Alex Woodie
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JD Edwards Gets 57 New Mobile Apps
September 9, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreYou’ve heard of ’57 Chevys and Heinz 57. Now Oracle is taking a whack at the number by delivering 57 new mobile apps for the JD Edwards ERP system.
As you might expect, the new mobile apps that Oracle unveiled in late July work only with the EnterpriseOne ERP system. While the company two years ago said they were evaluating the creation of mobile apps for World, which runs only on the IBM i OS, it has yet to deliver any. EnterpriseOne, of course, runs on IBM i, Linux, and Unix OSes.
New app areas include: Asset Lifecycle Management, Service
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Cloud Vendors Team Up To Offer Hybrid IBM i-X86 DR Service
September 8, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreIn today’s interconnected world, no IBM i server operates alone anymore, so why should they be recovered separately? With that in mind, longtime IBM i server reseller Meridian IT has partnered with NScaled, a provider of business continuity solutions for Windows and Linux, to offer a hybrid disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) offering that spans the IBM i and X86 platforms.
Based in the IBM i hotbed of Chicago, Meridian IT is one of the bigger IBM business partners hawking Power servers today. Like other IBM resellers, the 35-year-old company has responded to the call of the cloud, and
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New Approaches Needed For Hyperscale Security Threats
August 25, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreIn the ongoing battle for network superiority, cybercriminals appear to be gaining the upper hand. The rise of commercial malware and the sophistication of hyperscale hacker tools are giving the bad guys incredibly powerful tools to perpetrate their crimes. Considering the disjointed approach to cyber threats in Western nations, some experts say it’s time to explore fundamentally new approaches to fighting it.
The specter of cyber warfare is not a pretty one, especially in the wholesome land of Mom and Apple Pie. But guess what? Hackers and cyber criminals around the world have already declared war on pretty much everybody,
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CMS/400 Could Switch Hands In $3 Billion Private Equity Deal
August 25, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreA London private equity firm is reportedly in the lead to buy Epicor Software, the American provider of ERP software for midsize manufacturers and distributors, including the RPG-based application formerly known as CMS/400.
According to a Reuters story last month, CVC Capital Partners bid of $3 billion was the highest bid to date. Epicor, which is currently owned by another London-based private equity firm, Apax Partners, put itself up for sale earlier this year.
Apax bought Epicor and another ERP software vendor, Activant Solutions (formerly Triad Systems) in 2011 and then merged them under the name Epicor Software.
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VAI Gives Berk Enterprises a New Analytic View
August 19, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreBerk Enterprises, an Ohio-based distributor of paper goods and disposable cutlery, is getting good dividends with S2K Analytics, the Cognos-powered line of business intelligence tools from VAI. The folks at Berk cite the ease of use of S2K Analytics and the capability to make modifications as the biggest draw, followed closely by the polished look and feel of reports.
Berk serves a country-wide base of nearly 5,000 customers from its headquarters in Warren, located about halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburg. The company distributes a variety of food service disposables to stadiums, festivals, and other outdoor venues. It imports the
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Townsend Looks to Spread 2FA Far and Wide
August 19, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreUnder normal circumstances, user authentication products don’t attract a lot of attention. But thanks to Russian hackers, the Heartbleed vulnerability, and Target’s security breach, millions of people are wondering if their passwords are safe (newsflash: they’re probably not). With these security fears as a backdrop, Townsend Security is looking to accelerate the adoption of its new IBM i two-factor authentication (2FA) software.
Last month, Townsend made two announcements that demonstrate its plans for Alliance Two Factor Authentication, the IBM i-based 2FA software that it introduced in January. The 2FA offering prevents a user from logging onto the IBM i
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Kisco Solidifies Self-Service Password Reset Tool
August 19, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreKisco Information Systems has significantly improved its self-service password reset tool for IBM i, iResetMe. With version 2, unveiled this month, Kisco has made the tool more automated and easier to use. And by adding support for stronger passwords and by encrypting challenge questions, it has made it much more secure as well.
iResetMe is designed to allow users to reset their own passwords, thereby alleviating the IT help desk from the oft-requested task. The Kisco tool, which debuted in January of this year, lets a user establish a new password after verifying his identify by successfully answering up
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Zend Peers Deep into Your Code with Z-Ray
August 19, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreDo you ever wish you had X-ray goggles to see what’s going on inside your applications? Something that cuts through the clutter and highlights bad code pronto? The folks at Zend Technologies are including something like that in the latest release of Zend Server. The company calls it Z-Ray and, if the claims are accurate, it may actually make debugging fun.
According to Zend, the new Z-Ray feature “gives unprecedented, in-context visibility inside apps by showing in real time exactly what happens to construct each page.” The software, which Zend announced last month in the version 7 release of Zend
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DRV Unveils Fresh New Mobile Apps for Message Management
August 19, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreDRV Technologies recently unveiled new mobile apps that allow administrators to view and respond to IBM i messages and jobs from the comfort of their iOS or Android mobile devices. The apps were unveiled as part of a major update to DRV’s FlexTool suite.
In July, DRV unveiled FlexTool version 6, which includes new releases of the SpoolFlex, FormFlex, Secure Checks, DBXFlex (formerly DataFlex), and MessageFlex components. The company markets them as a bundle but sells the products separately.
MessageFlex V2
The update brings a new mobile interfaces to MessageFlex, a message automation solution that automatically monitors IBM i message
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Nice Form! Quadrant Boosts Automation and Control in Formtastic
August 19, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreOrganizations that rely on Quadrant Software‘s Formtastic to automate the generation and distribution of electronic documents no longer have to wonder who’s modifying form templates thanks to a new change management feature the vendor has added. Quadrant also added a new automated purge function to the popular product.
For each document generated by Formtastic, the software retains some data about the document, such as what forms were merged with which spool file, where it went, and when it was submitted. This is not a big deal for small shops. But Quadrant has some customers who generate upwards of 50,000