The worlds of IBM i and Apache Hadoop appear to be diametrically opposed. One is a proprietary, RISC-based platform used primarily to run transactional systems. The other is an open source, X86-based platform used primarily for big data analytics. But as far apart as the two platforms seem to be, at least one IBM i software vendor, mrc, is aiming to find some common ground between them.

Hadoop is a distributed data storage and processing framework that engineers and researchers at Yahoo and Google are credited with helping to create. While indexing the Internet was Hadoop’s first use case,

Shield Advanced Solutions is shipping a new release of its IBM i high availability software that weighs significantly less than previous releases, and should consume fewer resources as well, thereby boosting performance. The HA audit and role swap processes were also enhanced with HA4i version 7.2, and the user interface also saw some improvements.

IBM remote journaling, which forms the basis for the majority of HA products on the market, is a fantastic technology, as it moves the replication of database files underneath the operating system layer, and in the process makes it nearly foolproof to use. But the flipside

IBM‘s midrange computers and the applications they run never seem to get the recognition they deserve when it comes to advanced technologies and methodologies. It’s not exactly stealing intellectual property, but it is dishonest to represent “new” ideas as if they were freshly hatched. DevOps is a good example. It’s a hot idea, but it also shares a lot of methodology with the IBM i and its predecessors, the iSeries and AS/400.

At the heart of DevOps is the change process and adding agility and speed to that process.

“It is not new in our field when you think

Data security isn’t just nice to have–it’s the law in most industries. One of the best ways to keep unauthorized users from snooping where their snouts don’t belong is two-factor authentication (2FA), which requires users to have two pieces of identifying credentials before being granted entry. A new 2FA solution for IBM i was launched recently by Kisco Information Systems, which also updated its exit point monitoring program for IBM i.

Kisco’s 2FA solution, called i2Pass, puts a roadblock in front of attempts to access IBM i assets. If the users have the correct credentials–which is the combination of

Rounding out our IT Jungle coverage of the recent COMMON conference held at Disneyland last month, we bring you product news from three IBM i software companies focusing on Web development and modernization, hosted high availability and disaster recovery, and IBM i performance tuning.

BCD Tweaks Web Dev Tools

by Alex Woodie

BCD Software used the recent COMMON conference as a launch pad for new releases of two key Web development tools: Presto 6.1 and WebSmart 10.8.

BCD ships two editions of WebSmart, including ILE RPG and PHP editions, but the features in version 10.8 focus mainly (though not entirely)