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.

• REST Services For IBM i In developerWorks Spotlight

  February 4, 2015 Alex Woodie

  One of the exciting new features added to IBM i in late 2014 is support for REST-based Web services. The rest of the world has accepted REST services as the de-facto integration standard on the Web, and now this approach is being supported within IBM i too. But how do you actually go about building and managing REST services in IBM i? Let the smart IBMers at developerWorks show you how. REST services are very new to IBM i, having been announced by IBM just four months ago and delivered in late December 2014 with the various HTTP Group

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• Infor Cloud EDI . . . DocOrigin Replaces JetForm . . . Empowered with Web Services . . .

  February 4, 2015 Alex Woodie

  Infor takes a very industry-focused approach to software, and that is no different with its latest EDI cloud offering. If you’re looking for document management software to replace Adobe JetForm, DocOrigin would like to speak with you. Web services are popping up everywhere these days, including in the application development power tool from mrc. Infor Launches EDI Cloud for Auto Manufacturing Infor last month unveiled EDI Managed Service, a cloud-based EDI offering designed specifically for companies in the automotive supply chain. According to Infor’s announcement, the new service combines an EDI translator from its partner Rocket Software along with its

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• IBM Redpaper Guides You To IBM i Modernization Tools

  February 2, 2015 Alex Woodie

  When it comes to building modern IBM i applications, there’s no shortage of tools available on the market. Depending on your requirements–whether you’re staying in the comfy confines of RPG or are comfortable with something like .NET, whether you’re looking just for Web tools or adding mobile too–there are different directions you can go. A recently published IBM Redpaper can help guide you to a better understanding of the third-party tools on the market. IBM put a big focus on IBM i application modernization last year. After months of work and collaborating with the top experts in the field, it

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• More IBM i Predictions From The Community

  January 26, 2015 Alex Woodie

  Last week, we ran part one of our IBM i predictions series. Most of the prophecies were positive, although there were a few pessimists in the bunch (some might call them realists). This week we have round two of our predictions, including some interesting hunches from the top honchos in Rochester, as well as more doses of (shall we say) “realism” from dedicated IBM i advocates. Steve Will, Chief Architect–IBM i Operating System “From a community predictions point of view, I do believe that conferences and user groups in the IBM i community are going to have a healthy year,

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• IBM i Predictions For 2015 From Around The Community

  January 21, 2015 Alex Woodie

  The new year is here! Will 2015 be the year IBM i makes a comeback, or will there be another setback? IT Jungle reached out to the IBM i community for predictions and was rewarded with a treasure trove of ideas–some of them serious, some of them zany, but all of them authentic from the people who know the platform the best. Dr. Frank Soltis, retired chief scientist at IBM “Because of IBM’s low stock price, Apple will consider buying all of IBM and begin selling a new leading-edge business computer that they will call iBusiness.” Trevor Perry, IBM i

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• S4i Documents Success In Paperless Transformations

  January 21, 2015 Alex Woodie

  We’re never going to entirely eliminate paper in the workplace. People are much too dependent on it for that. But the way S4i Systems CEO Spencer Elliott sees it, companies can take tremendous bite out of their paper consumption–and become more agile and efficient businesses–by transitioning to electronic document management tools, such as the IBM i-based package he sells at S4i. Like many people in the IBM i community, Elliott is old school. He often prefers reading on paper compared to computer monitors, and likes the simplicity that a pencil and a piece of paper afford. “You’re never going to

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• A SoftLanding For AUTOMON. . . . InterSigning From InterForm. . . . Where Oh Where Did My BABY Go (Windows). . . .

  January 21, 2015 Alex Woodie

  In this issue’s roundup of IBM i news, we cover the latest AUTOMON offerings from SoftLanding, a new digital signature capture solution from InterForm (which is sold as ArtForm/400 here in the U.S.), and the 2015 edition of Infinite’s BABY36. A SoftLanding for AUTOMON UNICOM Global subsidiary SoftLanding Systems recently issued new releases of its AUTOMON suite of systems management tools for the IBM i. The New Hampshire company bolstered several AUTOMON components, including the job scheduler, called iSchedule; the iConsole message monitoring tool; and iMessage, which allows users to respond to messages remotely. The new release of iSchedule should

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• TEMBO Regroups, Preps for New Database Modernization Push

  January 19, 2015 Alex Woodie

  The folks at TEMBO Technology Lab knew a tough road was ahead when they set out to fundamentally transform how IBM i shops use DB2. You don’t tell IBM i pros that they’re doing it wrong with record-level I/O, and not expect to get a funny look or two. But to its credit, when TEMBO encountered resistance to its SQL mantra, the company stepped back, regrouped, and figured out another approach. “It’s been a long hard slog,” says TEMBO CEO Marinus Van Sandwyk. “The one thing that really caught us off guard initially was we had to explain to these

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• Under New CEO, HelpSystems Snaps Up Rival Halcyon

  January 12, 2015 Alex Woodie

  New HelpSystems CEO Chris Heim didn’t waste any time making his first big move last week when the company announced the acquisition of Halcyon Software, its closest natural competitor in systems management. The acquisition and the hiring of Heim–a one-time programmer with an eye for product development–kicked off a new era for HelpSystems following the retirement of former CEO Janet Dryer, who has been with the company for 30 years. HelpSystems looks a lot different today than when Dryer took over the top job at Help/Systems (it had a slash in its name until recently) 16 years ago. At

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• IBM Issues More POODLE Patches, Warns Not to Use SSLv3

  December 9, 2014 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops that continue to use SSLv3 to encrypt their communications are susceptible to the POODLE security vulnerability and could have their data compromised, IBM warned today in a security bulletin. IBM also issued new security patches that disable SSLv3 in IBM i’s Java runtime. While IBM recommends moving to the newer TLS protocol, many IBM i applications still require SSLv3 and will likely break when it’s disabled, IBM warns. IBM started patching its various systems against the POODLE vulnerability over a month ago when it became clear that SSLv3 needed to go. Applications patched in November include the

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