• As I See It: Upgrade Exhaustion

  May 13, 2024 Victor Rozek

  Several decades ago I recall seeing a 60 Minutes episode about an arms transfer (or perhaps it was a sale) of state-of-the-art American fighter jets to Israel. The interviewer traveled to the Middle East to see how Israeli pilots were adapting to the latest in American military technology. After being assured that the jet performed as advertised, the interviewer looked into the cockpit and marveled at all the screens, dials, switches, and gadgetry confronting the pilot. A deluge of supposedly useful information was available to the pilot in real time. But the sheer volume of it seemed daunting. Curious about …

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• Gartner: IT Spending To Grow Faster Than Expected In 2024

  April 22, 2024 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The adoption of generative AI by enterprises and the acceleration of the rates of use of IT services from outside consultants to get stuff done is going to boost IT spending higher than expected this year, according to the prognosticators at Gartner.

  In terms of aggregate dollars, the effect if the latter is much larger than the former. The broad IT services category is now expected to account for $1,520 billion in spending worldwide this year, up 9.7 percent compared to last year and representing a $19 billion increase from the forecast that Gartner made in January. It will not …

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• Thoroughly Modern: Proceed With Caution With AI In The Landscape Of Cybersecurity

  April 8, 2024 Pauline Brazil Ayala

  In the fast-evolving realm of technological innovation, AI has emerged as one of the most compelling yet controversial advancements. Its potential spans industries, revolutionizing not only how data is processed but also how ideas are conceived.

  A recent study by PEW Research indicates that almost a quarter of employed Americans aged 30 to 49 have used ChatGPT for work, up from 8 percent last year. Its allure lies in automation; augmenting tasks like writing contracts and analyzing data with speed and efficiency that far surpass human limitations.

  However, with innovation comes the need for vigilance – particularly in the realm …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, February 7

  February 7, 2024 Jenny Thomas

  We finally flipped the page into February after the year that was January. (Did January seem extra long to anyone else?) While everyone seems to be proceeding with caution in the face of these uncertain economic times and world unrest, we are nonetheless proceeding. This week’s Top Stories continue to focus on AI and cybersecurity, and all things IBM, and that’s probably not going to change any time soon. We are also happy to see our calendar starting to fill back up, so be sure to take a look to see what learning opportunities have been added.

  Top Stories From

  …

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• New IBM Champion Class Grows Nearly 40 Percent

  January 29, 2024 Alex Woodie

  IBM unveiled a new crop of IBM Champions this month, and the first thing that stands out is the size of the 2024 IBM Champions class. Big Blue gave the honor to 1,155 individuals this year, a 38 percent increase over last year. Just about everyone who applied was named an IBM Champion, says Libby Ingrassia, the IBM program director, who also noted there was considerable overlap between IBM Champions and the new IBM Rising Champion Advocacy badge program.

  IBM launched its IBM Champions program back in 2008 as a way to boost the visibility of customers and business partners …

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• IBM i Job Outlook for 2024 Not Great, But Not All Bad Either

  January 17, 2024 Bob Langieri

  First, the good news: Salaries for IBM i and RPG developers and programmers continue to go up. Average salaries of new hires of senior developers in 2023 have been getting $120,000 to $130,000. I predict this going up 6 to 10 percent in 2024, to $127,000 to $143,000. Some with specialized skills will get 10 to 20 percent more.

  This is why it’s important to add to your skills. IBM i salaries still pale compared to other more popular platforms and skills. Hiring is still very slow in the IBM RPG world as companies are doing more with less! Hot …

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• IBM i Community Shares 2024 Predictions

  January 15, 2024 Alex Woodie

  Spaceship Earth has completed another trip around the Sun, which means one thing: Time for 2024 IBM i predictions! Hopefully you enjoy this year’s predictions, which seem to sport a good mixture of optimism and realism.

  The future for IBM i is wide open – open source, that is, says Liam Allan, the creator of Code for IBM i and a software developer for IBM i.

  “My prediction is pretty simple. Businesses will continue to invest in themselves through the power of open source,” Allan says. “Whether it be using dev tools, open source runtimes like Node.js, or even newer …

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• Thoroughly Modern: How IBM i Shops Can Navigate The AI Landscape In 2024

  January 15, 2024 Marc Hunter

  AI continues to have an influence on us in 2024, and beyond. Implementing AI in a tangible way will require IBM i leaders to navigate diverse problems, capabilities, opinions, and experiments. It will pave the way for evolving our strategies, and possibly even developing an entirely new set of approaches.

  Think of it in terms of making pizza: We have many recipes that make good pizza, we know what toppings work together, we know how much seasoning we need. When a revolutionary new ingredient is introduced, we need to reevaluate every recipe going forward – is this an ingredient that …

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• Profound Logic Explores AI Paths for IBM i

  August 23, 2023 Alex Woodie

  The burgeoning world of artificial intelligence may seem far away to IBM i shops, but in fact, the technology is quite accessible to the users. One vendor that’s helping to guide IBM i users through the growing AI jungle is Profound Logic.

  Profound Logic is best known as an application modernization vendor, and one that provides tools for developing Web and mobile interfaces for IBM i applications, as well as working with APIs on the platform.

  In a series of YouTube videos, Profound Logic co-founder and CEO Alex Roytman provides a rundown on the latest developments in the world …

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• Sticking To The Backroads On This Journey

  August 7, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Things are getting progressively weird in the computer business, and with lots of travel over the past two weeks up and down the East coast for vacation and for visiting family, I have had a lot of time to think about things. It’s so weird that I really don’t want to play the radio. I just want to keep us safe on the highways and have my thoughts. Parse a few things, suss them out, see how they might fit together and in what particular configuration.

  Because time is of the essence, I have been largely on the interstates, but …

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