• Sharing Simplifies Source Code

  May 11, 2011 Ted Holt

  I hate huge programs. For one thing, I’m not smart enough to wrap my mind around a big program. And it seems that modifying one part of the program invariably causes something to go amiss elsewhere. Dividing a program into subprocedures, modules, and multiple programs is a good way to manage large tasks. But what do you do when you’ve divided a program into two or more modules and/or programs, and more than one of them needs to contribute to a single report? You share. Suppose you have a program that builds a report of accounts receivable. It’s a manageable

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• Admin Alert: Critical Information That Every i Administrator Should Have Handy

  May 11, 2011 Joe Hertvik

  Similar to other hardware systems, crises can happen whenever you administer iSeries, System i, and Power i equipment in a data center. However, being a good administrator means knowing what to do and having the appropriate information available when you’re handling a crisis. This week, I’ll look at four key lists you should have handy to restore functionality after a system issue or disaster occurs. The Big Four Lists Generally, you’ll need the following information at your fingertips when a critical issue occurs that eliminates some or all i operating system functionality in your shop. IP addresses, critical profile names,

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• Profound to Resell RPG Open Access for IBM

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Profound Logic is reselling IBM‘s Rational Open Access: RPG Edition software with its own suite of Web modernization tools for IBM i, the company announced at the COMMON conference in Minneapolis last week. The move, which coincides with the launch of Profound UI 3.0, will make it easier for IBM i customers to obtain the RPG feature, which IBM has sold as a separately licensable product since delivering it with IBM i 7.1 last year. IBM has come under some criticism for how it distributes RPG Open Access, which has been widely hailed as one of the most revolutionary

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• ALL Out Security Roots Out Fraud with New Audit Tool

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  One of the new exhibitors at last week’s COMMON conference and expo was ALL Out Security, a software company that comes out of the JD Edwards world. At the show, ALL Out Security debuted a new auditing tool called TRACE that’s designed to track down unauthorized changes made to data on IBM i systems, whether it stems from an innocent error or criminal intent. ALL Out Security is well versed in the security needs of JD Edwards World and EnterpriseOne customers. The Colorado Springs, Colorado-based company’s core product, called ALL Out Security, helps administrators lock down their JD Edwards

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• New Maxava HA Suite Controlled from Mobile Device

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Maxava customers can now manage their high availability environments–and even initiate role swaps, if needed–from the comfort of an iPad or other mobile device with the company’s new HA Enterprise+ product, which the vendor unveiled at the COMMON conference in Minneapolis last week. In addition to the mobile management console, the HA product includes new scripting capabilities that can automate the execution of certain tasks prior to a role swap, or any other IBM i task for that matter. The mobile device revolution is sweeping across the IT world, and for once the usually sheltered niche that is the IBM

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• mrc Claims Breakthrough in Mobile Interface Generation

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  There was a time when developers had to embark upon separate efforts to create interfaces for separate mobile devices. Anything running on the Apple i/OS had its own set of languages, environments, and processes, while those running on the Google Android OS had others. That complexity and expense is all a thing of the past, claims development tool maker mrc, which says IBM i customers can now support all mobile devices–including PC-based Web browsers–with a single development effort. The speed at which smart mobile devices have permeated our world is really quite astonishing. Perhaps what’s even more surprising is

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• Vision Solutions Launches HA Appliance

  May 10, 2011 Dan Burger

  High availability systems bring to mind the promise of near zero downtime. They also stretch the imagination in terms of cost and complexity. Both those potential obstacles are becoming less of a factor, however. The most recent example was announced last week by Vision Solutions. It’s a pre-installed high availability package on IBM Power Systems and System x servers. For organizations operating in 24×7 modes without high availability, Vision’s just-announced Availability Appliance is worth noting. It has multiple configuration options that include IBM i, AIX, Windows, and Linux operating systems; the backup hardware, the HA software, plus installation services

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• Symmetry Goes Big with Launch of ‘i In the Sky’ Cloud

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Symmetry, a small IT solutions provider that few in the IBM i industry have heard of, is getting into the IBM i cloud hosting business in a big way. At last week’s COMMON show in Minneapolis, the Wisconsin-based company launched “i in the Sky,” a new cloud offering that will be spread across IBM i servers at Symmetry’s two data centers. The first applications on tap for the new cloud are the Real Vision Imaging (RVI) solution from Real Vision Software and ERP software from a little German company you may have heard of called SAP. Like many

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• Customized Green Screens Key to BCD’s Web Enablement

  May 10, 2011 Dan Burger

  If you’re an application developer on a project that involves converting RPG and/or COBOL green-screen apps to Web pages, you hate being handcuffed with limited screen customization choices. When Business Computer Design (BCD) introduced its Presto software in October 2008, it realized a great many application modernization projects would sink or swim depending on the capabilities of its visual editor. Now in its third release, Presto continues its emphasis on screen customization and user-friendly interfaces. The newest release of BCD Presto goes hand-in-hand with the announcement of the latest version of BCD’s Nexus Portal, where comparisons to the previous portal

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• Crossroads Supports IBM i 7.1, NPIV with SPHiNX Storage Device

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Crossroads Systems used last week’s COMMON conference as its venue for announcing support for IBM i 7.1 with SPHiNX, its disk-based backup device for cross-platform environments. The vendor also announced that it’s now supporting NPIV, or N_Port ID Virtualization, which bolsters the communication between IBM i and the storage device. Crossroad’s SPHiNX is a line of disk-based backup devices that protect data living within IBM i, Windows, and Linux servers, as well as PCs. The offering functions as either a virtual tape library (VTL) for midrange host environments or a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device for open systems environments. It

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