FHS Volume: 5 Archives - Page 4 of 20

Tango/04 Looks for Database Changes with New Tool

October 18, 2005 Alex Woodie

Companies looking to lock down their iSeries and Windows databases as a means toward achieving regulatory compliance have a new tool from Tango/04 Computing Group to check out. The Spanish software house recently started shipping Data Monitor, a utility that keeps a trail of all changes made to specific records in sensitive tables, and sends real-time alerts to administrators when the integrity and confidentiality of data is put at risk.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The FDA’s 21 CFR Part 11. Basel II. If there’s one thing there’s no shortage of these days, it’s

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Web Services and SOA Isn’t Just Hype–It’s Real, Magic Says

October 18, 2005 Alex Woodie

No doubt about it, there’s a ton of hype surrounding Web services and service oriented architecture (SOA) these days, and more than a few people harboring doubts about whether these technologies will actually deliver on the promises. But you won’t find Magic Software‘s Glenn Johnson among the crowd of unbelievers. The vice president of marketing for the development tool maker says Web services are providing real benefits in the field, and are here to stay.

“Because we have all learned to be cynical about the hype of new technology, we weren’t expecting it [Web services] to explode three years

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PowerTech Debuts ComplianceMonitor, Studies Security Practices

October 11, 2005 Alex Woodie

PowerTech is gearing up to launch a new product aimed at helping iSeries shops demonstrate their security controls as a means of achieving regulatory compliance. PowerLock ComplianceMonitor, which is due for release in December, saves administrators time and effort by automating the collection and analysis of audit reports from multiple iSeries. In related news, the Kent, Washington, software company released its “State of iSeries Security” report for 2005, which details some troubling trends.

Like other tools in PowerTech’s PowerLock suite of products, ComplianceMonitor builds off OS/400’s rich collection of security capabilities, and is designed primarily as a time-saving device for

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Saving RPG and the iSeries–Now Isn’t That Profound?

October 11, 2005 Dan Burger

Most people make it a bigger problem than it needs to be. That problem is taking RPG-based core business applications to the Web and converting them into graphical applications. Major stumbling blocks to this process can be quickly clicked off. One is that RPG programmers are not Web programmers. Two is that a great deal of code will need to be rewritten. And, three is that the iSeries cannot or should not play a Web server role.

One company that is hell bent on rearranging these stumbling blocks and turning them into building blocks is Profound Logic, a company

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Looksoftware Developing New Product for Publishing Web Services

October 11, 2005 Alex Woodie

Australian software developer looksoftware recently unveiled a new development tool designed to help iSeries shops expose and publish parts of their applications as Web services. The new product, which will be called soarchitect, is due to ship in about three months. It will work in tandem with other looksoftware products to enable customers to start publishing Web services and make the move to a service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Looksoftware sees SOAs gaining speed over the next five years, and cites a Gartner prediction that 80 percent of small and mid size businesses will deploy SOAs by 2010. The SOA concept is

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Aldon Supports iASPs with Change Management System

October 11, 2005 Alex Woodie

iSeries shops looking to implement a change management system as part of a regulatory compliance project may want to check out the latest from Aldon, one of the leading developers for this type of software. The company recently unveiled Aldon Lifecycle Manager iSeries Edition version 7.4, which brings new support for independent auxiliary storage pools (iASPs) and helps simplify the testing of deleted objects and the consolidation of releases.

When an IT department grows to where it has five or more programmers working on the same set of applications, that shop, as rule of thumb, becomes a good candidate

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Bsafe Steps Forward with New OS/400 Security Tools, Partners

October 4, 2005 Alex Woodie

This is a good time to be in the security software market, and Bsafe Information Systems knows it. With new laws like Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, GLBA, and Basel II forcing companies to lock down their servers and the information they safeguard, Bsafe is angling for more business by building out its worldwide network of resellers and tech support centers, and by continuing the development of its OS/400 security product, Bsafe Enterprise Security, which is slated to ship at version 4.0 later this month.

The company says version 4.0, which is currently in managed availability, is a completely new product compared with

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New SkyView Security Tool Assists with Regulatory Compliance

October 4, 2005 Alex Woodie

SkyView Partners is gearing up for the launch of Policy Minder, a new tool for determining if an OS/400 server is configured according to a user’s own security policy, an important element in regulatory compliance. There are many products on the market designed to apply best practices to OS/400 security, including SkyView’s own Risk Assessor. The new Policy Minder tool augments these tools by enforcing procedures an organization has laid out as the security policy component of a compliance initiative.

One of the very first tasks OS/400 shops face as part of a regulatory compliance project is to define a

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Bytware Unveils Anti-Virus Support for iSeries Linux

October 4, 2005 Alex Woodie

In 2003, Bytware helped uncover the misconceptions of iSeries security impenetrability and virus immunity with StandGuard Anti-Virus, which eradicates Windows viruses that can infect the iSeries’ Integrated File System (IFS). As one might expect, a similar threat exists for Linux worms and viruses to infect the IFS. Although there is not nearly the volume of malware for Linux as there is for Windows, iSeries shops now have a means to protect themselves through StandGuard Anti-Virus for Linux, which becomes available this month.

The iSeries has a remarkable, and well-deserved, reputation as an extremely secure computer platform on which to conduct

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Lakeview Crusades Against HA Complexity

October 4, 2005 Dan Burger

Most people won’t give you an argument when it comes to reducing IT complexity. Making use of technology to increase productivity, decrease risks, and lower costs is everyone’s goal, but in many instances, complexity is produced as a byproduct. A good example of reduced complexity can be found in the high availability (HA) software business. Vendors there have been focused on the C-word, and that’s why one of them, Lakeview Technology, is crowing about product enhancements it plans to make available in November.