Dan Burger
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I Didn’t Know That About i
June 10, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreHave you ever been talking with someone who believes he knows everything about IBM‘s famed AS/400? The worst of these fountains of IT knowledge are completely unaware there is such a thing as an IBM i on Power Systems platform. If you have patience, you listen politely for a few minutes until this self-proclaimed techno genius proves he doesn’t know the difference between an AS/400 and a Maytag Model 72 wringer washer.
Well, we all have a tendency to talk about things we don’t know about. But when it comes to IBM i running on Power Systems iron, most
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Profound Reveals Native Mobile App Option
June 4, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreProfound Logic has developed ways for IBM midrange companies to create mobile applications using its designer tool and deploying to the Web and through hybrid applications (not quite native) via PhoneGap. This week it is adding another option with native apps for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. Native application capability is the quickest and easiest way to deploy mobile apps and those are two huge priorities for a lot of companies.
Two months ago, Profound was espousing the open source framework that the software vendor incorporated into Profound UI 4.5. Now it’s the native application enhancements that have
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Good Advice For The Hosted Services Buyer
June 3, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreHosted services, managed service providers, cloud computing . . . some choose not to think about those things at all, while others try to figure out if there is a good business reason to get involved in some way, shape or form.
Last week I spent some time talking with Jim Kandrac, founder and president of United Computer Group (UCG), which is an IBM business partner and IBM i server reseller. Kandrac also pays attention to the IT services business because his company offers backup and recovery as a service to IBM midrange customers with a product called Vault400. Not
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Application Modernization: Destination Success
June 3, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreAny organization that has been around long enough to grow into a business has investments in equipment that can be described by the word legacy. The question that many struggle to answer is how to take what you have and turn it into what you need. In the IBM i community, we hear the term modernization being used a lot, particularly when it comes to applications. Old applications rarely are as efficient as new ones. They can be difficult to use and limited in what they can do.
If you’ve heard or read comments by IBM i chief architect Steve
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How To Assess Legacy System Risk
May 21, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe more applications are changed, the more complicated they get. What was originally designed with a certain set of facts in mind, over the course of 10, 20, or more years, almost always becomes convoluted, complex, and unable to keep up with changing business requirements. Many IBM midrange shops face this problem. They spend more time maintaining old complex and inflexible code than providing new business solutions. Many struggle to assess that situation.
Understanding the challenges of legacy systems is the purpose of the partnership that teams vLegaci and Databorough. The result of this partnership is a service called
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ISV Advisory Council: Untold Secrets And Free Advice
May 20, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreBeing more responsive to customer needs is a common theme these days. Companies can quickly get into hot water by neglecting customers either completely or by choosing favorite segments, such as those with the biggest budgets. IBM‘s customer consciousness, as it applies to the Power Systems and IBM i community (the focus of IT Jungle newsletters), includes the independent software vendors (ISVs). The IBM i ISVs are hugely important. Big Blue must wish it had a similar vendor base for its other platforms.
Responsiveness to customers depends on awareness. To improve its awareness of ISV customers, Big Blue formed
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IBM i Involved In Ticket Fixing
May 20, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreIt’s not exactly what you think. This isn’t about speeding tickets or parking tickets. It’s about tickets to sporting events and how the IBM i platform and a software vendor in the United Kingdom have teamed up to create a faster, more dependable, and much more user friendly experience for buying tickets and merchandise. It’s also about what a performance boost, courtesy of Power7 processors, and an innovation boost, thanks to the cloud, can mean for business.
Talent Sport is software that runs on IBM Power Systems servers and the IBM i operating system. It has a successful record based
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Learning, Problem Solving, Collaboration, and MITEC
May 20, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe Michigan IBM i and AIX Technical Education Conference (MITEC), the annual opportunity for Power Systems professionals to distinguish themselves and the companies they work for by building on their current skills, is coming up June 4. The training day is sponsored by six local user groups in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, and has 51 sessions on its agenda. MITEC is one of the top Power Systems technical conferences in the nation, with attendance topping 200.
Paul Ubelhor, one of the volunteers who helps plan and organize the conference, says the forecast for the event is excellent.
“Things are shaping
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Knee Deep In Database Modernization
May 13, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreTwenty years ago, the DB2/400 database from IBM was not being asked to do the things that the DB2 for i database for the IBM i operating system is being asked to do today. Database limitations sometimes sneak up on us. Even though the handwriting has been on the wall for some time, there has to be a reason to stop and read it. Jim Ritchhart read it. He knows database modernization because he is living it. His story of database modernization is a good one.
Ritchhart works for Uline, a shipping supplies and packaging materials manufacturer with headquarters near
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Corus360 Builds Power Systems Cloud In Atlanta
May 13, 2013 Dan Burger
… Read moreCorus360, an Atlanta, Georgia-based value added reseller (VAR) with a 30,000-square-foot data center, is expanding its services with an application hosting business for companies using IBM i, AIX, and Linux apps. It calls its new, on-demand, allocation of resources venture PowerCloud360. Companies looking to reduce IT capital expenditures and expenses are the target market.
Behind the PowerCloud360 name is IBM Power Systems’ proven virtualization capabilities–virtualized processors, memory, network, and storage. Of course, disaster recovery and high availability are part of the design. More than likely it will be the biggest portion of the business. And in true, cloud-like fashion,