• Sundry October Power Systems Announcements

  October 16, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  We had been hearing for quite some time that there might be some Power Systems announcements in October, and lo and behold there have been. They are just not what we had expected out of Big Blue.

  The big news was not related to IBM i, which just had its Technology Refresh announcements two weeks ago for the 7.2 and 7.3 releases, but rather a big update for IBM’s AIX Unix variant as well as for the PowerVM hypervisor, the PowerSC security tools, and the PowerVC implementation of the OpenStack cloud controller, which does support IBM i systems. There was …

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• IBM Updates Cloud Backup Solution

  October 11, 2017 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops are getting new options for backing up data to the cloud from IBM, which last week announced an update to the Cloud Storage Solutions as part of its Technology Refresh for IBM i 7.2 and 7.3. Representatives from IBM and Rocket Software, which actually developed the product, clued us in on the news.

  It was almost exactly one year ago when IBM first unveiled Cloud Storage Solutions for i. The offering — which was mostly developed by Rocket Software and really is just one solution — enabled IBM i customers to back up their IFS data to …

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• Agilysys And IBM i Still A Gaming Industry Force

  October 11, 2017 Dan Burger

  It’s both legacy and legendary. In Las Vegas, the gaming capital of the world, the Lodging Management System (LMS) by Agilysys has been a fixture for decades in many of the largest casinos and resorts in the town with more than 150,000 hotel rooms. Like a three-day weekend in Sin City, the key to LMS is endurance. The gaming industry made LMS what it is today and to a large degree LMS made the gaming industry what it is today, at least with regard to what IT can do for a rapidly expanding business. And the combination of LMS and …

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• IBM i Slow to Catch On, But What Does It Mean?

  October 11, 2017 Alex Woodie

  It’s been nine-and-a-half years since IBM rebranded the name of the platform from System i to IBM i on Power Systems. However, many people in the IBM midrange community call the platform by something other than its official name, according to anecdotal evidence and Web search data. Is this evidence of continued name confusion, or is there something else at play?

  IBM has been running from the iSeries name since its 2006 rebranding exercise, which replaced iSeries with System i. That name went by the wayside in April 2008, when IBM announced the Power Systems platform and the merger of …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, October 11

  October 11, 2017 Dan Burger

  Prior to the latest Technology Refresh announcements, which were just released yesterday, Tim Rowe, business architect for application development and systems management for IBM i, reviewed what was added to Access Client Solutions earlier this year. He also commented on the partnership between IBM and HelpSystems that resulted in development work on several IBM products being farmed out to the IBM i software vendor.

  Inside Monitor this week, you’ll also find articles pertaining to open source database trends, what’s holding back IT hiring, Java technology on IBM i, and IBM’s leading role in Blockchain advancements. The calendar of events has …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 19, Number 40

  October 11, 2017 Doug Bidwell

  Some weeks there is a lot of PTF action, and there is a lot to say about it, and some weeks there ain’t quite so much but you need to pay attention anyway. That’s why we encourage you to create your own special PTF Patch Wednesday, which means taking a look at the IBM i PTF Guide each morning when it comes out in The Four Hundred and figuring out how to get your system current.

  Getting it current and keeping it current is the best way to keep your IBM i system safe and tuned up. The further you …

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• RDi Jumps Aboard The TR Train

  October 9, 2017 Dan Burger

  What is it going to take to convince IBM i developers that RDi, a modern Eclipse-based development environment with an impressive list of productivity enhancements, is a better development tool than the traditional green-screen tools that were designed decades ago? While IBM hasn’t upgraded the green-screen development tools in years, the investment in RDi continues. The latest Technology Refreshes, announced last week, embellished the list of productivity features RDi offers.

  Most IBM i shops that are using modern RPG coding techniques are familiar with RDi and the value of modernizing applications that are significant business assets. It is the organizations …

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• Power9 Big Iron “Fleetwood/Mack” Rumors

  October 9, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Sometimes, the universe just hands you a great title, like that one above. As the Power9 platform is rolling out across the field to various launch pads, with entry, midrange, and high-end systems in the works, word always inevitably leaks out about what Big Blue has planned with its future systems.

  In the case of the high-end machines, we are hearing rumors that the current top-end Power E880 and its half-pint Power E870, which went by the code-name “Brazos” within IBM, likely in deference to the river in New Mexico, will be replaced by a machine code-named “Fleetwood,” no doubt …

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• Guru: Making Sense of Codes

  October 9, 2017 Ted Holt

  I have most likely never seen your database, yet I can tell you with confidence that it is full of codes. We can’t live without them. Codes give us shortcuts for all sorts of types and categories. They consume less storage than the values they represent. They help us keep the database clean and consistent within itself.

  But they surely can be hard to read. Some codes are obvious. M for male and F for female, for instance. My experience is that most are not so. Look at this and see how much sense you can make of it.

  select 

  …

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• As I See It: Free Speech in Restricted Times

  October 9, 2017 Victor Rozek

  Though it saddens me to say it, I’ve had the exact same experience of just about every president I can remember—regardless of party affiliation. Sooner or later, at some point during their administration, I just can’t stand them anymore.

  I can’t stand to see their face on TV, or hear their voice any longer. I can’t stand the lies, the empty promises, the soaring rhetoric that produces nothing of lasting value, the threats, the chest pounding, the epic incompetence, the ability to inspire but not to lead. I can’t stand the policies they represent, the compromises they make, the triumph …

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