Timothy Prickett Morgan
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IBM Dresses Up The Power 750+ In A Linux-Only Tuxedo
August 5, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
… Read moreBig Blue wants a much bigger piece of the $10 billion annual Linux server business, and it is rolling out a fatter version of its Power7+ server lineup in the PowerLinux line to chase big Java, database, and analytics workloads. The new machine, called the PowerLinux 7R4, is a Linux-only version of the four-socket Power 750+ server that was announced back in February along with a revamped entry Power7+ server line and an even fatter Power 760+ machine.
Like other PowerLinux machines, the new PowerLinux 7R4 is designed specifically to compete head-to-head with Intel Xeon E5 and E7 machines in
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Automatically Answering IBM i Unable To Allocate Record Messages
July 24, 2013 Hey, Joe
… Read moreWe have a persistent problem with application jobs waiting on record locks with an RNQ1218 (unable to allocate a record in file &7) message. The record is only temporarily locked because by the time my help desk looks at it, the lock is gone and the program resumes after answering the message with an ‘R’ (Retry). Any ideas what we can do so we’re not constantly answering record lock messages?
–Bob
In your case, the first thing is to determine why a constantly needed record is always being locked and to devise a fix. This could be a case where
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Value An Expression? *YES!
July 24, 2013 Ted Holt
… Read moreI find it ironic that the most commonly used CL command suffers from an annoying (if not aggravating) limitation that does not afflict many less-used commands. Fortunately, the commands you and I write do not have to have this limitation.
The command to which I refer is CALL. The limitation is that the parameters must be literals or variables, never expressions. To see what I mean, look at this CALL command.
call somepgm parm(%sst(&Data 5 4))
Doesn’t that make sense to you? The first parameter consists of bytes 5 through 8 of a variable named &DATA. The compiler complains, expressing
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Control The Flow Of Stored Procedure Result Sets
July 24, 2013 Hey, Mike
… Read moreI have an RPG program (defined as an SQL external stored procedure) that returns a data structure array as a result set. When this procedure is called from iNavigator, I can see the result set. But in our .NET client/server environment, the result set is not returned to the .NET program. Further, the .NET program first calls a “setup” stored procedure that establishes the library list and general environment settings. Thereafter this “setup” procedure calls the RPG program that returns the result set. The RPG program runs upon request from the .NET world but no result set is returned.
–B.C.
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Cloudy Software Jump Saves SAP’s Second Quarter
July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
… Read moreGerman software giant SAP has turned in a mixed second quarter, and as it turns out, the mix was just right. Between perpetual software license sales and cloud-style subscriptions, that is.
In the quarter ended in June, SAP’s software license sales took a 7 percent dive to €982 million, which would be pretty bad news under normal circumstances. However, its cloud software subscription sales exploded by 206 percent (that means more than tripled) to €159 million, saving the day. Add it all up, and software license and cloud subscription sales together rose by 3 percent to €1.14 billion, and at
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IBM Pushes Out Power, Mainframe Microcode Lockdown To 2014
July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
… Read moreIt looks like IBM is getting pushback from customers and partners who are not happy about an announcement it made earlier this year to lock down access to licensed internal code for System z mainframes, Power Systems, and various storage arrays based on Power7 machinery.
As The Four Hundred reported back in February, in announcement letter 113-027, IBM said that it was tweaking the licensing of the machine code, often called licensed internal code or microcode, for selected high-end servers based on Power and System z processors. IBM has revised the terms and conditions to machine code on these
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PureSystems Sales Break 6,000, And IBM Names New GM
July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
… Read moreTwo weeks ago, we told you that Andy Monshaw, the long-time head of IBM‘s Storage Systems Division and more recently the general manager of the PureSystems modular systems business, had left Big Blue. Due to the Independence Day holiday in the United States, IBM was unable to confirm Monshaw’s departure, but last week Big Blue said that Monshaw had indeed left the company and that a new executive had been tapped to replace him.
The new general manager of the PureSystems product line is Andrew Sotiropoulos, who has been around many IBM divisions and groups over the years and
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IBM’s Systems Biz Returns To Profitability In Q2
July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
… Read moreBig Blue had a tough first quarter, but things got a little bit better in the second three months of 2013 and the company’s top brass are feeling pretty good about the prospects for business in the second half of this year. This is the picture that IBM is painting despite some rough currency fluctuations that do not play in its favor and continuing difficulties in the RISC/Unix and X86 server segments. And there is tough competition in the storage business, too.
In the quarter ended in June, IBM once again did not grow its revenues and once again focused,
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Two Decades Later, Microsoft Looks Like Big Blue Of Days Gone By
July 15, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
… Read moreAn expected and sweeping reorganization at Microsoft last week probably has more than a few IBMers and IBM watchers having not only flashbacks, but also getting a good chuckle as CEO Steve Ballmer is facing his own John Akers moment.
So many incumbents in the IT racket have missed the boat on hyperscale web technology to drive search and other application services as well as the transition from PCs to smartphones and tablets as endpoint devices that it is laughable to single Microsoft out for scorn. But the fact remains that Microsoft has spent untold billions trying to build a
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Some More Wheeling And Dealing On Power Systems, Networking
July 15, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
… Read moreMy intuition keeps telling me that IBM should be doing something dramatic in terms of packaging or pricing or promotions to try to boost sales of Power Systems, but Big Blue keeps on keeping on, as if there is nothing it can do to stop the slide in sales of Power-based servers it has experienced in the past several months.
Instead, IBM keeps doing little itty bitty deals that save a few pennies on the dollar for customers who are upgrading their systems. The dealing seems to be most intense outside of the United States and Canada, and the most