• Load a Spreadsheet from a DB2/400 Database: Part 3

  January 28, 2009 Michael Sansoterra

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. Part 1 and Part 2 of this little series on generating an Excel spreadsheet demonstrated how to use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code to retrieve data from DB2 on an AS/400 and place it in a spreadsheet. Additional refinements were offered on doing some fancier things to the spreadsheet, such as auto-sizing all the columns based on the loaded data, formatting date columns properly, etc. All of this was done in the name of programmatically creating a nice spreadsheet with current “DB2 for i” data. This tip

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• Admin Alert: Four Things to Beware of During a System Upgrade

  January 28, 2009 Joe Hertvik

  As I reported a few weeks ago, i5/OS V5R3 loses IBM support as of April 30th, which may cause many iSeries and System i shops to upgrade their operating systems in the next few months. If you’re currently working on a V5R3 upgrade, here are four things that you should watch out for as you plan your upgrade. Be Aware of the Difference Between Compatible and Supported Software For third-party software, it’s important to understand the difference between a compatible and a supported piece of software. I recently ran into this issue on an i5/OS V5R4 upgrade where the vendor

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• tekservePOS Launches i OS Software for Retailers at NRF

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  tekservePOS launched a new suite of i OS-based software last week at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference and expo in New York City. The new offering, called tekRETAIL Suite, provides a full-function point of sale (POS) platform for stores, at a fraction of the cost of enterprise POS vendors, the company claims. tekRETAIL Suite has two components: the POS software, called tekRETAIL Store, and tekRETAIL Central Office. tekRETAIL Store runs on Windows, while tekRETAIL Central Office runs on the IBM i OS and IBM Power Systems (formerly i5 and AS/400) servers. The POS component provides all the basic functionality

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• iMessaging and IBM Team to Drive i OS-Based IP Telephony

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  iMessaging Systems today announced significant changes to its System i telephony products and its business model that are aimed at making it easier and less expensive to integrate System i applications with phone systems. First, the company eliminated the PC hardware requirement for its iNspire suite, which is now a software-only product running entirely under i OS. Second, it overhauled its relationship with IBM, making the IBM the sole distributor of iNspire and opening the product up to Big Blue’s vast partner channel. iMessaging Systems is a New Hampshire company that develops software that connects corporate phone systems (either

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• Attachmate Refreshes Emulator with Useful New Features

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Let’s face it–sometimes it can be difficult to get excited about a new terminal emulator. As the graphical extravagance of the Web 2.0 revolution trains us to consume data via a million exotic widgets and colorful gadgets, the green-screen 5250 display begins to look a little old. One wonders, then, what Attachmate could do to spark interest in its new terminal emulator suite, Reflection 2008, which was publicly announced yesterday. As it turns out, there’s plenty of room for innovation. As director of product marketing and management for Attachmate’s three terminal emulation lines, Michael Miller has pondered these very questions:

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• DRV Finds i OS Solution to E-Mail Authentication Dilemma

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  System i shops that have been thwarted from utilizing e-mail to its fullest extent due to the lack of support for e-mail authentication in IBM‘s i OS may want to check out a potential solution unveiled by System i software developer DRV Technologies last week. The company says it developed a way to support e-mail authentication from the System i, thereby reducing the chance a customer’s Internet service provider (ISP) will return e-mail and the critical business correspondence it contains. E-mail authentication is growing in popularity as a way to reduce the amount of spam and phishing attempts polluting

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• ACOM Adds MaxiCode Support to EZeDocs/400 Solution

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  ACOM Solutions has added support for the two-dimensional MaxiCode barcode standard to its EZeDocs/400 suite of document and forms management software for the IBM i Power Systems (AS/400) server. MaxiCode barcodes enable companies to store much more information about the package, and in some cases can be more easily read than traditional one-dimensional barcodes. The enhancement was made with the release of EZeDocs/400 version 8.1. The MaxiCode barcode was introduced in 1992 by United Parcel Service to help the shipper more easily track the movement of packages. The barcode can store more information by arranging optical marks in a horizontal

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• IBM Gets Its EGL Jam On

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  IBM is reaching out to customers for ideas on how to improve EGL, the fourth-generation language (4GL) programming language that IBM brought to the System i last year from the System z. The outreach effort, which is hosted on the EGL Café Web site, is called EGL Jam 2009, and you have until the end of the week to make your opinion heard. What would you have IBM to do with EGL? Where do you want Big Blue to take it? Maybe you want IBM to make EGL an open standard? Or perhaps you would like it to generate RPG

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• BOSaNOVA to Distribute Printing Software from ThinPrint

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  BOSaNOVA last week announced the formation of a reseller partnership with ThinPrint, a German developer of software that claims to speed, secure, and simplify the process of initiating print jobs on servers (including System i servers) from thin client terminals. ThinPrint’s offering, called .print, will be distributed by BOSaNOVA with its line of thin client terminals. ThinPrint’s software gives organizations more control over their printing environment–especially when print jobs are sent over the network to printers attached to thin clients. Because large print jobs can suck up a large percentage of total network bandwidth, it can be critical to

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• NetSuite Lures Obama Medal-Maker Off AS/400

  January 27, 2009 Alex Woodie

  Last week’s inauguration of President Barack Obama heralded a new age of hope and change for America. And for Medalcraft Mint of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the event marked the beginning of sales for the official presidential inaugural medallion for Obama, which go for about $60 each. For the first time in a long time, Medalcraft’s orders and manufacturing process will be handled not by AS/400 hardware, but via NetSuite‘s on demand ERP system, which the company recently migrated to. According to NetSuite, when Medalcraft came under new ownership in 2007, the new owners decided to “believe in change” and

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