Profound Logic has developed ways for IBM midrange companies to create mobile applications using its designer tool and deploying to the Web and through hybrid applications (not quite native) via PhoneGap. This week it is adding another option with native apps for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. Native application capability is the quickest and easiest way to deploy mobile apps and those are two huge priorities for a lot of companies.

Two months ago, Profound was espousing the open source framework that the software vendor incorporated into Profound UI 4.5. Now it’s the native application enhancements that have

Fax may seem like an anachronism in today’s hyper-connected world, but it’s absolutely critical in some industrial pockets. For Edward Don & Company, the nation’s largest food service company, fax is used to send and receive hundreds of orders and invoices every day. But when Edward Don’s previous fax service provider couldn’t keep its fax machines on, the company looked to Esker and its Cloud Fax Service for SAP.

Edward Don & Company is the country’s largest food service company, with 1,200 employees and more than 70,000 customers. The Woodridge, Illinois-based company makes 12,000 products available to its customers

Delivering a smooth user experience is critical when rolling out new mobile interfaces for applications that run on IBM i, or any other platform for that matter. But this can be a challenge for the typical IBM i shop accustomed to command line interfaces and keyboard-based navigation. ASNA hopes to make the user interface creation process easier with two new releases of its mobile application development tools, including Mobile RPG 6.1 and Wings 6.1.

That ASNA has two tools for creating interfaces and applications for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) is an interesting story. The San Antonio, Texas, company initially

One of the bugaboos with high availability (HA) environments is keeping objects in sync. If objects on a backup machine aren’t kept up with those on the primary system, a failover may not go as planned, or the organization may just feel that it’s too risky to attempt. Bug Busters Software Engineering has addressed this concern with a new feature in RSF-HA version 9.2 that compares objects, libraries, and IFS directories on the primary and backup servers while the primary system is still online and in use.

Because data and object sync checks are so important, every HA software product

Inexika is working on a new mobile app that will allow users to access the IBM Notes-Domino database from an Android or iOS phone. The app, which has a working title iWorkplace, is in the prototype phase, and will deliver functionality that IBM provides with its Traveler software, but without Traveler’s limitations.

When it’s available, iWorkplace is expected to provide mobile access to several Notes modules, including Notes email, contacts, calendar, and tasks, as well as the discussion and team room collaborative functions.

You may notice that these are some of the same capabilities that IBM provides with Lotus Notes

Reinhart Foodservice, the largest independently owned food service distributor in the United States, has tapped United Computer Group to provide cloud backup and disaster recovery services for its IBM i environment. The company is using UCG’s VAULT400 solution to help minimize downtime of its critical IBM i applications.

Reinhart Foodservice (RFS) provides fresh produce, proteins, ingredients, supplies, and equipment to customers in 45 states. The company operates 30 warehouses around the country, and serves the East, South, and Midwest of the country through its own fleet of trucks.

RFS worked with North American Systems International, a value added reseller

Accellion, a provider of mobile file transfer solutions, recently unveiled apps for iOS and Android that allow users to print directly from their smartphones. The offerings are based on Ricoh HotSpot Enterprise software, which debuted last year.

Smartphones and tablets are changing the way people work. However, when it comes to connecting to printers and printing documents, they fall short of the PCs that they are in some ways replacing.

Ricoh debuted its HotSpot Enterprise solution in December to get around this inconvenience. HotSpot Enterprise enables users to print directly from a mobile device to a printer or multi-function

Small and midsize distributors in the U.S. have a lot to worry about. Now they have even more, thanks to the new business-to-business (B2B) supplier operations recently launched by Internet juggernauts Amazon and Google. The services, both of which are in beta, could provide another sales channel for wholesale distributors–or they could become direct competitors.

Amazon claims to have more than 750,000 items available on its AmazonSupply website, which evolved from its SmallParts.com website and launched in 2012. Everything from air cylinders to zinc latches can be found here, which Amazon dubs “the Store for Business and Industry.”

AmazonSupply

Rudolph/Libbe, a full-service general contractor serving the entire country, has a platform it can build from now that it has completed an upgrade to eCMS 4.0, the current release of the IBM i-based construction management system developed by Computer Guidance Corp.

Based in Walbridge, Ohio, Rudolph/Libbe is one of the largest construction firms in the country. The company provides a wide range of construction, maintenance, and facility-related services to organizations across the country.

In 1996, Rudolph/Libbe and its sister company GEM, a specialty contractor, became Computer Guidance customers and adopted its CMS. About a decade ago, the companies upgraded to

TMW Systems is now giving users of the Innovative IES trucking application the option of accessing the application through a Web browser. The new Web Edition of the IBM i application should bolster usability, especially for new users, and also provide access from smartphones and tablets.

Innovative IES–Web Edition enables users to access the entire dispatching and fleet management application and all its functionality from a GUI delivered in a Web browser. This release supports three browsers, including IE, Firefox, and Chrome, including those browsers running on mobile devices.

The new Web interface should make it easier for new users