• As Data Security Deteriorates, Reconsider Your Exposure

  March 22, 2021 Alex Woodie

  The shift towards digitalization wrought by COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns has given new life to cybercriminals, who are exploiting the changes in computer access patterns to steal data and enrich themselves. For IBM i shops, the time to lock down vulnerable endpoints in the system-of-record was yesterday.

  If you’re not feeling a sense of urgency about the data security situation, then you’re not paying attention. Since the start of the year, numerous reports from security professionals have alerted the IT community to new and evolved dangers that are lurking online.

  Consider a report due this week from SlashNext Threat …

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• Long-Term Impacts of COVID-19 Predicted for IBM i Shops

  March 17, 2021 Alex Woodie

  The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic lockdown will have a long-term impact on how IBM i shops operate, a panel of experts said during the IBM i Futures Conference yesterday. From being innovative and agile to the importance of security and disaster recovery, there are lessons to learn across the board.

  It’s been exactly a year since governments around the world instituted severe lockdowns to, ostensibly, stop the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The lockdowns have come, gone, and come again in many parts of the world, injecting a level of uncertainty into our work lives …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, March 10

  March 10, 2021 Jenny Thomas

  The plan is on the table. IBM has released its annual report, which is accompanied by a letter from CEO Arvind Krishna expressing his confidence in IBM’s future as a hybrid cloud and AI platform company. Of course, this plan isn’t a surprise as we have monitored IBM’s laser focus on the hybrid cloud that has intensified since Krishna took the help almost one year ago, but there is lots of interesting information about IBM’s the path IBM is paving and the strategies to get where it wants to go that you can access from the link in the Top …

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• IBM i Groups Cautiously Adding In-Person Events To Schedules

  February 8, 2021 Alex Woodie

  Nearly one year after the novel coronavirus reared its nasty head in the United States, shutting down large swaths of the economy and forcing hundreds of millions of people to shelter at home, there is the hint of a glimpse of a ray of sunshine: The possible return of in-person events in the IBM i community. Maybe, anyway. Or maybe not.

  While nothing is certain in these unprecedented, topsy-turvy times, it appears that several IBM i groups are planning to host physical events where actual humans will be allowed to congregate with other humans for the purpose of learning about …

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• 2021 Predictions for IBM i, Part 1

  January 13, 2021 Alex Woodie

  With an eventful 2020 thankfully in the rearview mirror, it’s time to start thinking about what 2021 might have in store for us. The IBM i community, like most of the world, could use a little bit of hope at the moment. We asked IBM i community leaders to deliver predictions, and they responded.

  Liam Allan, who is a consultant at Seiden Group and the creator of ILE Editor, has a couple of predictions for IT Jungle.

  “My focus is mainly software. I do still predict Node.js gaining traction on IBM i,” Allan writes. “The tooling is really …

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• COMMON Launches Focus, A Live Educational Series

  December 9, 2020 Alex Woodie

  COMMON yesterday kicked off the latest virtual event during this social distanced year of COVID-19. Focus is a series of half-day workshops on IBM i topics that is taking place through December 17. It’s a live event, which is good, but best of all, it’s free — as long as you are a current COMMON member.

  Focus consists of 18 half-day sessions across eight topic areas that are taking place this week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and the same days next week. The sessions, which kick off each day at 1 p.m. CT, are presented live by real live IBM …

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• How The Latest TRs Bolster The Core IBM i OS

  October 7, 2020 Alex Woodie

  Yesterday was Technology Refresh (TR) day for IBM and its IBM i operating system, and Big Blue didn’t disappoint. The company unveiled new releases of IBM i 7.4 and 7.3 that bring a slew of new capabilities to the core operating system as well as surrounding offerings like Db2 Mirror, ACS, and RDi. In this article, we’ll look at enhancements to the core OS and related key features.

  During a COMMON webcast Tuesday, IBM i Chief Architect Steve Will touched broadly on a number of enhancements that soon will be available in the TRs. Most of the new capabilities will …

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• IBM i Tries On a Red Hat

  September 30, 2020 Alex Woodie

  When IBM initiated its $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat in 2018, it was done to prepare Big Blue for the coming wave of innovation around things like containers, AI, clouds, and next-gen workloads. It was generally understood that most of the benefits would accrue in the X86 space. But apparently the plan called for sizable doses of IBM i, AIX, and mainframe, too.

  Last week at COMMON’s virtual POWERUp conference, IBM’s Joe Cropper, who works in Power development and holds the title IBM Master Inventor, laid out how the Red Hat acquisition will benefit IBM i and …

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• POWERUp Delivers A Virtual Shot in the IBM i Arm

  September 21, 2020 Alex Woodie

  The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused COMMON to cancel its in-person conference – twice – but it couldn’t stop the group from bringing the IBM i community closer together. Thanks to modern video conferencing technology and the last-minute efforts of volunteers and staff members, COMMON pulled off what may be the group’s most unique annual meeting in its 60-year history.

  COMMON president Larry Bolhuis certainly earned his keep as the head of the national IBM i user group during the tumultuous past six months. The leader, who doesn’t actually get paid for his work with the Chicago, Illinois-based organization, helped …

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• A Guide To This Week’s Virtual POWERUp 2020

  September 14, 2020 Alex Woodie

  Sidelined by the COVID-19 epidemic, POWERUp 2020 takes flight today as a virtual conference. COMMON, which is celebrating its 60th birthday this year, has put together hundreds of sessions over the next four days to help its IBM i user base get the latest out of IBM technology. And with many sessions taking place live, there will be lots of chances to go one-on-one.

  In a typical year, POWERUp would be the biggest event on the IBM i schedule, a place to meet a thousand of your closest IBM i friends and get up-to-speed with the latest tech from IBM …

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