• IBM i and the IoT

  April 15, 2015 Alex Woodie

  By now you’ve probably heard of the Internet of Things (IoT), or as some overzealous marketers like to call it, the Internet of Everything. By instrumenting data-emitting sensors into everyday items such as toasters, watches, and shirts, we’ll be able to glean much more insight into the real-time state of ourselves and our world. It may sound heavy on the hype and light on substance today, but there’s a good chance that the IoT could impact your standard business systems–including enterprise applications systems running on the IBM i platform. IBM made a big IoT splash recently when it announced it’s

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• On the Bleeding Edge of MIMIX Adoption with APL Logistics

  April 15, 2015 Alex Woodie

  Most IBM i shops, by and large, are conservative entities that adopt new releases of software only after extensive beta testing by others. But occasionally one encounters an early adopter that’s willing to be on the bleeding edge of development–in exchange for certain benefits, of course. You can count the Arizona company APL Logistics in the latter category when it comes to its MIMIX high availability software from Vision Solutions. APL Logistics is one of two subsidiaries of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, the other being the ocean liner company American President Lines (APL). From its headquarters in Scottsdale, the

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• Relief for Third-Party Software Upgrade Paralysis

  April 15, 2015 Dan Burger

  In-house software development isn’t nearly as prevalent as it once was. The cost to produce and maintain code, together with the do-more-with-less-staffing rule in many organizations, has de-emphasized home-grown software. Commercial software from the IBM ISV community, as a result, is gaining ground. That doesn’t mean, however, that commercial software isn’t customized–sometimes highly customized. And when upgrading a customized software package becomes difficult, companies sometimes put upgrades on hold–sometimes for a long time. That’s where change management software comes into play. Without it, new development and upgrades can easily become chaotic, which means it will also become expensive. All it

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• OpenLegacy’s Modernization Approach Impresses New Partner

  April 15, 2015 Alex Woodie

  With its commercial open source business model, OpenLegacy is breaking the rules when it comes to the traditional ways that IBM i and mainframe software vendors sell their wares. But according to Treehouse Software‘s chief business development officer, it was the underlying technology in its application modernization suite that ultimately led it to become one of OpenLegacy’s first North American business partners. Treehouse Software’s Wayne Lashley first encountered OpenLegacy about two years ago, when the company was still in its infancy. “I was intrigued by the idea,” he tells IT Jungle. “But I felt they were a little

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• Going Off the Grid with IBM i Mobile Apps

  April 15, 2015 Alex Woodie

  If you’re going mobile with your IBM i apps, you’re not alone. Every day, IBM i shops are giving their users the ability to access core applications from Android phones, iPads, and even the occasional Windows Mobile device. This can give your company a big productivity boost, especially considering that wireless Internet signals can be found everywhere–well, almost everywhere, anyway. Despite the claims made by AT&T and Verizon, there are still regions in this big country of ours that aren’t yet bathed in cellular and Wi-Fi signals. Not only will your mobile Facebook and Twitter apps cease loading critical updates

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• IBM i Shops Can’t Help But Look At Linux

  April 13, 2015 Dan Burger

  What’s it going to take to get IBM midrange shops interested in running Linux on their Power Systems boxes? The references to better resiliency, better security, and better virtual machine density, (the capability to run more virtual machines on Power) are all well and good, but that alone won’t get it done. It won’t turn the tide, which is heavily in favor of running Linux on X86. Working with the ISV community and continuing to build Linux awareness is part of the strategy. Linux has become a much bigger deal in the enterprise space than is widely recognized by people

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• Has Cloud ERP Reached a Tipping Point?

  April 13, 2015 Alex Woodie

  For years, we’ve been told that most server workloads will eventually move to the cloud because of the economies of scale advantages that it brings. So far, the big daddy of corporate computing–the centralized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite–has mostly resisted the cloud. But according to Nucleus Research, ERP is now finally succumbing to the siren call of cloud computing. We have reached a tipping point with cloud ERP, according to Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research for Nucleus. “A lot of companies are getting to the point where their next ERP upgrade is almost a re-implementation, so they’re

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• Cozzi Refines Data-Centric Ideas For IBM i Report Writer

  April 13, 2015 Dan Burger

  When IBM invests in IBM i, the database is first in line. In terms of “people hours” nothing comes close to the work being done on the database. When new versions of the operating system arrive, it’s the database that gets the greatest number of enhancements. Same with the Technology Refreshes, in almost all cases. Members of the ISV community and the Large User Group of top Power Systems companies are usually quick to take advantage, but there’s a bigger picture. The power of SQL and data-centric programming is gaining IBM i converts, maybe more so now than at any

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• IBM Offers Deep Discounts On Power-Linux Down Under

  April 13, 2015 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  IBM wants to sell a lot of Power8 iron running the Linux operating system Down Under, and it wants to do it fast. Like before the end of the second quarter, which comes to a close in June. To that end, IBM New Zealand and IBM Australia have kicked out some pretty steeply discounted iron that is sure to get the attention of prospective buyers–maybe even those who might otherwise opt for Linux on X86 machinery. Under the deal announced in Australia last week in announcement letter ZA2Z5260A, IBM is giving discounts on eight different configurations of the Power

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• Reader Feedback On Crazy Idea #483: A Leveraged Buyout Of IBM i

  April 13, 2015 Hey, TPM

  We’ve been sitting at least in the same church, if not in the same pew. Terrific article on the sellout of IBM i to private equity. I would make a couple of observations: While it seems remarkably obvious, there is real information in the sentence “of course you know that private equity is only buying you with your own money” as spoken by one of my friends in the business who did sell out to PE, successfully. If there is a deal to be struck, it seems to me you are in a wonderful position to broker the deal, given

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