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.
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IBM Patches Heartbleed Vulnerability in Power Systems Firmware
May 15, 2014 Alex Woodie
If you thought your IBM i server was completely immune to the Heartbleed vulnerability, think again. On Friday, IBM issued a security bulletin directing customers to upgrade their Power Systems firmware with a patch for the Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL.
In its security bulletin, IBM advised that Power Systems firmware was affected by the Heartbleed vulnerability, CVE-2014-0160, and advised customers to take action. The bulletin applies to the Power Systems server Firmware, HMC, and SDMC. You can find the bulletin at www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1020034.
According to IBM’s bulletin, the vulnerability impacts all current Version 770 (including Power 710, 720, 730,
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IBM Patches Heartbleed Vulnerability in Power Systems Firmware
May 15, 2014 Alex Woodie
If you thought your IBM i server was completely immune to the Heartbleed vulnerability, think again. On Friday, IBM issued a security bulletin directing customers to upgrade their Power Systems firmware with a patch for the Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL.
In its security bulletin, IBM advised that Power Systems firmware was affected by the Heartbleed vulnerability, CVE-2014-0160, and advised customers to take action. The bulletin applies to the Power Systems server Firmware, HMC, and SDMC. You can find the bulletin at www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1020034.
According to IBM’s bulletin, the vulnerability impacts all current Version 770 (including Power 710, 720, 730,
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IBM Power Systems Can Do Big Data Analytics, Too
May 12, 2014 Alex Woodie
Server workloads are typically broken down into two broad categories: transactional or analytical. For most IBM i shops, the focus is heavily on the transactional side of the equation. But as IBM i shops peek over the wall into the rapidly expanding world of big data analytics, they will be pleased to find that IBM and its partners are bringing together a collection of big data tooling that will happily run on the system they already own.
Granted, the chances of the big data analytics software running directly on IBM i are slim to none. While IBMers like Mike Cain
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Hotels Expand Agilysys Footprints As Vendor Sells UK Business
May 12, 2014 Alex Woodie
Two major hotels, including the Caesar’s chain and a new 326-room Bahamas resort scheduled to open in June, recently licensed enterprise software from Agilysys, the software vendor announced this month. Agilysys also announced the disposition of its UK business as it pursues an international reseller strategy.
Agilysys says Resorts World Bimini will use its Lodging Management System (LMS) and the Visual One Condo Accounting System in the management of its 480-unit Bahamas resort. Resorts World Bimini will also use LMS to manage a new 326-room luxury hotel set to open in June, it said.
Representatives for Resorts World Bimini
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What’s New in IBM i 7.2–At a Glance
May 6, 2014 Alex Woodie
There’s a whole bunch of new stuff in IBM i 7.2, which IBM formally announced last Monday and actually shipped on Friday. Together with the new Power 8 servers and other major software product releases, these are exciting times in the Power Systems and IBM i community. Here you’ll find a quick, 30,000-foot view of last week’s announcements.
IBM made hundreds, if not thousands, of additions and changes to the core IBM i OS with version 7.2. At a high level, the biggest enhancements include:
The i means business.
- Security boost in DB2/400 through addition of row and column access
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Halcyon Adds Forecasts to IBM i Job Scheduler
May 6, 2014 Alex Woodie
Finding quiet time can be a challenge in today’s fast-pace corporate environment, for people and servers. With the version 12 release of Halcyon Software‘s Advanced Job Scheduler, system administrators get a new forecasting feature designed to easily find lulls in the IBM i job schedule in which to run reports or apply updates. The company also used the COMMON conference to unveil features to its new WebSphereMQ offering.
The new job forecaster gives administrators an extensive view into all the jobs that Advanced Job Scheduler has slated to run. That view extends wide–to encompass jobs across multiple IBM i
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BCD Rides Demand for Scrollable Grids to RPG OA
May 6, 2014 Alex Woodie
BCD Software yesterday rolled out a new release of Presto–its IBM i application modernization tool–that now supports IBM‘s RPG Open Access technology. Developing a handler for the RPG OA technology enables BCD to support scrollable grids in Presto, which is something that wasn’t feasible before, the company says.
RPG Open Access was introduced by IBM four years ago to provide a more modern way to consume data from RPG applications. The technology, which is technically known as Rational Open Access: RPG Edition, enables developers and software vendors to bypass the 5250 data stream and instead feed data directly from
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CNX Debuts AutoCode Tool at COMMON
May 6, 2014 Alex Woodie
CNX today unveiled a beta of Nitro AutoCode, a new tool that allows developers to create basic inquiry and file maintenance applications quickly using a simple wizard-driven process. The new offering, which the company introduced at the COMMON conference in Orlando, Florida, builds on the recently released Valence 4.0 framework.
Nitro AutoCode is all about speed. The company claims that, in a matter of seconds, a developer can create a complete Valence application using the graphical drag and drop designer. The completed application can be either a file maintenance/inquiry or the beginning of a more complex app.
“I’m really excited
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Raz-Lee Rolls Out Business-Item Capture Solution
May 6, 2014 Alex Woodie
Raz-Lee Security today formally unveiled a new release of its audit-oriented Capture product at the COMMON conference in Orlando, Florida. Called Capture with Business-Items, or CBI, the software takes shots of users’ 5250 screens, while recording specific details such as customer and account numbers.
Raz-Lee first unveiled its Capture+++ product in the spring of 2004 to fill the need for screen monitoring capabilities in regulated industries, such as banking, insurance, and healthcare. The software would capture screens when specific criteria were met, such as attempts to sign-in with a certain user ID a certain IP address is accessed.
With CBI,
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Remain Ties TD/OMS Into IBM’s Rational Team Concert
May 6, 2014 Alex Woodie
Remain Software this week announced new integration points between its IBM i change management solution, TD/OMS, and IBM‘s Rational Team Concert offering, which also provides elements of change management for IBM i environments.
Remain says the integration between the two products, which becomes available this month, is designed to give customers more choice and flexibility in how they develop, test, and deploy IBM i applications.
“Our goal is to give them choice and let them decide what is the best way to manage their applications’ lifecycle,” Remain managing director Marco Kok says in a press release. “IBM RTC is