• ASNA’s Monarch Lets RPG Apps Sprout .NET Wings and Fly Through Windows

  August 23, 2005 Alex Woodie

  Year after year, surveys point to iSeries customers being the most satisfied with their chosen server, compared to other shops and their dominant platforms. Just the same, the move from iSeries to Windows is a simple reality at many shops, for a variety of reasons. Organizations looking to migrate their RPG applications from OS/400 to Windows have new options available in Monarch 2.0, which ASNA announced last week. While evidence shows the vast majority of OS/400 shops are satisfied with their choice of server, the move from OS/400 to Windows is not a matter of choice in many cases. Some

  …

  Read more

• IBM Takes On EDI Challenges with WebSphere DataStage TX

  August 23, 2005 Alex Woodie

  IBM last week announced WebSphere DataStage TX version 8.0, a new release of data integration middleware designed to support the complex EDI transformation services required by companies operating in regulated industries. This release benefits from progress made in the Serrano and Hawk data-integration projects currently underway at IBM and Ascential Software, which is operating as an IBM subsidiary, and makes it even easier to integrate complex data from virtually any source across OS/400, mainframe, and distributed platforms, according to Big Blue. WebSphere DataStage TX–the new name that IBM has given to Ascential’s DataStage TX product–is an EDI-centric version of

  …

  Read more

• Quadrant Bolsters OS/400 Forms Design Software

  August 23, 2005 Alex Woodie

  Listed separately, the new features that Quadrant Software added to its Formtastic document management software aren’t earth-shattering. But taken as a whole, the additional items and enhancements, including advanced query options, generation of RFID tags, generation of searchable PDF files, new image manipulation capabilities, and enhancements to its Formatter spool file preprocessor, point to Formtastic version 5.3.1 being a solid new release. Quadrant Software is best known for its FastFax line of fax solutions for the OS/400 server. But the Taunton, Massachusetts, company also offers an array of electronic document management solutions, including a Windows-based design tool, an e-mail distribution

  …

  Read more

• Questys Document Management System Gains iSeries File Support

  August 23, 2005 Alex Woodie

  In another example of the importance of cross-platform benefits, companies can now pull up iSeries documents and reports from Questys Solutions‘ Windows-based document management and imaging software. The new capability to use the OS/400 platform as a file storage server results from a technology partnership that Questys formed with inFORM Decisions, a developer of native OS/400 document management systems. Questys Solutions is a Southern California company that has been developing PC-based document management and imaging systems since 1980. Today, its products, including Questys Pro and Questys Enterprise that have been retrofitted for iSeries connectivity, run on Microsoft Windows

  …

  Read more

• Profound Logic Whips Up ‘Dream Architecture’ for RPG Programmers

  August 16, 2005 Alex Woodie

  RPG programmers should be allowed to dream. The idea that RPG has reached the ultimate stage of maturity, therefore adherents to its logic and processes should not be permitted to consider the range of possible Web applications that can be developed with it, is a sure path to sealing RPG’s popular perception as a language has-been. Profound Logic says it has come up with an RPG programmer’s “dream architecture” for Web development with RPG Smart Pages version 5.0, which it unveiled last week. RPG Smart Pages, or RPGsp, is a suite of tools enabling RPG programmers to build interactive Web

  …

  Read more

• NetIQ Updates OS/400 Security Software

  August 16, 2005 Alex Woodie

  NetIQ this week will begin shipping a new version of its iSeries security software designed to make it easier for OS/400 shops to lock down their systems. NetIQ Security Solutions for iSeries version 8.0 includes updates to several products, and includes new features such as a “Delta Checkup” baseline analysis tool, better support for OS/400 IFS and iASPs, and better integration with NetIQ’s cross-platform security configuration and enforcement products. NetIQ has been in the OS/400 security business since it acquired PentaSafe Security Technologies almost three years ago. That purchase brought four OS/400 products to the San Jose, California, company, including

  …

  Read more

• LaserVault Module Helps Users Purge Old Reports from Servers

  August 16, 2005 Alex Woodie

  A renewed focus on disaster recovery and security has highlighted the importance of running regular data backups and keeping vital business documents available. But the flip side of that coin is also important, namely the timely elimination of old reports, to protect an organization from lawsuits. Electronic Storage, a developer of the LaserVault document management and imaging systems for OS/400 and other servers, unveiled new software last week that automates the purging of old documents. The new File Management module works with LaserVault Reports, Electronic Storage’s Windows-based application for archiving and indexing spool files and other reports generated from

  …

  Read more

• IBM Addresses Data Retention Requirements with DR550

  August 16, 2005 Alex Woodie

  IBM recently shipped a new version of its TotalStorage Data Retention 550, a Power5-based storage area network (SAN) device that can provide up to 56GB of storage for an array of OS/400, Unix, Windows, mainframe, and Linux servers. The new DR550 comes equipped with new replication and data encryption features, including support for write once, read many (WORM) disk, and AES and DES encryption. IBM also introduced a low-cost entry-level edition of the box, called the DR550 Express. The DR550 and its predecessor, the DR450, which was launched in 2004, are designed to help facilitate compliance with data-retention requirements by

  …

  Read more

• Biometrics and SSO Treat Password Disease at Prescription Solutions

  August 9, 2005 Alex Woodie

  Prescription Solutions had the password disease. The company’s 300 call center workers needed access to a dozen or more applications running across OS/400, VMS, and Windows servers. Each application required a separate password, and, as you might expect, the workers had trouble memorizing them, which led to the “Post-It” note syndrome and increased the help desk’s workload. But after installing single sign-on (SSO) software from BNX Systems and fingerprint scanners, the company got the upper hand on this crippling affliction. Prescription Solutions is a pharmacy- and medical-management company that handles the prescription drug benefits for commercial, Medicare, and governmental health

  …

  Read more

• Infor Taking an ‘Assembler’ Approach to ERP Acquisitions

  August 9, 2005 Alex Woodie

  We’ve just seen the beginning of the acquisitions of Infor Global Solutions. The ERP software company, which has been in existence for barely three years, has made dozens of acquisitions over the past three years, including OS/400 software vendors like MAPICS, BRAIN, Daly.commerce, and Lilly Software Associates. But the company plans many more as part of its strategy to become the premiere provider of ERP software for manufacturers and distributors. Infor Global Solutions was spun out of Systems & Computer Technology, a Malvern, Pennsylvania, provider of hardware and software to educational institutions, in June 2002. Soon thereafter, the company

  …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles