• Surround Tech Adds Goodies to .NET Development Tool for IBM i

  May 22, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Over the last few years, Surround Technologies has been building out its collection of Microsoft .NET-based user interface controls for applications that run on the IBM i server. At the recent COMMON conference held at Disneyland, Surround Tech displayed the latest new UI goodies that developers can play with. Surround Tech’s flagship product, Accelerator for .NET, allows developers to create modern Windows, Web, and mobile interfaces for existing IBM i applications. The software, which functions as a plug-in to Microsoft Visual Studio, features a collection of pre-assembled components and wizard-driven code generators based on the latest user interface technologies, including

  …

  Read more

• Vision Shares Some 2012 Product Plans

  May 22, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Vision Solutions is a much different company than it was five years ago. Aside from running three major IBM i high availability software lines, Vision is also doing a brisk business with HA and DR software for Windows, Linux, and Unix servers thanks to its DoubleTake acquisition. Vision executives plotted out the rest of the year’s roadmap during the recent COMMON conference in Southern California. Vision has already made one major HA announcement this year. In March it launched MIMIX Availability for IBM i version 7.1, which brought a boost to replication performance, especially for more complex environments. At the

  …

  Read more

• SEA Now Selling Centerity Systems Management Tool

  May 22, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Software Engineering of America was one of 75 vendors demonstrating their wares at the recent COMMON conference at Disneyland. And while SEA is a regular at COMMON, this was the first time the company was talking about Centerity, a new systems management tool that it’s selling into its IBM i and mainframe customer bases. Centerity is a monitoring and management solution designed to provide IT departments with a real-time view into the health and availability of their applications and business services. SEA says the product offers comparable functionality to established enterprise management tools, but with less cost and complexity. The

  …

  Read more

• Crossroads Adds More Automation to SPHiNX VTL

  May 22, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Crossroads Systems unveiled a new release of its SPHiNX virtual tape library (VTL) device at the recent COMMON conference at Disneyland. With SPHiNX version 8.3, Crossroads is giving users the capability to automatically trigger other events upon completion of an activity in the VTL. Few processes stand by themselves in today’s IT environment, and backup is not one of them. When a database is successfully backed up, IT administrators often need to accomplish other tasks, such as replicating data to another server, applying encryption, activating post-process compression or de-duplication, or writing to tape. With the upcoming release of SPHiNX version

  …

  Read more

• Tributary Brings Storage Director to IBM i 6.1, 7.1 Environments

  May 22, 2012 Dan Burger

  Tributary Systems has introduced its latest version of Storage Director, its software offering that provides backup storage virtualization. Storage Director version 3.04 introduces support for IBM i 6.1, 7.1 and VIOS, as well as enhancements to its remote data replication function that should reduce network latency. Storage Director was designed for fault-tolerant, high availability computing environments like IBM i, but its capabilities to work in heterogeneous datacenters make it particularly useful. In addition to IBM i, it works in Windows, Unix, Linux, z/OS, NonStop, and OpenVMS environments. Among the benefits of Storage Director touted by Tributary are automated backup and

  …

  Read more

• Data Storage Adds IBM i Servers to Cloud Data Center

  May 22, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Data Storage Corp. recently added more IBM i processing power to its Massachusetts data center in preparation for expanding its portfolio of cloud services, which range from data protection to production hosting. DSC last week announced that it has completed the first two phases of its three-part expansion plan at its SAS70 type II data center in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company now has a range of Power5-, Power6-, and Power7-based servers in place to address the IBM i computing needs of its customers. Data protection continues to be DSC’s forte on the IBM i platform, particularly after its 2010 acquisition

  …

  Read more

• CA Product Manager Bill Hunt: 1964-2012

  May 22, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Bill Hunt, the principle product manager for the 2E and Plex development tools at CA Technologies, died May 1 after a battle with cancer. He was just 47. For the last 12 years, Hunt had been the driving force behind the 2E/Plex product line at CA. He was very active in the 2E/Plex community, and worked closely with customers and partners who use the high-level development tools, which continues to have a loyal following in the IBM i community. The following statement was posted to the CA Plex CA 2E Global User Community website by Marie Godfrey, senior director

  …

  Read more

• IBM i And AIX Shops Pay A Hefty Premium Over PowerLinux Buyers

  May 21, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  As anyone who has a past experience with multiple long-term relationships or more than one child will tell you, comparisons are odious. But when we are shopping for infrastructure or searching for a mate or figuring out which kid is going to get what when you finally shuffle off the mortal coil, you can’t help but make comparisons. And even after you’ve made your choice, you keep looking to make sure you are getting a good deal. If you are a Power Systems shop running either IBM i or AIX, you are just not getting as good of a deal

  …

  Read more

• IBM i 7.1 TR4 Database Enhancements: What’s Going On?

  May 21, 2012 Dan Burger

  Even if you are not onboard with database modernization, IBM is moving forward and expecting that sooner or later the majority of the IBM i customer base will fathom the SQL/DDL emphasis that goes into DB2 for i. With the Technology Refresh 4 update that has just come warm out of the oven, the database enhancements that baked into TR4 include a little bit for everyone. That is, everyone who no longer hangs on to the traditional DB2/400 way of doing things. Traditions are nice for holidays and family reunions. And they can sometimes serve you well in the IT

  …

  Read more

• State Of IBM i Security Remains Poor, PowerTech Says

  May 21, 2012 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops are still failing to enact basic security safeguards to prevent unauthorized access of the data in their systems, according to PowerTech, which issued its annual State of IBM i Security report this month. Even when it comes to basic security concepts, like changing default passwords, minimizing user permissions, and monitoring exit points, the average IBM i shop fails spectacularly. The upshot is that most shops are gambling with their data, with a heavy bet placed on “security through obscurity.” If it was a video conference, PowerTech director of security technologies Robin Tatam would have been seen

  …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles