.

When we say do the math in the title above, it literally means that you need to do the math for your particular scenario. It is not about us doing the math for you, making a case for either staying on premises or for moving to the cloud. There is not one answer, but just different levels of cost to be reckoned which yield different answers. Most IBM i shops have fairly static workloads, at least measured against the larger mix of stuff on the public clouds of the world. How do you measure the value of controlling your own IT fate? That will only be fully recognized at the moment when it is sorely missed the most.

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