Four Hundred Monitor, January 20

January 20, 2021 Jenny Thomas

While the rest of us hunkered down last year, IBM was on an acquisition spree that has continued into 2021. The acquisitions were all in the cloud or financial tech industries, which comes as no surprise if you’ve been watching. Big Blue has been making its intentions in the cloud business very clear for some time now. IBM’s moves continue to dominate the news of the week, a sampling of which we have culled for you below. Don’t forget to check our Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings calendar below, which is starting to fill up with lots of virtual events.

Top Stories From Outside The Jungle

(IT Jungle) Alex Woodie continues his series on predictions for the coming year.

(FX Empire) The resurrection of IBM has begun.

(Yahoo!Finance) IBM is set to reveal how the year ended for earnings. Is there good news ahead?

(ZDNet) IBM looks to lead the multicloud environment.

(WRAL TechWire) Some good news in the high-tech job market.

Redbooks, White Papers, Blogs, and Other Resources

(Precisely) This annual survey provides a revealing look at the current state of IBM i security. Take the survey to share your IBM i security challenges and get alerts to results.

(COMMON) It’s time to renew your COMMON membership. There are no fee increases for 2021 but lots of benefits to look forward to in the coming year.

(Zend) This white paper, Modernization and IBM i, explains how IBM i and Db2 users can make use of open source software and other technologies to deliver services that people can access anytime, anywhere, and with any device, by adopting proven strategies for: application modernization, data modernization, and platform modernization.

(Seiden Group) This blog addresses sending email from PHP on IBM i.

(IBM) The sale continues on certified pre-owned servers, storage, and parts are on sale. Save 15 percent on your first online purchase through IBM.

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

January 20 – Virtual Meeting – The Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting will feature a session on IBM i (SQL) Services presented by Scott Forstie.

January 25 – Webinar – IBM and ARCAD Software invite you to a Lunch & Learn series to explore the latest techniques in DevSecOps and Modernization on IBM i. Gain valuable education from expert IBM i practitioners to leverage your application assets, tune your DevOps processes, and grow your customer base. Each 20-minute session contains a business and technical element.

January 27 – Webinar – IBM and ARCAD Software invite you to a Lunch & Learn series to explore the latest techniques in DevSecOps and Modernization on IBM i. Gain valuable education from expert IBM i practitioners to leverage your application assets, tune your DevOps processes, and grow your customer base. Each 20-minute session contains a business and technical element.

January 28 – Webinar – Register to attend this roundtable webinar discussion – 10 Surprising Insights On Used IT – with IDC, IBM, Skytap, Celerity, and ChannelWorks featuring IDC research on the used IT marketplace. Learn why organizations are increasingly turning to used IT, the most important criteria in selecting a used IT equipment provider and how used IT may help accelerate your sustainability initiatives, plus more research insights.

January 29 – Webinar – IBM and ARCAD Software invite you to a Lunch & Learn series to explore the latest techniques in DevSecOps and Modernization on IBM i. Gain valuable education from expert IBM i practitioners to leverage your application assets, tune your DevOps processes, and grow your customer base. Each 20-minute session contains a business and technical element.

February 3 – Webinar – COMMON hosts the YiPs. Join this free session to discuss with fellow YiPs and a guest speaker how to negotiate a salary. Learn when and how to ask for a raise, how to calculate your worth to a company, and how to broach the topic with your superior. Join your fellow Young i Professionals to learn how to have these intimidating (but important) conversations.

February 9 – Virtual Meeting – The first meeting of the Central Texas IBM i User Group (CTXiUG) will be an online presentation by Simon Hutchinson, author of the web site RPGPGM.com. Simon will demonstrate a variety of tips, techniques, and ideas to take advantage of IBM’s Db2 for i new SQL features and functions to simplify many of your programming needs and daily tasks.

February 18 – Webinar – Register to attend “Get Your Guard Up!” to learn how to protect your organization from cyberattacks, which are on the rise and projected to grow further in 2021. This remains true even on Power Systems, especially for Linux and IBM i IFS. Join this 1-hour session to learn how to identify vulnerabilities and secure Power Systems from costly security breaches.

May 3-5 – Framingham, Massachusetts – Plan now for the 2021 Northeast User Group (NEUGC) Conference. NEUGC is the largest technical conference in New England for IBM i.

May 24-27 – Columbus, Ohio, and Virtual – POWERUp 2021 will be COMMON’s first Hybrid conference and will offer an in-person experience and virtual access to our remote attendees. Join friends and colleagues in the COMMON community and enjoy the best in Power Systems and IBM i education over the course of four days. Choose from nearly 300 sessions, which cover a broad range of IT topic areas that will be delivered live in-person and virtually. POWERUp will also boasts the largest Expo of its kind so that all attendees can learn about all the great products and solutions available to this community from our vendor partners. This conference is structured to give you the pure education and professional connections needed to best enhance your career.