• Affirmative Launches Ethernet-Based Twinax Controllers

  July 27, 2004 Alex Woodie

  Affirmative Computer is launching two new twinax controllers for connecting legacy AS/400 displays and printers to OS/400 servers via the IP. The iTwinax Controller Models 2407 and 2414 support seven and 14 devices respectively, and preserve the investment that OS/400 shops have made in older equipment while bringing them into today’s Ethernet networks. Affirmative Computers, in Tempe, Arizona, is best known for its line of Windows- and Linux-based thin clients for IBM‘s iSeries and zSeries host computers. The launch of the iTwinax Controller reflects a logical extension of Affirmative’s thin-client computer line, says Robert Kosednar, a vice president with

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• Mrc Christens New Java Development Tool: M-Power

  July 27, 2004 Alex Woodie

  Michaels, ross & cole last week announced M-Power, a new development tool for Java largely based on the mrc-Productivity Series development environment. As we previously reported, M-Power runs on all major databases and platforms and, as mrc points out, enables users to use inexpensive PCs to develop, test, and even run Web applications that previously would have been tethered, under mrc-Productivity Series, to an OS/400 server. Chicago-based mrc has been hinting at M-Power for several months through an ad campaign featuring Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. In June, mrc announced that it would begin shipping its new development tool in

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• Tracking SQL: Tango/04 Keeps Watch for Malicious Queries

  July 20, 2004 Alex Woodie

  The power of SQL is a double-edged sword on the iSeries. Its ease of use and speed make SQL a lifesaver when DB2/400 data must be fixed quickly. But, in the wrong hands, SQL can be used to copy, change, or delete whole swaths of a database, which can be done in relative obscurity. Tango/04 Computing Group recently launched new SQL Monitor software designed to shine some light on SQL’s dark side. Consider the potential uses of SQL on the iSeries, as related by Raul Cristian Aguirre, chief executive of Tango/04. “A well-known fraud scheme involved people from IT in

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• App Development Gains Speed, Visual Characteristics with WebSphere Tools

  July 20, 2004 Dan Burger

  The July 16 release of WebSphere Development Studio client (WDSc) is a reasonable gauge of how far the WebSphere product line has developed over the past two and a half years. It’s also an indicator of how far it still has to go. Comparing then and now, the cost of converting legacy applications to Web applications and the cost of the server have dropped considerably. And the new IBM Power5-based i5 models provide the horsepower to run this feature-rich software. Start with the i5 Model 520 Express bundle, which significantly changes the footprint required to run WebSphere Application Server (WAS).

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• IBM Targets Exchange Again with New E-Mail Software

  July 20, 2004 Alex Woodie

  IBM launched a fresh volley at rival Microsoft last week with the introduction of new Domino-based e-mail software for OS/400 and other platforms. Domino Messaging Express is designed for organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees that can’t afford enterprise-strength collaboration software but need reliable e-mail serving, nonetheless. And with a starting price of $48 for companies that give up their old e-mail software, IBM has put the software’s crosshairs squarely on Exchange 5.5. IBM first started targeting disgruntled Exchange users when it launched its line of Domino Express products about a year ago (see “IBM Domino Express Takes On Exchange

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• Dieselpoint Search Engine Optimized for OS/400

  July 20, 2004 Alex Woodie

  There are few Java-based search engines on the market, and even fewer targeting the OS/400 platform. However, one Java-based search engine developer, Dieselpoint, sees a potential niche in this space. The company’s Dieselpoint Search engine has been successfully deployed on British retailer HMV‘s iSeries-based Web site, and today the companies are developing a link to allow HMV clerks to access the search engine from their green-screen point-of-sale (POS) systems. With the Christmas 2003 shopping rush nearing, HMV, the UK’s largest retailer of music, DVDs, videos, and computer games, needed to bolster the search capabilities of its www.hmv.co.uk Web

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• IBM Extends i5 Model 570, Steps on Model 550

  July 13, 2004 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  IBM said in May that it would keep up a steady rate of OS/400 server announcements as it rolls out the Power5-based machines, and today Big Blue is making good on that promise. The word on the street two weeks ago was that IBM would be launching the four-way eServer i5 Model 550 and extending the Model 570 to 16-way processing as it debuted the AIX-based eServer p5 variants of the “Squadron” servers. The Model 570 made it, but the Model 550 didn’t. Two weeks ago, I was pretty convinced that the Model 550 was going to come out soon,

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• IBM Delivers New iSeries ‘Starting Point’

  July 13, 2004 Dan Burger

  New OS/400 portal software is available from IBM as part of its Solutions Builder Express portfolio of pre-built software templates. Last week Big Blue launched five new “Starting Points,” which are templates designed to help resellers or system integrators instigate implementations in areas, such as e-commerce Web sites, or analytics software. The new template IBM delivered for the iSeries is called the Collaborative Community and Employee Portals for IBM eServer iSeries. The Employee Portal for iSeries is designed for companies that can take advantage of an intranet, or portal, that gives employees a single point of access to their personal

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• Aldon Touts Single Change Management App for All i5 Platforms

  July 13, 2004 Alex Woodie

  For some people, it can be difficult to get excited about software change management (SCM) software, but Dan Magid is not one of them. Magid, president of SCM vendor Aldon, is energized about his company’s new product, the Application Lifetime Management Suite, which he says is the culmination of six years of work and will help put the eServer i5 firmly in control of code management and deployment of OS/400, Linux, AIX, and Windows applications. Magid remembers going to a presentation by IBM‘s chief iSeries scientist, Frank Soltis, six or seven years ago, when Soltis spoke about a

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• MAPICS Fleshes Out Business Intelligence App for iSeries ERP

  July 13, 2004 Alex Woodie

  MAPICS and Cognos have almost doubled the number of key performance indicators in the business intelligence software they sell to MAPICS manufacturing customers, the two companies recently announced. MAPICS Enterprise Business Intelligence for iSeries now includes more than 400 key performance indicators, which should make it easier for executives and managers to make decisions about inventory rates, sales forecasts, accounts receivables, and other aspects of manufacturing operations. MAPICS Enterprise Business Intelligence for iSeries is an OEM’ed version of Cognos’ Windows-based business intelligence software that has been pre-mapped to MAPICS data held in the DB2/400 database. The software features a multidimensional,

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