AURA Equipments is rolling out a new product that will provide a storage engine that integrates DB2/400 into the open source MySQL database, a feature that IBM said it would deliver, but which it has so far failed to do. The new product, called iStorage for MySQL, should make it easier for i5/OS shops to manage their System i-focused environment while still maintaining compatibility with the new generation of PHP applications, the French IT company says.

MySQL, which was just acquired by Sun Microsystems last week, is unique among relational databases in that it supports multiple database engines that allow

IBM‘s Lotus groupware division gets its moment to bask in the media sunshine this week as it uses its annual Lotusphere conference as a platform from which to shout out about what it plans to unleash on its archrival in the groupware space, Microsoft. Lotus general manager Michael Rhodin had a laundry list of announcements to toss at the hungry press representatives while making the case that it can hit the small to medium business bull’s eye that everyone seems to be aiming at these days.

At the top of the list is Lotus Foundations, a future line

Small and medium size businesses in the United States soon could be hearing about another option for System i disaster recovery software: Mirroring/400. The Argentinean company, which is owned by Team Soft, is considering offering the remote journaling-based solution to North American System i shops that are looking for proven, low-cost alternatives to full high availability software, officials with the company say.

Mirroring/400 relies on IBM‘s remote journaling technology to provide one-way or multi-directional replication of objects and files among iSeries or System i servers. Use of remote journaling ensures that all changes to data–including updates, inserts,

How do companies that are short on staff and experience take on unique projects or tasks? Often they turn to consultants. Sometimes the consultants bring an understanding of the specific business. Sometimes there are guaranteed completion dates. Still the fear of missed deadlines, cost overruns, and coming up short of goals can ruin a good night’s sleep–for months and maybe even years. VAI, a trusted name in the System i software business, has introduced a service bundle plan that could get companies what they need and when they need it.

When upper level management realizes that managing the IT

RJS Software has issued a new release of WebDocs, the company’s document management and imaging software for i5/OS and other platforms. With WebDocs version 3, RJS has tightened the product’s security, improved its administration and search functions, and simplified its user interface, among other new features.

RJS describes WebDocs as an “electronic filing cabinet,” in that it can be used to capture, store, manage, and route all kinds of electronic documents, including i5/OS spool files, invoices, work orders, faxes, reports, and video and audio files. The software runs on i5/OS or Windows, and supports a range of user interfaces, from

The country’s largest manufacturer of building products, Oldcastle, has chosen to modernize its business systems on Lawson Software‘s M3 suite of ERP applications running on the IBM System i computer platform, the software company announced last week.

As the North American division of the Irish building giant CRH, Oldcastle manufacturers and distributes building materials, such as asphalt, concrete, brick, utility vaults, pipe, glass, and doors across the continent. Oldcastle employs about 50,000 people across six distinct product groups that span 1,700 locations in 50 states and four Canadian provinces.

Before signing a contract last fall to license Lawson’s M3,

A trip to the spring COMMON show last year eventually paid off for Control Systems Software (CSS), a developer of agribusiness software that runs on i5/OS. CSS traveled to Anaheim, California, to help it chart an application modernization strategy, which eventually led to LANSA and its Rapid Application Modernization Process (RAMP) solution.

Based in Urbandale, Iowa, CSS develops software used by American agribusiness, including companies involved in the production of petroleum, grain, feed, and other commodities. The vendor’s main application, called CONTROL, is a fully integrated suite that includes components for point of sale (POS), bulk fuel, inventory, commodities management,

One of the challenges of deploying software as a service (SaaS) applications is the need to integrate SaaS-based data with other applications, including applications running on in-house computers and those living on the Net. Boomi, an established developer of EDI and integration software, claims to have solved this challenge with Boomi On-Demand, which recently completed beta testing and is now generally available.

Boomi introduced its On-Demand offering last year as a way to make it easier for companies to keep a handle on their data, whether it resides on their own computers or on their service providers’ servers. The

SunGard last week launched a new service offering designed to help companies recover their servers in the event of a disaster. With its new offering, called Restoration Services for Managed IT Services, SunGard will help companies design and test their disaster recovery plans, and then provide them with facilities, equipment, and expertise in the event that any of the companies declare a disaster.

For years, SunGard Availability Services has been helping some of the nation’s largest companies ensure their capability to maintain IT and business services in the event of a disaster. In recent months, the Wayne, Pennsylvania, company has

Infinite Software (formerly California Software) last week unveiled a new release of Infinite Web, a set of tools for moving i5/OS applications to the Web. With Infinite Web 5.0, the company now allows customers to mix and match the deployment of modernized applications across Java and .NET run-time environments.

As a component of Infinite Software’s Infinite iSeries suite, Infinite Web provides a set of tools designed to help customers modernize their traditional i5/OS green-screen business applications by providing them with Web-based graphical interfaces. At the same time, the tool aims to help improve integration with other applications by employing service