Dan Burger
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cozTools Brings Subscription Pricing To Software Licensing
July 1, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreCozzi Productions, maker of the SQL Query File software, is now offering a monthly software license option with a cancel anytime feature. Rather than paying the entire software license fee up front, as is traditionally done with software purchases, the subscription-based model lowers the entry point cost for software acquisition. There is no money down and the first three months are free for new customs who sign up before the end of the year–December 31, 2015.
The value proposition of subscription-based pricing varies from company to company. But one of the factors that are most commonly cited is the
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Advice From The Mavens Of Modernization
June 29, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreYou don’t have to stretch your IBM midrange imagination too far to understand that today’s app dev decisions will have a great impact on tomorrow’s IT success. Some things never change. And that’s one of them. But situations change and doing business changes. The trick is to integrate the past–keep the valuable experiences and toss the excess baggage–with the present to prepare for the future.
Technology is almost always disruptive. How you deal with that, how you make it work for your career success and the success of your organization is the on-going challenge until you decide to hang up
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Infor Readies IBM i Cloud
June 29, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreERP in the cloud . . . would you go for such an idea or not? If Infor didn’t think some IBM midrange shops were ready, it wouldn’t be offering this option to its discrete manufacturing customers. Infor’s Cloud Suite has been available to customers on other platforms for more than a year. We’re about to see how its IBM i shops take to the cloud.
The official announcement of Infor’s Cloud Suite for IBM i is still several weeks away, but the company already has a few shops operating in the cloud. At a gathering of Infor XA, LX,
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Western User Groups Attempting A Comeback
June 22, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreHere it is, the top three things most unlikely to be seen in the IBM midrange community: Frank Soltis wearing a beanie with a propeller on top; Big Blue handing over IBM i to the open source community; and a freshly minted IBM i user group. The first two are pretty much out of the question, but the last scenario, I’m here to tell you, is happening not once, not twice, but three times. And you thought pigs would fly before a new local user group would put out a welcome mat.
We don’t keep birth rate statistics on IBM
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Data Loss In A Disaster Exceeds Expectations
June 22, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreJust how big of a mistake is it to do nightly backups? Depends what your definition of big is. If a disaster takes down your system at the end of a working day, but before the scheduled backup occurs, how much data will you lose? You probably don’t have an accurate answer to that question. But if you knew, it might change the way you think about how data loss would affect your business.
Most pros who think about data loss and loss prevention have implemented disaster recovery plans, even though the majority of them have little or no idea
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IBM i Multiple Language Support Generates Value Decisions
June 15, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreIBM i support for multiple programming languages leads to freedom of choice, but that doesn’t necessarily make the choice easy. Many of the application development experts say picking a programming language depends on the goal in mind and, of course, which language skills the user possesses. But to say you can’t argue with that is an oversimplification. RPG is always going to be an IBM midrange programmer favorite no matter what. And then there’s the native versus non-native debate.
IT Jungle turned to several application development experts with deep experience and various opinions on programming language decisions.
For database access
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Change Management Plays Major Role In IBM i Modernization
June 15, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe word is getting around the IBM midrange community that application modernization has not reached mission accomplished status after converting the green-screen interface to a graphical user interface. There’s backend work to be done. And if you don’t have software change management tools, or the SCM you have is only minimally adequate, this is a piece of the modernization puzzle to keep in mind. Recent activity in the SCM market has drawn my attention, so I talked with the folks at Remain Software about what’s up.
There’s a one-word answer to the question about what’s up. The answer is business.
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HelpSystems Adds SkyView Partners To Its Security Assets
June 8, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe IBM midrange has undergone a transformation in the past 10 years. Technologically? Yes, but there’s also an evolving process of vendor acquisitions and an increased interest in managed services. Last week we saw another prize claimed by HelpSystems as it purchased the security vendor SkyView Partners. The move signals HelpSystems’ interest in developing security as a service for IBM i shops with little or no time to accomplish security initiatives.
The SkyView acquisition is not the first IBM i security company scooped up by HelpSystems. It acquired both PowerTech and Bytware in 2008, and then Safestone in 2012,
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Managed Service Provider Picks Its Niche
June 8, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreIf you’re a traditional IBM midrange shop, the idea of managed services provided by a vendor may seem as unlikely as commuting to work in George Jetson’s flying car. But then how do you explain all the managed service providers lining up to do business in the IBM i community? They are all jockeying for position in anticipation of trend toward outsourcing pieces of IT and in some cases, all of IT. Focal Point Solutions Group is carving out a space of its own.
Here’s a scenario that is not uncommon. An organization is running important applications on the IBM
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Maxava Builds On IBM i Sustainability Efforts
June 1, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreCorporate citizenship benefits the community. It helps create and maintain a healthy ecosystem for companies that are invested in the IBM i platform and the dedicated, career-oriented people with jobs that are tied to the system. Not everyone has to contribute to the community, but those that do improve the environment for everyone. Maxava, the New Zealand high availability and disaster recovery software vendor, is a shining example of a company actively supporting IBM i sustainability.
This will be the fifth consecutive year Maxava has supported the IBM midrange community by offering grants to help fund user group activities