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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Attachmate Delivers iPad Emulator for 5250
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
Attachmate last month announced the availability of a new terminal emulator for iPad that will allow road warriors and other field workers to access 5250 and 3270 applications from afar. The new client sports an HTML5 screen and support for encrypted connections, which is a requirement in today’s corporate environment.
The scramble to deliver mobile interfaces to existing business applications has been going on for several years. But for whatever reason, the iPad seems to be especially favored by business application developers, including those writing software for the IBM i server.
The delivery of version 1.0.1 of the Verastream Terminal
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Shield’s HA4i Now Ready for PureFlex
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
IBM i shops that are taking the PureFlex route have another high availability solution to choose from now that Shield Advanced Solutions has certified its HA4i software to run on Big Blue’s all-in-one server. The Toronto, Ontario, company worked with IBM to ensure that the software installation process for HA4i goes as smoothly as possible.
HA4i is a logical replication high availability solution that uses IBM’s remote journaling technology to move data and objects between two IBM i servers. Shield initially rolled out a bare-bones release of the software in 2007, and over the years, it has fleshed out the
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Get Your Quant On: IBM Updates DataQuant for IBM i
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
IBM last week updated DataQuant, a business intelligence tool that allows users to create and run queries on all IBM systems, including IBM i. With version 2.1 of DataQuant for Multiplatforms, IBM enhanced its ad hoc reporting capabilities and added a new text analytics feature for processing unstructured data sources.
DataQuant is designed to be an easy-to-use BI tool for developing executive dashboards, information portals, and interactive data visualizations. The software includes dozens of pre-built charts, controls, and graphics that users can drag and drop on the screen to craft and customize dashboards and reports. The development component runs on
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Bulova Taps WebFOCUS for BI
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
The watchmaker Bulova has built a business intelligence application using the WebFOCUS tools from Information Builders, the software company announced last week.
From its headquarters in Queens, New York, Bulova oversees the design, manufacturing, and delivery of luxury watches, clocks, and other timepieces. The 138-year-old subsidiary of the Citizen Watch Co., and is part of the largest watchmaker in the world.
Bulova has been an IBM i shop for years. Its core ERP system is the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne application from Oracle. Other applications that Bulova has run on the IBM i platform include Manhattan Associates‘ PkMS
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AURA’s Launcher Certified on SAP
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
The Launcher/i suite of document management software from AURA Equipements has been certified to work with SAP applications, AURA announced earlier this year.
Launcher/i is the latest version of AURA’s document management software for IBM i. The software takes spool file output from business applications and applies templates to it, for the purpose of extracting specific data from it or adding graphical elements, such as company logos or barcodes. The software also enables customers to distribute it via email or fax; convert it into Office, PDF, or HTML formats; or print out a hard copy.
In July, AURA announced that
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TMW Unveils New Web Version of IBM i-Based TL2000 Trucking App
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
TMW Systems last month took the wraps off a swath of new products during its annual user conference in Anaheim, California. Among the new products unveiled was a new edition of its core IBM i-based dispatching application called TL2000 Web Edition, which was developed using technology from Profound Logic. The company also updated its TMWSuite and TruckMate dispatching apps, and shipped new releases of its routing and business intelligence solutions.
For better or for worse, 5250 green screens are synonymous with IBM i ERP systems. But with the launch of TMW’s TL2000 Web Edition, even old-school trucking firms will
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IBM Decides to Give Decision Engine an Update
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
Some decisions made during the course of business are critical, and should only come from the executive suite after careful deliberation. However, for every important decision, there are a hundred less important decisions that need to be made, which need not ever touch a human’s brain, especially if one has IBM‘s Operational Decision Manager (ODM) keeping an eye on things.
ODM is a Java-based automated decision management engine that has been in the IBM software collection since IBM acquired ILOG in 2008 for $340 million. Before being given the boring and descriptive ODM name, the software went by WebSphere
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MVP Systems Ships JAMS Version 6
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
MVP Systems Software is now shipping Job Access Management System (JAMS) version 6, a new version of its cross-platform enterprise job scheduler for IBM i and other environments. The new version gives customers better views into the execution of jobs running across their enterprises.
JAMS is a .NET product that runs on Windows servers. Most of MVP’s 800 or so customers use the software to manage jobs on Windows servers. However, the software can also be used to control and coordinate jobs executing on IBM i, Unix, Linux, and OpenVMS servers. The company has supported an IBM i agent since
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BCD Hooks Up With ARCAD To Manage Web Development On IBM i
October 7, 2013 Alex Woodie
Native RPG development on the IBM i server was largely tamed long ago by change management and application lifecycle management (ALM) tools. But as IBM i shops extend their RPG investments with new Web-based front-ends written in languages like HTML, PHP, and CSS, cracks have emerged in that ALM wall. Last week, Business Computer Design Int’l. and ARCAD Software announced a partnership that aims at closing some of those gaps for BCD’s WebSmart users.
The partnership between BCD and ARCAD will see the two companies working to integrate their respective tools, namely BCD’s WebSmart development environment–including the ILE CGI and
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VAI Delivers One GUI for All Devices with S2K Smart Center
October 1, 2013 Alex Woodie
VAI last week unveiled S2K Smart Center, a new HTML5 screen that’s designed to be the only interface users need to access all VAI applications. In addition to giving users a single, consistent way to get to their applications, S2K Smart Center also delivers social media capabilities, such as email, chat, and forums, by providing access to IBM’s Smart Cloud for Business.
There’s been a colossal amount of change to the enterprise IT landscape over the past few years. Not only are business users demanding the capability to access applications from mobile devices, but they’re becoming accustomed to communicating via