Town Considers AS/400 Replacement

September 29, 2014 Dan Burger

The city of Sterling, Colorado, has depended on IBM midrange systems for many years. Its one-person IT department is a self-proclaimed advocate for the system. New World Systems, an IBM i ISV, provides the software Sterling uses for the city’s financial records and the police department’s records and computer-aided dispatch system. The police have a separate AS/400 server and the city financials run a second AS/400. In a city council meeting last month, the migration to a Windows-based system entered the discussion.

The police department is leaning toward replacing its aging AS/400 server with a Windows-based system. The primary reason is for easier integration with other third-party programs, which are also Windows-based. New World Systems stands ready to assist with the migration. In addition to IBM i-based software, it develops and sells a Windows-based product.

“New World has more customers moving to the Windows platform than staying on the IBM i,” says Mary Ann Anderson, the information technology specialist for the city of Sterling. “We’ve used New World for many years.” She says the city will likely stay with New World regardless of whether the council approves the police department request to move to Windows.

The decision making process will take into account the time and expense of the system migration, plus the security, reliability, and low maintenance of the modern IBM i, Anderson says.

“I’m an advocate for the AS/400. People who don’t understand it have trouble with it. But I think it is a very secure system and there is very little downtime,” she says. The city’s two AS/400s are six or seven years old, according to Anderson. The city has approximately 160 network computers spread throughout 11 buildings, including 16 servers that provide a variety applications and programs. Several buildings use a virtual private network to connect to the city network.

Since the beginning of 2014, New World Systems has posted on its website six installations of its public administration, financial, and emergency services software. Each instance is software running on the Windows platform.

New World Systems has provided solutions, including application software, hardware, training and support, for local government and public safety agencies since 1981.