For all the flack that green-screen applications get for being difficult to use, powerful macro tools and well-defined APIs make it relatively easy to access mainframe processes and data through 5250 and 3270 terminal emulators. But when the tables are turned and fat-client Windows apps are asked to open up and share, the DLLs and executables get cold feet. OpenSpan is trying to change that with an integration tool it claims can create on-demand APIs for any Windows app, and include them in cross-platform business process automation projects.

Francis Carden, who co-founded OpenSpan in 2005 with CTO Stephen Beckett and

The new DB2 Web Query enhancements–including an adapter that provides “occasional” access to the SQL Server database from the i OS business intelligence tool, and the capability to access and update DB2 Web Query reports from within Excel–won’t ship until August, IBM announced recently. The new capabilities were originally expected to be available by the end of June, back when the announcements were first made with Information Builders in February, but the timeline has apparently slipped.

DB2 Web Query is a special version of Information Builders’ WebFOCUS software that IBM announced in 2007. The Java-based software enables users to write

Retailers that rely on JDA Software Group‘s i OS-based Merchandise Management System (MMS) will have an easier time integrating the application with Quadrant Software‘s IntelliChief content management system and working to eliminate paper-based processes as a result of integration work between JDA and Quadrant, the companies announced last week.

After working together on several IntelliChief implementations at MMS shops, JDA and Quadrant decided to form a strategic alliance, says Gary Langton, CEO and co-founder of Quadrant Software, which is based in Tampa, Florida. “It only made sense for the two companies to join forces and formalize that relationship

System i shops are among the companies being encouraged to take a look at the beta of SugarCRM version 5.5, a new release of the open source customer relationship management software unveiled last week by SugarCRM. Better collaboration among team members is a central theme of new features in the release, which is expected to become generally available sometime during summer.

Last week, acting CEO Larry Augustin, who took over after the sudden resignation in early May of chief executive John Roberts, opened the barn door and let out a beta of version 5.5. This release brings several new

Capitalware is now shipping a set of three WebSphere MQ security tools for i OS. The Markham, Ontario, company announced the general availability of the i OS versions of the three products, which close several security shortcomings with default installations of WebSphere MQ, last month.

Despite its reputation as a bullet-proof platform for the exchange of transactional data across different operating systems, WebSphere MQ (MQ Series) offers surprisingly little default security, according to Capitalware president Roger Lacroix, who has years of experience with the product.

To properly secure their out-of-the-box WebSphere MQ implementation, users must either write their own security

D&B Global Helps Companies Calculate the True Cost of EDI

Does it make sense for you to outsource your EDI environment? That’s the question that D&B Global Services, a new company that was recently founded by former EXTOL employees, is trying to get companies to ask. The New Jersey company recently posted a checklist on its Web site that helps companies to think critically about their EDI environments.

D&B Global Services was founded earlier this year by Dennis Bonagura, the former president and COO at Pottsville, Pennsylvania-based EXTOL. He, along with longtime marketing man Steve Rosen, left Extol to

The Danish manufacturer Ferrosan will no longer have to deal with the expense and complicatedness of managing an i-based Power Systems and System x server environment as the result of a new seven-year outsourcing deal it has entered into with IBM.

Ferrosan is a privately held manufacturer of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, vitamins, and food supplements that are sold primarily in the Nordic countries of Europe. The company has revenues the equivalent of $250 million last year, and employs 800 people, according to IBM.

In 2006, Ferrosan signed a three-year IT outsourcing deal with IBM. In February of this year,

Vision Solutions yesterday announced that it is offering training for its high availability products over the Web. The new Web-based training will allow customers to learn how to use iTera HA, MIMIX HA, ORION HA, and other products, either at their own pace or with the help of an instructor.

Vision Solutions University has added a handful of Web-based training courses to its catalog. There are currently 14 self-paced courses that users can access over the Web, ranging from basic MIMIX operations to how iTera HA uses journaling. Each class costs between $150 and $250, and users can get discounts

VAI recently announced two new customer wins for S2K Enterprise, its suite of i OS-based ERP software. The two companies moving to S2K include NAFECO, a distributor of firefighting equipment based in Alabama, and Mytel International, an office products distributor and services provider in California.

Mytel International and its sister company, GNM Financial Service, chose the combination of S2K ERP software running on 64-bit IBM Power Systems hardware to replace its previous computer system, which ran on an HP 3000 server–a platform that was killed off years ago by Hewlett-Packard.

“We understood that GNM and Mytel needed a technology

Acts of IT heroism are rarely acknowledged outside the data center. Your superior skill set, situational awareness, and stick-to-it-ive-ness routinely save your company many times the meager salary they pay you as a programmer. You’re not in the habit of nominating yourself for employee of the week, but now that Aldon has announced its IT Action Hero Awards, you can take off that cape, remove the mask, and take a short respite from your day-to-day routine of sheer, unrepentant awesomeness to get the recognition you deserve.

Unveiled yesterday, Aldon’s 2009 IT Action Hero Award is designed to honor and reward