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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.

  • HelpSystems Has A New Number One Investor

    March 12, 2018 Alex Woodie

    A controlling stake in HelpSystems is set to be sold to HGGC, a Silicon Valley private equity firm with $4.3 billion in assets. The deal, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of the month, was presented as a recapitalization of HelpSystems and a ratification of its on-going strategy to grow the business through acquisitions and organic growth.

    The deal will keep current owners of HelpSystems – including H.I.G. Capital, Split Rock Partners, the software company’s management team, and employees of HelpSystems – on board as owners under the company’s new shareholder structure. HGGC‘s piece …

    Read more
  • Squeeze Your ERP A Little Harder Before Ditching It

    March 7, 2018 Alex Woodie

    The pressure to migrate to newer ERP systems and cloud-based applications can be heavy, particularly if you’re using perceived “legacy” platforms like the IBM i server. However, the urge to replace one technology with another should be resisted, especially if your business challenges aren’t rooted in technology.

    That’s the gist of a conversation with Eric Kimberling, the founder and managing director of Panorama Consulting Solutions, which functions as a neutral third-party adviser for customers’ ERP-related decisions. Panorama recently published a report poking holes in the widely held notion that newer ERP and cloud systems are better for business.

    “First …

    Read more
  • Unicom Unleashes Code Management With Mobile UIs

    March 7, 2018 Alex Woodie

    Organizations using the IBM i change management and help desk tools from Unicom Global will see some big changes to the products. Thanks to a new mobile-first initiative, users can now access code management functions from smartphones and tablets, in addition to PCs. SoftLanding’s Turnover, Unicom’s change management tool for IBM i, also received some new core features.

    Unicom Global announced that it has added new user interfaces to two IBM i products, including Turnover, the change management product originally developed by SoftLanding Systems (which Unicom now runs as a subsidiary), and Expressdesk, a help desk package that provides incident …

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  • Five Strategies For Surviving A Software Audit

    March 5, 2018 Alex Woodie

    Dealing with a software licensing audit can be a scary thing, particularly for smaller outfits with limited resources. Martin Thompson of the Campaign for Clear Licensing recently clued IT Jungle into some of the audit strategies that big software companies are employing, and how software customers can be prepared.

    Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and SAP are widely respected for the quality of their software and the responsiveness of their technical support. But they are also feared by customers due to the legal power they hold, the restrictive licensing terms in contracts, and how they use software audits to …

    Read more
  • IT Jungle Readers Respond To Tech Refreshes

    February 28, 2018 Alex Woodie

    IBM took some people in the IBM i community by surprise when it unveiled the latest Technology Refreshes for IBM i 7.2 and 7.3 two weeks ago. Support for new Power9 servers obviously headlines the news, but several other notable new features are worth mentioning. We asked IT Jungle readers to chime in on the parts they liked best.

    Birgitta Hauser, a developer with Toolmaker Advanced Efficiency in Germany, says she likes the productivity enhancements that TRs bring, and the latest TRs are no different.

    “Because I’m at first an IBM i programmer, with the main focus on RPG and …

    Read more
  • IBM i Server Less Risky for Enterprises, IBM Claims

    February 28, 2018 Alex Woodie

    Last year we told you about an IBM-sponsored study that concluded it was much more cost effective to run a mid-size company on IBM i servers than X86 servers running Windows and Linux. It turns out that, at the same time, IBM published a similar comparison for high-end enterprise systems that concluded the IBM i server’s superior uptime saves enterprise users millions of dollars. However, the results should be taken with a grain of salt.

    Just like the mid-size server comparison conducted by Quark + Lepton last year, its enterprise study sought to compare how different server platforms would fare …

    Read more
  • GDPR Deadline Looms for IBM i Shops

    February 26, 2018 Alex Woodie

    Have you seen the website with the Grim Reaper counting down the days when support for IBM i 7.1 will end? There are 63 days left, if you’re keeping track. But a scant 25 days after IBM stops supporting IBM i 7.1 on April 30, time will be up for another important IT milestone: compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

    The GDPR is a major new data privacy and protection law that goes into effect on May 25. It was passed two years ago by the European Commission with the goal of standardizing the wide assortment of laws …

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  • BRMS Cloud Backups Get Recovery Teeth

    February 21, 2018 Alex Woodie

    IBM i shops that use Backup, Recovery and Media Services for i (BRMS) have been able to save their backups to the cloud for over a year. However, they faced restrictions when it came to restoring those backups to a system that wasn’t the originating server, which made the feature less useful in real-world disaster. Now IBM and its development partners are removing that restriction with the latest batch of IBM i tech refreshes.

    We touched on the new BRMS capability last week in our round-up story about IBM i 7.3 Technology Refresh 4 (TR4) and IBM i 7.2 TR8. …

    Read more
  • IBM Patches ‘ROBOT’ Flaw in IBM i Crypto Library

    February 21, 2018 Alex Woodie

    IBM has issued patches to fix a serious security problem in the IBM Global Security Kit, or GSKit, a relatively obscure crypto package that implements SSL/TLS encryption algorithms across a variety of IBM products, including IBM i. An old flaw in the underlying RSA crypto algorithm that could let hackers decrypt data in a “side channel” attack has resurfaced under a new moniker: “ROBOT.”

    GSKit is an IBM toolkit that implements various encryption-related functions, including symmetric and asymmetric ciphers, random number generation, hashing algorithms, and encryption key management capabilities, for products that need over-the-wire encryption, including IBM i, Linux, and …

    Read more
  • Maxava Gives Deleted Data A Second Chance

    February 19, 2018 Alex Woodie

    To err is human, as they say. But accidentally deleting the payroll master file – well, that’s a serious problem. Instead of seeking forgiveness, one might check out a new solution from Maxava called Capture Point Restore (CPR), which essentially provides a safety net that shields IBM i shops from suffering the dire consequences of fat-finger mistakes and malicious acts alike.

    Users accustomed to Windows know that if they accidentally delete a file, they can easily recover it from the Recycle Bin. There are similar utilities protecting data from permanent deletion in Linux. But there’s no such facility protecting files …

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