• RODIN Admitted to IBM i Solution Edition Program

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Thinking of running a data warehouse on the IBM i server? Then you may be interested by the news that RODIN, an IBM i-based extract, transform, and load (ETL) tool from Coglin Mill, has been accepted into IBM‘s IBM i Solution Edition program, thereby providing you big discounts when buying the software in conjunction with a new Power Systems server. ETL is one of those workloads that many IBM i shops don’t give a second thought to putting on an outboard Windows or Linux server. After all, many customers are using an ETL tool to suck data off

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• inFORM Decisions Signs South African Reseller

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  IBM i document management software vendor inFORM Decisions last week announced that it’s signed TEMBO Technology Lab (Pty) LT , a large South African IBM i server distributor, to be its agent in the region. TEMBO specializes in helping customers “unlock the value” in their existing systems through the use of modernization tools to develop new user interfaces. The company eschews the term “legacy” as it relates to the midrange platform and its applications, preferring instead the term “vintage.” Much of TEMBO’s IBM i modernization work is done using tools from its Australian partner, looksoftware. As inFORM’s new partner,

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• ‘No Stinkin’ Screen Scrapers’ Tour Launched by ASNA

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Don’t expect to see any screen scrapers during ASNA‘s “No Stinkin’ Screen Scrapers Here” tour, which began last week in sunny Florida. Screen scrapers? We don’t need no stinkin’ screen scrapers! That’s the rallying cry behind ASNA’s latest round of workshops, which explore the ways that its Wings modernization tool can spruce up older-looking IBM i apps constrained by those ugly, green 5250 interfaces. Almost everybody in the IBM i community loves to hate screen scrapers, a class of tool that quickly renders 5250 screens in as graphical interfaces. What screen scrapers gain an IBM i shop in speed,

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• m-Power Gets Preview Function, Multi-Language Support

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Developers who use mrc‘s m-Power tool will no longer have to compile their m-Power applications to see how their changes affect the application thanks to the new preview function that was added last month. The Chicago company also added a new feature that allows a single application to support multiple languages. m-Power now features a preview window that allows users to see their applications take shape during the build process. According to mrc, the preview window will provide invaluable feedback to the developers as they customize applications using the templates and wizards that are at the heart of m-Power.

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• Oracle Ships Smartphone Apps for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Oracle recently delivered three smartphone applications that extend its JD Edwards EnterpriseOne ERP suite in the areas of purchase order approvals, requisition requests, and sales reports. The applications run on Apple iOS, Google Android, and RIM Blackberry devices. However, the new apps require the WebLogic application server, so they aren’t supported by “Blue Stack” EnterpriseOne shops that run IBM WebSphere as part of their ERP infrastructure. The three JD Edwards EnterpriseOne mobile applications unveiled by Oracle in late January include Mobile Requisition Self Service Approval, Mobile Purchase Order Approval, and Mobile Sales Inquiry applications. The software is available now, and

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• IntelliChief to Deliver Tablet Interface for IBM i Content

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  The push to mobile is in high gear at the moment, and one of the latest IBM i software vendors to unveil a mobile solution is IntelliChief. In the next week or two, the developer expects to deliver IntelliChief Mobile, a new user interface that enables workers to use a tablet to view documents stored in their organization’s content management system. Not all IntelliChief features are supported yet, but the new interface will enable users to consume documents from anyplace with a network connection. IntelliChief Mobile is a pure HTML client that gives users access to their IntelliChief dashboard.

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• Infor Unveils Mobile Strategy, Ships 2 iOS Apps

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Up until now, Infor has been a no-show at the mobile party that has been occupying the IT universe since the iPhone launched five years ago. But the enterprise software giant jumped in with gusto last month when it unveiled its new mobile strategy, called Infor10 Motion. Only two mobile apps are available today, and they only run on the iPad. But according to an Infor official, the company’s mobile strategy is set to ramp up quickly. It’s hard to overstate the impact that mobile computing is having on the IT industry. Take Apple for example. After recording $26 billion

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• Surround Tech Plays Matchmaker, Hooks Up .NET Screens with IBM i Apps

  February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

  There’s a lot to love about the IBM i server. It’s extremely secure and reliable, and scales like the dickens. It’s even relatively affordable these days. But everybody hates those clunky green-screen interfaces, which scream “I’m old and outdated.” One vendor that’s developing modern interfaces that users will truly love is Surround Technologies. The company recently updated its collection of Accelerator tools, which marry the best of Microsoft .NET user interface technologies with IBM‘s foremost business server. There’s no question that it can be very difficult at times to be an IBM i professional, especially when your organization

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• Peripherals I Want For IBM i Boxes: Cheap SATA SSDs

  February 13, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Let me make this as simple as I can: Any neat new storage or peripheral gadget I see being announced for System x rack or tower servers, I want to see available in Power Systems machines supporting the IBM i operating system. No ifs, ands, or buts. Here’s a case in point. In announcement letter 112-013 last week, IBM announced new solid state disks based on multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory and sporting 6 Gb/sec SATA interfaces. These SSDs came in 128 GB and 256 GB capacities and in 2.5-inch form factors. They burn somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5

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• IBM RackSwitch 10 GE Switch Does Cheaper Copper Wiring

  February 13, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The first 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches came out in 2002, and for many years they were just the high-speed backbones that service providers and network operators installed as trunk lines between gear. But here we are a decade later, and 2012 is expected to be a transition year for 10 GE networking, where ports first start appearing on system boards and switches get cheap enough for 10 GE gear to go mainstream. The only problem, however, is that even as switches and server ports get cheaper, and the benefits of running converged server and storage traffic over a 10 GE

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