• Free Format RPG Is Here with TR7, Context Checking Still to Come

  November 19, 2013 Alex Woodie

  As promised, IBM on Friday delivered the latest update of the IBM i OS, dubbed version 7.1 Technology Refresh 7. The TR7 release brings free format coding to RPG, and big data enhancements to DB2/400. RPG programmers can get started writing free format code as soon as they install the compiler, but they’ll have to wait until next year to get free-format syntax checking in RDi. IBM bundled all the work it did for IBM i 7.1 TR7–including the free format enhancements to the RPG compiler, the Ruby stuff, the SQL pre-compiler, the SQL index expansion, the new database growth

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• Hey iDoctor, Can i Get a Walker?

  November 19, 2013 Alex Woodie

  IBM is currently beta testing a new piece of software called the HMC Walker that’s designed to help Power Systems admins pinpoint LPARs that aren’t running at optimal speed. When an admin finds an underperforming LPAR, the HMC Walker interface makes it easy for the admin to drill down into the iDoctor tool to get more details on the problem. The new HMC Walker offering gives administrators a high-level view of all their physical systems and the LPARs that are attached to them via the hardware management console (HMC). The software works with LPARs of all types, including IBM i,

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• Chaos Creates Living Hell For Workers

  November 18, 2013 Jenny Thomas

  Crushing deadlines, never-ending overtime, agonizing interruptions and broken processes, and famine of recognition and purpose. No, we’re not talking about the seventh level of hell, we’re talking about your job. Hopefully, this doesn’t sound like a familiar scenario to you, but according to an enterprise work management survey conducted by AtTask, a large percentage of workers do compare their job to a living hell. It seems obvious that not every job would leave workers feeling fulfilled and rewarded, but it is a little surprising to learn how the daily grind of avoidable work issues and interruptions wear down employees,

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• Magic Software Scores Another Quarterly Revenue Success

  November 18, 2013 Dan Burger

  The revenue trajectory for IBM i development tool maker Magic Software Enterprises continues to soar posting a third quarter revenue gain of 9 percent in year-to-year comparisons and topping its previous quarterly revenue by $1.2 million. Revenues for the first nine months of 2013 reached $103.8 million. In the third quarter of 2013, which ended September 30, Magic Software’s revenues grew to $35.6 million compared to $32.6 million for the same quarter in 2012. The Q3 revenue incline topped Q2 revenue by 6 percent. So far in 2013 the quarterly revenue ramp has climbed from $33.4 million to $34.8 million

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• Watson Apps Ready To Change The World

  November 18, 2013 Dan Burger

  The promise is that with technology comes change. The reality is that technology sometimes arrives alone. Cognitive computing, formerly known as artificial intelligence (old names are seldom used to market new ideas), is ready for its next chance at changing the world. IBM‘s Watson, remembered for its Jeopardy! conquest, but so much smarter than that famous game show gladiator, is ready for another step into the spotlight. Are you ready to make that step, too? Imagine cognitive computing–the capability to think things through and provide advice that is better than the best decision makers–as a development platform in the

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• October News Grim For IT Jobs Prospects

  November 18, 2013 Jenny Thomas

  Depending on who you ask, the jobs report for October was good news or another in a long line of disappointments. With the federal shutdown and all the government shenanigans, last month was a crazy time and most economists didn’t have much hope for job growth. But in the end, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 204,000 new jobs across a wide spectrum of industries in October. But when you talk to Victor Janulaitis, the CEO of Janco Associates who makes it his business to stay on top of trends in the IT ecosystem, the latest BLS data paints

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• Abacus Offers IBM i Performance Assessment

  November 18, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Power Systems reseller and IBM i cloud provider Abacus Solutions wants to help you figure out the performance bottlenecks in your system. To that end, the company is partnering with Midrange Performance Group to use its Performance Navigator performance monitoring and capacity planning tool to help IBM i shops figure out what is keeping their systems from optimal performance and then using its own systems expertise to make recommendations about what to do to improve performance. The answer, says Patrick Schutz, director of managed services and support at Abacus, is not to do what Big Blue often does, which is

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• In The Shadow Of Database Hype

  November 18, 2013 Dan Burger

  It always chaps a few hides in the IBM midrange community when a technology gets hyped by another company as being shockingly innovative when it has been part of the IBM midrange systems for many years. In-memory database processing is one of those provoking topics. It’s a great idea for cranking up database performance, but how about giving credit where credit is due? This is about setting the record straight. Six weeks ago, Mike Cain, a member of IBM’s senior technical staff for DB2 on i, wrote about this topic in his blog with the no-nonsense name DB2 for i

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• As I See It: Permissionless Neutrality

  November 18, 2013 Victor Rozek

  It happened to radio, it happened to television, and there is no reason to believe it won’t happen to the Internet. Communication media–at least in their infancy–have always been idealized for their potential to serve our better angels. But in the end, the hopes of visionaries are reduced to a single dominant construct: entertainment. And the more successful the medium, the more vacuous the entertainment. Once the potential for revenue is evident, the medium quickly becomes co-opted, and the greatest good for the greatest number devolves to the greatest profit for the fewest number. For all its flaws, the Internet

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• The Risk Of Doing Nothing With Modern RPG And DB2

  November 18, 2013 Dan Burger

  The cost of application maintenance can really shrivel the effectiveness of IT. Too many people with too many hours devoted to maintenance should be raising red flags. One thing you can do to diminish the application maintenance money pit is re-evaluating mature (overly kind description) applications. Converting old RPG apps to modern free form RPG apps should be a consideration. But how many IBM midrange shops will take a look with an eye toward long-term savings? Technology Refresh 7, available now as a PTF for companies running IBM i 7.1, can provide a substantial advantage, but even the log jam

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