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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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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2021 Predictions for IBM i, Part 1
January 13, 2021 Alex Woodie
With an eventful 2020 thankfully in the rearview mirror, it’s time to start thinking about what 2021 might have in store for us. The IBM i community, like most of the world, could use a little bit of hope at the moment. We asked IBM i community leaders to deliver predictions, and they responded.
Liam Allan, who is a consultant at Seiden Group and the creator of ILE Editor, has a couple of predictions for IT Jungle.
“My focus is mainly software. I do still predict Node.js gaining traction on IBM i,” Allan writes. “The tooling is really …
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HelpSystems Acquires Data Security, File Transfer Companies
January 13, 2021 Alex Woodie
HelpSystems started 2021 just like it ended 2020: by acquiring a software company.
Two days before Christmas, HelpSystems acquired Vera, a developer of digital rights management software that is based in Palo Alto, California. Then on January 4, it struck again, acquiring FileCatalyst, an Ottawa, Ontario provider of software for accelerating file transfers.
Both acquisitions fit neatly into HelpSystems’ existing strategy for helping its customers securely and efficiently move and manage data, as well as with other recent acquisitions that the company has made, says Jim Cassens, HelpSystems president.
The FileCatalyst software is used to accelerate the transfer …
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Seiden Group Unveils A PHP Distro For IBM i
January 11, 2021 Alex Woodie
IBM i shops that are looking for PHP alternatives on IBM i may be interested to know that Seiden Group is now distributing and supporting its own PHP distribution. Called CommunityPlus+, the PHP runtime is distributed via RPM, includes a slew of components (including Db2 database connectors), and is available with technical support, if desired.
Seiden Group’s free CommunityPlus+ distribution is a PHP runtime for software written in PHP versions 7.3 and 7.4, with support for PHP 8.0 coming soon. The software runs in the IBM i PASE environment in 64-bit mode, and includes a slew of database drivers, …
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Let IT Flow: The Benefits Of Endless Modernization
January 4, 2021 Alex Woodie
The “big bang” approach has been falling out of favor for some time in the world of IT project management. Now, according to new research from Micro Focus, organizations that embrace the concepts of continual improvement, or “endless modernization,” of legacy applications achieve better results than those that attempt a wholesale replacement or a full rewrite of them.
The research was conducted by Standish Group, which Micro Focus contracted to write Endless Modernization: How Infinite Flow Keeps Software Fresh, which was released in early December. The study builds on Standish’s longstanding Chaos Report series, which seeks to document …
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