• Admin Alert: Budgeting For Your Next Power Systems Upgrade

  August 7, 2013 Joe Hertvik

  If you’re acquiring a new Power systems machine in 2014, you may be preparing your capital budget right now. However, there’s more to purchasing a Power system running IBM i (Power i) than just a good purchase price. This week, I’ll look at some other expenses you may encounter when buying new hardware, and what you can do to budget correctly and minimize those costs. Budget For Operating Expenses, As Well As Capital A frequent Power i purchasing mistake is that companies sometimes make sure they have enough capital budget for new or upgraded machines, but they forget to budget

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• SQL and Invalid Decimal Data

  August 7, 2013 Ted Holt

  I’m sure no reader of this august publication likes decimal data errors. One single such error can ruin an entire day. The wise programmer uses tools and techniques to keep invalid numeric data from becoming a problem. One such tool that you can use to find and fix invalid data is SQL. Assume that a physical file has a customer account number stored as seven digits packed decimal, with no decimal positions. Suppose there are one or more blank records in the physical file. You query the file by customer number, like this: select * from baddata where customerid =

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• IFSPOP–Another (And A Better) IFS Interface

  August 7, 2013 Hey, Ted

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. I read your article, Another IFS Interface, and I agree with you that IBM‘s green-screen solutions leave a lot to be desired. I got so fed up with WRKLNK, and the even more obtuse WRKFLR, that I wrote my own solution. It’s nothing fancy, but it is a lot better than what exists. It’s a green-screen solution written in RPG. I modeled it after POP, one of my favorite tools, from the System/36 days. The idea, like POP of old, is that if there is something

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• Fall COMMON Conference Just One Month Away

  August 5, 2013 Dan Burger

  The COMMON Fall Conference and Expo is only one month away and the last opportunity to get a $200 discount on the registration price is Thursday, August 8. The annual fall event is rolling into St. Louis, Missouri, from September 9 through 11. This year there will be more than 100 sessions covering a wide variety of topics under the IBM Power Systems umbrella. The majority of sessions will be aimed at the traditional IBM i professionals, but COMMON is built to accommodate the multi-platform propellerheads who like a little AIX and Linux on their plates as well. Two all-day

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• IBS Bolsters Leadership Team With Four New Hires

  August 5, 2013 Alex Woodie

  International Business Systems, the ERP software company that was acquired for $35 million two years ago by Symphony Technology Group, gave its comeback some teeth last week when it announced it has filled four executive positions with extensive experience in the enterprise software business. The hiring binge includes Mohit Paul as vice president of EMA sales, Laura Fese as general counsel, Tim Conroy as general manager of the Americas, and Susie Andrews as vice president of global human resources. Paul, who joined IBS in June, will lead IBS’ sales efforts in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.

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• Judge Throws Out Half Of Maxava’s Lawsuit Against Vision

  August 5, 2013 Alex Woodie

  A federal judge has dismissed two of the four claims that Maxava brought against Vision Solutions and Sirius Computer Solutions. The judge threw out Maxava’s Lanham Act and trade libel claims, and left in place the claims related to violations of California’s unfair competition and false advertising laws. The start of the trial has also been pushed back to late October. On May 13, Judge George Wu granted the summary motion requests of Vision, Sirius, and Eva Succi to dismiss some or all of Maxava’s claims against them. Judge Wu elected to grant partial summary judgment in favor of

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• IBM i 7.2 Sighted At The iDoctor

  August 5, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  We all know that the next update to the IBM i operating system, release 7.2, is coming to market sometime in 2014. But it may be sooner than we think. Last week, on August 1, IBM updated its iDoctor for IBM i performance tools, which are used to collect and analyze performance data on Power Systems machines running the grandchild of the venerable OS/400 operating system. And check it out: This is the first sighting of IBM i 7.2, which is called V7R2M0 in the old-style, OS/400 naming convention inside of the iDoctor tool. By the way, if you don’t

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• Modern RPG Tops List of Essential Skills

  August 5, 2013 Dan Burger

  For the past six weeks, IT Jungle has encouraged readers to take a brief survey that would measure the boundaries and intensity of the IBM i skills shortage. Jim Buck, the tenacious outrider for IBM i education, is monitoring the survey responses and last week he emailed me to report the number of IBM midrange shops participating in the survey now totals 111. He also provided some indicators of areas of widespread concern. At the top of the most wanted list was advanced RPG skills. You might think that with so many RPG programmers in the IBM i community, and

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• IBM Names New GMs For Power Systems And System z

  August 5, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Back in May, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty switched the roles of her chief strategist and the head of Systems and Technology Group, and the changes are now rippling through the various IBM server divisions. As The Four Hundred previously reported, Tom Rosamilia and Rod Adkins switched desks. Adkins had been running Systems and Technology Group for the past couple of years, and Rosamilia, who used to work for Adkins as general manager of the System z business and then the additional Power Systems business unit within Systems and Technology Group, was tapped by Rometty to be vice president of corporate

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• As I See It: Hot Fun In The Summertime

  August 5, 2013 Victor Rozek

  Ah, summer! The weekends are yours and they’re finally worth having. Guys are manning their BBQs, watchful as captains at the helm, and the siren scent of burning meat is wafting across the land. Coolers stand packed with iced beer, shoes give way to flip-flops, and the couch competes for lounging time with the patio furniture. The travails of the workplace fade until they become little more than necessary annoyances that put meat on the grill. Women often mistakenly believe that summer is the time to tackle that long list of home improvement projects put off since the Pleistocene. But

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