TFH Volume: 29 Issue: 61 Archives

After Seven Quarters Of Growth, Power Systems Declines

October 21, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

The tough compares have hit home on IBM’s Power Systems business, but the good news is that this has happened after seven consecutive quarters of growth for the Power-based server business that Big Blue owns lock, stock, and barrel. Even with this decline, which was quite steep because of the triple whammy of tough compares (more on that in a moment), there is still a healthy underlying Power Systems business that is much better off than the last time it was hit by similar declines.

Let’s take a look at the numbers for IBM’s Power Systems division and then work …
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Staying On Top Of High Availability At HelpSystems

October 21, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

HelpSystems got its start in systems management and automation software and has expanded its solution portfolio over the years to include cybersecurity, business intelligence, document management, robotic process automation, capacity management, and more. More recently, HelpSystems entered the IBM i high availability (HA) arena with their Bug Busters acquisition in 2016. I recently checked in with Tom Huntington, executive vice president of technical solutions at HelpSystems, and Tim Woodfield, director of development, to get an update on the company’s HA offering.

“HelpSystems does a good job of listening to the things our customers like and don’t like about their …
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Guru: Debugging Common Table Expressions

October 21, 2019 Ted Holt

I cannot say enough good things about common table expressions. Words like wonderful and marvelous don’t begin to describe them. However, CTEs do add a bit of complexity to an SQL query, and when the result set doesn’t contain the correct results, any common table expression can be the culprit. Fortunately, debugging queries with common table expressions is not difficult.

To illustrate what I mean, let’s assume we have a query that retrieves shipment information for one day. It involves a few tables:
- a one-row table containing a shipment date
- a table of shipment header information
- a customer master table
…
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Unperspective: Get Over Yourself

October 21, 2019 Trevor Perry

Some days I am a moron. And not just an average moron, but a complete moron.

This week, I was speaking at a technology conference. As the momentary “expert” on the topic, I felt I was teaching well, and the audience was learning well.

First, moron behavior. I read my reviews immediately before my next session. The majority were constructive, however, one stood out. It said that the “speaker was combative” and “derogatory to the audience.” I walked into that next session in a daze.

My immediate reaction was defensive. I realized that the one person who kept challenging me …
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IBM i Badges Reward You For Community Participation

October 20, 2019 Alex Woodie

If you are proficient on the IBM i platform and active in the IBM i community, then you might be interested in the new IBM i Community Badge Program sponsored by Big Blue that rewards IBM i professionals with digital certificates for actively engaging with the community. Nearly 100 badges have already been handed out, so don’t be surprised when they start popping up on the Web.

The IBM i Community Badge Program officially debuted last Tuesday, October 8 – the same day that IBM launched the latest Technology Refreshes (TRs) for IBM i 7.3 and 7.4. The program, which …
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After Seven Quarters Of Growth, Power Systems Declines

Staying On Top Of High Availability At HelpSystems

Guru: Debugging Common Table Expressions

Unperspective: Get Over Yourself

IBM i Badges Reward You For Community Participation

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