Four Hundred Monitor, September 20

September 20, 2017 Dan Burger

Last time I checked, the SAP on IBM i community was not greatly enamored with the idea of adopting HANA, the SAP in-memory database. You would get a different idea after reading the pro-HANA article in IBM’s in-house magazine. Although SAP markets HANA for business intelligence workloads, it has also repeatedly stated that its goal is to eventually replace all underlying relational databases. Some SAP on i shops are not ready for that.

Also in Monitor this week: IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty condemns the fear-mongering that stalks artificial intelligence; predicting the future of IT based on current spending trends; and how digital disruption affects the evaluation of current IT systems.

Top Stories From Outside The Jungle

(IBM Systems Magazine) IBM is promoting the idea of running SAP HANA alongside virtual machines running IBM i, AIX, or Linux on Power. The stated reasons include functionality only available from applications supported by SAP HANA, in-memory database functionality, or for some of the associated analytics and industry-vertical solutions. Even companies with significant custom code running on stable systems need to consider the SAP HANA option, IBM says.

(Bloomberg) “There’s so much fear-mongering around what AI is,” IBM Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty said in an interview at Bloomberg’s recent Sooner Than You Think conference. “When it comes to complete job replacement, it will be a very small percentage; when it comes to changing a job and what you do, it’ll be 100 percent.” She reiterated her view that education has to be “fundamentally revamped” in this country for “the era of man and machine.”

(InformationWeek) IT spending patterns make it clear that we are in a software and cloud-based world. In almost every IT spending forecast for 2017, you’ll find two areas where businesses are spending: software and cloud computing. What once was an industry defined by purpose-built hardware is now driven by software alone.

(CBR) Systems that take years to implement and become difficult to rip and replace need to become extinct. Being truly agile is the only way companies can survive as all industries experience digital disruption. Evaluate systems and that may mean keeping elements and layering other capabilities that bring new benefits such as modern and engaging interfaces, more efficiencies, and data insights.

Redbooks, White Papers, and Other Resources

(ProData) The need for cross-platform access to remote databases from all IBM i is an integral part of the strategy to increase productivity and implement real time processing in a distributed database environment. This paper explains how RPG, CL and COBOL applications can access remote databases using record-level access.

(Linoma Software) Many organizations don’t have a secure and efficient way to handle data transfers. This survey calculates the savings from creating and managing file transfer processes based on interviews with customers using Linoma’s managed file transfer software.

(IBM) IBM i Access Client Solutions consolidates the most commonly used tasks for managing an IBM i environment into one simplified location. This website includes information on the features, a video intro to the product, and a download of the base package.

(IBM developerWorks) The IBM Rational Developer for i Hub is a place for the RDi community to mingle and discuss all things RDi. It also provides a library of useful RDi information and resources.

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

September 20 — Markham, Ontario, Canada – Thibault Dambrine–an IT professional working out of Calgary, Alberta. His IBM i systems experience spans retail, ERP, telecom billing, data warehousing and data conversions. The presentations he will deliver are rooted in lived-in experience–is the guest speaker at the Toronto User Group meeting. We will present two sessions. At 5 p.m. he shares his knowledge on SQL joins and aggregate functions. At 7 p.m., he provides insights on data conversion methods. Between the two sessions is a buffet dinner and networking. The meeting location is the Monte Carlo Inn & Suites Downtown Markham.

September 21 — Burlington, Vermont – The Vermont Midrange User Group will host its 13th Annual Technical Conference from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The list of speakers includes Alison Butterill, offering manager for IBM i; Doug Mack, DB2 for i consultant for IBM Lab Services; Aaron Bartell, director of IBM i innovation for Krengeltech; and Paul Tuohy, CEO of Comcon. A conference registration discount is available through August 28. The event will take place at the DoubleTree Burlington hotel.

September 25 — Webinar – Steve Will, Pete Massiello and Trevor Perry discuss the top concerns of IT executives running mission-critical applications on IBM i. Topics on the agenda include leveraging existing applications to meet evolving business needs, total cost of ownership of IBM i compared to other systems, the value of modernizing applications instead of replacing them, and overcoming development challenges that keep older applications and older versions of the operating system in place. This session begins at 1 p.m. Central Time. Bring someone who is unfamiliar with IBM i.

September 27-29 — Virginia Beach, Virginia -The Mid-Atlantic Group of IBM i Collaborators (MAGIC) IBM i User Conference is a three-day event with sessions and hands-on labs and is highlighted by three presentations by IBM i Chief Architect Steve Will. Topics for the lab sessions include PHP, .NET, RDi, Git, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. A complete list of all sessions, speakers and vendors is available online. MAGIC supports the IBM i users in the Mid-Atlantic area: Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC, and Eastern Pennsylvania. Registration is $320 for MAGIC members and $400 for non-members.

September 27 — Westbury, New York – Scott Forstie, the DB2 for i Business Architect, will be the guest speaker at the Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting. Forstie will present three sessions on SQL: SQL Views for Dummies at 3:30 p.m., SQL for the Security Officer at 5 p.m., and DB2 for i Tools at 8 p.m. In between sessions two and three, there will be time for networking, cocktails, and dinner. LISUG meetings are held at the Westbury Manor located at 1100 Jericho Turnpike.

September 27 – North Attleboro, Massachusetts – NoSQL data and the IBM i platform will be the featured topic at the monthly meeting of the New England Midrange Users Group. Guest speaker is Jim Mason, senior product architect for DMX Web Platform. His discussion will include the distinctions between relational data and NoSQL data and when to use NoSQL. The meeting begins at 5:15 p.m. at the Red Stone Grill located at 120 Chestnut Street.

October 2-4 — St. Louis, Missouri – The COMMON Fall Conference features technical sessions, workshops, certifications, networking opportunities, and a vendor expo. The session grid and speaker lineup has yet to be posted, but you can expect a mix of fundamental skills and new technologies. An early registration discount is available and hotel reservations can be made.

October 16-17 — Minneapolis, Minnesota – The CIO Summit, an event focused on exploring ways to leverage IBM i investments, is open to a limited number of CIOs. Topics of discussion include common challenges faced by IBM i CIOs and IT directors, managing new technology, evaluating the cloud, hiring the right skills, delivering enhancements, and completing integrations and new applications on time and on budget. Requests for invitations are being handled online.

October 17-19 — Minneapolis, Minnesota – The twice-a-year, spring and fall, RPG & DB2 Summit returns to the upper Midwest for its next technical conference with an agenda that expands to cover new topics such as Python for RPGers, how to bring the power of Watson to RPG applications, and SQL aggregation. It also incorporates sessions that will introduce hidden gems in DB2 for i as well as anticipated Q4 2017 updates to the database. In addition to the three-day Summit, an optional fourth day of hands-on workshops October 16, provides intensive education into four technology areas — SQL, RSE/RDi, Service Programs or PHP. Workshop attendees choose one topic for the “deep dive.” An early registration discount is available through August 31.

October 16-20 — New Orleans, Louisiana – The IBM Power Systems and Storage Technical University agenda will include more than 600 technical sessions delivered by top IBM developers and experts. Topic areas include IBM i, AIX, Linux on Power, Open Power, Power hardware and software, and storage. Sessions and demos are geared to all skill levels. Take advantage of networking opportunities to connect with product developers and industry leaders and join in discussions on real-world IT challenges and successes

October 21 — Costa Mesa, California – IBM i expert and educator, Jim Buck, will lead this workshop on developing an SQL/Service program using free form RPG and RDi. This combined lecture and lab will demonstrate how to take a traditional subfile program and convert the disk I/O to SQL then move the database I/O to a service program. Learning objectives include the utilization of the RDi screen designer, use of free format RPG, use of SQL in an RPG service program, and use of subprocedures, modules and service programs in modern RPG applications. The fee for this one day of training is $50 for OCEAN user group members and $75 for non-members. It includes continental breakfast, lunch, and end-of-session hors d’oeuvres.

October 23–26 — Las Vegas, Nevada – ZendCon offers authoritative sessions, in-depth technical tutorials, exhibit hall activities, and informal opportunities to spotlight the best in enterprise PHP and open source development, focusing on the latest for PHP 7, the evolution of frameworks and tools, API excellence, and innovations on many open source technologies related to the web. It includes a track specifically for IBM i development.

October 24 — Mississauga, Ontario, Canada – A one-day workshop on modernizing RPG applications will be presented RPG subject matter expert Paul Tuohy. This workshop will focus on modern programming practices and tools that can transform old monolithic RPG applications into a modern, modularized form that makes them useful in the years ahead. During this session, attendees will take a sample application and follow it through the conversion process from RPG/400 (basic RPG IV) to RPG IV and ILE features, modularizing the code, adding DB2 UDB features and replacing the green screen with a graphical or browser-based interface. Registration is $249 for Toronto User Group members and $299 for non-members.