• Technology Drives More OS Upgrades Than Deadline Pressures

  June 10, 2013 Dan Burger

  It is not like the just-opened valve on a fire hydrant, but the number of OS upgrades from i5/OS V5R4 to IBM i 6.1 and 7.1 is a steady stream of activity. Up at the enterprise level of the IBM midrange, this is old news. It’s unlikely any of those shops are still sitting on i5/OS V5R4. But in the small to midsize businesses, the OS upgrade activity buzzes along like tree cutters turned loose on 500 acres of forest. Technology marches on, finally. There has been a lot of talk about the end of tech support for i5/OS V5R4

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• IBM Rolls Out PureFlex-IBM i Bundle With Decent Discounts

  June 10, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The Edge 2013 conference for IBM customers and partners with a bend toward big data and cloud is under way in Las Vegas this week, but the Power Systems platform running the IBM i is getting some action with a special discounted bundle of hardware, software, and services that will make it less costly and easier for IBM i shops to move to PureFlex modular systems. I caught wind two weeks ago that there was a special deal coming for IBM i customers running their workloads on Flex System iron, and this turns out to be the case. This deal

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• Admin Alert: Renewing A Default *System Certificate

  June 5, 2013 Joe Hertvik

  In an earlier column, I described how to solve problems when loading digital certificates into your IBM i Digital Certificate Manager (DCM). This week, I’ll review another DCM problem where the default certificate in the system certificate store (*SYSTEM) expires, and the system starts refusing connections from clients that use digital certificates. This week, let’s examine what happens when a *SYSTEM default certificate expires and how to renew that certificate in DCM. Getting The Terminology Correct To untangle what’s happening here, let’s first look at some terminology regarding your partition’s DCM. A system certificate store, designated by *SYSTEM in DCM,

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• Conditional SQL I/O

  June 5, 2013 Ted Holt

  If an RPG programmer has a best friend, it may very well be the CHAIN opcode, which performs a random read on a keyed database file. It’s common programming practice in information-processing shops to read one file sequentially and to chain to read a host of others randomly. SQL handles this sort of thing differently. With SQL, joining is the proper way to retrieve data from two or more tables and/or views. The difference is even more pronounced when some of the random processing may or may not take place. Suppose you’re responsible for a database that contains customer orders.

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• When Is A Source Member Not A Source Member?

  June 5, 2013 Susan Gantner

  I do my coding using Rational Developer for Power Systems (a.k.a. RDP). Most of the time, I open the source code in the editor in RDP much like SEU users would, in the sense that I open my source directly from a member in a source file in a library on IBM i. When I save from the RDP editor, the source is saved back to that same member. Below is a picture of what my screen looks like when I’m working with RDP as described above. Note the highlighted library, source files, and members in the “Remote Systems” view

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• TMW Delivers Web Interface for IBM i Trucking App

  June 4, 2013 Alex Woodie

  TMW Systems is now giving users of the Innovative IES trucking application the option of accessing the application through a Web browser. The new Web Edition of the IBM i application should bolster usability, especially for new users, and also provide access from smartphones and tablets. Innovative IES–Web Edition enables users to access the entire dispatching and fleet management application and all its functionality from a GUI delivered in a Web browser. This release supports three browsers, including IE, Firefox, and Chrome, including those browsers running on mobile devices. The new Web interface should make it easier for new users

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• Construction Firm Happy with eCMS 4.0 and IBM i System

  June 4, 2013 Alex Woodie

  Rudolph/Libbe, a full-service general contractor serving the entire country, has a platform it can build from now that it has completed an upgrade to eCMS 4.0, the current release of the IBM i-based construction management system developed by Computer Guidance Corp. Based in Walbridge, Ohio, Rudolph/Libbe is one of the largest construction firms in the country. The company provides a wide range of construction, maintenance, and facility-related services to organizations across the country. In 1996, Rudolph/Libbe and its sister company GEM, a specialty contractor, became Computer Guidance customers and adopted its CMS. About a decade ago, the companies upgraded to

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• Google and Amazon: Your New Friendly Neighborhood Industrial Parts Suppliers

  June 4, 2013 Alex Woodie

  Small and midsize distributors in the U.S. have a lot to worry about. Now they have even more, thanks to the new business-to-business (B2B) supplier operations recently launched by Internet juggernauts Amazon and Google. The services, both of which are in beta, could provide another sales channel for wholesale distributors–or they could become direct competitors. Amazon claims to have more than 750,000 items available on its AmazonSupply website, which evolved from its SmallParts.com website and launched in 2012. Everything from air cylinders to zinc latches can be found here, which Amazon dubs “the Store for Business and Industry.” AmazonSupply

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• Accellion Debuts Mobile Printing Solution

  June 4, 2013 Alex Woodie

  Accellion, a provider of mobile file transfer solutions, recently unveiled apps for iOS and Android that allow users to print directly from their smartphones. The offerings are based on Ricoh HotSpot Enterprise software, which debuted last year. Smartphones and tablets are changing the way people work. However, when it comes to connecting to printers and printing documents, they fall short of the PCs that they are in some ways replacing. Ricoh debuted its HotSpot Enterprise solution in December to get around this inconvenience. HotSpot Enterprise enables users to print directly from a mobile device to a printer or multi-function

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• VAULT400 to Protect Food Service Company

  June 4, 2013 Alex Woodie

  Reinhart Foodservice, the largest independently owned food service distributor in the United States, has tapped United Computer Group to provide cloud backup and disaster recovery services for its IBM i environment. The company is using UCG’s VAULT400 solution to help minimize downtime of its critical IBM i applications. Reinhart Foodservice (RFS) provides fresh produce, proteins, ingredients, supplies, and equipment to customers in 45 states. The company operates 30 warehouses around the country, and serves the East, South, and Midwest of the country through its own fleet of trucks. RFS worked with North American Systems International, a value added reseller

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