• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • How Do You Stay In Touch With The IBM i Community?

    February 6, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    The IBM i community is global and diverse. There is a lot of things going on in our part of the IT industry, and it can be tough to keep up with everything that is going on with the IBM i platform.

    But it is nonetheless important for us all to understand how people are keeping up to date on new technologies and other cultural and corporate things that are happening in our community. Which is why Tom Huntington, executive vice president of technical solutions at Fortra (formerly known as HelpSystems), did a quick poll during the 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey webinar that I participated in along with Huntington and Brandon Pederson, worldwide IBM i product marketing manager; Dan Sundt, IBM i product manager; and Steve Will, IBM i chief technology officer and distinguished engineer.

    I took a quick screenshot of the quick poll:

    I was busy paying attention to what everyone was saying at the time, and looking out for the times I needed to say something, so I never saw the final number of people who attended, but it was over 100. This is a reasonable number for a webinar, and probably not statistically significant considering there are probably around 500,000 people in the IBM i community. At least.

    You go to war with the data you have, to paraphrase a former U.S. Secretary of Defense.

    As I have said many times before, there are around 120,000 unique IBM i customers in the world, and maybe 30,000 of them are what I have for years called active. Meaning, they attend webinars, read newsletters, have gone to COMMON or POWERUp at some point in their careers (and maybe even regularly), keep their systems relatively up to date, and pay for hardware and software maintenance. The other 90,000 tend to lag in terms of having new software and modern releases in their IBM i shops, but to their credit, they keep the business going and the fact that they can is a testament to the value that OS/400 and IBM i platforms can bring. I think this quick poll, and the nine editions of the IBM i Marketplace Survey that have been done to date, reflect this active part of the base.

    We are happy to see that industry newsletters and social networks were cited by 63 percent of respondents as how they keep up with the IBM i platform and happenings in the community, which bested attendance at COMMON or local user groups (only 46 percent) or the IBM i home page (47 percent). Vendor webinars lead the way, with 79 percent of respondents saying they attended these – but of course, this was a poll of people who attended at least one webinar, so this might again be a self-selecting subset and therefore skewed data. Another 75 percent of those quick polled said they attended IBM’s own webinars.

    Multiple answers were allowed in the quick poll, and if you average it all out, those polled averaged 3.1 different sources of information.

    Huntington compiled this list of IBM i resources, of which we are proud to be one of:

    We are proud to be part of the mix and to serve the IBM i community, as we have been doing since 1989. We love what we do, and hope you do, too.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey, COMMON, Fortra, HelpSystems, IBM i, OS/400

    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

    IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 6 Cloud Software To Drive Enterprise Application Growth

    2 thoughts on “How Do You Stay In Touch With The IBM i Community?”

    • John Rockwell says:
      March 10, 2023 at 11:59 pm

      I’m surprised LinkedIn didn’t show up. It’s almost an aggregate of all the articles and blogs that show up on the other resources.

      Reply
      • Timothy Prickett Morgan says:
        March 13, 2023 at 8:30 am

        I think that is included in social media.

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 33 Issue: 7

This Issue Sponsored By

  • ARCAD Software
  • Raz-Lee Security
  • DRV Technologies, Inc.
  • WorksRight Software
  • Manta Technologies

Table of Contents

  • The IBM i Power10 Upgrade Cycle Forecast Looks Favorable
  • White Hats Completely Dismantle Menu-Based Security
  • Cloud Software To Drive Enterprise Application Growth
  • How Do You Stay In Touch With The IBM i Community?
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 6

Content archive

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

Recent Posts

  • IBM Tweaks Some Power Systems Prices Down, Others Up
  • Disaster Recovery: From OS/400 V5R3 To IBM i 7.4 In 36 Hours
  • The Disconnect In Modernization Planning And Execution
  • Superior Support: One Of The Reasons You Pay The Power Systems Premium
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 13
  • IBM i Has a Future ‘If Kept Up To Date,’ IDC Says
  • When You Need Us, We Are Ready To Do Grunt Work
  • Generative AI: Coming to an ERP Near You
  • Four Hundred Monitor, March 22
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 12

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