One of the drawbacks of 5250 applications is the menu layout that users must learn to navigate. To accomplish certain tasks, such as checking on the status of a customer order, a user may have to drill through a dozen screens. System i application modernization vendor Profound Logic is hoping to simplify this maze of menus with Atrium, a new Web portal unveiled at last week’s COMMON conference that gives users one-click access to specific screens. The vendor also introduced a new video blog.

Currently in beta, Atrium will provide a central repository for all of the applications that a

One of the biggest criticisms IBM has weathered regarding its Power System i platform over the years is the lack of a native graphical user interface (GUI). Now, looksoftware is doing something about it with ilook, a new piece of freeware unveiled last week at COMMON that changes operating system screens to Web-based GUIs. The vendor also announced snap for BPCS, a new tool that integrates the popular i OS ERP system with Outlook and the iPhone.

Normally, a third-party vendor wouldn’t try to mess around with operating system screens. Sure, you can add your own stuff to augment native

Application development decisions sometimes come down to bias. That’s a fact. Other times it is a question of skills relating to the particular development task. Sometimes costs, servers, databases, platforms, and interfaces drive the decision. Having options is important and that is why LANSA has introduced a new solution called iFusion.net that combines IBM i and Microsoft technologies. Rather than converting native i applications, it puts the emphasis on building composite applications to gain interoperability.

“We have been driven to this because it is the most common scenario we find with our customers,” says LANSA president Steve Gapp. “The System

Quadrant Software last week unveiled a new release of its flagship IntelliChief document management and workflow product at the COMMON conference in Reno, Nevada. IntelliChief 2.5 brings a smattering of relatively minor enhancements, such as automatic document matching and performance metrics, which demonstrate that customers are using the product and giving Quadrant feedback on how to make it better.

There are two main paths that product development can take. The first springs from the mind of a single creative individual who is eager to push the latest technologies into his product. This type of development often looks very advanced on

People are not robots (tell that to your manager) and application development teams are going to use whatever versioning tool they want. Distributed development environments have made sure of that. It’s a corresponding truth that application build and release processes are bit more complicated, but you’ve probably already noticed that. So have the product designers at Aldon, an application lifecycle management software company with a long history as an IBM i vendor.

Aldon, last week at the COMMON 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition, introduced the availability of a new Build Release Management (BRM) product that allows development teams using

What more can you get from your COMMON membership dues? Consider this: Valid Technologies will shortly announce a new promotion whereby they will send renowned i OS security expert Pat Botz–a recent addition to the Valid consulting crew–to the shop of any COMMON member, au gratis, for an onsite assessment of Valid’s i OS-based biometric authentication technology. Travel expenses must be paid, but that’s quite a deal, nonetheless.

Botz formerly was the lead architect for OS/400 security at IBM, and also worked in other customer-facing capacities within IBM’s services group. He left IBM in 2007 to help found security

PGP last week announced PGP Command Line for IBM Power Systems, a newly named version of its encryption software designed specifically for IBM i (i5/OS) environments. The product replaces a previous product that ran in the System i server’s Linux environment.

PGP, which stands for Pretty Good Privacy, is an open-source encryption program developed by Phil Zimmermann in San Francisco in the early 1990s. The software was originally used for securing e-mail messages, but has since found its way into many aspects of IT besides e-mail. The widespread adoption of PGP beyond the United States led the Federal Government to

Companies that are looking to consolidate their report delivery mechanisms for multiple operating systems may want to check out DeliverNow, a new cross-platform tool released by RJS Software last week at the COMMON tradeshow in Reno, Nevada. With the capability to monitor, convert, and distribute reports from System i, Linux, AIX, and Windows servers, DeliverNow gives customers a powerful tool for automating processes in the data center, and saving money along the way.

RJS has been working for the last four years to overhaul and streamline its diverse collection of document output management tools. Instead of building and maintaining separate

Thirty-five System i experts, including IT Jungle‘s own Ted Holt, were given awards by COMMON last week at its annual meeting and expo in Reno, Nevada. The awards were for sessions presented at the 2008 conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

COMMON divides its Speaker Hall of Fame (formerly called the Speaker Excellence Awards) into eight categories. The best of the best receive Gold Medal awards, while Silver and Bronze Medals round out the general purpose awards. COMMON also gives awards fore Best New Speaker, Best New Session, Best Traditional Lab, Best Open Lab, and Best IT Executive Session.

Winners of

Lynden Door and its sister company, Alliance Door Products, have tapped VAI for an upgraded suite of ERP products, the software vendor announced last week. The implementation of S2K Enterprise 5.0 has enabled the company to consolidate the IT services from several locations onto a single System i server running S2K.

Based in Lynden, Washington, Lynden Door is a small company that has developed a reputation for manufacturing premium residential, commercial, and architectural flush wood doors. The company’s products are distributed through Alliance Door Products, which operates several wholesale distribution sites and warehouses throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The company has