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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M81 Speeds Backups with Flash for i
February 3, 2021 Alex Woodie
M81, a French independent software vendor (ISV) that develops IBM i software, recently announced a new release of Flash for i, a utility that uses IBM FlashCopy and EMC SnapShot technology to clone an IBM i disk volume in just two minutes. With version 4.0 out the door and a new partnership with an American company, M81 is looking to expands its operations in the United States.
Flash for i is an innovative utility designed to provide an IBM i-centric way to manage the FlashCopy and Snapshot commands that IBM and Dell EMC bring to the table with their enterprise …
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SoftLanding Adds Support for Source Stream Files
February 3, 2021 Alex Woodie
IBM i shops developing in a mix of open source and native languages can now manage all of their development projects together in a new release of SoftLanding Systems’ TURNOVER software. The big change that enables that open source support is how SoftLanding adapted its change management software to support stream files on the IFS. The company also took the opportunity to add a new Web interface and rebrand its entire TURNOVER suite of products.
First, let’s clear up the name changes. TURNOVER Lifecycle Manager is the new name of the change management software that used to go by TURNOVER …
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COVID-19: A Great Time for Application Modernization
February 1, 2021 Alex Woodie
If your IT department has been waiting for the right time to start your digital transformation, then you’re in luck: With hundreds of millions of folks around the world stuck in their homes and largely limited to interacting via the Internet, the COVID-19 pandemic and economic lockdown represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build new digital channels to reach them.
COVID-19 is taking a brutal toll on our country in terms of lost lives and lost livelihoods. There’s no upside to that, no way to spin that into a positive. But for IBM i shops that, for whatever reason, have resisted …
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SolarWinds Hack Raises Concern for IBM i Shops
January 27, 2021 Alex Woodie
The recently disclosed hack of the SolarWinds log management software enabled bad actors to gain access to the protected networks of numerous government agencies and private companies. It is also impacting an untold number of IBM i shops, which use SolarWinds software in not-insignificant numbers.
In early December, Reuters broke the story of a massive and sophisticated breach of federal government computer systems that started in March 2020. According to the stories, state-backed cybercriminals exploited security flaws in at least three software vendors, including SolarWinds, Microsoft Azure, and VMware, to access private information in the target systems, …
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Rocket Rebrands, Updates, and Discounts Terminal Emulator
January 27, 2021 Alex Woodie
Greenscreen interfaces may not look pretty, but they continue to be effective and people continue to use them. That longevity among IBM i and System Z shops is a big reason why Rocket Software last week decided to rebrand its BlueZone offering as the Rocket Terminal Emulator. Rocket is trying to drum up interest in the new software, which also supports the latest security protocols, by offering a steep discount on license and subscription fees, but only for a limited time.
BlueZone, which Rocket Software obtained with its 2006 acquisition of Seagull Software, has been the go-to product for …
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Here Are the New IBM i Champions for Power
January 25, 2021 Alex Woodie
It’s the beginning of a new year, which means it’s time for IBM to roll out its new crop of Champions. For 2021, there are 95 individuals who can claim to be IBM Champions for Power, including 26 folks who have been named a Champion for the first time.
Here are the 13 newly named IBM Champions for Power who have a connection with the IBM i:
Marco Riva, a senior developer with Sirio, a business partner based in Italy. Riva is also a member and a blogger at FAQ400, an online community of IBM i professionals in Italy. …
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2021 Predictions for IBM i: Part Two
January 20, 2021 Alex Woodie
The response from the first batch of IBM i prediction we ran last week was superb. Here’s hoping that the community finds the second batch of predictions equally as worthwhile.
Chris Wey, the president of the Power Business Unit at Rocket Software, wonders if crystal balls have any power left following the events of last year. “After an unpredictable 2020, the very notion of predictions is called into question,” Wey says. “Still, as an optimist, I believe we will see some incredibly positive outcomes of the past year’s turmoil in the coming year in our space.
“First, Power systems …
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Zend Server for IBM i Now 64-Bit, Available Via RPM
January 20, 2021 Alex Woodie
IBM i shops can now get Zend Server for IBM i via RPM, which has become the standard method for obtaining and installing open source software on the IBM i platform. The enterprise-grade PHP runtime for IBM i also now runs in 64-bit mode, according to Perforce, the owner of the Zend PHP products.
According to the release notes for Zend Server 2020 for IBM i, the new release brings a host of new features, changes, and fixes to the product. Among the biggest changes is the adoption of RPM packaging for all components, including the IBM i specific ones …
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New IBM i Logo, Publication
January 20, 2021 Alex Woodie
The new year has brought a few changes for those interested in IBM i content (i.e. “words and pictures”), including a new IBM i logo that debuted in a product from IBM, as well as a new publication that is focused, at least in part, on covering the IBM i community.
Let’s start with the new logo. With last month’s launch of Access Client Solutions (ACS) version 1.1.8.6, IBM introduced what looks like a new IBM i logo. The new logo only seems to appear in the ACS product at the moment.
Some folks liked the new logo, saying …
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ARCAD Plugs IBM i DevOps Suite Into Microsoft Azure
January 18, 2021 Alex Woodie
IBM i developers can now leverage a collection of DevOps tools on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, courtesy of a new integration announced in December 2020 by ARCAD Software.
Azure DevOps is an end-to-end DevOps environment that provides a range of project management services for developers who are building software to deploy on Azure or other platforms.
Microsoft ostensibly introduced the software as a service (SaaS) offering back in October 2018. But in reality, Azure DevOps is the latest name of a product that can trace its lineage back to 2006, when Microsoft launched Visual Studio Team System.
Through its …
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