Valid Technologies has cemented a deal with SecuGen to certify its Hamster line of biometric fingerprint readers with the Valid Secure System Authentication (VSSA), its i OS-based user authentication system.

Deployed from the rock-solid System i server but accessible from practically any platform, Valid’s VSSA provides a means for bolstering user authentication with the use of biometrics. Traditionally, VSSA installations have relied on fingerprint scanning hardware from APC, which is the undisputed leader in the field. With the partnership with SecuGen, VSSA customers now have another option.

Valid’s deal with SecuGen involves the Hamster Plus and Hamster IV fingerprint

The payment processing business cannot stand still. With the black cloud of security breaches hanging over every business that accepts credit and debit cards, companies are concerned that increasingly sophisticated attacks on sensitive information puts formerly secure data at risk. It’s an ongoing battle that pushes the Payment Cardholder Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements to frequent updates. The encryption software running on your IBM AS/400 must be certified that it meets the latest standards, too.

In the case of CFXWorks, that led to modifying and rewriting the original code, completing third-party testing that assures PCI-DSS compliance, and

Regulated companies required to archive data for extended periods have traditionally turned to optical storage. The Magneto Optical (MO) format became popular in the 1990s, while this decade has seen the rise of Ultra Density Optical (UDO). Today some companies are moving their archives to Blu-ray Disc (BD), the next-generation optical format that recently became the standard for high-definition DVD movies. And while big companies may hesitate to bring consumer-based technology into their data centers, at least one vendor claims that the consumer focus is a decided advantage.

UDO and BD share the same technological underpinnings, in that they both

CYBRA made its entrance into the world of i OS document management software last week with the debut of MarkMagic 7.0. While CYBRA has traditionally focused MarkMagic on being best-of-breed barcode encoding software for AS/400 shops, version 7.0 sports a number of new features that take aim at users’ wider document needs, including a report writer, a conditional printing component, and a self-service Web portal that allows customers to access pertinent paperwork, all by themselves.

The folks at CYBRA didn’t wake up one morning and say “Hey let’s do document management software.” Instead of revolutionary, the changes in version 7.0

CNX is putting the finishing touches on Valence 2.0, the latest release of its Web modernization toolkit for System i servers. This release brings refinements to the Web 2.0 interfaces that Valence creates, such as the capability to route SQL results directly to a Web page and new e-mail and PDF generation functionalities. The package also gains all of the latest features of Ext JS, the collection of JavaScript classes upon which Valence is based.

If your search for the right Web modernization tool for i OS has come up empty, you’re not alone. The folks at Chicago-based CNX also

Software development projects are notorious for taking twice as long as originally planned, and costing four times as much. (Sound familiar?) To maintain control over unwieldy programming projects–or, more accurately, to prevent them from reaching that stage–i OS tools vendor Chrono-Logic last week unveiled iAM for Management, a new product designed to keep managers and auditors informed of the progress of software development projects, and the costs they have incurred.

At times it appears certain there is no other human endeavor that can waste as much time and money as efficiently as software development projects. Just as a well-designed and

Companies that run the JD Edwards World and EnterpriseOne ERP systems were given a new option for managing capital assets earlier this month when InsightSoftware.com announced the availability of Capital Asset Management (CAM). The new product works with existing JDE modules such as Fixed Assets and Purchasing to ensure that equipment is properly maintained and people are efficiently scheduled.

InsightSoftware.com develops add-on products for Oracle‘s E-Business Suite and JD Edwards World and EnterpriseOne ERP systems. The company’s flagship product, Insight, is composed of 23 modules for JDE that span five functional areas: financial management; supply chain management; human capital

Patrick Townsend Security Solutions (PTSS) yesterday announced it has inked an OEM deal with Quantum to supply the enterprise storage provider with encryption key management solutions. It is possibly PTSS’ largest reseller deal ever, and launches a new direction for developer of i OS and open systems security software.

The deal with Quantum involves PTSS’ Alliance Key Manager, a new encryption key management appliance that PTSS announced in December and finally delivered this quarter. The offering manages encryption keys for all major platforms, including i OS, and is deployed on a hardened, Linux-based System x server.

As part of the

Earlier this month, development tool maker mrc announced a new capability to integrate Google maps directly into applications created with mrc’s m-Power development tool. The new features will make possible some very interesting capabilities involving System i data and maps.

Google maps may be the original Web 2.0 application. With the capability to browse the globe and zoom in and out with the power of a spy satellite (OK, golf balls still don’t show up.), Google made a map fiend’s delight. Add to that the programmatic markup capabilities that the geniuses in Silicon Valley applied to Google maps and the

In the near future, billions of sensors, such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, will populate the world, creating an interconnected web of data to measure everything from package deliveries and vehicular traffic to air quality and the flow of electricity across the power grid. This is the “Internet of things,” as IBM likes to calls it, and if Big Blue has its way, it will be coordinated and choreographed with a new release of WebSphere Sensor Events unveiled last week.

WebSphere Sensor Events is the new name IBM has given to a pair of products, including WebSphere Premises Server