The IT Jungle

Profound Survey Adds To ‘Why i Matters’ Discussion

January 18, 2016 Dan Burger

Shock therapy was once considered to be a cure for a variety of disorders. It’s generally not thought of as something that applies to executives of organizations that run mission critical applications on IBM i. But maybe that’s about to change. For the second consecutive week, IT Jungle is reporting the results of a survey that delivers insights into the IBM midrange community that, when it finds its way to the C-level offices, may result in positive behavior modification.

Profound Logic, one of the leading application development tool vendors in the IBM i community, shared a glimpse at a

2016 Predictions for IBM i: Round Two

January 18, 2016 Alex Woodie

Last week, we ran our first roundup of 2016 predictions from various CEOs and other prominent members of the IBM i community (see “2016 Predictions For IBM i: Cautious Optimism”). As promised, here we go for a second round, which continues the optimistic note, for both the platform and the community as a whole.

Jim Oberholtzer, CEO at Agile Technology Architects

“I think the biggest play for IBM in the new year will be the open source movement on Power, and specifically on IBM i. IBM has been laying the groundwork for a major push in those technologies

The Data-Centric Depiction Of IBM i

January 18, 2016 Dan Burger

You have data. You’ve been collecting it in pretty much the same fashion for years. The only thing that has changed is you have more of it. But are you getting more out of it? I’m not talking about data analytics. The world doesn’t need another person talking about data analytics. This is about improving business information integration and the role IBM‘s DB2 for i has played and will play in the future.

Data-centric development is not a new concept. It hovers in the background of the IBM i roadmap, but is maybe the most critical element to the

SQL Paging With Limit And Offset In DB2 For i

January 12, 2016 Michael Sansoterra

LIMIT and OFFSET are two new query options that will please every developer who builds user interfaces (UI) involving potentially large result sets. Handling UI queries that return a large number of rows can be annoying as they may take too long to process, create heavy network traffic, and require a web or desktop client to cache the result set. Further, it’s unlikely a user will review all the rows! But what if DB2 returns only what is needed by giving back one slice of the entire result set on demand?

This is where the new LIMIT and OFFSET features

Throw Away Old Summary Query Techniques

January 12, 2016 Ted Holt

It’s a new year! Out with the old! In with the new! That exhortation applies not only to everyday life, but also to the ways we write SQL queries. Let me show you two ways we used to have to write summary queries and two new ways that are better.

First, we need a database to query. Here’s a table of customers.

 ID   Name
===   =====================
101   J. Cheever Loophole  
102   Otis B. Driftwood    
103   Quincy Adams Wagstaff
104   Rufus T. Firefly

And here’s a table of shipments.

ID   CUSTOMER   ITEM    QUANTITY   PRICE
===  ========   ======  ========   =====
 1       102

Updated RDi Keyboard Shortcuts

January 12, 2016 Susan Gantner

I’ve written tips about RSE/RDi keyboard shortcuts several times before. Readers of those tips will know that I created a downloadable list of my favorite keyboard shortcuts. I’ve updated the shortcut card fairly regularly and the most recent edition has recently become available. So if you have previously downloaded my shortcut card and found it useful, you may want to get the latest one here.

This edition of the card includes a few new shortcuts, including a couple that are new for V9.5 of RDi.

The first one is Ctrl+Alt+Q, a new V9.5 shortcut to bring up a dialog

ARCAD Sets Out To Modernize German Midrange

January 11, 2016 Dan Burger

In theory, modernization is an ongoing process. It’s the opposite of aging. And as we all know, getting old sucks. There are a lot of successful companies that have managed to postpone IT modernization. But eventually age takes its toll and that’s what we see happening in IBM midrange shops, where IT modernization is a big concern. Helping companies modernize is the reason ARCAD Software, the IBM i software vendor, is opening a subsidiary office in Germany.

The IBM i market in Germany is estimated to be the largest in Europe. It is largely defined by a half dozen

As I See It: Asking The Right Question

January 11, 2016 Victor Rozek

Ah, a brand new year, blinding with possibility and so fresh with optimism it can make your eyes water. For most of us, it’s another opportunity to commit to resolutions that will never be kept beyond January. Nevertheless, for the next few weeks, sugar is the enemy, credit cards will be shredded, and every gym in America will be full of people testing the limits of Lycra.

Making resolutions is the national binky, pacifying with false promise. And every January millions resolve to manage two of the more important aspects of their lives–fitness and finance–through a firm, if fleeting, commitment

Software Group Essentially Gone With Steve Mills Retirement

January 11, 2016 Timothy Prickett Morgan

The old guard at Big Blue has been gradually retiring over the past several years, and one of the most influential leaders of IBM and one of the more intelligent, successful, and well-spoken of the company’s top brass, retired at the end of 2015. We are talking, of course, about Steve Mills, who ran the Software Group conglomerate for the past decade and a half.

While it may not have been apparent to many of us on the outside, something was brewing during IBM’s reorganization this time last year, where a slew of new executives were given new divisions

2016 Predictions For IBM i: Cautious Optimism

January 11, 2016 Alex Woodie

For the first time in many years, a cautious optimism seems to be creeping into the IBM i community. Driven by a somewhat vigorous Power8 server refresh cycle, which has at least given IBM server sales a pulse, Big Blue enjoyed last year the first consecutive quarters of revenue growth in what seemed like forever.

Here’s our first batch of IBM i predictions from the community, edited for clarity and brevity. Stay tuned next week for another round of forecasts.

Pete Massiello, president at iTech Solutions Group and immediate past president of COMMON