• NGS Launches Pre-Built Data Mart for Distributors

  October 23, 2007 Alex Woodie

  Companies in the distribution industry running i5/OS ERP applications are the target audience of a new out-of-the-box business intelligence product launched by New Generation Software this month. The new offering, called Decision Assist–Business Performance, comes with all the i5/OS-based software a company needs to begin analyzing the performance of several aspects of its business, including sales, profitability, supplier and customer relationships, and inventory levels. Decision Assist is a prepackaged collection of BI components from NGS that includes the flagship i5/OS-based NGS-IQ server, a pre-built data mart, Windows-based development tools, browser-based dashboards, and a series of preconfigured reports designed for customers

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• Lawson Rolls Out 64-Bit ERP for Unix, But Not for i5/OS

  October 23, 2007 Alex Woodie

  Editor’s Note: Please see the follow-up article Lawson S3 Is Already 64-Bit on i5/OS, Like All System i Apps. Lawson Software recently announced that a 64-bit version of its S3 ERP application line is now available for IBM AIX and Hewlett-Packard HP-UX operating systems. The company says it does not currently offer 64-bit support for its S3 applications for the i5/OS platform and that it’s working on it. Two weeks ago, Lawson Software, one of the largest ERP software vendors, announced that its Lawson 9 applications were available in 64-bit versions for IBM’s and HP’s Unix platforms, enabling the

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• Island Pacific to Sell IPMS Division

  October 23, 2007 Alex Woodie

  Island Pacific, the troubled developer of enterprise software for retailers, last week announced that it’s very close to finalizing the sale of the Island Pacific Merchandising System (IPMS), the multi-channel merchandise management system that runs exclusively under i5/OS. The Irvine, California, company also released preliminary financial results going back to April 2006. Few details about the sale of its IPMS division were revealed with last week’s announcement. The company said it is in “final negotiations” to sell the division for $16 million, that it expects the deal to be finalized by the end of October, and that the transaction

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• Printronix Unveils Web-Based Printer Management Software

  October 23, 2007 Alex Woodie

  Printronix last week unveiled PrintNet Enterprise Suite (PNE), a Web-based console that enables administrators to manage all Printronix thermal barcode, RFID, line matrix, and laser printers from a single PC. PNE, which is the replacement product for PrintNet Enterprise, enables users to implement a virtual operator panel that allows them to configure and manage all Printronix printers, whether they’re located in the same office or halfway around the world. “Whatever the situation demands, you have total remote control of your printers–change printer settings, update firmware, download fonts, or even lock out local operators from making changes,” says Andy Scherz, director

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• SAP Contributes Development Tool to Eclipse

  October 23, 2007 Alex Woodie

  SAP is donating a programming tool that allows Java developers to make better use of memory in servers to the Eclipse community, the enterprise application powerhouse announced from its TechEd conference in Germany last week. According to SAP, the new tool will allow Java developers to more easily analyze memory usage for applications created in the Eclipse development environment. By giving developers a graphical tool to analyze object retention patterns and determine how best to optimize memory usage in Java applications, they can decrease the need to restart their servers to clear the memory, thereby boosting the availability of the

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• IBM Updates Alphablox Business Intelligence Software

  October 23, 2007 Alex Woodie

  IBM last week unveiled a new release of its Alphablox for Linux, Unix, and Windows business intelligence application development software. With Alphablox version 9.5, IBM is now allowing both Java and non-Java developers to build Web-based business intelligence dashboards and scorecard applications. It has also added new features to help developers design, develop, and test their analytic applications, and to help users interact with data and perform calculations. Alphablox is a collection of business intelligence tools IBM acquired more than three years ago to flesh out its DB2 information management business. Fast development and reusability have always been strong suites

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• Continued Enhancement of Post Modern Applications? BluePhoenix Has You Covered

  October 23, 2007 Alex Woodie

  So you’ve heeded the call to modernize your legacy RPG or COBOL application, and are reveling in the business process improvements. So now what? If you’re looking to continue enhancing the application even more, but don’t have the resources to do it in-house, you may want to check into BluePhoenix Solutions, which last week announced a post modernization application development service offering, utilizing developers based in Russia. BluePhoenix has lots of experience in mainframe application modernization and outsourcing services, and thanks to its acquisition of midrange application modernization software vendor ASNA earlier this year, the company is now building

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• State of the System i: First-Hand Reports from Second-Hand Dealers

  October 22, 2007 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  While few people think about it, much less talk about it, some of the things that make any data center-class computer system worth the extra money that companies shell out for them include the fact that they last for a long time without breaking and their components hold economic value for a lot longer than cheaper commodity iron. It is not unheard of for a mainframe or midrange server to run without any problems for a decade, particularly among companies with steady or only modestly growing workloads. It is not so easy to find commodity X86 servers that last so

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• System i Sales Drop Again in Q3, IBM Says Little

  October 22, 2007 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Another financial quarter’s results have been reported by IBM, and it is yet again another quarter of revenue declines for the i5/OS platform. With a Power6 refresh of the System i and System p lines not in the works until early next year–the latest rumor is that the high-end System p boxes have now slipped into 2008–it is hard to imagine that the fourth quarter will be any better for the System i than the third quarter was. Which is probably why IBM’s chief financial officer, Mark Loughridge, didn’t say too much about the System i in his conference

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• IBM Hit by Financial Services Slowdown in Q3

  October 22, 2007 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Financial services companies, particularly among large enterprises based in the United States, slammed the brakes on IT spending in the third quarter and nearly gave IBM a financial haircut. Thanks to very strong bookings in past quarters for services that were delivered between July and September and to the continually weakening U.S. dollar, IBM’s financial cookies were saved despite the weakness in the financial services sector. IBM’s sales were up 6.6 percent to $24.1 billion and net income rose by 6.3 percent to $2.4 billion; earnings per share, thanks to an accelerated share repurchasing funded by debt earlier this year,

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