• CCSS Enhances System i Disk Monitoring with Utility

  April 7, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Several new features designed to alert managers to spikes in System i disk usage have been added to CCSS‘ QSystem Monitor, a system management tool for System i servers. The software will identify the largest objects and libraries on a System i server, which can be instrumental in flushing out a problem. Managing hard disks and hard disk space in System i environments is a little bit different than other environments. A lot of the difference begins and ends with the fact that System i disk costs, oh, about a billion times more than your industry standard Dell server,

  …

  Read more

• Pennsylvania Hospitals Tap AHS for Medical Billing Solution

  April 7, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Two Summit Health hospitals in southern Pennsylvania are reporting good returns with Advantedge Healthcare Solutions‘ physician billing system, which runs exclusively on the System i server, AHS announced last week. Cumberland Valley Medical Services, the physicians services unit for Chambersburg Hospital and Waynesboro Hospital, has expanded its contract with AHS to include physician billing services for the two dozen anesthesiologists and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists. AHS is hosting the solution, and delivering access to anesthesiologists and CRNAs through Web browsers. As a result of the contract expansion, anesthesiologists and CRNAs at the Waynesboro hospital will get access to the

  …

  Read more

• SpoolFlex Gets USPS Intelligent Barcode Support

  April 7, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Users of DRV Technologies‘ i OS document output management software, SpoolFlex, will be able to meet the United Postal Service’s Intelligent Mail barcode requirement, which was recently pushed back two years until May 2011, the company announced last week. SpoolFlex helps System i shops reduce their dependency on printers and paper output by grabbing spool files off their servers’ output queues, reformatting them into popular formats like PDF, HTML, or Excel, and distributing them electronically, via e-mail, fax, or posting to central servers. The software also generates a variety of standard barcode types, including now the USPS Intelligent Mail

  …

  Read more

• Mobile Device Usage Among Enterprises to Jump Dramatically, Juniper Says

  April 7, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Driven by wider access to broadband mobile networks, the use of smart phones, PDAs, and laptops among enterprises will jump by 56 percent over the next five years and become a $284 billion business, according to a new study by Juniper Research. However, several obstacles to widespread adoption remain. Driving the move to mobile devices among enterprises will be the fast 3G mobile networks that the major carriers are currently building. Currently, only about 13 percent of devices are connected to this network. However, by 2014, almost 80 percent will be connected, according to Juniper’s report. In his whitepaper

  …

  Read more

• Power vs. Nehalem: Scalability Is So 1995, Cash is So 2009

  April 6, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The entry and midrange server racket has a new processor in town, and its name is Nehalem, and it comes from Intel. And despite the poor global economy and despite the nay-sayers who think that people don’t think about processors and their features any more, the Nehalem chip is going to get traction this year and it is most certainly going to shake up the entry and midrange spaces where the Power Systems i platform plays. Let’s play some Intel code-name bingo first, just because it is fun. Technically, the chip that Intel announced last week has Nehalem as

  …

  Read more

• IBM Poised to Buy Sun, Rumors Say

  April 6, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Well, Big Blue and Big Mouth seem to be getting closer to closing a deal that will see IBM acquire its archrival in servers and systems software and its partner in Java, Sun Microsystems. Perhaps more than any other acquisition in the history of the computer business, this one, should the talks stop and the deal unravel, marks a dramatic change in the IT landscape. And I don’t necessarily mean a good one. Late last week, I heard a rumor from people a lot closer to the situation than myself that a deal could be announced as early as

  …

  Read more

• IT Spending Forecasts Slashed by Gartner, Forrester

  April 6, 2009 Alex Woodie

  IT analyst groups Gartner and Forrester Research last week released pessimistic reports predicting a decline of 3 to 4 percent in IT spending, both here and abroad, for 2009. Spending on servers and other pieces of hardware will be clobbered with a 15 percent decline, according to Gartner, which says the spending slowdown is exceeding the IT spending repercussions of dot-com bubble burst back in 2001. According to Gartner’s forecast, global IT spending will total $3.2 trillion this year, a 3.8 percent decline from 2008, when IT spending reached $3.4 trillion. Hardware sales will plummet to just $324 billion this

  …

  Read more

• As I See It: Built-In Disasters

  April 6, 2009 Victor Rozek

  A $200 million Airbus A340-600 commercial jet sits on the tarmac at the airport in Toulouse, France. The jet is new and has yet to ferry a single passenger. It has been towed to what is called the “run-up area,” where its Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies crew is performing an engine test. Having set the air brakes, the pilot instructs the flight computer to slowly increase power to all four engines. With the engines fully engaged and screaming under full lift-off power, a cockpit horn begins blaring, warning of impending takeoff. Annoyed, one of the crew pulls the circuit breaker

  …

  Read more

• Head in the Clouds or Head in the Sand? SaaS Faces the Facts

  April 6, 2009 Dan Burger

  Companies need to pay attention to the software as a service (SaaS) option. For a lot of companies, it’s being dismissed as too early in the game, but you can’t ignore the young companies and the start-ups–possibly your future competitors–that are choosing SaaS and cloud computing for their IT strategy. Meanwhile the heavyweights of the IT business are attempting to devise some standards that make interoperability a priority while accusations fly about who is still carrying proprietary baggage and who has vendor lock-in as an ulterior motive. Conversations leading up to the difficult decisions between SaaS and traditional off-the-shelf software

  …

  Read more

• Coding is Cool Again on Campus

  April 6, 2009 Dan Burger

  According to a new study from the Computing Research Association, you’re likely to hear a college-bound student say the words “coding is cool.” It’s been a while, but there are indicators now that back this up. For the first time in six years there is an enrollment increase in computer science classes. This welcome news comes within weeks of a report conducted as a joint effort between IBM and the Marist Institute for Public Opinion that students are increasing their emphasis on technology skills before they graduate. That’s not necessarily an indicator of CompSci degree mania. It’s really

  …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles