Domino got one (the original “Bumblebee”). JD Edwards, Linux, and the high availability vendors got theirs, too. We’re talking about dedicated System i hardware–or appliances, if you will. So why isn’t there a pre-integrated i OS bundle for business intelligence, one of the fastest growing application segments in IT? For whatever reason, that’s about to change, thanks to a group of IBM business partners in Southern California, who have teamed up to create the “Smart i.”

The idea of a dedicated server is not new at IBM, which has offered various flavors of the Power Systems server geared for different

While the Payment Cardholder Industry (PCI) has been congratulated for publishing clear and concise rules (especially compared to the muddy mess that was Sarbanes-Oxley), the 12-part Data Security Standards (DSS) regulations actually could have made a little more sense. According to Ira Chandler, president of i OS payment software provider Curbstone Software, following the letter of the PCI law is just not practical on some points. To address these concerns, the company launched a new dedicated communication module for its i operating system (i OS) payment software that keeps System i servers off the dangerous Internet.

Make no mistake

From the consumers’ point of view, the Apple iPhone epitomizes the ultimate in style and sophistication for handheld devices. For the sum of $200–plus a two-year service commitment to your local telegraph company (AT&T)–a consumer can gain entry to this exclusive club. For software companies developing applications for the iPhone, the equivalent mark of Web 2.0 sophistication may be Morph Labs, a cloud computing provider that ensures iPhone applications scale to meet demand.

Since Apple launched its new iPhone 3G and updated iPod Touch last month, the IT industry has been agog at the sheer coolness of the sleek

ADC Austin and WebSydian last week released a new version of WebClient for CA Plex, a tool for generating user interfaces for ca Plex and 2E development environments. With WebClient version 1.4, the partners have given developers more controls for creating AJAX-style interfaces for 2E and Plex applications running on i OS or Windows.

ADC Austin and WebSydian have partnered for years to provide tools, training, and solutions for thousands of 2E and Plex customers around the world. ADC, which is based in Austin, Texas, has provided the ADC Modernization Studio for helping 2E (pure i OS) shops migrate to

Avnet, one of two distributors atop IBM‘s System i reseller channel, announced plans to sell in the United States an integrated suite of content management software developed by the French company VDoc Software. The VDoc suite spans several disciplines, including content management, document management, business process management, and Web-based collaboration, and runs on i OS, Linux, Windows, and Unix operating systems, Avnet says.

VDoc got into the software business in 1997, when it launched its first document management offering to its European customer base. Over the years, the company gradually added additional functionality, including business process management

COMTEK Services, a New Hampshire consultancy and developer of software for i OS and other operating systems, recently launched a new release of its simple network management protocol (SNMP) software for i OS, called NMServer for AS/400.

NMServer for AS/400 is software that augments the native SNMP trap supplied by IBM with a series of SNMP “subagents” that extend the system monitoring capabilities on the server. The software enables users to set thresholds or view performance-related data for more than 75 categories, such as CPU utilization, disk usage, and job status, via standard SNMP consoles, such as Hewlett-Packard‘s

The customer news came fast and furious from Lawson Software last week, as the St. Paul, Minnesota, ERP software developer unveiled a slew of licensing deals for S3, M3, and other products.

Lawson kicked off the customer announcements last week with IKEA, the iconic modular furnishings retailer based in Sweden that has been a big M3 customer since the Intentia days (prior to Lawson’s acquisition of Intentia). In 2004, IKEA started using Lawson’s Opportunity Analyzer (OA), a business modeling tool, to help it get the most out of its ERP implementation.

As part of its OA program, Lawson reports, IKEA

RJS Software, the Minnesota developer of document and content management systems for the IBM i operating system (formerly i5/OS), is hooking up with Sophos, the English developer of security software, the vendors announced last week.

As part of the new partnership, RJS will sell Sophos’ collection of security software, which includes antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam software, and network access control (NAC) software for desktops, servers, and other network devices. RJS will also sit on the Sophos Partner Advisory Council, a group of channel partners that work with Sophos to market its products in North America.

The Sophos partnership was

Do you DBU? Do you know others that DBU? ProData Computer Services, makers of the DBU database utility for DB2/400, is encouraging DBU users to get together on a new community forum it’s set up for DBU users–as well as users of other ProData products–to share their tips and techniques.

The new community forum, which is accessible at www.prodatacomputer.com/forum/index.php, went live in late July, and today includes more than 60 participants. The forum is being used primarily for users to post questions about ProData products, and for the more experienced users to reply with answers.

The forum has

Network security is the focus of the new episode of “Moshi Moshi,” the animated series of short stories from Bytware that’s intended to entertain viewers while educating them about i OS security. With a potential hole in his company’s network perimeter, the protagonist of Moshi Moshi must act before it’s too late!

Created by Bytware marketing director Chris Jones earlier this year, Moshi Moshi follows the activities of a fictitious company, Moshi Moshi Corp., and its employees activities. One of these employees is the new American systems administrator Harold Stanley, who is tasked with keeping Moshi Moshi’s System i