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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Why You Should Be Concerned About the MGM ‘Vishing’ Attack
September 27, 2023 Alex Woodie
Las Vegas casino giant MGM Resorts International has lost millions of dollars this month and suffered damage to its brand as a result of a high-profile ransomware attack that is still ongoing across several of its properties. The hackers that infiltrated MGM’s computer systems are said to have used a low-tech social engineering technique dubbed “vishing” that just about any company is susceptible to, including IBM i shops.
The systems that hackers shut down on September 11 may or may not be IBM i servers or connected to them. MGM has been an IBM i user in the past, just …
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IBM Bolsters Database Security with Guardium 12.0
September 27, 2023 Alex Woodie
A new release of the Guardium database security software is expected to help customers detect insider threats faster and better comply with audit mandates, according to IBM. Guardium 12.0 also brings expanded support for databases and easier management in hybrid cloud environments, the company says.
IBM bought Guardium back in 2009 in order to improve its capability to monitor databases for possible security violations and SQL injection attacks. The security software helped to automate database security tasks by implementing a policy-based control layer for transactions as well as anomaly detection routines to single out potentially criminal behavior that would otherwise …
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Rocket DevOps Now Supports VS Code
September 25, 2023 Alex Woodie
IBM i developers who prefer to code within VS Code can now get all the goodness of automated change management and CI/CD with Rocket Software’s DevOps offering, which now supports the popular browser-based development environment, among other new features.
VS Code, which is short for Visual Studio Code, has rocketed to popularity in the IBM i community over the past couple of years. That popularity is due in large part to Code for IBM i, the Liam Allan-developed plug-in that brings ILE language support to Microsoft’s open source IDE.
Allan, who is known to despise IBM’s full-fledged Java-based IDE, …
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ARCAD’s Deal with IBM for DevOps In Merlin Is Exclusive
September 20, 2023 Alex Woodie
When IBM launched Merlin in 2022, it touted the browser-based environment as a new way to deliver functionality to the IBM i installed base and potentially to distribute third-party solutions. But right now, the only third-party vendor IBM is working with when it comes to Merlin is ARCAD Software, which has exclusive rights to supply the DevOps components within Merlin, according to executives with both companies.
IBM introduced Merlin with great fanfare in May 2022 as a potentially transformative technology. Not only was Merlin the first browser-based integrated development environment (IDE) from IBM, providing an alternative to the powerful but …
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Is The Cloud On Your IBM i Horizon?
September 20, 2023 Alex Woodie
It’s almost impossible to ignore the enormous pull that the cloud is exerting on the software industry today. Companies that run the IBM i server are also subject to that gravity, although it has different ramifications for their technological future, as well as the decisions they’ll make if they want to run their operations in the cloud.
IBM i shops, almost by definition, are not running on the cloud today, at least not in the public cloud the way it is normally defined. While there are a handful of managed service providers (MSPs) offering private cloud IBM i runtimes, and …
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Rocket Buys Data Integration Provider B.O.S.
September 18, 2023 Alex Woodie
Rocket Software has announced the acquisition of B.O.S., a German provider of data integration software. While the software company targets primarily the mainframe with its data integration solutions, Rocket says it’s considering broadening support to IBM i.
B.O.S. was founded more than 30 years ago to develop data integration solutions that connect the IBM mainframe to other systems. It boasts more than 1,200 installations in 25 countries, including Fortune 50 firms as well as government organizations.
The company’s flagship product, called tcVision, helps customers move data from their mainframe sources, such as Db2, IMS, VSAM files, ADABAS, and CA DATACOM, …
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IBM and Fujifilm Unveil 150 TB Tape Drive
September 13, 2023 Alex Woodie
Organizations will be able to store up to 150 TB of compressed data on a single cartridge when they select the new TS1170 IBM tape drive and 3592 JF tape cartridge developed by Fujifilm. The unveiling of the world’s most voluminous tape storage system two weeks ago shows that tape has a lot of life as a medium for mass data storage.
The new TS1170 tape drive is the sixth generation of IBM’s high-end, enterprise-class tape technology, which is supported on IBM i and other enterprise servers. It’s capable of saving data to the new 3592 JF tape cartridge …
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Merlin Subscriptions Picking Up, IBM and ARCAD Say
September 13, 2023 Alex Woodie
Hundreds of IBM i shops have adopted Merlin since it was released last year, according to IBM and ARCAD, which jointly developed the development and code management tool. The addition of a subscription offering in early 2023 significantly bolstered sales activity, the companies say.
“In this last six months or so, we have really seen it tick up, which is exactly what we are expecting,” says IBM i Product Manager Alison Butterill, on the Merlin adoption curve.
Sales were a bit slow coming out of the gate for Merlin, the novel, browser-based environment for application development and change management on …
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IBM i Fall 2023 Event Calendar Shaping Up
September 11, 2023 Alex Woodie
The next variant of the coronavirus might try to stage a viral comeback, but that’s not stopping IBM i professionals from packing their bags and gearing up for a busy fall conference season, which starts this week with the IBM TechXchange in Vegas.
IBM TechXchange is a major conference that offers hundreds of sessions for developers, data scientists, IT architects, operations professionals, and infrastructure architects, among other personas. The event, which takes place September 11 -14 at the MGM Grand resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, is expected to draw more than 5,000 attendees for educational and training sessions on AI, …
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Profound Logic Explores AI Paths for IBM i
August 23, 2023 Alex Woodie
The burgeoning world of artificial intelligence may seem far away to IBM i shops, but in fact, the technology is quite accessible to the users. One vendor that’s helping to guide IBM i users through the growing AI jungle is Profound Logic.
Profound Logic is best known as an application modernization vendor, and one that provides tools for developing Web and mobile interfaces for IBM i applications, as well as working with APIs on the platform.
In a series of YouTube videos, Profound Logic co-founder and CEO Alex Roytman provides a rundown on the latest developments in the world …
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