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.

• Pen Tester Silent Signal Targets IBM i

  September 28, 2022 Alex Woodie

  If you’re in the market for penetration testing services, you might be interested in hearing about a relatively new player in the market named Silent Signal. The Budapest, Hungary-based outfit has been offering IBM i penetration testing for the past year, and it’s already found security vulnerabilities in its clients’ systems.

  Silent Signal has been providing penetration testing, IT security assessments, and training since it was founded by a trio of security experts in 2009. With around a dozen security certifications to their credits, the security experts are well versed in the standard methods companies use to block hackers and …

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• Remain Hooks TD/OMS Into Azure DevOps

  September 28, 2022 Alex Woodie

  Remain Software’s change management suite for IBM i, TD/OMS, will soon gain support for Microsoft Azure DevOps, providing another code repository for IBM i shops. The Dutch company has a host of other enhancements for various DevOps products — including a new analytics dashboard for KPIs, enhancements to Octo, and new features for its API product — that it’s looking to deliver with next week’s release of Milestone 1. This company is also working on developing an alternative to IBM’s Merlin.

  Remain delivers updates to its various IBM i DevOps products on a regular cadence that starts in early summer, …

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• What CMOD Functions You Can Access Via New Nav

  September 26, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM made a lot of news in May with the launch of IBM i 7.5 and Technology Refreshes for IBM i 7.4 and 7.3. One of the items that you may have missed in the avalanche of news was the unveiling of a new interface in IBM Navigator for i (a.k.a., New Navigator) that gives access to Content Manager OnDemand for i (CMOD) functionality.

  CMOD, as you probably know, is a licensed application from IBM that has been around for decades, which means there has to be a good number of customers using it for essential business functions. While paper …

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• LTO Group Pushes Roadmap Out to Generation 14

  September 21, 2022 Alex Woodie

  Native capacities for Linear Tape-Open (LTO) cartridges will once again double with every successive generation, according to a new roadmap published this month by the group of companies behind the LTO spec.

  The new roadmap published by IBM, HPE, and Quantum, which are the Technology Provider Companies (TPCs) behind the LTO program, show the LTO Ultrium format being pushed out four more generations. When LTO Gen 14 tapes hit the market – likely a decade from now or longer – they will have a native capacity of “up to 576TB,” and a compressed capacity of up to 1.44PB.

  It’s been …

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• Trinity Guard Brings Security Suite Up to Speed with IBM i 7.5

  September 21, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM put a major focus on improving security with the release of IBM i 7.5 earlier this year, with stronger out-of-the-box default configurations, new password controls, and improved monitoring. With the launch of TG Suite 3.0, Trinity Guard is helping its customers get the most out of those security improvements.

  IBM made a slew of security improvements with the launch of IBM i 7.5, which it unveiled in May and which shipped soon thereafter. Highlights include the elimination of security level 20, a new password level 4 that includes 512-bit encryption, the elimination of default passwords, and new table functions …

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• Pandora FMS Log Monitoring Solution Gets IBM i Hooks

  September 19, 2022 Alex Woodie

  Pandora FMS, an open source log monitoring solution that has been in use for decades, is being integrated with IBM i, the software’s commercial backer announced last week. Thanks to a partnership between Pandora FMS and the French company M81, organizations that use the software can add IBM i into the monitoring mix.

  Pandora FMS, short for Flexible Monitoring System, is an open source tool for consuming and analyzing server and network logs. The utility, which was written in PHP and runs on Linux, uses agents (developed in Perl) to keep an eye on servers running Linux, Windows, and Unix …

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• Debunking Modernization Myths

  September 14, 2022 Alex Woodie

  If you’re embarking upon an application modernization project, you’re not alone, as many organizations running older computer systems are looking for an upgrade. But that increased need for modernization has coincided with the rise of several myths on the topic, which is a cause for concern.

  The first modernization myth is that all you need for a modernization project is a code converter that takes your legacy source code and automatically converts it to a modern codebase. While code converters do have a role to play, there are many more important aspects to a successful modernization effort.

  “The spin being …

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• The Global State of Cybersecurity Is Not Good

  September 14, 2022 Alex Woodie

  “It’s a jungle out there” may be the best way to summarize the state of cybersecurity at the moment, as recent global events coalesce into a melting pot of politically motivated hackers, the criminal underground, foreign scammers, and widespread domestic vulnerabilities.

  Let’s start with everybody’s favorite topic: scams. If you’re longing for the simple days of the Nigerian 419 scams, you’re not alone, as the playing field for scams has evolved considerably in recent years. That’s not to minimize the continued threat of the 419 scam, which sometimes resulted in a physical kidnapping, or worse. But the idea of getting …

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• IBM Rejiggers RPM Repos for Open Source Software

  September 12, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM has made a change to how it distributes open source software for the IBM i platform. Instead of using a single RPM repository to distribute the software for all release of the IBM i operating system, as has been the case for the past five years, IBM is now delivering software through operating system-specific releases. The change was made to address difficulties that have arisen in the use of a single repo for all releases of IBM i, the company says.

  IBM rolled out its new RPM (which stands for Red Hat Package Manager) back in 2018 as a …

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• Kisco Makes Moves In the IBM i Security Business

  August 29, 2022 Alex Woodie

  When he took ownership of Kisco Systems from his dad, Richard, last year, Justin Loeber pivoted the company to focus almost exclusively on IBM i security. With recent updates to the company’s security tools in the books and more in the works, Loeber is positioning the company to ride the security wave for the long haul.

  If COMMON’s recent announcement that it is launching a new security conference called i on Security 2022 in St. Louis this fall is any indication, then it appears that awareness of security vulnerabilities is on the upswing. That is good news for companies …

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