It’s been nearly two years since GXS acquired Inovis, which had inherited the Harbinger and Peregrine brands that were so familiar to AS/400 shops of old. GXS still has about 2,000 EDI customers running on today’s IBM i platform, and while they represent just a small part of GXS’ $420 million business, the company has big plans for helping its IBM i customers take advantage of GXS’ cloud services, as well as its managed file transfer (MFT) capabilities.

GXS’ IBM i-based EDI translator, called TrustedLink IBM i edition (TLi), is an elder statesman in the software world, with 25 years

Multiple users in different locations will be able to interact with the same business intelligence (BI) dashboard screen using new software unveiled today by QlikTech. The new capability–along with a new threaded comments function–is aimed at improving the way that people collaborate and make decisions. Other new features in QlikView 11, which becomes available later this quarter, include better comparative analytics and broadened support for mobile phones and tablets.

Even in the most button-downed corporate settings, decision making tends to be a very social process. Groups of people get together to throw around some ideas, feedback is given and

IBM last week unveiled new releases of two of its Rational development tools used by IBM i shops, including IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems Software version 8.0.3 and IBM Rational Developer for i for SOA Construction version 8.0.3. The minor refresh of RDP brings several enhancements for AIX and Linux on Power Systems and a security update for IBM i development. The SOA suite, meanwhile, includes the latest releases of the underlying tools that make up the suite.

Rational Developer for Power Systems Software (or RDP) is the core Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE) for developing IBM i,

JD Edwards EnterpriseOne users take note: the ERP suite’s screens are now accessible from the Apple iPad, according to Oracle‘s announcement last week. Oracle says that it has achieved a first in the industry by making the entire ERP suite available on the popular tablet computer, as opposed to publishing just a “handful of specialty mobile apps.”

Oracle is rarely one to boast. But it made a point last week at its OpenWorld conference to highlight the unveiling of the entire JDE EnterpriseOne ERP suite running on the iPad. Of course, only the user and administrative screens are on

LANSA last week unveiled a new release of Data Sync Direct, a product data synchronization solution that allows companies to participate in the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN). DSD version 6.7 brings new features aimed at helping companies manage their data more efficiently, as well as support for additional protocols.

LANSA DSD is an IBM i- or Windows-based product that handles the management and communication aspects of participating in the GDSN. The software automates many aspects of connecting a company’s ERP master product data list with specific GDSN data pools, such as the 1SYNC pool in the United States, to

Innovative CIO Keynotes at RPG & DB2 Summit

Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, CIO at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM), will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming RPG & DB2 Summit held October 16-19 in St. Louis, Missouri. Reynolds-Lair will talk about the value of planning and implementing innovative projects from the perspective of a CIO who happens to prefer running an IBM i-centric business.

Reynolds-Lair’s success has not been rare or fleeting. FIDM has received four IBM-COMMON Innovation Awards. The most recent was presented at the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition in May 2011. FIDM also won in

Any IBM i shop can now get Maxava maxView Lite free of charge from Apple‘s iTunes App Store, the company announced last week. The software provides real-time monitoring of IBM i server status, and doesn’t require a Maxava high availability product.

maxView Lite is a version of the full maxView product that Maxava develops to provide monitoring and management of IBM i server and HA systems. maxView Lite provides a Web browser-based GUI console that shows the status of key IBM i server performance metrics, including CPU and ASP utilization, and WRKSYSSTS- and WRKSACTJOB-related information.

maxView Lite is also

ACOM Solutions and EasyAccess (EA) have combined resources to deliver a Web-based accounts payable (AP) solution designed to drive down costs by eliminating paper-based processing. The new offering connects with existing ERP systems, and can run in the cloud.

The new automated AP offering utilizes technology and services from both ACOM and EA. IBM i shops will recognize ACOM, which makes document management, workflow, and electronic payment software, and has extensive experience connecting to IBM i-based ERP systems.

EA is less well-known in the midrange, but it, too, has experience connecting with the most popular IBM i-based ERP systems. The

Quadrant Software last week announced the signing of five new resellers that will distribute its line of document management products for IBM i and other platforms. All five of the companies signed on with Quadrant within a month, the vendor says.

The new Quadrant resellers include GEMKO Information Group, a provider of Microsoft Windows and IBM i services based in Amherst, New York; High Plains Technology, an IBM business partner based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; NSI, an IT and network consultancy based in Naugatuck, Connecticut; Synthasys, a management consultancy based in Rochelle Park, New Jersey;

Trucking software developer TMW Systems made three product announcements at its recent TransForum 2011 user conference. Among the new solutions are a new Android version of its driver communication system, a new Web-based driver recruiting and hiring application, and a new integration point between one of its IBM i-based dispatching applications and Qualcomm‘s Hours-of-Service (QHOS) program.

QHOS is an electronic on-board recorder that automatically tracks how many hours a driver has logged on the road. The software transmits this data to the dispatch center using the cellular communication system from Qualcomm Enterprise Services that’s widely used in the trucking