• Original Software Now Supports Mainframe in TestDrive-Assist

  May 13, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Organizations that house mainframes to process their data can now test their 3270 applications using tools from Original Software, the software company announced last week. Demand for mainframe support among its customers led Original to support IBM big iron hardware, the company says. TestDrive-Assist, which Original formally launched about 14 months ago, enables organizations to test their software using a mix of manual and automated processes. With the software, much of the development of actual test scripts is still coded directly by hand, which for years has been the traditional way of performing functional and regression tests. But

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• Interpec to Resell Valid Tech’s Biometric Authentication System

  May 13, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Interpec, a developer of i OS-based quality assurance software used by pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and beverage manufacturers around the world, has licensed Valid Technologies i OS-based VSSA biometric authentication system to help its customers in the pharmaceutical industry comply with the digital signature requirements of FDA 21 CFR 11, the companies announced last week. Valid Tech, which is based in Boca Raton, Florida, develops and sells a biometric authentication system called Valid Secure System Authentication (VSSA) that’s designed to be the backbone of an enterprise-wide strong authentication system. By using VSSA running on an IBM i OS-based Power Systems

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• nuBridges Forms Partnership with English Reseller

  May 13, 2008 Alex Woodie

  i OS (formerly i5/OS) software developer nuBridges has formed a partnership with Chilli IT, an English consultancy that specializes in i OS-based Power Systems servers (formerly System i), that will see Chilli IT reselling its suite of security and compliance solutions, nuBridges announced last week. The partnership is centered on nuBridges’ Data Secure software, an integrated encryption, key management, and logging package designed to secure data in fields, databases, and applications across multiple operating systems, including i OS, z/OS, Unix, Linux, and Windows. Data Secure will provide Chilli IT’s customers with the encryption capabilities they need to

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• Wilson Sporting Goods Taps Zebra for RFID Solution

  May 13, 2008 Alex Woodie

  When Wilson Sporting Goods went looking for a supply of RFID printer/encoders for its new supply chain project, it didn’t have to look far. The IT director picked Zebra Technologies based on previous experience with the company, and as a result Wilson is now using Zebra’s devices to create RFID tags from its OS/400 ERP applications. It didn’t take long for Ed Matthews, director of information technology for Wilson, to select a vendor to assist with its requirement to implement RFID Gen 2 encoding at the manufacturer. “I had worked with Zebra before and knew their equipment was very reliable,”

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• Vision Shares i OS Management Tips and Techniques

  May 13, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Vision Solutions, a developer of high available and systems management tools for i (formerly i5/OS) has launched a new blog at visionsolutionsinc.blogspot.com where it will dispense technical tips and advice for managing i OS-based Power Systems servers (formerly System i). i OS, which celebrates its 20th birthday this year, is a mature and stable operating system with a rich collection of commands and controls for manipulating nearly every aspect of i-based Power Systems servers. In many circumstances, the operating system provides multiple ways to accomplish a given task, each with its own benefits and caveats. That richness can complicate

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• SugarCRM Supports Smart Phones, Including Windows Mobile

  May 13, 2008 Alex Woodie

  SugarCRM, developer of the popular open source CRM software that runs in the i-based Power Systems server, is enabling users to wirelessly access Web-based reports using their smart phones and SugarCRM 5.1, the company announced recently. While SugarCRM highlighted the capability to work with BlackBerrys and iPhones–the smart phones packing the most panache with business users and consumers these days–company officials confirmed the CRM system also works with Windows Mobile smart phones, too. The Cupertino, California, software company unveiled a collection of wireless mobility and business intelligence enhancements with the release of version 5.1 last week. At the top

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• The i Platform Roadmap Is a Work in Progress

  May 12, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  With the Power Systems convergence more or less accomplished, on paper at least if not in the minds and data centers of System i and System p customers, and with Bill Zeitler, general manager of IBM‘s Systems and Technology Group retiring on August 1 and the company’s supply chain expert, Bob Moffatt, taking over the server unit at that time, tongues are a-wagging about the long-term future of the i platform. It was a coincidence that Neil Palmer’s article in this newsletter last week, There’s No i in Future, But Is There a Future in i?, came out

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• IBM Loses Two Key Executives to Retirement–Really

  May 12, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The deck chairs are changing once again at the good ship Big Blue, and this time, not only are the top brass moving into new roles at the company, but some heavy hitters at IBM are trading in their office chairs for Adirondack chairs at their vacation hangouts as they retire from the company. It is hard to get any bluer than Bill Zeitler and Nick Donofrio, but a new team of managers is now being given a chance to try now that these two are retiring from the company in the wake of their impending 60th birthdays. I know

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• Java Performance Is OS Agnostic on Power6 Gear

  May 12, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Way back when, in the dawn of time–well, about a decade ago when IBM first caught the Java bug and decided that this would be the language of choice on its commercial servers and their operating systems–the software engineering teams in Rochester, Minnesota, and Toronto, Ontario, worked diligently to take advantage of the 64-bit addressing that OS/400 had and that many Unixes of the time lacked. The idea was simple: If Java was going to be the imposed lingua franca for future application development, then OS/400 would speak it fluently–and fast. At the time, when the 64-bit memory and symmetric

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• As I See It: Soothing the Savage Programmer

  May 12, 2008 Victor Rozek

  Dr. Masaru Emoto has a gentle, curious face and a facile mind with which he probes the bumpy intersection of science and metaphysics. Using a dark-field microscope with photographic capabilities, he researches the effects of external factors on the molecular structure of water. Not just such obvious influences as pollution, but much more esoteric factors not commonly thought to possess substance-altering properties, such as thoughts, words, and music. The notion that sound or thought could alter the molecular shape of water seems ludicrous, but Emoto’s extraordinary photos suggest otherwise. Water labeled with positive words such as “love,” “gratitude,” and “appreciation,”

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