• A Bevy of BIFs: %CHAR, %EDITC and %EDITW

  April 15, 2009 Jon Paris

  “I need to convert a numeric value into a character string. How do I . . . ?” This type of question is often asked by RPGers in these days of comma separated value files, XML documents, and Web pages (HTML). Generating such files has become a common requirement in the lives of RPGers. If they aren’t yet commonplace in your corner of the world, then they soon will be; if that doesn’t happen soon, maybe you should be concerned about the future of your favorite platform in your organization! So let’s start by taking a quick look at one

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• Admin Alert: And /QOpenSys and /QOpenSys and /QOpenSys and. . .

  April 15, 2009 Joe Hertvik

  Last month, I wrote about an i5/OS issue involving the AS/400 Integrated File System. When opening the /QOpenSys folder inside the AS/400 IFS, I found a second /QOpenSys entry. Opening that entry revealed another /QOpenSys folder, and then another, and another, until the trail ended 15 /QOpenSys entries later. I passed the problem on to the Admin Alert readership for research. This week I explain what they found. Reopening the Matryoshka Doll The issue, where one /QOpenSys entry is nested inside another like a Power i Matryoshka doll, is simple to explain. When opening the /QOpenSys file system

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• Fujitsu Introduces RPG to .NET Application Modernization Service

  April 14, 2009 Dan Burger

  The reason application modernization gets as much attention as it does in the IBM System i market is directly related to two widely believed drivers. Executives see it’s possible to improve business performance and reduce application and infrastructure costs. How to reach those goals is another issue. Moving RPG applications to Microsoft .NET is one tactic, and it’s brought a new vendor into the System i community. Fujitsu has begun to market a service it calls Progression. No tools to buy, no annual software licensing and maintenance fees, and very little impact on the IT staff are benefits that Fujitsu

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• LANSA Adds Refinements to BPI Product

  April 14, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Users of LANSA‘s visual business process integration (BPI) tool, Composer, can expect to see a smoother installation, better performance, and improved manageability with version 2.0, which recently became generally available. The software–which automates common integration tasks and office grunt-work (such as re-keying an order from Word into a 5250 application) using customizable workflows created in a drag-and-drop editor–also gains more EDI and document output functionality, as well as support for Windows Server. LANSA launched the first version of Composer a little over a year ago as a way to simplify common integration tasks in the back offices and IT

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• SkyView Adds PCI Checks to Risk Assessment Tool

  April 14, 2009 Alex Woodie

  SkyView Partners this week will begin delivery of a new release of its SkyView Risk Assessor product that includes new checks for the Payment Cardholder Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements. By comparing a System i shop’s security settings against the PCI standards, the tool can make the difference between the company passing a PCI audit and continuing to process credit card transactions, or failing an audit and paying thousands of dollars in fees–or worse. It’s been almost four years since the PCI standards went into effect. Since then, several high-profile cases of mass identify theft, such as the

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• SPSS Changes Data Miner’s Name, Drops System i Support

  April 14, 2009 Alex Woodie

  “You are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry, Clementine.” System i shops that relied upon SPSS‘ data mining software suite, Clementine, may be heard humming this old song to themselves following the vendor’s recent decision to end support for the System i server with the latest release of the product, version 13. The Chicago software company also changed the product’s name to PASW Modeler as part of a company-wide move to the Predictive Analytics Software name. Earlier this year, SPSS started the process of changing the names of all of its products to Predictive Analytics Software, or PASW. Its

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• So Long ASNA–It’s BluePhoenix System i Division From Now On

  April 14, 2009 Dan Burger

  ASNA, one of the oldest names in the AS/400 independent software vendor community, is about to disappear. Just the name, mind you, not the company or its products and services. As of May 1, ASNA officially becomes the System i Division of its parent company BluePhoenix Solutions. According to Greg Schottland, whose title changes from president of ASNA to vice president and general manager of the BluePhoenix System i Division, nothing else changes. In an e-mail, Schottland says, “Our business is strong and–as a result of the merger with BluePhoenix–our reach is greater than ever.” He also says

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• InfoPrint Spreads the Eco-Love with New Laser Printers

  April 14, 2009 Alex Woodie

  You don’t need a postcard to know that printers aren’t high on the list of environmentalists’ favorite products. But with Earth Day coming up next Wednesday, even paper-loving printer makers like InfoPrint Solutions Company are positioning their products as more eco-friendly. Last week, the Ricoh–IBM amalgam announced two new entry-level printers that even a tree-hugger could embrace. InfoPrint Solutions Company claims the environment was “top of mind” when it developed the InfoPrint 1930 MFP and InfoPrint 1940 MFP, two entry-level multifunction printers designed for smallish groups of five to 10 users and that cost $966 and $1,159 respectively.

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• Ethel Austin’s i OS Implementation Goes Au Naturale

  April 14, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Au Naturale, a chain of 40 clothing and houseware stores in the U.K., has moved onto its parent company’s i OS-based merchandise management system (MMS), MMS developer Island Pacific Systems announced last week. Despite being run on the same system, the Island Pacific MMS is able to keep the two chains’ accounts and operations separate. Au Naturale was taken over last May by Ethel Austin, a 300-store clothing company that itself had just been bought by Elaine Gray, a respected player in the British clothing store industry. After the acquisition, Gray disclosed plans to sell some of Au Naturale’s success

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• PFSweb to Provide Logistics Services for Military Exchange

  April 14, 2009 Alex Woodie

  PFSweb will provide comprehensive order fulfillment services for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), the organization charged with running exchanges on U.S. Army and Air Force bases around the world. The five-year contract, which is valued at $15 million, calls for PFSweb to manage inventory and ship orders originating from AAFES’ e-commerce Web site and catalog operations. The AAFES was created in 1895 by order of the U.S. Government’s War Department to set up a market or store at every military post, where practical. Over the next 114 years, the organization has evolved to meet the changing needs

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