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Alex Woodie

Alex Woodie is Senior Editor at IT Jungle. He was previously editor of two of IT Jungle's main newsletters, Four Hundred Stuff and The Windows Observer. Prior to joining Midrange Server (as Guild Companies was formerly called) in October 2001, Alex was a products editor at now defunct publisher Midrange Computing, where he was first introduced to the AS/400 and covered hardware, software, and services for Midrange Technology SHOWCASE magazine. Before joining Midrange Computing, Alex was a staff writer for The Insurance Journal and a reporter and columnist with The Paradise Post newspaper. Woodie obtained his Bachelors of Arts degree in journalism from Humboldt State University in 1997. Upon graduation, Alex intended to make his way onto a major daily newspaper, but in 1999 he found himself drawn to the high-technology industry, where his background in science and engineering has suited him well. He lives in Northern San Diego County. When he is not writing next week's newsletters, Alex can be found in his favorite chair reading the day's paper, in the kitchen, or at the beach.

  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i

    June 23, 2025 Alex Woodie

    The rise of Code for IBM i arguably is the best IBM i technology story of the past few years. The VS Code development environment came out of nowhere to challenge Rational Developer for i as the pre-eminent developer tool on the platform. And according to Liam Allan, who started this whole thing, Code for i is only going to get better in the months and years to come.

    There is clear and unmistakable momentum behind VS Code and Code for IBM i, the VS Code plug-in that Liam Allan created back in 2021 while working at Seiden Group …

    Read more
  • Meet The Next Gen Of IBMers Helping To Build IBM i

    June 16, 2025 Alex Woodie

    The graying of the IBM i installed base is a topic that deserves attention, as every platform must find a way to reinvent itself if it wants to survive. IBM executives have been vocal about the need for IBM i customers to hire younger people. Well, it looks like Big Blue is taking its own advice, judging from the new crop of developers working in the Rochester and Toronto labs, and beyond.

    It’s hard to believe that Liam Allan has been working on the IBM i platform for nearly a decade. Allan, who started working on IBM i when he …

    Read more
  • Will Independent IBM i Clouds Survive PowerVS?

    June 16, 2025 Alex Woodie

    IBM currently competes with a slew of independent IBM i clouds with its Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) offering. But as IBM’s PowerVS grows bigger and more capable, there is still a question: Can the independent IBM i clouds survive?

    Clouds have been around in one form or another for as long as the IBM midrange server has existed. Whether it’s termed co-location, a computer bureau, an application service provider (ASP), a managed service provider (MSP), or the cloud, people have been running IBM gear on behalf of other people for a very, very long time.

    Since the online bookseller Amazon …

    Read more
  • Keep The IBM i Youth Movement Going With More Training, Better Tools

    June 9, 2025 Alex Woodie

    Nobody is going to mistake an IBM i conference for a college campus anytime soon. But if the recent POWERUp 2025 conference at Disneyland was any indication, there is a definite trend toward younger professionals working on the platform. While the IBM i youth movement is real, companies will benefit from some simple ways to attract and retain these new IBM i professionals.

    IBM is still working to get IBM i content back into four-year universities through the Power Skills Academy, which has been a struggle. Colleges are reluctant to invest in building a curriculum based on technologies that they …

    Read more
  • Remain Begins Migrating DevOps Tools To VS Code

    June 9, 2025 Alex Woodie

    For years, Remain Software was 100 percent devoted to Rational Developer for i (RDi) IBM’s flagship development tool for IBM i. It was a good bet, as the bulk of the market used RDi. However, in recent years, popularity of VS Code has soared, and now Remain is embarking upon a major project to redevelop all of its DevOps functionality to work with the browser-based IDE.

    Wim Jongman, the managing editor of Remain Software, started working on the company’s flagship change management product for AS/400, TD/OMS back in 1992. During its iSeries years in the early 2000s, Remain pivoted …

    Read more
  • SEU’s Fate, An IBM i V8, And The Odds Of A Power13

    June 2, 2025 Alex Woodie

    At COMMON’s recent POWERUp conference, IT Jungle got a chance to sit down with IBM executives to talk about the IBM i business, upcoming Power announcements, and sundry other topics, like is IBM preparing to finally kill SEU, when will we see IBM i 8.0, and does IBM feel lucky enough to launch Power13? Here’s a brief accounting of what was said.

    IBM Rochester has been in a housecleaning mode for a while now, clearing out the dead wood and rejiggering the product library for the 21st century. As part of this work, it’s moved to a subscription model and …

    Read more
  • RPG Code Generation And The Agentic Future Of IBM i

    June 2, 2025 Alex Woodie

    IBM is making progress with Watsonx Code Assistant for i, which is on track to become available as a public preview next month. And while IBM perhaps is running into some challenges with generating RPG code, the long-term potential of agentic AI on IBM i is brighter than ever.

    As we previously reported, IBM is now taking names for the folks who will be given access to the public preview of WCA for i, which you can sign up for here. According to IBM i CTO Steve Will, the preview will deliver RPG code understanding capabilities, which is …

    Read more
  • Public Preview For Watson Code Assistant for i Available Soon

    May 21, 2025 Alex Woodie

    At the COMMON POWERUp 2025 conference this week, IBM pulled the covers back a bit on Watson Code Assistant for IBM i, the new name for the AI-powered coding assistant that IBM first started talking about one year ago. A public preview of WCA for i is becoming available to a limited number of testers, with general availability expected in the second half of the year.

    There has been quite a bit of development in the IBM i coding co-pilot this month. On May 7, during the IBM Think conference, two IBM executives wrote a blog post announcing WCA for …

    Read more
  • COMMON Youth Movement Continues at POWERUp 2025

    May 21, 2025 Alex Woodie

    Here’s a shocking fact for you: Disneyland was only five years old when the COMMON user group started way back in 1960. While Mickey Mouse hasn’t aged much, the folks who belong to COMMON and attend events sure have. But if the user group’s latest initiative succeeds, the current trend toward younger and more globally diverse members will continue well into the next decade – and beyond.

    The aging of the installed base has been an issue that COMMON has been attempting to rectify for much of the past decade. It’s not necessarily a COMMON problem, but a problem for …

    Read more
  • Eradani Uses AI For New EDI And API Service

    May 21, 2025 Alex Woodie

    Eradani this week rolled out a new service aimed at helping customers to accelerate their EDI and API integration projects. What’s unique about its new Managed API and EDI Integration Service offerings is that it uses a large language model (LLM) to essentially take the role of the experienced integration specialist.

    Eradani has been in the data integration business since Dan Magid founded the company in 2018. The Berkeley, California, company sells a tool called Eradani Connect that seeks to eliminate the complexity of data integration challenges involving the IBM i server, and to enable users to connect the IBM …

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Recent Posts

  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
  • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
  • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
  • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25
  • Meet The Next Gen Of IBMers Helping To Build IBM i
  • Looks Like IBM Is Building A Linux-Like PASE For IBM i After All
  • Will Independent IBM i Clouds Survive PowerVS?
  • Now, IBM Is Jacking Up Hardware Maintenance Prices
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 24

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