• Lawson S3 Now an Infor10 Product

  December 13, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Lawson Software‘s S3 line of ERP software is now officially an Infor10 product, the company announced last week. The announcement is important because it gives S3 customers access to a range of add-on products from Infor, including the Microsoft Office-based Workspace interface, new mobile apps, and other Infor enterprise apps. Infor rolled out its new Infor10 brand late this summer as part of a company-wide overhaul in how it positions and markets its software. The moniker is significant because it indicates which of Infor’s products will receive the best treatment and be the strategic Infor products going forward.

  … Read more

• Oracle Delivers Massive Update to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

  December 13, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Oracle last week released new technological underpinnings for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne. The tech giant says the large number of new features in EnterpriseOne Tools 9.1–including a new GUI, reporting enhancements, administration improvements, new high availability features, and a new SQL Alter Table function–makes it the largest EnterpriseOne release since it acquired the software. Seeing is believing and nothing impacts the way users view the applications they use like the quality and ease-of-use of its user interface. To that end, Oracle delivered a new Web browser-based GUI with Tools 9.1 that it claims will enhance the user experience and increase productivity.

  … Read more

• Databeam Eases Custom IBM i Development with V2.0

  December 13, 2011 Alex Woodie

  Custom development on the IBM i platform can be an expensive proposition. For an organization with established RPG coders, it may not be a big deal to make changes, but hiring a consultant to customize an application can be cost-prohibitive for a small or medium-sized business. One software vendor that’s trying to take the cost and complexity out of IBM i development is Databeam, which recently shipped version 2.0 of its Databeam suite. Astute IT Jungle readers will remember Databeam from earlier this year, when we covered the introduction of Databeam by the IBM i database experts at

  … Read more

• Fireworks Company Retakes Control of its POS System

  December 13, 2011 Alex Woodie

  A new point-of-sale (POS) system from VAI is paying big dividends for BJ Alan Company, a national fireworks chain that operates from more than 1,000 locations. By canceling its POS outsourcing deal and bringing the operation and management of the new POS system in house, BJ Alan was able to cut costs, eliminate manual data entry, and gain access to real-time sales data that helps them make better business decisions. Founded in 1977, BJ Alan is one of the largest distributors and retailers of fireworks in the United States. The company sells its private-label line of Phantom Wolfpack fireworks through

  … Read more

• Lowly Fax Still Essential to Business, Study Says

  December 13, 2011 Alex Woodie

  You can add one more item to the list of man’s creations that were supposed to have died out by now but hasn’t: the fax machine. When it was first invented, 168 years ago (no that’s not a misprint), the fax revolutionized the way we viewed documents. Today, despite the growing use of unified communications (UC) over IP networks, the lowly fax machine is used daily by an estimated 40 percent of workers at small and medium sized businesses, according to a recent Intel study. When the Scottish inventor Alexander Bain received the first patent for a chemical mechanical fax

  … Read more

• Windows, Linux Big Server Sellers In Q3

  December 12, 2011 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Last week, The Four Hundred reported on the quarterly server sales and shipments presented by Gartner, and this week we get a second opinion on the market from IDC, which looks at the system racket a little bit differently from its box counting peer. Gartner measures server sales each quarter as they are peddled to users from either the vendors directly or their reseller channels, while IDC looks only at the factory revenue at the manufacturer level. And each presents, to the public at least, a slightly different set of dicing and slicing of products by operating system,

  … Read more

• Michigan PHP Program Progressing Nicely

  December 12, 2011 Dan Burger

  The inventive PHP training project at the Southeast Michigan iSeries User Group (SEMiUG), reported in this newsletter in September, is nearly completed according to SEMiUG president Laura Ubelhor. The idea for the training project began with Ubelhor, who saw a great learning opportunity for local user group members by enlisting the support of a nearby company where the PHP programming could be put into use. Not quite two months ago, 28 members of the local user group signed up to participate in this project and four teams were created. Ubelhor took the role of project manager and DEXTECH, an

  … Read more

• IBM Bolsters ‘Smarter’ Initiatives with Two Software Acquisitions

  December 12, 2011 Alex Woodie

  IBM last week announced plans to acquire two software companies, including DemandTec, a provider of software that helps retailers make pricing, promotion, and assortment decisions, and Cúram Software, which makes software used by governments to streamline the delivery and administration of social services. IBM exited the ERP space years ago and has since professed an aversion to getting back into the core business application space, which it insists it is leaving to its business partners. On its IBM i server platform, for example, IBM partners with dozens of ISVs, like Infor, SAP, JDA Software, Manhattan

  … Read more

• Reader Feedback On Blade Servers Barely Nick IBM i Market

  December 12, 2011 Hey, Dan

  Good article. I agree with the complexity from an i-perspective, and liked your detailed analysis. I would like to add another point. I think blades in general are at an awkward junction. I work at a large Intel shop right now, with a mix of Windows (Windows 2000, Windows 2003, and Windows 2008 server) as well as Red Hat Linux (4.X thru 6). Several years ago they started moving from a standard rack mount to blade configuration. A funny thing happened on the journey. It’s called virtualization. Long story short, VM’ing everything has minimalized the need for blades. Instead, you

  … Read more

• Happy Holidays And the PM 2011 Edition Fruitcake Recipe

  December 12, 2011 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The strange brews have been concocted. The three dozen fruitcakes of various sizes have been baked, soaked in bourbon, wine, and cognac, and wrapped up in fondant, waiting to be shipped. Some of the Christmas shopping has been done, but there’s still more to go and not a lot of time. The holiday meal menu is being pondered and tweaked. And now is the time for the good people at IT Jungle to take a well-deserved break from the rat race that is the news business. As it has been for several decades now, it is my great

  … Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles