• Next Up on IBM i: Worklight and Forms Experience Builder?

  February 12, 2013 Alex Woodie

  The pressure applied on IBM to get several former Lotus products running on IBM i worked, as IBM has committed to supporting Lotus Notes Traveler and IBM Connections on the platform. Now, the Power Systems Champions are shifting their focus to getting additional products supported, too. At the recent IBM Connect (formerly Lotusphere) conference, Justin Liu, an IBM developerWorks correspondent, and a camera crew tracked down Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, the Power Systems Champion and tireless IBM i promoter, to chat about the intersection of Power Systems servers and IBM’s collaboration platform. The interview was recently posted on IBM’s YouTube channel. Reynolds-Lair,

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• Native, Web-Based, or Hybrid Apps for Mobile? mrc Weighs In

  February 12, 2013 Alex Woodie

  Mobile application development has taken the world–and the IBM i midrange–by storm. But there are important decisions to make before embarking upon a mobile app development strategy, namely, should you develop native apps, build apps that run in the Web browser, or take a hybrid approach for mobile devices? Development tool maker mrc recently published a white paper on the topic. The title of mrc’s white paper, “Native mobile apps: The wrong choice for business?” makes mrc’s position on the matter fairly clear from the get-go. In almost no situations does it make sense for a business to build native

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• Spinnaker Touts Growth in Third-Party ERP Support Business

  February 12, 2013 Alex Woodie

  2012 was a good year for Spinnaker Support, which provides third-party support services for customers running JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, JDE World, and SAP ERP software. The company claims that it grew revenues by 38 percent in 2012 compared to 2012, while sales bookings are up more than 100 percent. “2012 was a year for tremendous growth and accomplishments for Spinnaker Support,” states the company’s CEO Matt Stava in a press release. “Our team has grown in ways we could have only dreamed of a few years ago and our current pipeline is three times larger than it was this

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• MAC-PAC Still Going Strong, TDCI Says

  February 12, 2013 Alex Woodie

  In 1997, the original developers of the MAC-PAC ERP system, Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) selected TDCI to take over responsibility and control of the IBM i-based ERP system. Fifteen years later, the product is still going strong, TDCI says. MAC-PAC XE, as it’s now called, is a manufacturing-oriented ERP system that is currently used by 85 companies across the world, including Nissan Forklift, Ingersoll Rand, Watlow, Quaker Window and Door, AT Cross, and Steelcraft. Even Microsoft once used the software for its product packaging business. The mature product, which supports i5/OS V5R4 through IBM i 7.1, includes core MRP

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• IBM Completes One Big Data Analytic Acquisition, Announces Another

  February 12, 2013 Alex Woodie

  IBM last week completed its acquisition of StoredIQ, which helps companies alleviate legal risk by analyzing vast data stores and deleting old information, or “data debris.” It also announced the acquisition of Star Analytics, which develops tools to help companies integrate their reporting and business intelligence tools, wherever they may be. IBM says its acquisition of StoredIQ, which was first announced in December, will bolster its other acquisitions, including PSS Systems and Vivisimo, and provide new capabilities to existing IBM solutions in the areas of archiving, e-discovery, data governance, and records and retention management. The software from Austin,

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• Saudi CAT Dealer to Implement Infor M3

  February 12, 2013 Alex Woodie

  A Saudi Arabian Caterpillar dealer will implement Infor M3 on the IBM i server platform to automate its business processes, Infor announced recently. The two-year roll-out of M3 for Equipment will begin shortly for Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery Co. and related companies. Zahid will implement several M3 for Equipment modules, including supply chain execution, warehouse mobility, sales management, and financial accounting. The solution will be implemented by Accentia Middle East, Infor’s M3 partner in the region. The new software is expected to help smooth the flow of information and business processes among the company’s various departments at 40 sites

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• Invader II: New Power7+ Machines Take On Entry X86 Iron

  February 11, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It has been a long, long time since IBM both understood and did something dramatic about the competitive pressure that X86-based servers have put on its RISC-based systems. The last time I can remember Big Blue really going after X86 boxes was back when the AS/400 Model 170 “Invader” servers came out in February 1998. Although, to be fair, the Power 520 M15 and M25 models that came out a decade later were no slouches, either. This time around, we don’t have to wait a decade for IBM to get serious. With the entry Power7+ machines announced last Tuesday, it

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• IBM Beefs Up The Power7+ Midrange With Double-Whammy Sockets

  February 11, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  While the entry part of the Power Systems market has been awaiting its Power7+ refresh, putting new processors and fatter memory and disk drives into essentially the same enclosures that were refreshed at the end of 2011, the midrange of the Power Systems line has been getting a little long in the tooth and was perhaps more in need of some re-engineering. And luckily for customers using midrange Power iron, that is precisely what IBM has done as part of the February 5 announcements. Not only is the Power 750+ getting a complete revamp while holding the core count steady,

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• TR6 Brings Assorted Tech Goodies To IBM i

  February 11, 2013 Alex Woodie

  On February 5, IBM unveiled IBM i 7.1 TR6, the sixth Technology Refresh since IBM shifted to the agile development model for the OS in 2010. TR6 introduces a range of new technologies, including DB2 for i enhancements, support for USB flash drives, and support for the latest SSL standard, among others. Better manageability, high availability, and set-up capabilities round out the release. During the much-anticipated announcement day, most eyes were on the new Power7+ servers, including the sub-$6,000 Power Systems Model 710, the Power 720, the Power 730, the Power 740, the Power 750, and the Power 760. You

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• As I See It: The Next Big (Destructive) Thing

  February 11, 2013 Victor Rozek

  If you’re an unemployed software engineer, I have good news and bad news for you. There are people hiring, but they go by the name of Al Qaeda. Welcome to the worm-eat-worm world of Cyber Warfare. It is the Next Big Military Thing, and everybody is gearing up to smite their godless foes without firing a shot. According to Jeffrey Carr, head of the digital security firm Taia Global, and author of Inside Cyber Warfare, Al Qaeda released a video last year in which they recruited hackers to better attack critical infrastructure. You have to wonder what inducements they

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