• ALTech Taps ASNA to Migrate Food App from RPG to .NET

  May 6, 2008 Alex Woodie

  ALTech Software, a developer of software that helps food manufacturers create new products while complying with industry regulations, has successfully migrated its RPG-based Vision NPD software to the Microsoft .NET language, enabling the software to run on standard Windows Servers as opposed to expensive IBM i-based Power Systems servers (formerly System i). ASNA provided ALTech with software and expertise enabling the migration. From its headquarters in Hawthorn, England, (about 80 miles west of London) ALTech develops a product called Vision NPD (New Product Development). As you may have gathered, food makers use Vision NPD to automate many of the

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• Oracle Supports i 6.1 with JD Edwards World

  May 6, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Companies that rely on Oracle‘s JD Edwards World ERP software to run their businesses can begin seriously thinking about migrating to IBM i 6.1 (formerly i5/OS V6R1) now that the ERP application officially supports the new operating system. JD Edwards EnterpriseOne customers will have to wait a little longer for i 6.1 support, however. Representatives for Oracle confirmed last week that Oracle has gone through the i 6.1 certification process for all versions of JD Edwards World release A7.3 cumulative 08 and above, A8.1, and A9.1. EnterpriseOne is still being tested for compatibility with the new operating system, the

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• AAA Carolinas Gains Greater i Visibility with Software from CCSS

  May 6, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Keeping an eye on the AS/400 was largely a manual task for operators at AAA Carolinas, a branch of the American Automobile Association that insures and supports drivers in North and South Carolina. As a result, the company’s reaction to unusual events wasn’t always as swift as it could have been. But now that it’s implemented the i (formerly i5/OS and OS/400)-based systems monitoring and management suite from CCSS, the company’s computer operators have become more proactive in identifying and resolving issues before they become problems. AAA Carolinas started selling insurance only eight years ago, but it’s already the

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• TallyGenicom Introduces Hybrid Thermal Barcode Printer

  May 6, 2008 Alex Woodie

  TallyGenicom next week will begin delivery of the new 7000 series of thermal printer, a so-called “hybrid” printer because it can be used as a desktop barcode printer or as a dedicated midrange printer. There are three printers in TallyGenicom’s new line, including the Model 7005, the Model 7006, and the Model 7008. All three printers work with a wide range of computer systems via support for the ZPL, EPL, PCL5 datastreams. They also support direct thermal and thermal transfer printing at resolutions up to 203 dots per inch (DPI) and feature metal print mechanisms as opposed to ones made

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• IBM Previews “Blue Business” SMB System Sales Approach

  May 5, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Last week, at its Business Partner Leadership Conference in Los Angeles, IBM gave its partners and customers a sneak peek at a future application and systems strategy, code-named the “Blue Business Platform,” that Big Blue could roll out this year or next. While that doesn’t sound like much of a code-name, the Blue Business Platform project represents a new and potentially game-changing way in which IBM will chase the $500 billion IT market driven by small and medium businesses worldwide. According to Mike Prochaska, program director for the Blue Business Platform, the project has been underway for the past nine

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• Micro Focus to Acquire NetManage for $73.3 Million in Cash

  May 5, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In these times of tight credit, cash is without a doubt king. Or at least a knight, considering how inflation is affecting the cost of the consumables we all buy to live. Nothing demonstrates the power of cash more than the contrast between Rocket Software‘s failed $69 million attempt to acquire host connectivity and application modernization software maker NetManage, which was launched in December 2007 and withdrawn in March because Rocket Software could not raise the capital it needed, and an a $73.3 million all-cash deal announced last Thursday by COBOL and application modernization tool maker Micro Focus

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• Power Systems: The Feeds and Speeds

  May 5, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  This week, IBM begins shipping the new Power6-based Power 570 and Power 595 servers that support the i, AIX, and Linux operating systems. And Big Blue is in the process of ramping up sales of the entry Power 520, which started selling in AIX and Linux edition in late January and which started shipping in i Editions on April 18, and midrange Power 550 servers, which also shipped earlier this year in an AIX and Linux Edition and which will hit the streets in an i Edition on May 23. Of course, IBM is also shipping the JS12 and JS22

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• There’s No i in Future, But Is There a Future in i?

  May 5, 2008 Neil Palmer

  Editor’s note: IBM hosted its New Power Equation merger of the System i and System p server brands at the COMMON midrange user group meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, a little more than a month ago, and Neil Palmer, a long-time midrange expert and member of both COMMON and the Toronto User Group, prepared a statement, chock full of criticism and questions, to read to the top IBM brass. He didn’t get a chance to get the whole thing vocalized at the meeting, so we are giving him a chance to speak his mind, on your behalf, in The

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• IBM Cuts CPU Prices on Power5 and Power5+ Servers

  May 5, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  One of the great things about modern servers is their ability to have extra and latent capacity hidden away inside their processor complexes, just waiting to be activated in the event of an emergency spike in application usage or as part of a normal system upgrade to permanently add new software to the box. This capacity on demand approach to building systems has been around since the end of the dot-com boom in the RISC/Unix space, and it has been a great thing for companies with modest workload growth and a desire to avoid system upgrades. But there is a

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• IT Managers Are Under Pressure to Cut Costs, Says IDC

  May 5, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Only a few weeks ago, a report issued by Gartner based on surveys of chief information officers and other executives in charge of IT spending suggested that budgets for computers and related software and services are holding up, more or less. The word from IDC for the IT sector in the United States only a month later is a little less sanguine. Of course, IDC only did in-depth interviews with 27 IT shops as part of a recent presentation it put together, and while depth is always appreciated, breadth is necessary to determine a trend, too. That said, information is

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