• Avnet Partners with Sanko for Turkish Expansion

  January 5, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  IT master reseller Avnet is, like every other company on the planet, looking for new places to do business in this tricky global economy. That is one reason why the company’s Avnet Technology Solutions, which distributes servers, storage, and other IT products made by IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and others, has ponied up some cash to take a barely majority stake in an IT distributor in Turkey. Avnet has taken a 50.01 percent stake in Akora Technology and Industry Corporation, a reseller previously owned in full by Sanko Holding Group. Akora was founded in 2001, as the earlier IT recession

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• Two A-maze-ing Programs

  December 17, 2008 Ted Holt

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. My family and I are preparing to celebrate Christmas. I’m enjoying the lights, the carols, and the decorations. I feel festive. I feel like doing something just for fun. Thus, the two programs I wrote for today’s Four Hundred Guru are of no practical value of which I’m aware, but goodness, did I have fun writing them! Consider the following text file, the contents of which is a maze. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IB I I I I I IIIIIIIIIIIIII I IIIIIII I I II IIIIII II I I I I

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• End-of-Year Odds and Ends

  December 17, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Merry Christmas, intelligent i professional! Let’s end the year with a few little tips, including two unusual ways to use OPNQRYF’s %ABSVAL function from reader Victor Pisman. May 2009 be the best year ever for all of us. –Ted Run Qshell from CL Procedures Q: Do you have a simple example of using Qshell with a script? I think I can muddle through setting up the script. I am unsure of how to call it from a CL procedure. A: You can use the dot utility to run a script that you’ve created in the IFS. This command

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• Admin Alert: Upcoming i5/OS and AnyNet End of Service Dates

  December 17, 2008 Joe Hertvik

  To finish out 2008, let’s look ahead to some upcoming end of service dates that can affect shops running i5/OS V5R3 in 2009 and shops that are still using AnyNet to connect older twinax-based printers and other devices to System i and Power i machines. If you’re in these categories, you should be aware of the following issues. A New Year, A New i5/OS Upgrade? If any of your partitions are running i5/OS V5R3, be aware that IBM will discontinue support for i5/OS V5R3 on April 30, 2009. Of course, this doesn’t mean that your software will no longer work.

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• IBM Adds ‘Rich UI’ Design Tool to Rational Business Developer

  December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  System i shops considering the move to EGL and more modern development techniques will be interested in learning about the enhancements that IBM has delivered with Rational Business Developer version 7.5.1, which became available two weeks ago. With this release, Big Blue delivered a new component called EGL Rich UI, which IBM claims takes much of the grunt work out of designing and creating Web 2.0-style user interfaces. It also added support for key Internet technologies, and bolstered its support for mainframe applications. Rational Business Developer is IBM’s primary offering for developing Web 2.0 applications that offer rich user experiences,

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• Original Bolsters Support for Java, Mainframe in Testing Tool

  December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  The IT industry moves relentlessly forward, forcing professionals to continually adapt to new technologies. Simultaneously, IT pros must keep an eye to so-called “legacy” technologies that are still in widespread use. This seeming dichotomy was on display with a recent announcement from Original Software, which makes test automation tools. The version 6 release of its TestDrive suite moved forward with improved support for testing Java applications (the “new”), as well enhanced support for “old” 3270 mainframe applications. The IT world’s on-going clash between old and new hit home for Original earlier this year when the company unveiled better support

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• Development Horror Stories Surface as Aldon Unveils Turkey Award Winners

  December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Some people watch car racing strictly for the high-speed accidents. (We know you’re out there.) Others take particular glee in seeing live performers melt down on stage. (You may be one.) When it comes to IT, there are equivalent debacles, but they’re normally shared in whispered tones after work at the local pub. Now, thanks to Aldon, which teased the worst sort of tales out of AS/400 developers in return for the chance to win prizes, IT Jungle readers get to hear some of them. And frankly, the stories do deliver. (Not that you’re into that kind of thing.)

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• Tick, Tock: mrc Unveils ’24-Hour Challenge’

  December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  In the hit action TV series “24,” government agent Jack Bauer is given exactly 24 hours to stop a terrorist attack. But what if, instead of thwarting the attack, Bauer was tasked with developing an enterprise Web application in less than a day’s time? That is what the folks at mrc have set upon themselves with the 24-Hour Challenge. The Chicago software company also added a new user defined function (UDF) capability to m-Power, its premier application development tool for i OS and other platforms. As part of its 24-Hour Challenge, which was announced earlier this month, mrc promises to

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• IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café

  December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Earlier this year, IBM launched something called the EGL Café to provide an interactive Web locale where people can learn more about its new development language. Last month, IBM gave developers of the RPG persuasion their very own electronic hideout with the launch of the RPG Café. What’s more, Big Blue even threw in a “hub” (sort of a mini café) for Rational Team Concert for i (RTCi), the new change management utility launched in November. Rational Cafes are “connecting communities,” according to IBM’s homepage for Rational Cafes. Currently, there are three full-fledged cafes: One for EGL, one for

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• CA Enhances Web Services Interoperability in Plex 6.1

  December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  CA today unveiled a new release of Plex, its rapid application development environment that generates 3GL code for Windows, Java, and IBM i runtime environments. With Plex 6.1, the New York company adds support for Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Microsoft‘s Web services framework. Support for WCF enables Plex customers to mix and match Web services running on .NET and other platforms, thereby easing application integration efforts that span multiple platforms. Plex and its close relative, 2E, are the direct descendents the Obsydian and Synon/2E 4GL development tools created by Simon Williams and his developers at Synon more than 20

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