Dan Burger
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IBM To Resell VTLs With Better Fit Than ProtecTIER
March 28, 2018 Dan Burger
IBM has added two virtual tape libraries designed for IBM i environments to its reseller list. The VTLs, produced by Dynamic Solutions International, are designed for companies utilizing deduplication for data storage in circumstances where data is rapidly expanding and data storage investments are being preserved. The VTLs are expected to fill a niche that IBM’s ProtecTIER appliances have been unable to serve.
As data storage requirements increase, storage modules can be added to existing solutions, which allows data storage to scale. Dynamic Solution International‘s model DSI425-D24 was designed for small and midsize IBM i environments, while the DSI420-EVD …
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Four Hundred Monitor, March 28
March 28, 2018 Dan Burger
The Monitor doesn’t often include videos in its “Top Stories From Outside The Jungle” section, but exceptions are made when videos are exceptional. This one, from the recent RPG & DB2 Summit, is in the category of balancing work and fun.
Last week, IBM hosted a conference it called “Think.” As you might expect, Watson was in the spotlight during many of the keynote addresses and sessions. Some of the reporters liked what they saw, and some were less than impressed. Also in Monitor this week are articles touting the benefit of agile development and warning of …
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Insurer Chooses IBM i Database Re-Engineering Over Migration
March 26, 2018 Dan Burger
How do you want your database designed for the future and what problems have you created in the past that need to be fixed before you can think about the future? Old databases, originally designed for a business environment that has changed and continues to change, are not compatible. You may not be feeling any pain today and you may have no plans to change your business/IT alignment in the future, but much of the technology-driven business world is changing, which at some point will leave you alone on an island with a boat but no motor and no paddle. …
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A Closer Look At Enhancements To Integrated Web Services
March 21, 2018 Dan Burger
Technology Refresh 8 for IBM i 7.2 and TR4 for IBM i 7.3 became available last week. One of the enhancements in this TR pertains to the Integrated Web Services (IWS), which Business Architect for IBM i Application Development Tim Rowe calls IWS “one of our most widely used pieces of software from an integrated perspective.”
Web services provide the capability to expose the database to outside developers via APIs and Web services. Although that thought brings a shiver down the spine of many developers who learned the proprietary ways of the AS/400, multi-platform integration is the modern development path. …
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Four Hundred Monitor, March 21
March 21, 2018 Dan Burger
RPG is in the palm of her hand. She’s Barbara Morris and she leads RPG development at IBM’s Toronto Labs. Her fingerprints are on all RPG enhancements, so if you are interested in the DATA-INTO feature that just became available, you can do no better than to hear about it from Barbara. Check inside Monitor for the link to her interview with Paul Tuohy.
Also inside is a link to an IBM i security quiz. Find out quickly what you do and don’t know. Then check out the articles on IBM’s new microcomputer and the market pressure to make AI …
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The IBM i Roadmap Leads To A Familiar Place
March 19, 2018 Dan Burger
Reeve Fritchman is working on project that he believes might tell the future of the IBM i. It’s a complex mainframe-to-IBM i migration. The core applications were written by an in-house team of developers, many who are still on the staff but on the verge of retirement. The hardware maintenance is expensive, and a hardware upgrade would be absurdly expensive. The bills from CA for automation software are staggering.
“The demise of the mainframe in small to medium size shops could be a precursor of what will happen in the AS/400 environment – fewer skilled workers, expensive, and better technology …
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Budget Relief For IBM i Monitoring Software
March 14, 2018 Dan Burger
Keeping it simple isn’t always so simple. But creating efficiency at a low cost without adding layers of complexity and extra features (often unused) is a product attribute that gets a lot of attention. A good example of this is Kisco Information Systems’ event monitoring software: iEventMonitor.
Kisco just released Release 3 of iEventMonitor, a tool that monitors prominent IBM i job and message queues plus storage and CPU. It sends out alerts when things go astray. Because of its simplicity the price of iEventMonitor R3 is just $495 for a single LPAR or $795 for an unlimited number of …
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Four Hundred Monitor, March 14
March 14, 2018 Dan Burger
What does your IT budget say about your organization? Are you a comfortable fit in the status quo or are you budgeting for the future knowing that status quo and a one-dollar bill won’t even get you a cup of coffee?
And if your vision of the IT future includes open source, start gathering information by reading articles linked to Monitor. This week we have advice on setting up an open source project office and a comparison of the top two containers for transporting applications between systems. IBM’s Watson CTO also talks about AI ethics and responsibility.
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Proprietary Innovation: An IBM i Ace In The Hole
March 12, 2018 Dan Burger
You may know a business executive who has been thrown off balance by the overwhelmingly positive reports of the superior technical advantages of startups compared to legacy businesses that have invested in modernizing or refactoring their existing systems. Well, consider that startup advantage to be a snowball in Phoenix. Organizations with the best opportunities to be powerful within their market segments are the ones that are smart about leveraging their data and increasing the skills of their employees.
Remember this term: proprietary innovation. Just when you thought proprietary and innovation would never appear in the same sentence, get ready to …
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Domino Users: Can You Hear Me Now?
March 7, 2018 Dan Burger
IBM Domino/Notes users finally seem to be getting attention. They’ve only been screaming and pounding on the wall for five or six years, so it’s about time they’re being heard. IBM pretty much forgot about them and things only got better since IBM handed over the development and marketing chores to a company called HCL Technologies. What a difference that made.
During a webcast last week, the tone was noticeably upbeat. Progress on the development side, investments on the financial side, and a passion for reviving a product line at the end of its rope were on display. There’s a …
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