TFH Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Archives

IBM i Trends, Concerns, And Observations

January 23, 2017 Dan Burger

There is far more going on in IBM i shops than many non-IBM i people would expect. And the truth of the matter is that some IBM i shops might be surprised to find out what other shops are up to. The IBM i Marketplace Survey is one of our windows into that world. And it’s just been compiled for the third consecutive year. We have been watching and reporting on this survey and the trends it identifies because it is one of the best finger-in-the-wind indicators of the directions IBM i shops are headed.

There are more than a …
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Drilling Down Into IBM’s System Group

January 23, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

It is a new year, and we are all looking forward to a growing economy and some much needed competition for compute in the datacenter as there is a resurgence of interest in the Power processor and a growing probability that ARM server chip makers, particularly Qualcomm and Applied Micro, are going to see some traction this year.

It is with this in mind that we ponder IBM’s fourth quarter financial results, which were announced last Thursday, and more specifically think about what may be in the cards for the Power Systems platform in 2017 and beyond. First, let’s go …
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Guru: How To Use Global Variables In SQL Scripts

January 23, 2017 Michael Sansoterra

Hey, Mike:

I’m writing SQL scripts to do some administrative work. These scripts are run in iNavigator’s RunSQL scripts utility and use the special CL: directive to execute an IBM i command. I stumbled across the CREATE VARIABLE statement and wondered if I could use an SQL variable to substitute a library name within the OS commands.

For example, if I define something like the following in iNavigator:
```
CREATE OR REPLACE VARIABLE QGPL/LIB CHAR(10) DEFAULT 'JOE';
```
Can I then use the LIB variable in a CL: command as follows?
```
CL:  DSPLIB LIB(LIB) OUTPUT(*PRINT);
```
–Guru Reader

Unfortunately, GLOBAL VARIABLES cannot …
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Doctor Frank Talks Power With Vision

January 23, 2017 Alex Woodie

Vision Solutions landed a pretty popular guest for the inaugural episode of its new PowerTalk podcast last month. Former IBM chief scientist Doctor Frank Soltis, the Father of the AS/400, shared stories about the sudden popularity of memory-oriented architectures, the limitations of the System/38, and the origins of the MIMIX product.

Becky Hjellming, Vision’s director of product strategy, was excited to have such a distinguished IBMer on her very first PowerTalk podcast. She started out by asking Soltis about his recent COMMON Europe tour, during which he made several predictions about how the computing world is about to change in …
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IBM Gives Power Systems Rebates For Linux Workloads

January 23, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

Big Blue has made no secret whatsoever that it wants to ride the Linux wave up with the Power Systems platform, and its marketeers are doing what they can to sweeten the hardware deals as best they can without adversely affecting the top and bottom line at IBM in general and the Power Systems division in particular to help that Linux cause along.

To be precise, IBM has rolled out another in a line of its “first in location” rebate offerings, which was a common tactic when IBM was trying to sell AS/400 or RS/6000 systems against competitive platforms or …
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IBM i Trends, Concerns, And Observations

Drilling Down Into IBM’s System Group

Guru: How To Use Global Variables In SQL Scripts

Doctor Frank Talks Power With Vision

IBM Gives Power Systems Rebates For Linux Workloads

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