• Tech Refreshes Bring SQL-Based Services Galore For IBM i and Db2

  October 16, 2023 Alex Woodie

  With the latest Technology Refreshes, IBM unleashed another round of new and updated IBM i Services aimed simplifying life for administrators, developers, and other IBM i professionals. The company also refreshed its slate of Db2 for i Services.

  Over the past decade, IBM has been busy rejiggering how users interact with core components of the operating system. Instead of issuing traditional CL commands or working with low-level APIs, users can tap into new SQL-based IBM i services via Access Client Solutions (ACS) to accomplish the same tasks.

  Db2 for i Database Architect Scott Forstie and his team have created hundreds …

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• IBM i at 35: A Walk Down Memory Lane

  April 26, 2023 Alex Woodie

  You may have heard that the IBM midrange platform is turning 35 this year. IBM has a number of events planned in honor of that milestone, culminating with a big birthday bash on June 21. IBM execs gave us a sneak peak of the festivities to come at this week’s POWERUp show in Denver, as well as a technical look back at exactly how we got here.

  The day the AS/400 launched in 1988 was notable for several reasons. IBM i CTO Steve Will, who was just starting his distinguished engineering career at IBM, recalls lots of excitement in the …

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• What the Spring 2023 TR Brings Db2 for i

  April 26, 2023 Alex Woodie

  As the beating heart of the IBM i platform, the Db2 for i database received its share of attending from Rochester for the Spring 2023 Technology Refresh. Among the goodness becoming available next week are enhancements to the database proper as well as a gaggle of new and improved IBM i services.

  One database enhancement common to both IBM i 7.5 TR2 and 7.4 TR8 is an improvement to SQL-based Web services using specific data types. The database and its SQL dialect already supported working with character large object (CLOBs) from the SQL HTTP REST functions, and provided commands for …

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• IBM Publishes Power10 Performance Optimize Guide

  December 7, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops looking to squeeze the most performance out of their Power10 servers have a lot of options available at their disposal. IBM covers many, if not all, of them in its latest performance paper, titled “IBM Power10 performance optimization for IBM i,” which it released last week.

  The Power10 is the most powerful processor IBM ever built. Compared to the Power9 processor, the Power10 delivers 20 percent to 30 percent higher performance per core. And with 25 percent more cores per socket, that means oodles of more processing power to do useful work.

  At a system level, the …

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• IBM Unveils Fall 2022 Tech Refreshes for IBM i

  October 12, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM yesterday announced Technology Refreshes for its two most current IBM i operating systems, including 7.5 and 7.4. Security continues to be a big driver of new functionality with 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7. But the fall TRs bring a bevy of enhancements across all areas, including the database, IBM i services, open source, application development, and analytics, among others.

  Security has been the number one concern for CIOs for a few years now, and IBM has responded with a number of new features in IBM i. Some of the new security features exist in IBM i Navigator, the GUI …

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• IBM i Community Reacts to IBM i 7.5

  May 11, 2022 Alex Woodie

  With the first new version of IBM i in over three years, IBM has certainly captured the attention of the IBM i community. But what do users think of the new release? What’s catching their eyes? We queried a few members of the community to find out.

  IBM Merlin, a new licensed product that stands for Modernization Engine for Lifecycle Integration, appeared to capture the bulk of the initial attention around the launch of IBM i 7.5.

  Consisting of VS Code IDE, DevOps and CI/CD software from Git and Jenkins, and IBM i-native tools from ARCAD Software — all …

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• Database And Developer Enhancements In IBM i 7.5 And 7.4 TR6

  May 9, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM has made a number of enhancements to the Db2 for i database with the launch of IBM i 7.5, which becomes generally available tomorrow. It also is bringing new features for developers, including changes to Integrated Web Services (IWS), which will improve REST integration.

  Most of the new features added to Db2 for i are only available in IBM i 7.5, which will give users a reason to adopt it. However, there are a few enhancements added in IBM i 7.4 Technology Release 6, which doesn’t ship until May 24.

  As we previously reported, IBM i 7.5 expands …

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• Query Supervisor Gives Database Engineers New Power

  April 14, 2021 Alex Woodie

  One of the most exciting new features in the upcoming releases of IBM i 7.4 Technology Release (TR4) and 7.3 TR10 is the Query Supervisor. We recently caught up with Scott Forstie, IBM’s Db2 for i business architect, who gave us the low down on the new tech for controlling the database.

  Forstie told IT Jungle said that the Query Supervisor was the biggest new feature added to Db2 for i with IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10, which IBM announced yesterday (see “IBM Unveils Spring 2021 Batch of TRs” for more news about the TRs).

  So, …

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• Big Blue Unveils Spring 2021 IBM i Technology Refreshes

  April 12, 2021 Alex Woodie

  IBM tomorrow will announce the latest round of Technology Refreshes (TRs) for the current versions of the operating systems. With IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10, IBM is focusing its efforts on extending automation across various components of the operating system, including the database, security, and high availability. But a surprise also awaits IBM i enthusiasts who are visually inclined.

  IBM gave IT Jungle a preview of the announcements that will go public tomorrow, and (very kindly) gave us permission to cover them in today’s issue of The Four Hundred. That means that the announcement materials will not …

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• IBM i 7.2 End Dates Revealed as Power7 Shutdown Looms

  September 18, 2019 Alex Woodie

  IBM surprised nobody last week when it announced that it will stop selling IBM i 7.2 next April and cease supporting the operating system a year later. The lead time should give IBM i shops plenty of runway to prepare their upgrade strategies and transition to newer versions of the operating system. A potentially more impactful deadline for those not paying close attention is the end of hardware support for Power7 boxes in less than two weeks.

  Last week’s announcement of end of sales and support for IBM i 7.2 and related software products was not unexpected. That’s because IBM …

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