• IBM Bolsters Multi-Site Disaster Recovery In DS8870 Arrays

  October 27, 2014 Alex Woodie

  Organizations will be able to implement more complex data replication and protection schemes thanks to the new Multiple Target Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (MT-PPRC) capabilities that IBM will be making available in DS8870 storage arrays. The capability to mirror data from a production environment to two target systems with MT-PPRC will give customers more flexibility in how they prepare for, and respond to, disasters. The company also bolstered its FlashCopy mechanism, and made various other enhancements to the DS8870s. PPRC is one of the core underlying technologies that IBM exposes through DS8000 Copy Services. The technology is used in three primary

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• Mad Dog 21/21: Power Cuts

  October 27, 2014 Hesh Wiener

  It’s not difficult to underestimate Donald Trump and forget he earned a degree in economics at the vaunted Wharton School. His cuckoo coiffure amplifies the impression he makes on boosters and blasters alike. Follicular folly similarly misdirects observers of Boris Johnson, London’s mayor. Soon, however, Johnson might get serious about standing for Prime Minister, in which case his unthatcherish thatch could befriend a brush. Ginni Rometty‘s hairdo, by contrast, alludes to Duplessis’ Franklin; it proclaims grit and gravitas, as befits an executive Fortune dubs the most powerful woman in the business world. Of these three notables,

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• Flash Expands As Primary Storage; Market Share Still Tiny

  October 27, 2014 Dan Burger

  IBM‘s investment in flash technology, which was pegged at $1 billion when it was announced in April 2013, has led to a number one market position in enterprise flash-based storage. It’s not a large market. Even the grandest estimates have it at less than 10 percent of the enterprise storage business. It is undoubtedly growing though, particularly as primary storage, or what is called Tier 1 storage, in the lingo. Since it was first introduced as an enterprise-grade alternative to spinning disk technology, flash has come up against three obstacles: price, endurance, and reliability. Michael Kuhn, vice president of

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• Power Systems Show Sequential Revenue Gains

  October 27, 2014 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  There was not a lot of good news with IBM‘s third quarter financial results when they came out early next week, but one of the few bright spots was that the Power Systems business was at the least showing some sequential growth as the Power8 systems ramp begins in earnest. But the Power Systems division is still down year-on-year, and it is very likely that the declines will continue at least into early 2015. IBM does not provide revenue figures for its various server lines, and never has included such information in its financial reports. It would be a

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• What The IBM Chip Biz Selloff Means To IBM i Shops

  October 27, 2014 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  IBM finally went and did it and not only sold off its X86 server line so it could focus on Power Systems and System z mainframes, but it went the next logical step and got itself out of the chip making business. Both decisions were the inevitable consequences of deals long since done, and their consequences will be felt in the decade hence. In the case of the System x division, IBM’s fate was sealed at the moment that it sold off its PC division to Lenovo Group nearly a decade ago. Big Blue had very sound financial reasons for

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• The IBM i *LOOPBACK Interface Problem

  October 22, 2014 Hey, Joe

  Help! My IBM i credit card software stopped talking to our outside credit card processor. One minute it was working, and the next minute it crashed. When I restart the package, it immediately ends. What’s going on? We can’t process our orders. –Henry This is an unusual situation I’ve seen every once in a while, and it usually involves your TCP/IP setup. Troubleshooting The Issue The first thing to look at is whether all your TCP/IP interfaces are up and running, and whether anything changed with your TCP/IP setup. Before you call your software provider or IBM, check the

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• Paging Cursors

  October 22, 2014 Paul Tuohy

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. I would like to share with you one of the techniques I use for paging large lists when using embedded SQL in RPG. This method came about when I needed to write a routine which could be used in both an interactive (green screen) and web environment. There were two main challenges: The size of a “page” could vary. This was easy enough to handle, I just had to decide what the maximum page size would be. The web interface would not be persistent. This meant that different

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• SQL Functions You Didn’t Know You Had, Part 1

  October 22, 2014 Ted Holt

  What if I told you that you may have some potential powerful SQL functions on your system that you are not aware of? What if I told you that I have no idea what those SQL functions are named? What if I told you that you could easily use existing RPG routines in SQL queries? Would you be interested? (Take a tip from the Little Rascals (AKA Our Gang) and say, “And how!”) It’s easy to make SQL functions out of the subprocedures in service programs. To illustrate, here’s the source code for an RPG module from which a service

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• iBelieve Tour Returns to Europe

  October 21, 2014 Dan Burger

  IBM midrange shops in Europe, be on the lookout–the iBelieve road show, an enthusiastic exercise in IBM i advocacy and “i can do” spirit, is making the rounds. You can count on it making some noise, too. iBelieve events are one-day participatory theater combining education and entertainment. Retired IBM chief scientist Frank Soltis leads the group of iBelieve speakers that includes IBM i Chief Architect Steve Will, Product Offering Manager Alison Butterill, IBM i advocate extraordinaire Trevor Perry, Maxava‘s Matthew Ashton and Paul Hodgkinson of looksoftware. (For entertainment, you’ll get great stories from Soltis and you might get

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• Connections 5 CR1 Brings Yet More Features

  October 21, 2014 Alex Woodie

  Two weeks ago, we told you about Connections 5, the new IBM i-supported release of the business-oriented social media tool from IBM. Just as version 5 was going out the door, IBM announced Connections 5.0 CR1, which brings yet more features. Connections is a social media tool designed for team collaboration. The software functions similar to Facebook and other social media websites by allowing users to follow and track people and entities, as well as discover new people and entities through the use of hashtags. It also hooks into Lotus email, contacts, calendar capabilities, and software; integrates with IBM’s

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