Have you ever wondered how IBM comes up with ideas for how to improve the IBM i platform? According to the IBM i chief architect Steve Will, the most strategic ideas originate internally within IBM. However, many new features come from the customer base through formal requirements processes. And this fall, IBM intends to launch a new requirements program that will allow users to vote on new features over the Web.

There are currently four formal requirements programs that feed ideas for new IBM i features to IBM. These include the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC), COMMON Europe Advisory Council

Modernization, in its many guises, seems to be a big driver of the IBM i ecosystem these days. For a long time, high availability software was major propellant diving the market alongside System/38 and System/36 upgrades–a kind of modernization effort in its own right. Then along came the ERP wave in the 1990s, and packaged software is all the rage. Now, the diehard IBM i faithful need to update their code to work with modern devices and to look and feel like other modern software, and they need some help.

A programmer or two using good tools are perhaps better

Dan Cruikshank’s presentations at the OCEAN Tech Conference last month were packed. Conference attendees had plenty of session options running opposite of Cruikshank, but his topics enticed IBM i advocates like free ice cream cones in the park on the Fourth of July. The seats are filled by folks hungry for technical advice on SQL, database efficiency, and business value. He gave them sessions on database re-engineering, reusable SQL procedures, modernizing IBM i applications, and data-centric programming.

Based on “hands-up” session surveys during similar sessions he presents around the world, Cruikshank is convinced that programmers are increasing their efforts to

When Vulcan gets riled, steer clear of volcanos. Be nice. Show him some respect. Admire his metalworking skills. Celebrate his holiday, Vulcanalia, on August 23. Don’t hurt Vulcan’s feelings as Pompeii apparently did. In 79 AD, Pompeii was buried alive in ash and lava. Vulcan is obviously implicated: Vesuvius erupted on August 24, right after Vulcanalia.

IBM, which has supported a huge study of Pompeii’s destruction, should know better than to trifle with Vulcan. But Big Blue has been vexatious, deprecating the hardware business. Vulcan is surely offended; he could strike at any moment. Watch out!

Pompeii And

With every Technology Refresh there are new features and functions added to IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS) that make the official announcement list. But in reality, ACS upgrades also occur in between TRs with their announcement held off until the next TR. On July 31, the latest batch of ACS enhancements became available as a download on the IBM i Access webpage. ACS replaced the legacy Access for Windows several years ago.

Like the traditional Access products, IBM i Access Client Solutions is primarily used for 5250 emulation, but is also popular for accomplishing data transfers, printer output,