• Raz-Lee Unveils General Purpose IBM i Reporting Tool

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Raz-Lee Security is taking the plunge into the business intelligence market with iBi, a new general purpose reporting tool for IBM i unveiled at last week’s COMMON conference in Minneapolis. Based on Visualizer, Raz-Lee’s security-focused reporting tool, iBi can be used for analyzing practically any aspect of a business that is measured with data in DB2/400. Visualizer has been a core component of Raz-Lee’s iSecurity suite for many years. The Eclipse-based software enables users to query data that’s been collected from other iSecurity components, such as its Firewall, Audit, AP-Journal, Filescope, and user profile swap offerings. The centralized reporting

  …

  Read more

• Insurance Company Taps CoSentry for Co-Location Services

  May 10, 2011 Alex Woodie

  North Dakota-based Nodak Mutual Insurance Company has selected CoSentry to host a copy of data originating on its IBM i and Intel-based servers, the company announced last month. Founded in Fargo, North Dakota, more than 60 years ago to serve the needs of the area’s farms, Nodak today provides insurance for cars, homes, lives, crops, health, and businesses. It also sells securities and provides annuities. Nodak uses a combination of IBM i and Intel servers to run its business. As part of its deal with CoSentry, Nodak will utilize the co-location provider’s IBM i and Intel processing resources. Larry

  …

  Read more

• Q&A With Power Systems Top Brass, Part One

  May 9, 2011 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Q&A With Power Systems Top Brass, Part One The editorial team from The Four Hundred had a pow-wow with the top brass in the Power and z Systems division within IBM‘s converged Systems and Software Group. Tom Rosamilia, who was tapped to run both the Power and mainframe lines at IBM last August, had been running the mainframe line before that July 2010 reorganization and was in charge of the WebSphere line of middleware within Software Group before that. Rosamilia brought along his lieutenants, Ian Jarman, Colin Parris, and Linda Grigoleit, and I brought along Alex Woodie and Dan

  …

  Read more

• CAD Vendor PTC Has Designs on ALM Vendor MKS

  May 9, 2011 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Here’s an acquisition deal you probably didn’t see coming, that might seem a bit odd at first, but then makes perfect sense once you think about it for a few seconds. Computer-aided design (CAD) software maker Parametric Technology, which has expanded through a slew of acquisitions since 1998, has added one more: application lifecycle management (ALM) software maker MKS. Last month, PTC said it would pay $292.5 million (that’s in Loonies, or Canadian dollars) to take over MKS, which is a publicly held company that is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. PTC is traded on the NASDAQ

  …

  Read more

• Slightly Chilly Reception for COMMON in Minneapolis

  May 9, 2011 Alex Woodie

  The weather was a barometer of sorts for last week’s COMMON conference in Minneapolis. Just as snow flurries and gusty winds drove people to find cover, and embarrassed natives of the Minnesota city swore that it was warm and sunny just a week earlier, officials with the largest IBM i user group struggled (and mostly succeeded) in finding success with the annual gathering, which recorded a slight uptick in attendance but ho-hum reviews from vendors. Light snow fell during the first and second days of last week’s Spring COMMON conference, which could rightly have been called the Winter Summit. But

  …

  Read more

• As I See It: No Sitting

  May 9, 2011 Victor Rozek

  Outside my window, the robins are working the morning shift, bouncing around in no apparent direction, searching for the unsuspecting worm. When they find one, they grab an end, lean back, and pull. The worm visibly stretches, like a glistening rubber band, and finally snaps into the waiting beak. After a couple of gulps, the bird hops off in search of fresh meat. Exhausted from the excitement, I turn my attention to human nourishment: coffee. OK, not as yummy as a fresh worm, but at least I get to drink it sitting down. With all that bouncing around, and flying,

  …

  Read more

• New i Manifest Americas Marketing Director Seeks Volunteers

  May 9, 2011 Dan Burger

  Shaking off the effects of losing its most effective recruiter and marketing savant just one month ago, IBM i Manifest Americas has found a new volunteer to lead the organization’s efforts to increase awareness and build membership. Last week, during the COMMON 2011 Annual Conference and Expo, it was announced that Jennifer Phillips had volunteered to move into the marketing director position at i Manifest, which includes multiple responsibilities. Phillips is a veteran of the IBM midrange community and currently has the marketing director position at Quadrant Software, a document management company with its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

  …

  Read more

• Text Messaging Leads to COMMON-IBM Innovation Award

  May 9, 2011 Dan Burger

  Because text messaging is the communications lifeline for college students, this communication technique is a natural for the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. It only makes sense for FIDM to reach its students via text. Not only is it smart communications, it’s smart marketing. And as it turned out, it was a very good way to win an award for innovation, which is annually presented by IBM and COMMON. “We needed a way to get in touch with students via the medium they use to communicate,” Roxanne Reynolds-Lair told me on the phone Friday. “They don’t answer emails

  …

  Read more

• The IT Sector Adds Jobs In April, But We Must Do Better

  May 9, 2011 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Companies in the United States ended 2010 with $1.9 trillion in cash on their books, I just heard on the PBS Newshour as I sit here working overtime–as if a salaried employee or business owner, of which I am both, actually gets overtime in the 21st century–so I can get my work done. And guess what almost none of those companies are doing? Hiring people in sufficient quantifies to make a dent in the unemployment rate. While I was initially happy about the fact that the private sector in America added 268,000 net new jobs in April, according to the

  …

  Read more

• IBM Names Eight New (Jolly Good Technical) Fellows

  May 9, 2011 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It’s that time of the year again, when IBM‘s top brass bestows the virtual knighthood of IBM Fellow on its best and brightest geeks, techies, and nerds. I have actually been to IBM Research this year, and while everyone was looking at demos and waiting for the meeting to begin, I walked along the wall of fame and looked at all of the IBM Research directors and the Fellows they have helped foster. A lot of very interesting technologies have come out of IBM’s labs, but the number of Fellows is relatively small. Since IBM Tom Watson, Jr., started

  …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles