CNX is now giving away copies of Valence, its design and run-time tool for creating Web 2.0 interfaces from RPG applications, the vendor announced yesterday. The new Community Edition license gives developers full use of the Ext JS-based toolkit, with some restrictions on production applications. The version 2.1 release also gains support for seven additional languages–and even has the capability to display different languages in the same field on the screen, in what may be a first for RPG.

CNX launched Valence in May 2008 as a way to create modern Web 2.0 applications that run on the System i

Altova is now supporting the System i server and its integrated DB2/400 database with its MissionKit, a suite of popular XML, data conversion, and UML modeling tools for developers and database administrators. Altova’s CEO expects System i shops to get the most use out of two of the suite’s tools, including a data conversion tool for XML, EDI, and other formats, and a stylesheet designer that provides another way to get DB2/400 data on the Web.

In the last 10 years, Altova has leveraged the commercial success of its first product, XML Spy, to create a range of XML development

Security software vendor nuBridges yesterday called for the formation of an industry group to create official standards for tokenization. The company says standards are needed to ensure the security of data, to reduce vendor lock-in, and to ensure the long-term viability of this relatively new form of data security. nuBridges, which is exhibiting and presenting at the RSA Security conference this week, also unveiled a new release of its tokenization product, called Protect Token Manager.

Tokenization is advanced form of encryption that is gaining traction among retailers, payment gateways, and banks as a result of the PCI security mandate. The

Flexera Software (formerly Acresso) last month launched a major new release of InstallAnywhere, the software installation and management utility used by software developers that target Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, AIX , HP-UX, and (of course) i/OS. With InstallAnywhere 2010, Flexera gives developers more fine-grained control over the application features that customers choose to add or remove. New maintenance, rollback, build configuration, and instance management features were also added.

Flexera’s aim with InstallAnywhere 2010 was to give multi-platform developers targeting Unix, Linux, and i/OS the full range of application lifecycle management capabilities that have been available for Windows developers

Want to access the System i server from your cool new Google Android smart phone? Looking forward to the jealous stares of other administrators as you expertly navigate the green-screen interface and configure services from the break room? Then you’ll probably need the new TN5250 for Android that Mochasoft released in mid February.

Mochasoft is a German developer that always seems to have the first terminal emulators for the hippest new techno-gadgets on everybody’s wish list, such

The 400 School last week introduced its “Virtual Classroom for IBM i,” a new series of hands-on, multi-day training sessions led by i/OS expert Dan Riehl that provide a way for individuals and small groups of people to get in-depth training on the platform from the comfort of a Web browser.

Riehl, who recently left i/OS security software developer PowerTech to make it on his own as an i/OS security guru and educator, says he founded The 400 School to provide a venue for education for smaller groups of users, as opposed to the large groups that training companies typically

After announcing the product over a year ago and shipping it to OEM customers last summer, Pat Townsend Security Solutions is finally ready to begin delivery of Alliance Key Manager to customers directly, the vendor announced last week.

Alliance Key Manager, which was first unveiled in December 2008, is designed to provide a secure central repository for creating, managing, importing, exporting, and destroying symmetric encryption keys that organizations use across their enterprise.

The offering, which is a System x rack server running a hardened version of Linux, ships with libraries that allow it to store and supply encryption keys

IBM and Ricoh last week unveiled a new software product that allows companies to monitor and manage multi-function printers (MFPs) from a central location. Reducing waste and limiting carbon footprints are goals of the new software, which will also be used for managed remote printing services.

The new offering, which was not given a formal name, is based on Tivoli software from IBM, and will be pre-loaded onto MFPs and production printers from Ricoh and, presumably, from InfoPrint Solutions Company, the joint IBM-Ricoh operation based at IBM’s former printing headquarters in Boulder, Colorado.

Last week’s announcement, which was made

Organizations that transmit sensitive information via WebSphere MQ may be interested in a new encryption product for MQ unveiled last month by Capitalware, a leader in MQ security tools.

Capitalware’s new MQ security software, called MQ Channel Encryption (MQCE), protects the contents of MQ pipes by implementing AES encryption using 128-bit, 196-bit, or 256-bit keys. Encryption is handled through a pass phrase, and only people or applications who know the pass phrase can decrypt the data on the other end.

The software can be set up to encrypt all transmissions occurring between queue managers, or to only encrypt transmissions

VAI last week announced it’s signed contracts for its i/OS ERP suite, S2K 5.0, with two additional customers, including Western Power Sports, a distributor of parts and accessories for dirt bikes, ATVs, and snowmobiles, and Acme Tools, a retailer of power tools and equipment.

Western Power Sports (WPS) distributes more than 75,000 parts and accessories for motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles, watercraft, and bicycles. The company, which is based in Boise, Idaho, operates warehouses in California, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, and claims to be the third largest wholesale distributor in the U.S.

For more than 10 years, WPS has relied on VAI and