It’s been four years since the introduction of IBM i 7.1. In between 7.1 and 7.2, which was put out on May 2, there were eight Technology Releases pegged to 7.1. Those releases were the indicators that IBM was still investing in the IBM i platform. It was a new strategy for Big Blue. How did it affect IBM and the IBM i community? That’s a good question.

At the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida last week, Steve Will, chief architect for IBM i, and Alison Butterill, IBM i product offering manager, described the 7.1 to 7.2

For most IBM i shops, the advent of the new IBM i 7.2 release and the Technology Refresh 8 for IBM i 7.1, both announced in the past several weeks, are more important than any shiny new Power8 iron, regardless of how much oomph it has. At any given time, only a relatively small percentage of customers are at a point where they absolutely have to upgrade their systems. For most shops, workloads grow more or less along with their revenues and even if they add new workloads, their existing Power6, Power6+, Power7, and Power7+ machines have enough latent capacity

Server workloads are typically broken down into two broad categories: transactional or analytical. For most IBM i shops, the focus is heavily on the transactional side of the equation. But as IBM i shops peek over the wall into the rapidly expanding world of big data analytics, they will be pleased to find that IBM and its partners are bringing together a collection of big data tooling that will happily run on the system they already own.

Granted, the chances of the big data analytics software running directly on IBM i are slim to none. While IBMers like Mike Cain

In India, embarrassing incidents have raised the specter of impropriety on the part of a few IBMers, now ex-IBMers, and another former IBMer who had for a decade been a big client. In the USA, IBM launched a website to market cloud computing. Right out of the chute, the site failed for mobile clients; instead of displaying valid web pages, it served the Big Blue Screen of Death. Worldwide, revenue has fallen for eight consecutive quarters. Chip fabs are for sale as IBM chops up its furniture to feed the fire.

This stuff gives customers shpilkes; some will flee.

The timing of the COMMON Annual Meeting–one week after IBM made Power8 and IBM i 7.2 announcements–provided equal parts of inspiration and jubilation. Those IBM announcements contributed a noticeable buzz that carried throughout the educational sessions and the exposition hall. There was also the venue–a right-sized hotel and conference center–that contributed to the feeling that COMMON was the showcase event and avoided the lost in the crowd feeling that an oversized setting creates.

So much of our lives–at work and at home–are lived online these days it’s difficult to overstate the importance of getting together at a conference and participating

Two major hotels, including the Caesar’s chain and a new 326-room Bahamas resort scheduled to open in June, recently licensed enterprise software from Agilysys, the software vendor announced this month. Agilysys also announced the disposition of its UK business as it pursues an international reseller strategy.

Agilysys says Resorts World Bimini will use its Lodging Management System (LMS) and the Visual One Condo Accounting System in the management of its 480-unit Bahamas resort. Resorts World Bimini will also use LMS to manage a new 326-room luxury hotel set to open in June, it said.

Representatives for Resorts World Bimini

The COMMON board of directors was reshuffled last week after the annual election process that concludes at the Annual Meeting. There isn’t exactly a long line of people volunteering for positions on the board and, therefore, the names are familiar to those who consider themselves active in the IBM midrange community.

The board now consists of Pete Massiello, Randy Dufault, Kevin Mort, Jeff Carey, Justin Porter, Phil McCullough, and Larry Bolhuis. Massiello takes the role of president this year, Mort is executive vice president, Carey is treasurer, and Porter is secretary.

Dufault becomes the immediate past president, a role that

Defining the current mobile computing reality is a bit like nailing jelly to a tree. Challenges are being handled though, and IBM midrange shops are accomplishing projects that surprise the disbelievers. There is a mobile computing reality. It may be different than yours, but that doesn’t mean it does not exist or that it can’t become your reality, too.

“Our biggest challenge is building the awareness of what can be done with an IBM i,” says Steve Gapp. “We’ve done four or five really big mobile projects where the solution requirements are broad and deep. Mobile is far easier for

Master reseller Arrow Electronics, like its peer Avnet, is a bellwether for the IT market. And like Avnet, Arrow saw a bit of a slowdown in the first quarter in its Enterprise Computing Solutions business unit.

In the quarter, Enterprise Computing Solutions had sales of $1.66 billion, up a quarter of a point compared to the year-ago period, but taking out the effect of acquisitions (including Computalinks), organic sales actually fell by 11 percent. “We experienced a pause in our hardware business, but our software and security businesses were on plan and delivered growth,” explained Michael Long, who

Software development tool maker Magic Software Enterprises is riding up the wave of mobile and cloud software development and tools to integrate legacy systems into these new-fangled apps and devices.

In the first quarter ended in March, Magic Software reported revenues of $40.95 million, up 22.6 percent from the year ago period. Its costs did not rise as fast as sales, and neither did research and development costs and other operational costs, and so the company was able to bring $4.85 million to the bottom line, an increase of 29.4 percent over the same quarter in 2013.

The company’s cash