Sometimes, success demands a sticky note. Despite the efforts of programmers to anticipate user requirements and build that functionality into a product, sometimes the capability to informally jot down a few comments for the next guy makes all the difference in the world. ACOM Solutions proved it “gets it” with the latest release of its Windows-based content management system for System i shops, EZContentManager version 3.6, which adds a digital “sticky note” capability, as well as a new viewer for reading annotated documents.

EZContentManager (EZCM) was launched three years ago as an easy-to-use suite of content management software that costs

IBM Lotus has been a bee hive of activity ever since the idea of applying social networking to enterprise business passed that “what if” moment. The goal is a good one: improve information sharing and the way people work. Productivity is in the eye of the beholder, especially if that’s the person who signs the checks. So in the name of productivity beyond the firewall, IBM is introducing LotusLive Engage, an Internet-based tool shed filled with collaboration software.

LotusLive Engage is generally available as of today.

Open the doors to the shed and you’ll find features to facilitate online meetings,

Interested in how your System i (AS/400) environment stacks up against the Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)? Then you might consider downloading a free tool from Safestone Technologies‘ Web site, which will scour your i OS security settings, compare the results against the major PCI requirements, and give you a plain English report that details what areas of System i security you need to work on.

Compared to other government or industry mandates, the PCI DSS has been heralded for its detailed IT security requirements. Instead of providing wishy-washy IT guidelines that must be first interpreted

In response to today’s increasingly complex enterprise computing environments, job scheduler developer UC4 has released the first iteration of its new “rapid automation” technology that it says can significantly ease the burden of developing integrated job schedules that touch multiple platforms and applications. The version 8.0 release of the Workload Automation Suite also includes a new graphical workload analyzer aimed at making it easier for users to understand what jobs are running and which resources are being consumed.

As the only software company focused entirely on job schedulers, UC4 is well positioned to understand the unique roles that job schedulers

The 600 or so commercial construction firms that run Computer Guidance Corp.‘s i OS-based ERP package were given new high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) options last month. CGC tapped Avnet for space in a level IV data center and IBM for its iCluster (formerly Datamirror’s) HA software for the new offering, which requires a two-year commitment. The company is also close to unveiling a new hosted option for production environments, too.

CGC is a Scottsdale, Arizona, software company that develops a construction management system (CMS) used by mid- and large-size contractors and other companies in the construction

What’s wrong with unified communications? In short, it’s the same thing that’s wrong with data centers. There’s a frustrating lack of interoperability. IBM is taking steps to improve that with its Lotus Sametime Unified Telephony package that was announced at the VoiceCom conference last week and is scheduled for release in July. Unified communications, for most companies, will be a complex task. That’s why IBM has a services option lined up to sort things out.

Integrating complex heterogeneous telephony environments with the extensive Lotus collaboration offerings is IBM’s biggest obstacle in unified communications. To reach its goal, Big Blue has

Several new features designed to alert managers to spikes in System i disk usage have been added to CCSS‘ QSystem Monitor, a system management tool for System i servers. The software will identify the largest objects and libraries on a System i server, which can be instrumental in flushing out a problem.

Managing hard disks and hard disk space in System i environments is a little bit different than other environments. A lot of the difference begins and ends with the fact that System i disk costs, oh, about a billion times more than your industry standard Dell server,

Two Summit Health hospitals in southern Pennsylvania are reporting good returns with Advantedge Healthcare Solutions‘ physician billing system, which runs exclusively on the System i server, AHS announced last week.

Cumberland Valley Medical Services, the physicians services unit for Chambersburg Hospital and Waynesboro Hospital, has expanded its contract with AHS to include physician billing services for the two dozen anesthesiologists and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists. AHS is hosting the solution, and delivering access to anesthesiologists and CRNAs through Web browsers.

As a result of the contract expansion, anesthesiologists and CRNAs at the Waynesboro hospital will get access to the

Users of DRV Technologies‘ i OS document output management software, SpoolFlex, will be able to meet the United Postal Service’s Intelligent Mail barcode requirement, which was recently pushed back two years until May 2011, the company announced last week.

SpoolFlex helps System i shops reduce their dependency on printers and paper output by grabbing spool files off their servers’ output queues, reformatting them into popular formats like PDF, HTML, or Excel, and distributing them electronically, via e-mail, fax, or posting to central servers.

The software also generates a variety of standard barcode types, including now the USPS Intelligent Mail

Driven by wider access to broadband mobile networks, the use of smart phones, PDAs, and laptops among enterprises will jump by 56 percent over the next five years and become a $284 billion business, according to a new study by Juniper Research. However, several obstacles to widespread adoption remain.

Driving the move to mobile devices among enterprises will be the fast 3G mobile networks that the major carriers are currently building. Currently, only about 13 percent of devices are connected to this network. However, by 2014, almost 80 percent will be connected, according to Juniper’s report.

In his whitepaper