Alex Woodie
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Filipino Retailer Widens JDA MMS Investment
April 1, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreRobinsons Retail Holdings, a chain of more than 1,000 retail outlets in the Philippines, is expanding its use of JDA Software Group‘s IBM i-based Merchandise Management System (MMS) as part of a company-wide modernization push.
MMS doesn’t get a lot of press from JDA’s corporate office in Scottsdale, Arizona, these days, as the company focuses its efforts on developing and selling enterprise software for retail chains that runs on commodity servers. But the company has an extensive customer base of nearly 400 MMS customer that remains loyal to the product, which traces its roots back to the early days
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Two More Customer Wins for Vault400
April 1, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreUnited Computer Group recently announced it has signed agreements with Digi-Star International and Harbor Footwear to provide the company with online backup and recovery services via its Vault400 offering.
Digi-Star is a Wisconsin-based company that supplies a variety of electronics to farmers all over the world. The company makes electronic sensing equipment, precision sensors, displays and software used by farmers and others to precisely measure and analyze data from farming processes.
In February, UCG announced that Digi-Star has selected Vault400 to protect its IBM i infrastructure. Digi-Star runs the JD Edwards World ERP system from Oracle. According to UCG,
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What’s Your IBM i Application Debt?
March 31, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreEnterprise IT tool vendor Micro Focus recently did a survey that found mainframe shops around the world had an average of $11 million in application debt, and that the backlog of unfinished and un-started IT projects had increased nearly 30 percent in the last two years. While the survey didn’t look into the IT debt situation at IBM i shops, the numbers can’t be far behind.
The idea of application debt is an interesting one. The analyst firm Gartner first coined the phrase a few years ago to refer to the amount of resources it would take for an organization
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Attachmate Brings Full-Function Emulation to Mobile Devices
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreIf the TN5250 products you tried with your iOS or Android device left you feeling sad and frustrated, you might want to check out the latest release of Attachmate‘s Reflection suite. The company is now providing mobile touchscreen devices with the same type of emulation experience that customers are used to getting from a full Windows-based TN5250 product. The new TouchUX interface should add convenience when entering data, while the new SmartUX API will allow developers to extend functionality with buttons.
The TN5250 and TN3270 products you see on the app stores don’t bring much value to the users,
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CNX Ups the Ante in Mobile App Development for IBM i
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreCNX Corp. yesterday unveiled a major new release of its flagship Web and mobile development tool for IBM i, the Valence Framework version 4.0. The new version is based on Sencha Architect 3, which CNX says allows IBM i shops to develop Web and mobile apps almost completely in a drag-and-drop manner. The updated portal also has a place for accessing 5250 apps that haven’t yet been rewritten or modernized for the new HTML5 world.
CNX has been beating the drum around Valence 4.0 for some time now, with promises of a major new release delivering many new features. “This
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‘ALL Out’ Effort Improves Security Tool’s Look
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreIt’s no secret that IBM i applications suffer from an image problem. The green text interface of 5250 applications is arguably the platform’s biggest liability. While efforts to improve the user experience (UX) typically focus on user-facing applications, ALL Out Security is benefitting from an overhaul of its IBM i security product, courtesy of looksoftware‘s UX modernization tools.
ALL Out Security developed TRACE to help IT managers detect suspicious activity on the IBM i server. The software is basically a data mining solution for the IBM i audit journal and gives users the capability to detect when potentially criminal
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Stay-Linked Enriches Wireless Emulation Suite
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreRunning wireless environments in industrial surroundings, such as warehouses and distribution centers, is not as simple as it might seem. You won’t have any trouble checking your Twitter feed using the WiFi at your local Starbucks, but there are big hurdles to accessing 5250 host applications wirelessly over TCP/IP networks. A Southern California company by the name of Stay-Linked has a proven track record addressing this challenge.
Founded in 2002, Stay-Linked has developed a reputation among distributors and logistics firms for its capability to provide stable and secure connections to IBM i hosts from wireless RF devices, such as barcode
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ASC Improves IBM i Chops of Cross-Platform Job Scheduler
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreAdvanced Systems Concepts (ASC) has recently enhanced its ActiveBatch job scheduler with more useful integration and management functionality for the IBM i server.
ASC last month announced the release of ActiveBatch version 9 SP3, which focuses on improving the product’s capability to work in IBM i environments and with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) systems management tool.
On the IBM i front, ASC says the enhancements focus on improving the ActiveBatch execution agent’s integration with IBM‘s native IBM i job scheduler. “The execution agent leverages the existing AS/400 scheduler,” ASC says in its announcement, “but adds all of
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IBM Updates Online IBM i Resources
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreIf you find yourself perusing IBM‘s website looking for information about the IBM i operating system and Power Systems server, don’t be surprised if things look a little different than you remember them. That’s because IBM recently rolled out several updates to several online IBM i resources, including a new IBM Knowledge Center, a refresh to the IBM i 7.1 Redbook, and a new look and feel for the IBM i section of the developerWorks site.
IBM Redbooks are a great source of in-depth, technical information about IBM products. If you have a question about how to do something
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VAI Satisfies Food Truck Routing Needs for Distributor
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
… Read moreHillcrest Foods, a wholesale distributor from Saratoga Springs, New York, was having difficulty routing its trucks in an efficient manner. After implementing an IBM i-based ERP system from VAI, the company’s delivery route planning is handled efficiently. And along the way, the company made other improvements to its processes that will help pave the way for growth.
Hillcrest Foods is a 33-year-old distributor specializing in delivering bakery, dairy, and gourmet specialty foodservice items to bakeries, co-ops, industrial food processors, restaurants, and pizzerias throughout the Northeast. The company, which operates out of a 40,000-square foot facility in which rail car