• NGS And LightEdge Provide New Entry To The Cloud

  February 12, 2018 Dan Burger

  When does the time come to consider moving your IBM i on Power off premise? Many IBM i shops remain unmoved. An uneasy feeling about losing control or applications and data remains a top concern. Fears of production server accessibility on someone else’s watch persist. After years of successfully running your core business apps on a reliable server, why change what’s working great?

  Well, there are IBM i shops discovering compelling reasons and making the move. Gradually is the word that describes it. It’s not unobservable or insignificant. The reasonableness is not universal, and moderation seems to be the mindset. …

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• Guru: Combine Related Rows Using SQL

  February 12, 2018 Ted Holt

  A reader writes: “Hey, Ted. In our ERP system, certain business objects, such as sales orders and purchase orders, can have multiple comment records. Is it possible, using SQL, to combine all the comment records for an order into one long comment and retrieve it as a column in a result set?”

  I can relate to this. I can remember supporting an ERP system where not only the orders, but the order detail lines, could have such comments. End users depend heavily on such unstructured data to do their jobs. To answer your question, yes, it is possible and it …

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• As I See It: Bot Versus Bot

  February 12, 2018 Victor Rozek

  An editor at MAD Magazine once joked that the “E” in Alfred E. Neuman probably stood for “Enigma” because no one actually knew what it stood for. Well, maybe it stands for “Entertaining” because the magazine features some wicked satire. Whatever his middle name, Neuman has graced the magazine cover since its inception in 1961. And, as an unanticipated satirical bonus, it turned out that with his boyish-bumpkin looks and deep insights (“What, me worry?”) he bore an uncanny resemblance to George W. Bush.

  One of the popular features in MAD is Spy vs Spy – a wordless cartoon that …

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• Modernizing The IBM i Estate For Digital Transformation

  February 12, 2018 Alex Woodie

  For those that use it, the IBM i platform is a workhorse of a machine, faithfully executing critical business processes day in and day out, with a minimum of fuss and upkeep. However, the long-term dependability of the IBM i platform comes with a potentially nasty side effect: technological stagnation caused by inattention and a disinclination for change.

  Like the old commercials for Maytag showed, reliability has a price. For the home appliance maker, the cost of above-average reliability was a lower revenue stream on the maintenance side of the business. While the manufacturers building shoddy washing machines may have …

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• IBM Power Champions: Showing Passion For The Platform

  February 7, 2018 Alex Woodie

  Having a job working on the IBM i-Power Systems platform isn’t easy. Compared to the vast Intel X86 ecosystem, IBM i folks make up a tiny, oft-overlooked minority. That’s one reason why it’s so important to have strong and passionate leaders that the wider installed based can look up to. Along that vein, last week IBM unveiled its 2018 class of Power Systems Champions, which includes a good number of passionate IBM i types.

  IBM named 60 Power Systems Champions for 2018. Out of those 60 Champions, 22 are new to the program, while 38 are returning. Twenty-six of the …

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• Does IBM i Need Independent Security Vendors?

  February 7, 2018 Alex Woodie

  Over the past 10 years, the number of independent IBM i security vendors has dwindled as bigger companies backed by deep-pocket investors scooped up smaller firms. Today there are only a handful of security firms that HelpSystems and Syncsort (Vision Solutions) have not acquired. We chatted with the heads of those companies to hear their thoughts on the matter.

  HelpSystems has been the biggest force for consolidation in the IBM i business, completing over a dozen acquisitions since it kicked off a decade-long buying spree with its acquisition of ASC back in October 2006. Many of HelpSystems’ deals involved IBM …

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• Reckless or Riskless: Another IBM i App Dev Expert Talks Security

  February 7, 2018 Dan Burger

  Security at the application level was the topic of an article in the Monday edition of The Four Hundred. Subject matter experts Brendan Kay, Alex Roytman, Robin Tatam, and Jon Paris provided insights and advice on the topic, which should be part of every organization’s overall security strategy. An additional perspective, which just missed the deadline for the Monday story, is being added today. It comes from Paul Tuohy, who lives eight time zones east of me, making the deadline I gave him a wee bit tight.

  Although this contribution stands on its own, when added to the insights …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, February 7

  February 7, 2018 Dan Burger

  Feedback on something you have written and published can warm your heart or give you heartburn. When his blog sparks some discussion among readers, Steve Will welcomes the dialog. Probably not 100 percent of the time, but let’s say more often than not. On this occasion, the topics are RPG and modernization. The discussion is still open. This would be a good time to makes some points of your own.

  Peek inside Monitor to pick up advice on cross-generational hiring and finding RPG programmers, tips on second and third programming languages to put in your skills toolbox, and warning signs …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 20, Number 5

  February 7, 2018 Doug Bidwell

  Just a reminder, the Spectre and Meltdown speculative execution security vulnerabilities have been classified by IBM’s Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) as having a “High Severity” level. As far as the Spectre and Meltdown issues go, there is nothing new on the IBM i, Power Systems, or Hardware Management Console (HMC) front. It is what it is.

  The HIPER and Security groups for each release were re-released two weeks ago, but only the first of each set below is included in the Security group. So, if you order and download the latest HIPERs and Security groups, you only get …

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• IBM Readies Mainstream Power9 Iron For Launch

  February 5, 2018 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The natives are getting restless, as my parents used to say when we were getting hungry. And the IBM i and AIX bases are definitely getting restless to know what Power9 iron that will be able to run Big Blue’s own operating systems in conjunction with the PowerVM server virtualization hypervisor. They also want to know if IBM is going to give customers a big improvement in price/performance compared to Power7+ and Power8 machines that are still widely available in the channel.

  In short, they want to plan their future, and after four years of waiting, it is time.

  IBM …

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