• A Closer Look at IBM’s Current System i5 Deals

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  A few weeks ago, I ran a story that described a trade-in deal that IBM had launched to try to beef up sales of the System i5 platform. I got a call from Big Blue that shed a little more light on this deal, and I also learned about some other deals that Big Blue has cooked up to try to sell more System i5 iron and help its software partners better sell upgrades and new licenses. First, let’s recap the original deal that IBM announced three weeks ago. First, you need to be running an AS/400 50S or 53S

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• IBM Cuts Some System i5 Prices to Boost Sales

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  As we all know, IBM had a relatively weak first quarter in 2005, two very good quarters in the middle, and then two weak ones at the end of 2005 and in early 2006. In addition to its desire to reinvigorate the technology and marketing of the OS/400 platform, IBM made a commitment last year to not only bolster sales of the iSeries–now the System i5–platform, but to get more regular, consistent sales in addition to growth. It is safe to say that this has not happened. iSeries and System i5 sales have been choppy for the past five quarters,

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• os4nux, Anyone?

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  A few months ago, I was talking to a prominent iSeries software vendor who was exhibiting at LinuxWorld. We were both bored, and we were shooting the breeze, and I made some crack about how what IBM should really do to bolster the OS/400 server business is create a new version of OS/400 that replaces all of the Qs in OS/400 commands with Ks, slap the KDE graphical interface on OS/400, give DB2/400 a new name such as MyOtherSQL, and just simply tell Linux shops that this is a new, more rugged version of Linux. IBM could even put out

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• IDC Lectures Services Firms on Open Source Software

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The analysts at IDC have been studying open source software, and they have come to the conclusion that open source technologies are becoming an increasingly important tool for IT services companies. But IDC is warning that trying to take advantage of the open source software movement might be a bit trickier than the stalwarts in the services racket might expect. While the system integration and technical service units of the big players–IBM Global Services, Hewlett-Packard Services, Sun Microsystems Services, Unisys, and even Novell–were cited for having open source as a key part of their services portfolios, IDC

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• The Lawson-Intentia Merger Is Finally Done

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It may have seemed to have taken a lot longer than it did, but the acquisition of Intentia International by Lawson Software was officially completed last week, just a few weeks shy of a year from the time the deal was announced. The deal was expected to close by the end of January, but had to be extended to the end of April. Last week, Intentia’s shareholders approved the deal and the company’s stock began trading on the Stockholm Exchange; Lawson was already publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange in New York, and as we reported two weeks ago, Lawson’s

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• Neoware Sees Growth in Thin Client Sales in Fiscal Q3

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  With all of the issues surrounding the security of the Windows-based PC environment, you would think that thin clients would have long since taken off, at least in the corporate world. I know from personal experience that I would like to have a thin client network in my home, which takes less power and support than taking care of four PCs and two laptops. Somehow, I never get around to installing it. But if the financial results of thin client vendor Neoware are any indication, maybe businesses are starting to appreciate the value of the TC as opposed to the

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• Storage Maker Quantum Acquires Library Specialist ADIC

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Quantum, a long-time storage maker that used to do a pretty hefty disk drive business but which in recent years has specialized in tape drives and libraries, disk-based backup, and removable disk drives, said last week that it would buy rival Advanced Digital Information Corporation (ADIC) for a cool $770 million in stock and cash. The combination of the two companies, which will bear the Quantum name, will create one of the largest non-captive storage companies in the world, and one of the largest specialists in tape and disk backup technologies. Quantum rakes in about $750 million a year,

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• JDA Software Buys Supply Chain Specialist Manugistics

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The heat and pressure continues in the application software industry, and last week JDA Software, a specialist in the retail sector with strong ties to the OS/400 and Windows server platforms, announced it had acquired Manugistics, which has a complementary specialty in the supply chain and revenue management applications area. JDA is ponying up $211 million in cash, or $2.50 a share, to buy all of the outstanding stock of Manugistics, and it is doing so in order to have a broader base of customers and to have another set of applications to sell. The retail sector is

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• ERP Software: Its Effect on Human Performance and Impact on Productivity

  May 8, 2006 Jerome Peloquin

  This is the first in a series of three articles that address the complex relationship between technology, in the form of ERP software, and enhanced human performance, as indicated by business performance. This article examines the history of technology-enhanced performance in the workplace and, specifically, explores the advance of technology in supporting management decision making. It also presents some fundamental behavioral principles that drive human performance and relates them to technology in general and ERP systems specifically. The overall focus of all three articles is the critical relationship between the class of technology referred to as ERP software–particularly large-scale, integrated

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• A Closer Look at IBM’s Current System i5 Deals

  May 8, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  A few weeks ago, I ran a story that described a trade-in deal that IBM had launched to try to beef up sales of the System i5 platform. I got a call from Big Blue that shed a little more light on this deal, and I also learned about some other deals that Big Blue has cooked up to try to sell more System i5 iron and help its software partners better sell upgrades and new licenses. First, let’s recap the original deal that IBM announced three weeks ago. First, you need to be running an AS/400 50S or 53S

  …

  Read more

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