Alex Woodie
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MPG Supports Latest POWER Hardware with Performance Tool
May 7, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreMidrange Performance Group last month unveiled updates to its Navigator family of performance management and capacity planning tools. Performance Navigator version 16 gives IBM i shops the capability to see how their applications will run on the latest Power7+ chips from IBM, and also has better modeling for SSDs and specific applications.
Performance Navigator has been used for many years by IBM i shops and resellers to help match IBM i application workloads to IBM hardware. In more recent years, MPG has expanded the Windows-based product to support Unix and Linux environments on Power Systems via its Power Navigator
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Infor Acquisition of TDCI Would Include MAC-PAC
May 7, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreIt’s been a few years since Infor made an IBM i-related acquisition, but that will likely change as the result of the pending acquisition of TDCI, the Columbus, Ohio-developer of two products, including the Windows-based BuyDesign product configurator and MAC-PAC, an IBM i-based ERP system.
Infor announced its intent to buy TDCI in late April at the company’s annual Inforum user conference in Orlando, Florida. Infor says it entered into a non-binding agreement to buy TDCI for an undisclosed amount of money. The company says it expects the deal to close within 30 days.
It is clear that Infor
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Maxava Hires DR Expert Richard Dolewski
May 7, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreMaxava has put renowned IBM i disaster recovery (DR) expert Richard Dolewski on the payroll as part of a push to bolster its personnel in the United States.
As Maxava’s new chief business continuity officer, Dolewski will speak at events, provide high-level consulting, and generally function as an ambassador to the high availability (HA) software and services company, Maxava’s senior vice president Simon O’Sullivan explains to IT Jungle. “It’s a really good addition to the team,” he says.
“We are tremendously excited to welcome Richard to the Maxava team,” Maxava CEO Allan Campbell said in a press release. “His
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Manufacturer Taps VAULT400 for Cloud Backup
May 7, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreES Robbins, an Alabama plastics manufacturer, is now protecting its IBM i-based ERP system using VAULT400, the cloud-based backup and recovery service run by United Computer Group.
Based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, ES Robbins is a specialized manufacturer of extruded polymer products that employs 150 people. The company’s five divisions make a variety of products for different industries, including floor mats, desk pads, bulk roll stripping, and fencing used in horse facilities.
The company recently bolstered its own internal disaster recovery (DR) scheme by subscribing to VAULT400, a backup and recovery service that utilizes EVault‘s native IBM
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CYBRA Debuts Locking RFID Seals
May 7, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreCYBRA last week unveiled Lock & EnCode, a new line of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that can be locked. CYBRA sees the new padlock-like devices being used to add security for high-value items, and also to provide a tamper-evident seal.
Lock & EnCode devices serve two functions. First, they bring the user traditional RFID item-tracking functionality. Secondly, they serve as a small padlock (breaking strength: about 29 foot-pounds of force) to secure items in transit.
The devices feature a plastic shell and a metal hasp. Once the lock has been set, the only way to open it is to
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Infor Exudes Total Confidence At Annual User Confab
May 6, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreInfor let its customers and competitors know that it means business at the Inforum 2013 conference in Orlando, Florida. At the show, the privately held company highlighted its impressive growth, demonstrated the new products it shipped since last year’s show, and set a high bar with a new line of offerings that ranges from the new consumer-grade SoHo user interface and Twitter-like Ming.le feed, to new cloud offerings with IBM and Amazon‘s RedShift, and another IBM i product acquisition, just for good measure.
On the stage at the Inforum 2013 opening session on April 23, the Infor brain trust
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IBM Is Working On New Software Licensing Schemes
April 22, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreThe old tier-based licensing scheme worked great for many years, but is rapidly outgrowing its usefulness, thanks to widespread virtualization, cheap CPWs, and cloud workloads. Some software vendors who play by the P-group rules have taken it on the chin, while others have jury-rigged complex rules to make ends meet, and managed service providers (MSPs) just roll their eyes. IBM apparently has taken notice of the problem, and the Power Systems team is working on some kind of fix, IT Jungle has learned.
Ordinarily it wouldn’t be news that IBM is working on a new licensing scheme. After all, Big
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Zend Server 6 for IBM i Goes GA
April 16, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreZend Technologies is now shipping Zend Server 6 for IBM i, the newest version of its PHP stack for IBM i environments. As expected, version 6 introduces new ways for IT teams to resolve problems with PHP applications, and works with the mobile interface generation capabilities in Zend Studio 10. The company also introduced new packaging for its IBM i PHP products, delivered a new Web services framework for Zend Server, and launched a new Mobile Smart Start program.
The core capabilities that Zend delivered with Zend Server 6 for IBM i and Zend Studio 10 haven’t changed since we
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NGS, Baseline Put BI and Reporting in the Cloud
April 16, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreHow does business intelligence and reporting for $125 per user per month sound to you? That’s the starting price for a subscription to NGS-IQ Cloud, the new cloud-hosted business intelligence and reporting solution that New Generation Software and Baseline Data Services unveiled at the COMMON show in Austin, Texas, last week.
Intrepid Four Hundred Stuff readers noticed that NGS has been advertising NGS-IQ Cloud for several months. The company was trying to drum up some interest for the new offering ahead of its official launch this month at COMMON. The NGS-IQ Cloud is now up and running and accepting applications
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LANSA Adds E-Commerce to LongRange Mobile App
April 16, 2013 Alex Woodie
… Read moreLANSA last week unveiled Commerce Edition Mobile, a new tool that speeds the creation and deployment of e-commerce enabled mobile applications that can be served from the IBM i platform. The new offering, which was announced at the COMMON conference, combines parts of its LongRange mobile application and LANSA Commerce Edition, and will be available this summer. The company also announced a new release of its core LongRange offering.
Commerce Edition Mobile provides a pre-developed framework on which to build a complete e-commerce storefront that can be delivered as a mobile application. The software runs on the IBM i server,