Dan Burger
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Ocean Computer Group Builds Portfolio with VAI’s ERP Suite
September 29, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreOcean Computer Group, a solutions provider of equipment, APC power, software, consulting, and services for mid-market computer customers throughout the metropolitan New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia areas has added VAI‘s S2K enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite to its product line.
This announcement comes a week after VAI launched S2K 5.0, a new version of its flagship IBM i OS-based ERP system for manufacturing, distribution, retail, metals, food and related service industries. The release includes many new features, including a new Java client, an updated warehouse management system (WMS), new Web portal programs, and a new iPhone interface.
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Help/Systems Adds MSI Systems Integrators to Partner Program
September 22, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreIt’s no coincidence that many of the people who deride the i platform as being a relic often have no idea about the analytical tools and automated operations available for this platform. This isn’t a problem tied to a lack of tools or a lackluster technology. Modern business intelligence (BI) and system automation tools are available from a variety of vendors for the box. The fact is, the AS/400 and its successors have had features that are just now available on other platforms–features that are hyped as if they are leading edge.
One real problem at i shops, however, is
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CA and IBM Pull Together for CMDB Interoperability
September 8, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe promise of IT interoperability often feels like the brass ring that is just out of our grasp. Yeah, it seems closer each time we pass it on the IT merry go round. But if you never lay your hands on it, what difference does it make whether it’s close or far away?
A good example of this reach not meeting grasp is the configuration management database (CMDB). For most organizations, any talk of a CMDB follows a familiar story line that leads nowhere. The lack of budget and resources gets much of the blame, but the gulf between IT
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IBM Expects Customers to Build Security Best Practices Through SaaS
September 2, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreNever let them see you sweat. That’s easier said than done if you’re in charge of corporate security. You’re watching those X64 boxes like a cat watching for a mouse. What about the System i? No worries, right? It’s not even top 10 on your security priorities list. It’s been that way for years, but that doesn’t make it the right way. The bright lights of regulatory compliance can make things hot for you, and suddenly that looks like sweat on your forehead. Tsk-tsk.
If you ask Kris Lovejoy, IBM‘s director of corporate security strategy, she’ll tell you the
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Infor Launches EMEA Channel Recruitment Drive
September 2, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreAmong the ERP software vendors with customers on the IBM System i hardware, no one tops Infor. The privately held company has more than 16,000 customers running its ERP LX (formerly SSA BPCS), ERP XA (formerly MAPICS), System 21 (formerly JBA), ERP A+ (formerly DP Solutions), and HCM Infinium (formerly Software 2000) software suites. Last week, the company announced plans for improving its channel partner network across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The plan calls for the recruitment of new partners and the termination of underperforming partners currently on the team.
Two years ago, Infor’s channel partners
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Java vs. .NET: Someone’s Going to Get a Black Eye
August 18, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreStop me if you’ve heard this one before. A guy walks into a bar wearing a Microsoft .NET T-shirt and challenges any Java-loving pansy to fight. The place gets deathly quiet, and one guy in the back of the room slides his chair back from a table, stands up, and glares at the intruder.
These kinds of encounters happen all the time, but by and large the combatants remain anonymous and the outcomes are quickly turned into folklore, with each side retelling the stories with their favorite programming environment superhero wailing the opponent into a bloody pulp. Well, get ready
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Database Modernization Still Unknown Territory
August 11, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreJust because an IT manager is accustomed to flying in the face of convention doesn’t always mean there is a flight plan involved. And that’s not to say that the ranks of IT professionals are filled with high stakes gamblers, either. By and large, IT is a safe haven for the risk adverse. As an example, let’s take a look at the integrated database used by AS/400, iSeries, and System i users and compare it with what is considered a modern database. Who is ready to make the jump?
The long accepted practice in the System i environment–which dates back
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New President Onboard at BluePhoenix
August 11, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreBluePhoenix Solutions has hired Yaron Tchwella as president of the application migration, rehosting, and renewal company. Tchwella is a 25-year veteran of the high technology industry with experience managing global organizations.
BluePhoenix, based in Herzliya, Israel, is a legacy application modernization tool maker with products to address midrange and mainframe systems. The company entered the System i market during the summer of 2007 when it acquired ASNA, a software company with more than 25 years in the AS/400, iSeries, and System i business. ASNA specializes in tools that move RPG applications to Windows and .NET. The San Antonio, Texas-based
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Resolution Moves Database Automation Forward
July 22, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe IBM Power System i users tend to be a volatile mix of old and new. Examples are many, but on this occasion the spotlight is on creating, populating, and manipulating databases. Dating back to the System 38, databases on this platform were created using DDS (data description specification). Outside this universe, other relational database management systems (RDMS) use structured query language (SQL) to define the database. Some System i shops have been converting to SQL, but there have been obstacles.
Those obstacles exist despite IBM’s efforts to enhance DB2 UDB for iSeries and convince users that SQL offers more
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Companies Slow to Kick Paper Habit, But E-Docs Making the ROI Case
July 15, 2008 Dan Burger
… Read moreDuring the past five to 10 years, the talk about offices going paperless has exceeded the reality. I guess you could say that about a lot of things. We live in hype-infested times. Still, we would like to think digital technology would have all but eliminated paper shufflers, paper cuts, and forests of file cabinets. Why haven’t digital documents taken over? In the IBM System i ecosystem the document management software business is very competitive, keeping prices low and providing plenty of options.
Maybe the idea of completely “paperless offices” has set the bar too high. Many companies have completed