IBM i developers got new tools for creating modern Web 2.0 style interfaces last week when IBM started shipping Rational Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) version 8. Chief among the cool new features is support for the Dojo Toolkit, which gives developers a collection of pre-cast widgets for rapidly building interactive websites. Other notable new features include JSR286 support, type-ahead capabilities, iPad support, and generation of RESTful Web services. IBM also launched Host Integration Solutions (HIS) version 8.

HATS is a rules-based screen transformation engine that turns 5250 and 3270 screens into graphical Web clients, Java- or Lotus-based rich

There are a lot of options available to IBM i shops looking for a software package that allows them to run a website on their favorite box. But one class of tools that seems to be gaining lots of traction these days is the group of open source, PHP-based content management systems (CMS). The big three in this category include Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress, and you might be surprised to learn about some of the prominent IBM i industry websites that are using these systems.

The rise of the open source CMS on the IBM i server

Complex problems are not always solved by complex solutions. To think otherwise is setting a trap for ourselves. Application modernization is a great example. Most times it’s not as intimidating as it’s made out to be. For instance, Valley Power Systems, a $180 million distribution company, was handcuffed with a business to business gateway that relied on Telnet sessions. Its modernization project, using looksoftware, took off the cuffs and took advantage of the Internet, smartphones and tablet devices.

Valley Power Systems is a dealer and distributor for engine, transmission, and equipment manufacturers. Its customers are in industries such as

Magic Software is giving its IBM i customers a path to generating native Microsoft .NET code with the latest release of its application framework, uniPaaS 2.0, which shipped in July. A new server runtime engine in uniPaaS 2.0 generates fully compliant .NET applications, while reliance on the Windows Forms gives a new look to uniPaaS apps. The publicly traded company also announced a 27 percent increase in quarterly revenue.

uniPaaS is Magic’s flagship application development tool and runtime environment for creating rich Internet applications (RIAs) that run on IBM i, Windows, Linux, and Unix servers. The tool uses a high-level,

InfoPrint Solutions‘ recent decision to stop marketing serial and line matrix printers, thermal printers, and workgroup printers by the end of the year, and instead focus on high-end printers has spurred its competitors to fill the gaps. Last week, Dascom Americas announced that it’s ready to fill the void left by the withdrawal of the InfoPrint 4247 printer with the Tally “iSeries” 4247 series.

In April, Ricoh, the corporate parent of InfoPrint Solutions (the former IBM printing division) announced its intention to exit the market for lower end and general office printers, and instead focus on making and

The AFP Consortium unveiled a new version of the Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) printing protocol this month. IS/3, as the new version is called, features operational improvements, support for new fonts and graphics, and greater interoperability among AFP-using products, the group says.

AFP is a high-end printing architecture primarily used by large organizations that need a great deal of control over their high-volume, variable-data printing environments. The software is often driven by IBM mainframe and IBM i servers, although AFP versions also exist for Windows, AIX, and other platforms.

At the core of AFP is MO:DCA-P, which stands for Mixed

The ongoing economic malaise affecting North America and Europe has put unprecedented pressures on IT staffs to do more with less. Without the luxury of multiple IT operators on hand to baby sit critical servers, IT managers have had to get smart about how to accomplish required tasks. Now, IBM i systems management specialist CCSS is sharing some of the tricks it’s picked up in a recent best practices guide focused on “lights out” automation.

In “Lights Out IBM i Automation–Back to Black,” CCSS explores some of the common occurrences that prevent IBM i shops from turning off the lights.

ASNA last week announced that it is now reselling IBM‘s Rational Open Access: RPG Edition technology. The move, which comes on the heel of IBM’s decision to open up the distribution channel for the product known as OAR, will make it easier for ASNA customers to modernize their 5250 apps with ASNA’s Wings software.

“It’s true that initially IBM was a little clumsy with the marketing and distribution of Open Access,” ASNA U.S. president Anne Ferguson says in a press release. “But by making ASNA an Open Access reseller, IBM is resolving the problem in the best way possible.”

Advanced Systems Concepts (ASCI) unveiled a new release of its ActiveBatch job scheduler that features better integration with enterprise software from SAP, Informatica, and Zenoss.

ActiveBatch is an enterprise job scheduler that helps organizations manage workloads running across IBM i, Windows, Linux, Unix, mainframe, OpenVMS, and Mac OS environments. The software supports time-based and trigger-based scheduling, and features an array of templates designed to simplify implementation.

Those templates were refined with the release of ActiveBatch version 8 service pack 2, which ASCI unveiled last week. Chief among the new features is better out-of-the-box integration with several SAP

Attachmate this month unveiled a new release of its managed file transfer (MFT) offering that can provide secure file transfers among a variety of platforms, including IBM i. With FileXpress version 7.1, Attachmate added another layer of security when using the SSH-based secure file transfer protocol (SFTP). It also bolstered support for AS2, expanded its platform coverage, and added a new smart client.

The FileXpress family of products is an Attachmate-branded version of the CyberFusion Integration (CFI) product that was originally developed by Proginet (now part of TIBCO Software). The product uses a proprietary protocol based on UDP and