• Pushed Content Provides Easy Entry to Mobile Development

  September 23, 2014 Dan Burger

  Your excursion into mobile application development can be a lot easier than what you’ve been led to believe. And a lot less expensive, too. A pre-packaged mobile app that allows system administrators and application developers to automatically send mobile device notifications from modern IBM midrange servers or from applications running on those boxes could be the mobile momentum you need. The app, which delivers notifications to iOS and Android mobile devices, was released last week by SystemObjects. SystemObjects calls the app SP4i-Push. It’s a follow-up to SmartPad4i, which SystemObjects introduced in mid-2013. That product was designed to create IBM

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• There’s No i in Infor Xi

  September 23, 2014 Alex Woodie

  Infor used its annual user conference last week to unveil Xi, a new cloud-based platform designed to provide a common technological underpinning for advancing its collection of enterprise applications, specifically in the areas of mobility, cloud computing, and big data analytics. Infor says that none of its IBM i applications will run directly on the Xi platform, but they may benefit in a tangential manner. The introduction of Infor Xi was the big news at last week’s Inforum 2014 show in New Orleans, Louisiana. Infor Xi is a follow-on to the 10x initiative that Infor unveiled a year ago at

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• iSphere: A Free and Functional Plugin for RDi/WDSc

  September 23, 2014 Alex Woodie

  If you’re an IBM i developer who works in the Rational Developer for i (RDi) or WebSphere Developer Studio Client (WDSc) environments, you may want to check out a plug-in called iSphere. The free and open source software speeds and simplifies a number of common tasks in the Eclipse-based IDE, including searching and editing files, binding directories, and viewing spooled files. User reviews so far have been extremely positive. RDi and its predecessor, WDSc, are the go-to tools for RPG and COBOL programmers working on the IBM i platform. If you’re doing native development on the platform–i.e. not Java, PHP,

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• Don’t FLRT with Disaster When it Comes to Applying PTFs

  September 23, 2014 Alex Woodie

  As an IBM i administrator, one surefire way to ruin your day is to apply the wrong program temporary fix (PTF) fix on your system. If you fail to read the fine print in the PTF cover letter, you might just kiss your finely honed IBM i configuration goodbye. But thanks to a free Web-based product from IBM called the Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT), IBM i admins can now get automated guidance into the best course of action. FLRT is a Web-based tool that provides cross-platform compatibility information and fix recommendations for a variety of IBM products. The software,

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• Searching For IBM i Answers

  September 22, 2014 Dan Burger

  In general terms, we know the IBM i community pretty well. It’s a little frustrating, however, that so many of the specifics that are lacking. Anecdotal stories abound. Generalities are applied with impunity. IBM, even with big data and analytics as cornerstones of its modernization marketing messages, claims it knows almost nothing about its IBM i customers when it comes to hardware and software implementations. Meaningful data is either not being collected or not being shared if it is collected. It’s easier to believe the second of those options as opposed to the first. Therefore, I’m in favor of

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• Watson Heading To Predictive Analytics

  September 22, 2014 Dan Burger

  When IBM talks about its cognitive computing brainchild Watson, words like “the future of computing” tumble out of press releases like peanuts from a box of Cracker Jacks. But don’t blame Watson if he comes to the party wearing a hyperbole suit. He’s not just another ordinary language-based cognitive robot. He’s the face of business computing. And he has a last name now: Analytics. Watson Analytics took a bow looking like a billion dollars, which coincidentally is the amount of money IBM claims is invested in the Watson platform. Since 2011, when young Watson was a mere computer system packed

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• Ellison Steps Down As Oracle CEO As Q1 Comes In A Bit Short

  September 22, 2014 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Well, the IT industry just got a whole lot more boring, or maybe not. Larry Ellison, the co-founder of software giant and now systems player Oracle, turned 70 recently and has decided that he no longer wants to be CEO of the company. The news that he is stepping down as CEO to assume the role of executive chairman and chief technology officer comes just as Oracle has come up a little bit short in its latest financial results and as the company is preparing for its annual OpenWorld shindig, which will bring over 60,000 people to San Francisco.

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• IBM Worklight Gets The Magic Quadrant Treatment

  September 22, 2014 Dan Burger

  Gaining a favorable place on Gartner‘s Magic Quadrant is as good a reason as any to bake a cake and have a party. IBM‘s Worklight application development portfolio an amalgamation of developer tools for creating, deploying, managing, and securing mobile applications was recently judged worthy of Magic Quadrant “Leader” status after an assessment with other selected tools. Worklight is the mobile application development platform component of IBM’s MobileFirst enterprise mobility program. The Worklight platform includes analytics, testing, integration, security and management. IBM built Worklight to create hybrid apps, but it’s also a capable tool for building Web apps

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• Reader Feedback On Plotting Out A Power Systems Resurgence

  September 22, 2014 Tim

  The answer to the “i conundrum” comes from basic marketing rather than technology! For years, IBM followed a “generic server” strategy that pushed the IBM brand rather than the attributes of any one processor family. That might have been a good strategy for commodity servers, like the xSeries, but was death for highly differentiated computing platforms like the iSeries . . . that the public was not educated to understand the value proposition. The Linux push is, unfortunately, a continuation of that failed strategy! Now that IBM has exited the commodity computing business, it is time to reverse its marketing

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• COBOL And RPG Take Similar Roads To Revival

  September 22, 2014 Dan Burger

  COBOL and RPG are brothers of different mothers. They share many characteristics, not all of them bad. Both languages have powered enterprise-grade applications for a long time, relying on strength in their early years and stamina as time marched on. Both are capable of handling massive workloads, despite being classified as garage sale relics by promoters of lighter weight systems. And modernization strategies and academic initiatives have been designed to steer companies with COBOL and RPG dependencies into the future. COBOL workloads on IBM midrange systems are not abundant. But they are out there. Ed Airey, product marketing manager for

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