Fujitsu Siemens Computers last week announced that it has added OS/400 support to its CentricStor virtual tape library. The disk-based server appliance can back a variety of different servers by emulating their tape library over a storage area network (SAN). The appliance has been sold in Europe since 2000 and was introduced to the U.S. market for the first time in June.

The CentricStor line of rack-mounted virtual tape appliances is one of the new generation of “disk to disk” backup appliances that are gaining favor in data centers. Many organizations are opting to perform their primary backups directly to

MAPICS accelerated its product extension strategy for iSeries ERP customers last week, when it announced an expansion of its alliance with IBM. The new deal will see IBM’s middleware and Web services technology being used to make additional applications available to manufacturers that use MAPICS ERP for iSeries software. The first extension product for iSeries customers, due later this year, is the MAPICS CRM software.

IBM and MAPICS have remained close partners ever since IBM spun MAPICS off from its Atlanta software development group, nearly 25 years ago. With the majority of MAPICS customers still running their ERP software

If public companies invested in technology today the way they did during the dot-com boom, their shareholders would have fits. Unfortunately, predicting how you can get the biggest bang for your capital expenditure can be a hit and miss affair. Last month Intentia, the Swedish ERP software developer, launched new software called the Opportunity Analyzer, whose purpose is to put some structure behind the decisions senior business managers must make regarding investments for improving their business processes.

Opportunity Analyzer, a component of Intentia’s Enterprise Performance Management suite, works with Movex, the company’s ERP product that runs on OS/400 and

Implementing a new PC-based archiving system is saving money and administrative time for Warner/Chappell Music. The music publishing company first substantially reduced the time required to access royalty reports by implementing a host-based system that archived reports from custom AS/400 applications, but the system was expensive to lease and difficult to administer. So Warner/Chappell pulled the plug on the old system and invested in a new system from Metafile Information Systems.

Warner/Chappell Music started as a storefront in London in the early 1800s and is now the second largest music publishing business in the world. Warner/Chappell has a catalog