Four Hundred Monitor, October 18
October 18, 2017 Dan Burger
It doesn’t take a detective to find the visual and behavioral clues that connect mainframe and IBM i professionals and their IT environments. There’s an aging workforce, a skills depletion, and a deepening concern about modernization. Author Don Denoncourt has been knee-deep (perhaps deeper) in both environments and he has some advice about steps that need to be taken. See the top story in Monitor this week.
Also in Monitor this week . . . taking a hard look at your IT deficiencies, finding IT leaders among C-level executives, and paying more attention to the future of mobile computing. Keep an eye on the Resources and Events sections, too.
Top Stories From Outside The Jungle
(InfoQ) Mainframes, retirements and rewrites. More than 80 percent of manufacturing, banking, and healthcare industries run on mainframes. The apps have been running for decades. Sounds familiar to IBM i advocates. Is there anything wrong with that?
(CIO) The rise of shadow IT, shortcomings in the cloud, security breaches — IT leadership is all about navigating hurdles and deficiencies, and learning to adapt to inevitable setbacks. It can be hard to admit that you’ve lost control over how your organization deploys technology, that your network is porous and that your code poorly written. The truth? Can you handle the truth?
(InformationWeek) The same reasons why IT leaders make good CEOs can be factors in how IT leaders can influence CEOs. Thriving in an ever-changing technical environment and the ability to adapt with ease are keys to success in IT and at the executive level. There are many business leaders clinging to old processes, procedures and technologies because they are either too complacent or too fearful to implement and adopt change that is necessary to compete today.
(ComputerWorld) Modern executives have a fiduciary responsibility to think long and hard about where the mobile revolution is taking us. The future of mobility is much bigger than the question of what features and functions the next smartphone will have. Moving forward, mobility will be a mindset, not a screen size or a specific technology stack. Humans are very tool-intensive, but not always tool-savvy.
Redbooks, White Papers, and Other Resources
(IBM developerWorks) IBM i shops can use Node-RED rapid prototyping to address customer expectations. Node-RED is one of new Web-based tools and platforms that have emerged for rapid development and prototyping. This article examines how to install it on IBM i.
(Fresche) If you are struggling to develop an IT strategy that addresses your backlogged projects and evolves your investment, here’s some useful advice.
(IBM) An overview of IBM i 7.3 TR3 includes enhanced analytics, new security capabilities, and other new functions in IBM i and associated licensed programs.
(IBM) An overview of IBM i 7.2 TR7 includes enhanced analytics, new security capabilities, and other new functions in IBM i and associated licensed programs.
(IBM) This document provides a basic understanding of IBM i on Power Systems performance concepts, workloads and benchmarks. It includes system sizing and capacity planning, performance tools, and Power8 and virtualization performance.
Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings
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 18 — North Attleboro, Massachusetts – Open source software and the perils and pitfalls of prepping native IBM i solutions for the open source distribution model will be the featured topic at the monthly meeting of the New England Midrange Users Group. Guest speaker is Christopher Burns, a specialist in application modernization and developer education. He is the driving force behind Inuendo–an open source project for data virtualization. The meeting begins at 5:15 at the Red Stone Grill located at 120 Chestnut Street.
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.
November 14 — Webinar – File transfers can be time consuming to write and maintain. This presentation will help solve connection issues with trading partners and ensure data is protected every step of the way. It also emphasizes the importance of keeping detailed logs of file transfer activity to meet today’s strict compliance requirements like PCI DSS and HIPAA. Topics for discussion include secure protocols, encryption, and moving files between IBM i and other servers. The session begins at 10 a.m. Central Time.
