Dan Burger
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SQL Query And Report Tool Gets The ProData Treatment
June 1, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreSQL/Pro 5.0 is the latest in a long line of hard-working IBM midrange computing utilities produced and perfected by ProData Computer Services. Data access, data integration, and the DB2 relational database are ProData’s specialty. The key to the IBM i platform is its database and how developers create applications that ride on top of it. And when it comes to programmer productivity, the Omaha-based tech company gets it. Any database-related development work is going to involve SQL.
Years ago, when IBM i was known as OS/400, SQL was an unwelcomed stranger. It’s funny how things have changed for those
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ARCAD Release Management Fits With UrbanCode DevOps
May 20, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreIBM‘s midrange computers and the applications they run never seem to get the recognition they deserve when it comes to advanced technologies and methodologies. It’s not exactly stealing intellectual property, but it is dishonest to represent “new” ideas as if they were freshly hatched. DevOps is a good example. It’s a hot idea, but it also shares a lot of methodology with the IBM i and its predecessors, the iSeries and AS/400.
At the heart of DevOps is the change process and adding agility and speed to that process.
“It is not new in our field when you think
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Mobile Access To IBM i Makes The Grade
May 18, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreWhen a Technology Refresh gets rolled out, we find all sorts of things rolled in. Some of the items, like those picked by IBM execs Steve Will and Alison Butterill two weeks ago in an IT Jungle story, are the front runners for most valuable enhancements. But the list goes on and opinions vary. Tim Rowe puts the addition of mobile support for IBM i Access for the Web, SQL services, and new REST-based Web services at the top of the list.
A big part of the IBM i reputation is its easy access to its file system, to printers
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IBM i Shops Running Oracle JDE Consider MSPs And Migration
May 18, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreGSI is an application and technology consulting company specializing in helping companies that run JD Edwards ERP software. As IBM i history buffs know, JD Edwards software solely ran on IBM midrange systems back in the day. An estimated 25 percent run on IBM i today, which still means hundreds of i shops find themselves caught between a rock (IBM) and a hard place (Oracle). And let’s say GSI is a company trying to ease the pain.
When GSI began its JD Edwards support business in 2004, 90 percent of its customers ran IBM AS/400s (later
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IBM i Shops Not In A Hurry For HANA
May 11, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe IBM i community has always looked to IBM for evidence that it is protecting its collective investment in the platform. Lately it seems the IBM i executives are playing up the investment angle more than usual. At the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition, Dave Nelson, director of IBM i development, and I talked about that topic. Nelson played a key role in the recent Power-SAP Summit in Rochester. The event was primarily for IBM i business partners and SAP end users and their interest was in roadmaps.
There’s an existing perception among the SAP on IBM i community that
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LANSA Bets On Windows Mobile Acceptability
May 11, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreOn a scale of one to 10, the expectations for business-focused mobile applications are somewhere in the teens. Business apps, mobile devices, and remote workers are on a steady climb. Although Appleand Android devices dominate the mobile landscape, LANSA just announced it has added Microsoft Windows to its write-once-deploy-many strategy for native application development. The long-time IBM i software vendor believes Windows will soon be an important mobile choice.
Windows mobile? Are you kidding me? That’s pretty much what I asked Steve Gapp, president and CEO of LANSA, when we got together at the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition
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COMMON Still In The Red; Trend Is Favorable
May 11, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreIt’s a fact that professional associations are struggling to sustain themselves in the modern work environment. What organizations need to do to remain relevant is a never-ending question. Solutions come from what has always worked, but they also require new strategies and a break from the past. The COMMON user group finds itself in this position. So do 95 percent of the professional associations representing everything from doctors to dog catchers. And in most cases, the success of the association comes down to members and money.
The greatest tangible benefit for the COMMON user group is its Annual Meeting and
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Technology Refresh Highlighted By Development Languages And Native Flash Storage
May 6, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreIBM‘s latest round of technology refreshments for IBM i 7.1 and 7.2 were announced last week, so I asked Steve Will and Alison Butterill to pick what they expected to be the operating systems’ most appreciated and readily implemented enhancements. Their agreed upon choices came down to support for popular development languages Java 8 and Python, plus expanded support for the data interchange format JSON, and native flash storage, which replaces virtual attached storage.
Will, the chief scientist for IBM i, and Butterill, the IBM i program offering manager, have a great deal to say about what goes into
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Fresche Legacy Advances App Dev Integration Plan
April 27, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreA lack of IT integration is costing organizations untold, but not unquantifiable, sums of money. The noose on careless spending is tightening as the realization of integration benefits slowly comes into focus in specific areas–one of those being application development and modernization projects, which are top concerns for many businesses. Shortening the development process, increasing the quality of applications before turning them loose in production, and reducing the maintenance burden are all part of integration goals.
With integration as a target, Fresche Legacy has taken a step toward combining development tools, code analytics, and software change management by integrating its
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SystemObjects Gets The Word Out On Mobile Messaging
April 27, 2015 Dan Burger
… Read moreA mobile messaging app that can automatically receive information from applications or utilities running on IBM i or Windows servers could change the way you think about mobile computing and business objectives. SystemObjects, the French software company that specializes in Web and mobile solutions for IBM midrange computer users, is rolling out a new utility that it believes is the best way to get the attention of business-oriented mobile device users.
The utility is called Push4Servers. It works by sending push messages using a simple API call inserted into any number of user programs. Push4Servers consists of three parts: