When customers started using Wings, ASNA‘s new screen modernization tool for IBM i applications, the company was in for a bit of a surprise. While the company expected customers to modernize more than one screen at a time, it wasn’t expecting customers to tackle thousands of screens simultaneously. This led to one of the major new features in the just-released Wings 5.2, called “Flight Plans,” which enables users to track their progress with the ASNA tool.

Wings is one of a new class of Web-based modernization tools that uses Rational Open Access: RPG Edition, the IBM technology that debuted

With nearly two years of use in the field, Profound Logic is getting good feedback from customers about the changes it would like to see in Profound UI, the 5250 screen modernization tool that uses the Rational Open Access: RPG Edition (RPG OA) technology from IBM. Many of those changes are being showcased in Profound UI version 3.3, which the vendor unveiled in January. But the biggest changes are being prepped for launch at the May COMMON show.

When it shipped in April 2010 Profound UI was the first commercially available screen modernization tool to use the RPG Open

The IBM i platform excels at handling big data. Its integrated database allows customers to handle large amounts of data with relative ease. Just the same, there are some limits in the OS when it comes to spool files that some IBM i shops have managed to meet. With the latest release of its Spooled File Manager, Halcyon Software has enabled these customers to overcome these limits and continue to process and store an ever-growing collection of spool files.

Spooled File Manager is an IBM i product designed to streamline the distribution and long-term storage of spool files generated by

Developers who write XML-based Web service programs for IBM i using Krengel Technology‘s RPG-XML Suite now have an easy way to add credit card processing to their apps. The company recently announced that the suite now contains an application plug-in that processes credit card transactions via the Cybersource network.

Krengel’s flagship product, the RPG-XML Suite, is a collection of RPG service programs and APIs that make it easy for IBM i shops to expose their existing RPG apps as an XML-based Web service, and also to allow their existing RPG apps to consume third-party Web services. The software runs

Iron Mountain last week unveiled three new offerings aimed at helping organizations manage their backup tapes and related processes. The new offerings are designed to eliminate some of the hurdles that legacy tape formats present to organizations and make it easier to access data on the tape.

Iron Mountain is a well-known, $3 billion company that collects and stores important documents for customers in all industries. It has also served as a secure repository for organizations’ backup tapes. With its recent announcement, Iron Mountain will not only store tapes for customers, but it will help them more effectively manage the

Spinnaker Support bolstered its position in the market for third-party JD Edwards support services last week when it announced the acquisition of its competitor in the space, Versytec.

Nashua, New Hampshire-based Versytec was one of the first companies to enter the market for third-party JDE support services way back in June 2004. By 2005, the company had about 30 JDE customers, mostly World shops, the company told IT Jungle at the time.

Eventually, Versytec owners decided to sell the business, and Spinnaker looked like a promising new owner. “When we looked at companies to approach regarding a sale, Spinnaker

The JD Edwards ERP systems bring specific needs and requirements in the area of data archiving, purging, and performance management. One vendor that has been active in this area is ARCTOOLS. This month, the Denver, Colorado, company is launching version 2.1 of its eponymous suite, which expands the software for use in other applications.

ARCTOOLS has been used by more than 300 JD Edwards World and EnterpriseOne customers since it was developed by DCSoftware and Whitehouse Consultants in the 1990s. The only other ERP system that the developers have actively targeted is BPCS.

But with the launch of ARCTOOLS

Oracle last week shipped its fourth new smartphone app for its JD Edwards EntepriseOne customers. Mobile Expense Management, which runs on iOS, Android, and Blackberry phones, makes it easier for employees to submit their expenses to management for payment.

Mobile Expense Management enables workers to enter, submit, review, and approve expense reports in real time via their smart phones. “By enabling mobile workers to manage expense reports on their mobile devices, Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Mobile Expense Management can reduce time to payment and increase employee satisfaction,” Lyle Ekdahl, Oracle’s group vice president general manager for JD Edwards, says in

IBS announced the general availability of IBS Enterprise version 7, the latest version of its distribution-focused ERP system that runs on IBM i and Windows servers. The new version, which has been officially unveiled at least two times over the past two years, brings enhancements in the areas of mobility, cloud computing, and business intelligence.

IBS Enterprise version 7, which the embattled software company first unveiled in October 2010 and then again in October 2011, is now available for new and existing customers, the company announced in late February.

The new Distribution Cloud Solutions runs on a mix of

Lawson Software recently unveiled several software updates for its customers in the healthcare industry, including new releases of its Cloverleaf data integration engine and its Lawson Healthcare Revenue Management system.

Lawson, which is an affiliate of Infor, recently updated its Cloverleaf system with the goal of streamlining the integration of systems in clinical healthcare settings. Specifically, the vendor unveiled an enhanced version of its Cloverleaf Secure Courier (CSC), which is used to share patient data. The new release of CSC enables the core Cloverleaf engine to be installed remotely at hospitals and doctors’ offices.

The new release of Cloverleaf