• Powers Of Ten

  May 11, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The one thing that is easy to predict about designing and manufacturing a server processor is that no matter who is doing it, no matter what process in what decade, it is always hard and things always run late. Whether or not we on the outside world can see this, it remains true just the same. And that is because in any given era, with any given chip etching technique or chip architecture, server processors are always pushing up to the very limits of what is possible. And things go wrong.

  This is why it is a good idea to …

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• Thoroughly Modern: Digital Modernization, But Not At Any Cost

  May 11, 2020 Daniel Crépeau

  There is a lot of discussion around digital transformation, and for good reason: Digital companies are typically 26 percent more profitable than those that don’t have digitized and transformation management capability. However, according to a recent study conducted by Harvard Business Review, even though businesses spent $1.3 trillion on digital transformation last year, 70 percent of those investments went to waste.

  Organizations don’t have the resources or budget to take on large-scale transformation projects that are doomed to fail. In most cases, resources are limited even though the very future of these companies depends on the success of these …

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• Guru: RDi V9.6 Part 7 – Zoom in, Know Where You Are, Refactor Constants and More

  May 11, 2020 Susan Gantner

  RDi enhancements just keep coming. Since my last installment in this series on V9.6 there have been more fix packs and quite a few new features. Here in part 7 I’ll cover refactoring character constants, two ways for RDi to indicate “you are here”, and a small but really useful way to zoom in on your code. Plus a small bonus item for those who do their compiles in batch.

  You Are Here!

  Two new features were added in 9.6.0.6 that act a bit like those “you are here” indications on maps. When editing RPG code, it tells you if …

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• As I See It: COBOL In The Time Of COVID

  May 11, 2020 Victor Rozek

  If you are retired, or currently not working, but happen to have outdated IT skills and want to Make America Great Again by going back to work and risking your life for the economy, your government has a deal for you.

  Apparently, one of the inadvertent side effects of the current pandemic was to expose just how awful and antiquated the government’s computer systems are. In a country otherwise blessed with leading-edge innovation and unparalleled high-tech capability, COBOL is still being used – to a lesser or greater degree – to run the unemployment insurance programs in all but 16 …

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• What’s New With Db2 Web Query?

  May 11, 2020 Alex Woodie

  Db2 Web Query, which is IBM’s strategic business intelligence tool for IBM i, doesn’t follow the same release cycle as the operating system itself. But as part of activity surrounding the latest round of Technology Refreshes (TR) for IBM i 7.3 and 7.4, IBM discussed the recent updates that it’s made to Db2 Web Query, along with new features that are due very soon.

  To get the lowdown on the new Db2 Web Query features, we tuned into a recent presentation made by Doug Mack, IBM’s Db2 Web Query product manager. Mack presented a session with Db2 for i …

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• IBM Brings Flexible Utility Pricing To Private Power Systems

  May 6, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  A lot of people, including us, focus on the technologies that go into private, on-premises cloudy infrastructure and how that is almost always distinct from compute, storage, and networking technologies based on the same raw compute – Intel Xeon, AMD Epyc, or IBM Power, pick one – available on the public cloud. But there is an equally important gap between private and public clouds, and that is the pricing methodology for the two.

  IBM’s Cognitive Systems division, which controls the Power Systems platform, wants to close that pricing gap by adopting the same flexible, utility-style pricing for on-premises Power Systems …

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• ILEditor 2 Gives IBM i Shops A New Development Option

  May 6, 2020 Alex Woodie

  Liam Allan recently unveiled ILEditor 2, a new integrated development environment (IDE) for IBM i. The new IDE sports a fresher look and better performance compared to the first version of ILEditor, as well as an extensible plug-in system, which should also deliver better code coverage.

  For many years, members of the IBM i community have expressed frustration by the high price, size, and performance of Rational Developer for i (RDi), which is IBM’s flagship development tool for the IBM i community. While the IDE’s performance has improved in recent years, members of the community still bemoan the …

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• Confidence in IBM i Security Is Dropping, Syncsort Says

  May 6, 2020 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops were significantly less confident in their ability to prevent a security breach in 2019 than the previous two years, according to a new study by Syncsort. More than 40 percent of IBM i shops have suffered at least one security breach, according to the study, which also indicates that awareness of security regulations is growing, but not for the ones you might think.

  In 2019, 11 percent of respondents reported being somewhat or very unconfident in their ability to prevent a data breach at their organization, Syncsort concluded in its new study, which is titled “IBM i …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, May 6

  May 6, 2020 Jenny Thomas

  Depending on where you live, your life might be getting back to some semblance of normal . . . or the “new normal” as we all now commonly refer to life in a coronavirus world. Hopefully you have found new routines and as the weather improves as we head toward summer, we can all look forward to spending more time outside in the socially appropriate distance of others. Until then, rely on IT Jungle to keep you informed about the IBM i ecosystem and beyond. You can also find our COVID-19 Response section below for a recap on how our …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 22, Number 18

  May 6, 2020 Doug Bidwell

  Hello good people of IBM i Land. This week, there are updates for Rational Developer for i Version 9.6.0.8, for all releases of IBM i. This has been an on again/off again dance with IBM, and we are not sure why Big Blue posted it a few weeks ago, then unposted it, and then reposted it. However, the updates for RDi are for real – and available this week!

  Aside from that, it has been a pretty quiet week for PTFs in Lake Bugsbegone up in lovely Minnesota, the Land of Lakes, with no new groups for the two current …

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