LANSA this week unveiled LongReach, an iOS client that allows users to securely share files, folders, and data between an Apple device and an IBM i server. The iOS client is a free download available now on the iTunes app store, and LANSA is also giving away the IBM i server component to the first 1,000 people to download it.

LongReach can be used as a standalone iOS client, where it enables users to store files on the iOS device; create, copy, paste, rename, and delete files and folders; share files with other apps; and manage email attachments.

But in

Organizations need to do a better job of understanding the potential downsides that cloud computing and virtualization can have on their ability to maintain the resilience and availability of their applications and data, Vision Solutions concluded in its State of Resilience 2011 report, which it unveils today in a Webcast at 10 a.m. CST. The overall state of resilience has suffered as the result of increased level of complexity due to the different IT protection schemes put in place to cover virtualization and cloud.

For the fourth year in a row, Vision Solutions and its Information Availability Institute have published

What’s your cloud integration strategy? If you’re like most IBM i shops, much of your data interchange is handled via good old EDI or flat file transfers. But the rapid spread of cloud services is hastening the move to more sophisticated forms of data and application integration and interchange. According to EXTOL, which develops integration broker software for IBM i and other platforms, the day is fast approaching when companies will need new techniques for integrating cloud services into their business processes.

IT Jungle caught up with EXTOL vice president of product management Jim O’Leary telephonically as he attended

A dispute over third-party support for BPCS and Infinium software has landed 3M and Infor in a Minnesota courtroom. Last month, 3M filed a complaint against the ERP giant for allegedly demanding about $21 million in exchange for allowing a third-party to service and support the heavily modified versions of BPCS and Infinium for 3M.

According to the original complaint filed by 3M on November 23 in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, 3M originally licensed the AS/400-based software from SSA Global in 1997. Along with a perpetual license, 3M bought a support agreement from SSA to obtain

Symtrax last week unveiled StarQuery Web, a new addition to its StarQuery suite that enables users to create and access reports through a Web browser, without the need for Excel. The software replaces StarQuery for the Web, which required a copy of Excel to be on hand.

With StarQuery Web, Symtrax has put a complete report-authoring tool online for the first time. Users no longer need to work within the constraints of Excel or other spreadsheet software, as was the case with the company’s previous Web interface for its StarQuery suite, called StarQuery for the Web.

Working with StarQuery Web

What could be faster than screen scraping? According to development tool maker mrc, which participated in the recent “Application Modernisation Shoot Out” in the U.K., it was able to completely re-architect a system in less time than it would have taken to simply screen scrape a green-screen app into a GUI.

Mrc was one of six vendors participating in the Shoot Out, which was hosted last month at the COMMON GB event put on by National iSystems User Group (NiSUG). Each of the six vendors–including Attachmate, CoralTree, Utilties400, SpaceTec , and Logicmate–used a different approach

BitRock now supports IBM i with InstallBuilder, a software installation utility that’s used by software developers and vendors to create native install packages that work across all major platforms, as well as creating DVDs and CD-ROMs. The company also released InstallBuilder version 8.

InstallBuilder is a time-saving utility that allows developers to create cross-platform installers, native packages, and DVDs and CD-ROMs. The software creates native binaries for all supported platforms, including Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, HP-UX, AIX, IRIX, and now IBM i. It uses an XML-based project format that allows for collaborative development, version control, and integration

Raz-Lee Security‘s IBM i security suite is now certified to work with another IBM operations management suite, this time Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus.

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus provides real-time service management for data centers, network operations centers, and IT domains. The software is particularly attuned to working in large and complex networks that involve tens of millions of events per day, where it gives users the capability to ignore the non-critical problems, isolate the faults that could lead to downtime, and begin the problem escalation process.

With iSecurity, Raz-Lee will handle the identification of important messages and logs originating in the IBM i

In the cutthroat retail business, one company’s IT challenge is another’s opportunity. So when clothing retailer Kohl’s presented Citizen Watch Company with new document requirements to be used when drop-shipping timepieces purchased at Kohl’s website, the 93-year-old watch company responded to the challenge with an IBM i development effort utilizing the Formtastic package from Quadrant Software.

Kohl’s hoped to have many of its suppliers up to speed with its new drop-shipment program in time for Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, which officially kicks off the western world’s annual end-of-the-year consumption binge. Citizen was asked to create customized

SAP last week announced plans to buy SuccessFactors, a cloud-based provider of human capital management (HCM) software. The $3.4 billion deal is expected to close in early 2012, and provide a long-term boost to SAP’s cloud strategy.

SuccessFactors is a major player in the cloud services arena, with a reported 15 million subscribers to its HCM services across 3,500 customers in 168 countries. The publicly traded company, which has more than 1,450 employees, recorded $206 million in revenue last year, and has recently seen quarterly revenues jump 77 percent. The San Mateo, California, company has not yet been profitable,