• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 42

  October 23, 2019 Doug Bidwell

  Some weeks are slow, and some weeks we have lots to share. This is one of those busy weeks in PTF Land. First up, we have the following message to share: APAR MA47979 – INCORROUT – HLIC – 94XXDASD – HIPER. This Hard Disk drive code has a bug! You can read this link for details. It’s not on cume yet, but see the following fixing PTFs:

  • R710 MF66663
  • R720 MF66664
  • R730 MF66665
  • R740 MF66666

  We also learned at TechU there are new announcements with a planned Availability Date of November 16, so stay tuned.

  A Security Bulletin has popped …

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• 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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• HelpSystems Gets New Investors, CEO

  October 16, 2019 Alex Woodie

  Change is in the air in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, as HelpSystems recently announced that it has a pair of new investors, as well as a new CEO. The software company has also made strides in the security space with a pair of new offerings, including one that supports IBM i.

  Let’s start with the man – or should we say, the woman – at the top. Kate Bolseth, who was most recently the COO, has taken over the top job at HelpSystems. Bolseth was the general manager of cross platform products at HelpSystems when IT Jungle interviewed her last …

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• Thoroughly Modern: What To Pack For The Digital Transformation Journey

  October 16, 2019 Emmanuel Tzinevrakis

  Welcome to a new column called Thoroughly Modern. The name is meant to convey the idea that we need to define the desired – if ever-evolving – end state of our businesses and the people, processes, and programs that encapsulate how everything works when we get there.

  It is a given that everyone understands that digital transformation is sweeping every industry, with incumbents being challenged by upstarts – and each other – as they try to create new and better ways to provide products and services to customers in a modern, digital world. We accept this as a first …

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• Syncsort Expands IBM i Integration with ServiceNow

  October 16, 2019 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops that want to take full advantage of cloud-based IT management services may be interested in hearing about a new offering unveiled by Syncsort last week. With the new release of its Ironstream for ServiceNow product, Syncsort is making it easier for companies to push IBM i and mainframe event data into ServiceNow Event Management.

  ServiceNow has made its mark in the burgeoning fields of IT service management and AIOps. With $2.6 billion in revenue and more than, 5,000 software as a service (SaaS) subscribers, the publicly traded firm (NYSE: NOW) helps companies manage their increasingly complex IT …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, October 16

  October 16, 2019 Jenny Thomas

  It’s a big day for IBM. Big Blue will be reporting its Q3 earnings this afternoon and there are a lot of expectations on what results may, or may not, be seen from the Red Hat acquisition, among other possibilities. Of course, you can expect to see some slicing and dicing of IBM’s numbers, as well as what it may mean for our IBM i ecosystem, in future issues of The Four Hundred, but until then, please read on to check out what’s been happening around IT this past week.

  Top Stories From Outside The Jungle

  (Barron’s) IBM will …

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