Dan Burger
-
Better Collaboration And Integration Needed From Doc Management
April 2, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreFor as long as I’ve been alive, paper has always been called paper. There’s never been Paper 2.0 and to the best of my knowledge no one ever talks about enterprise-level paper or makes claims that it seamlessly integrates with filing cabinets. Compared to stone tablets, it’s an innovation award winner. But has its value diminished in the digital age? No doubt about it. Document management software would love to be Paper 2.0, but paper won’t go away without a fight.
I’m not here to defend paper. In fact, just the opposite. So if you’re in love with paper–forms and
-
Five Handles For The Mobile Application Pot
March 26, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreDeveloping mobile applications that access IBM i data have caused a wheel to come off more than one development team wagon. If it’s happened to you, you’re not alone. The widespread popularity of smartphones and tablets in the business world has violated the comfort zones of countless IT departments in the IBM midrange. Enough so that the debris and the success stories can be assembled into an article, which managers can use to better plan future projects.
Consider this as a five-step problem-solving exercise.
- Begin with the belief that this can be done and should be done from an IBM
-
COMMON Reactivates RPG Certification
March 26, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreEver since IBM dropped its RPG certification program in 2009, the IBM i community has had one of the few programming languages without an official marker for technical proficiency gained through education and experience.
So after instigating a certification program more than three years ago and rolling out two business computing professional certifications, COMMON decided to update the abandoned RPG certification and make it available once again. It is expected to be available for the first time at the upcoming COMMON 2012 Annual Meeting and Exposition scheduled for May 6 through 9 in Anaheim, California.
COMMON has appointed a group
-
COMMON Turning Up the Value
March 19, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreWhenever you think about the community of IBM i users who are not only advocates of the IBM midrange platform, but are also advocating training and education that keeps up with technology, the COMMON user group comes to mind. COMMON has had its ups and downs and has had to make adjustments, just like the individuals and the companies in the community have to. In about six weeks COMMON will host its annual conference. The organization’s president, Pete Massiello, promises it will once again showcase the positive turnaround.
Registrations are exceeding what was on the books for the 2011 conference
-
Quadrant And Mainline Seal Partner Deal
March 19, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreQuadrant Software, makers of document management and fax products for IBM i and other platforms, and Mainline Information Systems, one of the largest resellers of IBM Power Systems, mainframes, and System x machines in the United States, have a new partnership. Mainline gains a product line that fits in well with the infrastructure its customers have in place and that will meet customer needs relating to business process issues, productivity, improved efficiencies and lower costs. Quadrant benefits by gaining access to a new and quite large customer base that has come to trust the Mainline name and way
-
Database Neglect and IBM i Inuendo
March 12, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe future is tied to the past. It’s just not tied too tightly. Understanding that change occurs and better things come as a result is a pretty healthy attitude. Much better than forbidding change or refusing to acknowledge it exists. Change happens. But it’s almost always evolutionary rather than revolutionary. People prefer the level of disruption to be minimal–smooth transitions being far better than unexpected jolts. The row IBM hoed from AS/400 to IBM i is an example of both.
This isn’t a history lesson on the IBM midrange. It’s an example of what can happen when innovative thinking is
-
The New England Guide To IBM i
March 12, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreThe annual training and education event known as the Northeast User Groups Conference has been an IBM midrange tradition in New England. It draws primarily from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine. And it’s unique because it combines the several active local user groups from New England along with devoted volunteers from areas where local user groups no longer exist. This year’s conference is scheduled for April 2 through 4.
As anyone who is connected with a local user group knows, it takes a group of dedicated volunteers to row the boat. In this case, they’ve been
-
RFID Looks Better Without The Hype
March 5, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreAs technology priorities go, RFID seems to be the cheese that slipped off the cracker. You may remember the projections for market adoption that were being tossed around five or six years ago that never came close to reality. As recently as two years ago, the marketing drums still beat loudly. Business focus on cost containment and risk avoidance put the double whammy on RFID. Didn’t kill it–activity can still be found in niches such as the apparel and electronics industries–but the drums are noticeably quieter.
Maybe that’s a good thing, because it’s much easier to see the supply chain
-
IBM’s Spring Ritual: Job Cuts
March 5, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreIt’s almost a traditional rite of spring at IBM. Call it spring house cleaning . . . if you have a gallows sense of humor. Jobs were on the chopping block last week as Big Blue added slightly more than 1,200 employees to the unemployment statistics, according to statistics provided by Alliance@IBM, an IBM employee advocate group that is aligned with the Communications Workers of America trade union.
The Global Technology Services (GTS) division received the deepest cuts, with 691 jobs eliminated. The Application Management Services (AMS) division was trimmed of 118 jobs. The Systems Technology Group (STG)
-
IBM i Is Looking Very Collegiate
March 5, 2012 Dan Burger
… Read moreLast week I was talking with Jim Buck, who heads up the IBM i curriculum at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Each year the best of the Gateway graduates find their way into jobs with IBM i shops.
It’s a credit to Buck’s dedication and understanding of the importance of blending specialized training with the ability to solve business problems. He’s very well networked in the business and education communities, and supports COMMON as a volunteer on educational committees. Buck’s efforts have been rewarded with the COMMON Education Foundation Scholarship Award and the System i Innovation Award for Education