IBM pulled out all the stops for the first iSeries Innovation Award ceremony at the COMMON conference in Chicago last week. The 100 or so guests of the invitation-only event–including representatives from the five OS/400 shops receiving awards for their innovative use of the server–were treated to a culinary and operatic ensemble from the brain of iSeries chief propagandist Malcolm Haines the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Dance of the Sugarplum Server at the fall 2000 COMMON in Baltimore.

Haines kicked off the event with a promise not to inundate guests with long-winded speeches, and they never

With the market for third-party backup and recovery software waning due to the inclusion of BRMS with new OS/400 licenses, LXI faced a decision: try to compete with IBM‘s free product, or branch out into new market opportunities. The Irving, Texas, company chose the latter, and last week at the COMMON conference in Chicago, the company unveiled its new strategy, announced the acquisition of TD Systems‘ assets, and launched a new virtual tape library (VTL).

LXI isn’t necessarily ceding the backup and recovery software market to IBM. It maintains its backup and recovery product for OS/400, MMS, is

RJS Software Systems took the wraps off a pair of new products last week at the COMMON conference, including the upcoming Enterprise Workflow and WebSpool products that aim to simplify electronic document routing and viewing. Richard Schoen, the company’s president, also discussed RJS Software’s new Java development strategy that will enable the company to sell products that work across a range of back-office computer platforms, in addition to the iSeries.

From its headquarters in Burnsville, Minnesota, RJS Software has focused on developing affordable spool file and document management software for the OS/400 server, and providing support to customers on maintenance.

Now that IBM has backed off its WebSphere push and started to include tools from BCD Software Int’l and other partners on its iSeries Developer Roadmap, there is expected to be a surge of interest in third-party Web enablement tools for the iSeries platform. BCD is ready to serve any new business that comes its way with a new release of its OS/400 Web application server, WebSmart version 5.1, which it unveiled at the COMMON conference in Chicago last week.

It would be difficult to imagine Eric Figura, BCD’s director of sales and marketing, being any happier these days. For