• Arrow And Avnet Ride System Upgrade Waves In Recent Quarter

  February 20, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Despite some issues in the European economy and stalled shipments of disk drives due to the flooding in Thailand, the two biggest master resellers of IT gear–Arrow Electronics and Avnet–turned in improving profits in their most recent quarters. But the revenues were a bit choppy. In the quarter ended December 31, Arrow’s Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS) had just under $2 billion in revenues in the quarter, up 5.4 percent, and operating income hit $106.4 million, up a very tidy 19.5 percent. Arrow’s electronic components distribution business only grew 3 percent, to $3.4 billion, and the operating income for

  …

  Read more

• Jack Henry Says SilverLake Banking System Still Has It

  February 20, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Jack Henry & Associates is one of the largest peddlers of applications and services to small and large financial services institutions, and not only are the company’s Windows-based products doing well. So are its IBM i-based applications, known appropriately enough as the SilverLake System, after the internal IBM code-name for the AS/400 while that machine was in development. Apropos of nothing except a little excitement perhaps, Jack Henry put out a statement saying that in the past eight months, five mid-tier banks–meaning those with assets of between $1 billion and $20 billion–have opted to use the SilverLake System to run

  …

  Read more

• RPG & DB2 Summit Picks Tipton for Keynote

  February 20, 2012 Dan Burger

  RPG & DB2 Summit Picks Tipton for Keynote System i Developer, the education and training firm that stages the twice yearly RPG & DB2 Summits, has selected Robert Tipton as the keynote speaker for the upcoming Summit scheduled for March 26 through 28 in Fort Worth, Texas. Tipton–a consultant, educator, and author–will discuss bringing innovation into business operations. Tipton is a seasoned veteran of the IBM i community, with involvement dating to the AS/400 days. He knows the territory well, which gives his message–a mixture of attitude adjustment, performance enhancement, and taking joy in what you do–added relevance. His

  …

  Read more

• Surround Tech Plays Matchmaker, Hooks Up .NET Screens with IBM i Apps

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  There’s a lot to love about the IBM i server. It’s extremely secure and reliable, and scales like the dickens. It’s even relatively affordable these days. But everybody hates those clunky green-screen interfaces, which scream “I’m old and outdated.” One vendor that’s developing modern interfaces that users will truly love is Surround Technologies. The company recently updated its collection of Accelerator tools, which marry the best of Microsoft .NET user interface technologies with IBM‘s foremost business server. There’s no question that it can be very difficult at times to be an IBM i professional, especially when your organization

  …

  Read more

• Infor Unveils Mobile Strategy, Ships 2 iOS Apps

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Up until now, Infor has been a no-show at the mobile party that has been occupying the IT universe since the iPhone launched five years ago. But the enterprise software giant jumped in with gusto last month when it unveiled its new mobile strategy, called Infor10 Motion. Only two mobile apps are available today, and they only run on the iPad. But according to an Infor official, the company’s mobile strategy is set to ramp up quickly. It’s hard to overstate the impact that mobile computing is having on the IT industry. Take Apple for example. After recording $26 billion

  …

  Read more

• IntelliChief to Deliver Tablet Interface for IBM i Content

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  The push to mobile is in high gear at the moment, and one of the latest IBM i software vendors to unveil a mobile solution is IntelliChief. In the next week or two, the developer expects to deliver IntelliChief Mobile, a new user interface that enables workers to use a tablet to view documents stored in their organization’s content management system. Not all IntelliChief features are supported yet, but the new interface will enable users to consume documents from anyplace with a network connection. IntelliChief Mobile is a pure HTML client that gives users access to their IntelliChief dashboard.

  …

  Read more

• Oracle Ships Smartphone Apps for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Oracle recently delivered three smartphone applications that extend its JD Edwards EnterpriseOne ERP suite in the areas of purchase order approvals, requisition requests, and sales reports. The applications run on Apple iOS, Google Android, and RIM Blackberry devices. However, the new apps require the WebLogic application server, so they aren’t supported by “Blue Stack” EnterpriseOne shops that run IBM WebSphere as part of their ERP infrastructure. The three JD Edwards EnterpriseOne mobile applications unveiled by Oracle in late January include Mobile Requisition Self Service Approval, Mobile Purchase Order Approval, and Mobile Sales Inquiry applications. The software is available now, and

  …

  Read more

• m-Power Gets Preview Function, Multi-Language Support

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Developers who use mrc‘s m-Power tool will no longer have to compile their m-Power applications to see how their changes affect the application thanks to the new preview function that was added last month. The Chicago company also added a new feature that allows a single application to support multiple languages. m-Power now features a preview window that allows users to see their applications take shape during the build process. According to mrc, the preview window will provide invaluable feedback to the developers as they customize applications using the templates and wizards that are at the heart of m-Power.

  …

  Read more

• ‘No Stinkin’ Screen Scrapers’ Tour Launched by ASNA

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Don’t expect to see any screen scrapers during ASNA‘s “No Stinkin’ Screen Scrapers Here” tour, which began last week in sunny Florida. Screen scrapers? We don’t need no stinkin’ screen scrapers! That’s the rallying cry behind ASNA’s latest round of workshops, which explore the ways that its Wings modernization tool can spruce up older-looking IBM i apps constrained by those ugly, green 5250 interfaces. Almost everybody in the IBM i community loves to hate screen scrapers, a class of tool that quickly renders 5250 screens in as graphical interfaces. What screen scrapers gain an IBM i shop in speed,

  …

  Read more

• inFORM Decisions Signs South African Reseller

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  IBM i document management software vendor inFORM Decisions last week announced that it’s signed TEMBO Technology Lab (Pty) LT , a large South African IBM i server distributor, to be its agent in the region. TEMBO specializes in helping customers “unlock the value” in their existing systems through the use of modernization tools to develop new user interfaces. The company eschews the term “legacy” as it relates to the midrange platform and its applications, preferring instead the term “vintage.” Much of TEMBO’s IBM i modernization work is done using tools from its Australian partner, looksoftware. As inFORM’s new partner,

  …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles