• ERP Modernizations, Migrations, And Maturations

  February 13, 2017 Dan Burger

  There are many reasons to re-evaluate business processes. And one of the first places to look is the current state of your ERP software. How old is it and what are its strengths and weaknesses? A character-based interface might have been appropriate when the software was purchased, but for many shops it has wounded productivity and efficiency by stalling process improvements and technology implementations that could be adding value to your organization.

  The interface, however, doesn’t deserve all the attention. It’s just a visual cue like grey hair and wrinkles. A lot of value can be found behind the inescapable …

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• Debugging IBM’s New ‘Executive Guide’ For IBM i

  February 8, 2017 Alex Woodie

  Explaining the value of IBM i to a business executive is not an easy thing to do. Because so much of the computing world today runs on the Intel X86 architecture, many execs aren’t even aware there are alternatives. But there are, and the IBM i server, along with the System z mainframe, are among the last of a dying breed.

  IBM recently rolled out an online resource designed to help IBM i professionals explain this weird thing called IBM i. Weighing in at nearly 7,000 words, the IBM i Strategy and Roadmap attempts to lay out the basics of …

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• With RPG Nearly Excised, Infor Ponders ERP’s Future

  February 8, 2017 Alex Woodie

  Would a multi-tenant cloud version of Infor XA fly? That’s one of the questions that Infor’s senior product manager Ross Freeman is pondering as the company gets closer to completing the Java rewrite the ERP system written in RPG by IBM so many years ago.

  The clock is ticking on RPG, not just for Infor XA (formerly MAPICS), but for all of the company’s IBM i-based ERP systems. Infor XA is just further along the process of being re-written in Java using the Infor Development Framework (IDF).

  “The version [of Infor XA] coming out this year or the middle of …

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• ARCAD Upgrades DevOps Software For IBM i

  February 8, 2017 Dan Burger

  For IBM i shops that have been using change management software for years, DevOps looks very familiar. Both improve quality and lower risk. And both make use of a framework and collaborative achievements. The major distinction for DevOps is that the collaboration involves a much wider universe of contributors. It takes into account other IT platforms and blows up the individual siloes by integrating tools and processes. And it further integrates IT and business with incremental improvements and enhancements continuously tested and put into production.

  ARCAD Software, a company with a history in IBM i change management, includes DevOps …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, February 8

  February 8, 2017 Dan Burger

  While IT Jungle is pretty thorough when it comes to covering the IBM i and Power Systems market as well as adjacent areas that will ultimately affect the IBM midrange community, we are not the only source of information out there.

  That was why we created Four Hundred Monitor so many years ago: to make you aware of all of the other relevant content out there on the Internet as well as to have a list of new resources and a calendar of events, all in one place. Now, Four Hundred Monitor is being incorporated into our flagship publication, The …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 19, Number 5

  February 8, 2017 Doug Bidwell

  For the past nineteen years now, Doug Bidwell, the PTF slinger who owns IBM midrange business partner DLB Systems Associates, has been putting together a guide to help OS/400, i5/OS, and IBM i shops figure out what to patch in their operating systems for midrange gear every week.

  For as long as we can remember — and that is not long as we are getting a bit gray or white, depending — we have been publishing Bidwell’s IBM i PTF Guide, and we are thrilled to be getting it back on press and to be incorporating it into the …

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• Geared Down, Low Cost Power IBM i Box Rumored

  February 6, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  We have been talking for a long time about the impedance mismatch between some IBM i shops in terms of what processing, memory, storage, and I/O capacity they need and what IBM delivers to them with each new generation of Power Systems iron. For many shops, even the smallest machine that Big Blue currently delivers is too much of a box.

  This is a testament to the efficiency of the IBM i platform and its integrated relational database management system in that it takes very little iron to get useful work. It also shows that for many customers, transaction processing …

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• Vision ‘Laser Focused’ On IBM i And Power Following Double-Take Sale

  February 6, 2017 Alex Woodie

  Vision Solutions is now free to spend more time and energy building solutions for its core IBM i and Power Systems customer base now that it has sold Double-Take and the Windows high availability business to Carbonite for $65 million, executives with the company tell IT Jungle.

  “It’s hard to divide the brain between two technologies that require a lot of attention, and they both required a ton of attention,” Vision Solutions executive vice president and chief technology officer Alan Arnold said. “Instead of dividing our time, our time can be focused like a laser with what we need …

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• Guru: Passing Parameters From The Command Line

  February 6, 2017 Jon Paris

  In my previous “Fundamentals” tips, I discussed the importance of making sure parameters are the correct size and how to correctly handle omitted parameters. In this tip I want to address what has to be the most frequently asked question about parameters.

  The most frequently asked parameter question comes in many forms, such as:

  • “How do you pass them from the command line?”
  • “Why do I see garbage in the back end of my character parameters?”
  • “Why are my numeric values passed incorrectly?”

  Usually these questions arise when a programmer wants to simplify the testing of a program and does …

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• Mobile, Cloud, And Analytics Spark Growth For VAI

  February 6, 2017 Dan Burger

  In the ERP software business, you must be on your game to compete with the massive, meat-eating beasts that that have devoured huge portions of the market. VAI competes very well. Its combination of innovation and customer service propelled the company to 11 percent revenue growth in 2016, according to a company statement released last week. That’s not bad at all for a relatively small fish swimming with the sharks.

  VAI didn’t buy its way into the ERP market like Oracle and Infor. Its growth is predominantly organic and its reputation is built on customer service. Its 30-year history …

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