• Announcement Day: IBM Lifts The Veil On IBM i 7.5 And 7.4 TR6

  May 3, 2022 Alex Woodie

  Big Blue today announced IBM i version 7.5, the first new version of the operating system in three years. Among the big new features with this release are enhancements to Db2 Mirror, better security configurations, and new database features. A new modernization framework called Merlin and a new IBM i subscription option were also unveiled by IBM, which also announced IBM i 7.4 Technology Release 6.

  One of the big headlines with the IBM i 7.5 announcement is Merlin, which IBM says stands for the Modernization Engine for Lifecycle Integration. Merlin provides a lightweight, browser-based development environment for creating new …

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• As I See It: A Taxing Problem

  May 3, 2022 Victor Rozek

  Elon Musk sifted through his couch cushions and found $44 billion in pocket change, so he bought himself some barbecue with a side of Twitter.

  Elon managed to make a lot of money while the economy tanked during the pandemic years, and there have been rumblings of discontent from mere mortals suggesting that perhaps he, and his billionaire brigade, should actually pay their fair share of taxes. But while Americans are disinclined to begrudge a man his good fortune, these days, middle class realities are rife with rising costs and resentments. To put things in perspective: the average American would …

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• Subscription Pricing Coming To IBM i And Power Systems

  May 3, 2022 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The advent and evolution of cloud computing – or one might say the reinvention based on timesharing and renting that was prevalent for large systems in the early days of corporate computing in the 1960s and 1970s – has had a lot of effects on the IT market in the past 15 years. But perhaps the biggest effect is to shift IT budgets away hardware acquisition and perpetual software licenses with technical support for both and toward a simpler subscription pricing model that spreads the cost out over time and moves spending on IT wares from the capital expense part …

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• Infor Moves IBM i Products to New ‘Compass’ Group

  April 27, 2022 Alex Woodie

  Infor is taking a new approach to managing many of its IBM i-based ERP systems and supporting the customers that rely on them to run their businesses. Called Compass, the new group is tasked with revitalizing Infor’s relationships with IBM i customers by catering to their unique needs, according to the company.

  Infor created the Compass group about 10 months ago, soon after Koch Industries finished its acquisition of the company, according to Stewart Applbaum, the executive vice president and general manager of Infor Compass, who took over Compass about a month after it was created.

  “We realized that we …

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• Shipped Tape Capacity Up 40 Percent, LTO Program Says

  April 27, 2022 Alex Woodie

  LTO tape providers shipped 148 exabytes of total capacity in 2021, representing a 40 percent increase over the previous year, the LTO Program announced last week. The number shows how far data growth bounced back following the slowdown during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

  The total amount of compressed storage capacity delivered to customers jumped from the previous record of 114 EB in 2019, according to the LTO Program. The shipped capacity figure fell to 105 EB in 2020, an 8 percent drop from 2019.

  “Despite the significant business disruptions and uncertainty in 2021, LTO tape …

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• mrc Fills Reporting Gap in Product Lineup

  April 27, 2022 Alex Woodie

  Finding the right reporting tool can make you feel like Goldilocks searching for the right bed or bowl of porridge. Some of the reporting tools are too technical and hard to use, while others are too simplistic and don’t offer enough functionality. Chicago-based software developer mrc thinks it has found just the right combination of functionality and ease of use with its new Report Designer.

  m-Power is a low-code development platform that supports IBM i and other Java platforms. While the software is not a full-blown integrated development environment (IDE), it can provide the capability to quickly generate Web interfaces, …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, April 27

  April 27, 2022 Jenny Thomas

  It has been hard to miss this week’s biggest story, which would be that Twitter is under new ownership. Now, while we like to keep our focus on the IBM i ecosystem and keep our toes out of other ponds, this did seem like a good time to remind you that we do have a nice little presence going on Twitter. In case you didn’t know, you can find us under the username @ITJungleNews. We like hearing from you, and it’s another avenue you can use to stay in touch and in the loop on industry breaking news.

  Top Stories

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 17

  April 27, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  It was a pretty quiet week in PTF Land, which stands to reason given the various holidays and the Spring Break that a lot of people had last week. It probably won’t last long, so take the downtime while you have it. There is stuff you need to deal with, of course.

  One reminder: A new build for Access Client Services (ACS) 1.1.9.0 is available for download (2170).

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level since we last published:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • HIPERs
  • Security
  • Backup Recovery Solutions
  • TCP/IP
  • QMGTOOLS

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • HIPERs
  • Security
  • Backup

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• Beware The Hype Of Modern Tech

  April 25, 2022 Alex Woodie

  Many IBM i shops are under the gun to modernize their applications as part of a digital transformation initiative. If the app is more than 10 or 15 years old and doesn’t use the latest technology and techniques, it’s considered a legacy system that must be torn down and rebuilt according to current code. But there are substantial risks associated with these efforts – not the least of which that the modern method is essentially incompatible with the IBM i architecture as it currently exists. IBM i shops should be careful when evaluating these new directions.

  Amy Anderson, a modernization …

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• Why Modernize Your Legacy Monitoring?

  April 25, 2022 Ash Giddings

  Modernization is everywhere at present, with teams actively looking to bring their business into the 21^st century by transforming applications, framework, underlying platform bases, and supporting software.

  The underlying aim of any modernization strategy will vary from business to business, although popular drivers include the need to become more agile in an effort to adapt quicker to the needs of the business, to improve efficiency, and to simplify operations. This exercise provides the opportunity to also free up resources and to address the impact of dwindling expertise, evident in many areas of the market.

  Certain to be included in …

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