It can be difficult to coordinate among teams of i5/OS developers working in parallel. Who has code segments checked out? How will their work be merged? What if there are conflicts? These are some of the issues that Aldon is addressing with the latest release of its i5/OS change management offering, Aldon Lifecycle Manager (System i Edition), or LMi version 7.5, which features a new graphical compare and merge utility, new automated conflict resolution capabilities, and better integration into Aldon’s workflow tool.

In many cases, change management products such as Aldon’s LMi are used so programming moves forward in an

Printer maker Ricoh Americas has extended its OEM partnership with Intermate A/S for technology that benefits customers printing high quality output from IBM System i and z servers. The deal will give Ricoh’s IBM host printing business a boost over the next three years, until Ricoh finally takes over full control of IBM’s Printing Systems Division, which it’s in the middle of buying.

Earlier this year, IBM agreed to sell its printing business to the Japanese electronics devices giant Ricoh Company for $725 million. As part of the deal, IBM and Ricoh will jointly operate for three years the InfoPrint

It’s unlikely that any of us will ever achieve the techno-nirvana of a “paperless office.” There simply is no way to duplicate with computers all of things you can do with physical, paper-based documents. At the same time, very good arguments can be made for moving the bulk of your paperwork into digital documents that are stored on a System i server and distributed using the Internet. One offering that can take you there, S4i Systems‘s S4i Express and WebView combo, was recently overhauled to add new functionality to this process.

Whether or not we’ve bought into it, we’ve

A year ago, systems software maker CA acquired a smaller rival, Cybermation, which like CA got its start as a supplier of products for mainframes and which over the years expanded out to cover the array of distributed systems that populate the data centers. Today, CA is updating its four products and providing them with Web services extensions that allow them to integrate with each other and with other Unicenter systems management products.

Both companies had their own mainframe and distributed system products before CA paid $75 million to acquire Cybermation; these programs scheduled jobs across a total of 26

With Oracle‘s planned acquisition of Hyperion, the stage is set for a run on business intelligence software vendors. Or is it? One industry insider, Information Builders‘ CEO Gerald Cohen, says he isn’t buying what the IT analysts are selling.

In an interview last month, Cohen cast doubt on analysts’ predictions that the big business intelligence software vendors, such as Business Objects, Cognos, and Information Builders, are going to be gobbled up by larger software vendors any time soon.

“In my personal opinion, no. I don’t think these guys jump,” Cohen said. “I think the analysts

Two IBM System i executives from Rochester will be delivering a “fireside chat” and answering questions from users Thursday on iSociety, the online System i user community Web site.

Thursday’s fireside chat will feature Jim Herring, the director of System i products and business operations, and Ian Jarman, the System i product manager. The action starts at noon CDT.

Every month or so, iSociety hosts a fireside chat feature System i representatives from IBM or other organizations. March featured two chats, one that featured Elaine Lennox, the vice president of marketing for System i, and other that featured a

Human resources management software developer Kronos last week unveiled a bundle of new software targeted at the gambling industry, called Kronos for Gaming. Kronos’ i5/OS offerings, called the iSeries Central Suite, play a prominent role in the new industry offering.

According to Kronos, the casino industry is facing a series of challenges in its battle to attract and keep employees and customers. Growth, consolidation, and competition are making it difficult for casinos to differentiate themselves and effectively compete for both employees and customers, the software company says.

To help casinos adapt to these changes, Kronos rolled out Kronos for Gaming,

Development tool maker LANSA has been accepted into IBM‘s SOA Specialty, a certification program created to highlight software products that can further the creation and adoption of service oriented architecture (SOA). LANSA’s primary tool for SOA development, called LANSA Integrator, was accepted into the program.

There are a myriad certification programs housed deep within Big Blue’s PartnerWorld program. You’ve probably heard of the ServerProven and StorageProven certifications. Well, here’s another: IBM’s SOA Specialty, which is administered by the IBM SOA Foundation.

If you’re a software vendor like LANSA, there are many hoops you must jump through in order to

ASNA, a provider of development tools bridging the Microsoft and iSeries worlds, boosted its European presence recently with the announcement of a new reseller partnership with INFONIQA Informationstechnik, an iSeries consultant with offices in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

INFONIQA Informationstechnik, which is part of the INFONIQA Group, has been serving AS/400 and iSeries customers in central Europe for more than 15 years. The company offers a variety of iSeries and System i services, including consultation, portfolio planning and analysis, application development, implementation and maintenance. The company is also a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner in three competencies.

Derek Cooper,

Replacing PCs with thin clients is on the minds of a lot of IT managers these days. But did you know that adopting thin clients can also have a positive impact on the environment? According to a report issued this week by thin client manufacturer IGEL Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute, adopting thin client computers not only saves money, but can also help reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, Microsoft is also laying claim to the “green” label for work it’s done in its new Windows Vista operating system.

According to the new report from IGEL and the Fraunhofer