Dan Burger
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Agilysys And IBM i Still A Gaming Industry Force
October 11, 2017 Dan Burger
It’s both legacy and legendary. In Las Vegas, the gaming capital of the world, the Lodging Management System (LMS) by Agilysys has been a fixture for decades in many of the largest casinos and resorts in the town with more than 150,000 hotel rooms. Like a three-day weekend in Sin City, the key to LMS is endurance. The gaming industry made LMS what it is today and to a large degree LMS made the gaming industry what it is today, at least with regard to what IT can do for a rapidly expanding business. And the combination of LMS and …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 11
October 11, 2017 Dan Burger
Prior to the latest Technology Refresh announcements, which were just released yesterday, Tim Rowe, business architect for application development and systems management for IBM i, reviewed what was added to Access Client Solutions earlier this year. He also commented on the partnership between IBM and HelpSystems that resulted in development work on several IBM products being farmed out to the IBM i software vendor.
Inside Monitor this week, you’ll also find articles pertaining to open source database trends, what’s holding back IT hiring, Java technology on IBM i, and IBM’s leading role in Blockchain advancements. The calendar of events has …
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RDi Jumps Aboard The TR Train
October 9, 2017 Dan Burger
What is it going to take to convince IBM i developers that RDi, a modern Eclipse-based development environment with an impressive list of productivity enhancements, is a better development tool than the traditional green-screen tools that were designed decades ago? While IBM hasn’t upgraded the green-screen development tools in years, the investment in RDi continues. The latest Technology Refreshes, announced last week, embellished the list of productivity features RDi offers.
Most IBM i shops that are using modern RPG coding techniques are familiar with RDi and the value of modernizing applications that are significant business assets. It is the organizations …
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TRs for IBM i 7.3 and 7.2: Enhancements, No Big Surprises
October 4, 2017 Dan Burger
With each Technology Refresh, we are reminded that the pace of enhancements IBM brings to its IBM i operating system and related software products is significant and that certain areas are more significant than others. So, the IBM i community is either aligned with these upgrades and eager to put them to use or it’s not yet ready, willing or able to be technologically current. As usual, there are IBM i shops watching as the enhancements unfold and making decisions on whether the enhancements can deliver benefits to their business in terms of productivity and solving business challenges.
Steve Will, …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 4
October 4, 2017 Dan Burger
Prior to the latest Technology Refresh announcements, which were just released yesterday, Tim Rowe, business architect for application development and systems management for IBM i, reviewed what was added to Access Client Solutions earlier this year. He also commented on the partnership between IBM and HelpSystems that resulted in development work on several IBM products being farmed out to the IBM i software vendor.
Inside Monitor this week, you’ll also find articles pertaining to open source database trends, what’s holding back IT hiring, Java technology on IBM i, and IBM’s leading role in Blockchain advancements. The calendar of events has …
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IBM i And RDi: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire
October 2, 2017 Dan Burger
Evaluating the future of your IBM i environment should be on your mind. It should be on the mind of your boss and the minds of everyone at the C-level where you work. Maintaining and modernizing existing applications means being prepared for today and tomorrow, even if that requires technological changes that test the outer limits of your comfort zone.
The need to integrate technologies and reuse existing business logic may vary from foggy to laser sharp, but continuing to get more from IT is probably happening to some degree, or it soon enough will. Are you prepared to become …
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Latest App Dev Design Tool From MRC Arrives
September 27, 2017 Dan Burger
The common thread that runs through application development tools is a desire for simplicity. Ease of use, whether to tool is being used by an experienced programmer or a technologically challenged power user is the prize many companies are searching for. And not all end users have the same Web application goals. Some apps are designed for report writing, business intelligence, executive dashboards, e-commerce, customer portals, or mobile users. And that list could be much longer.
At michaels, ross & cole, the IBM i software tool developer that prefers lower case letters and the shortened handle mrc, its Java-based …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 27
September 27, 2017 Dan Burger
Total cost of ownership comparisons have always been an important tool for combating the high up-front cost that competitors use against the IBM i on Power system. Updated reports — one for midsize companies and one for enterprise companies — recently hit the streets. Two weeks ago, you may have seen an IT Jungle story on these reports. This week their importance is noted in Steve Will’s blog.
Mention IBM marketing at a gathering of IBM i users and watch the sparks fly. Now IBM has its own Watson Advertising division. This should be interesting. Find out more about Watson …
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Watson In The Real World
September 25, 2017 Dan Burger
The fundamental value of IBM’s Watson technology and the ability to put it to work effectively in IBM i shops is still being sorted out. Certainly, technical challenges exist, but that’s not unique to new technology like cognitive computing. IT by nature is challenging. Learning to do more with technology that’s been around for years also has its challenges. Acquiring knowledge, skills and best practices should be, and generally is, an ongoing habit.
Sharing what we know about solving challenges helps everyone in the community. So it is with Watson and IBM i. Who is making it work and who …
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Dynamic Solutions Lowers Cost For Entry-level VTL
September 20, 2017 Dan Burger
If you’ve been waiting for virtual tape libraries to become more affordable, your waiting days may be over. Virtual tape libraries — automated backup systems designed to replace manual tape backups — have found a niche mostly in highly regulated industries and businesses with backup complexities that make simple tape backups time consuming and risky. Dynamic Solutions International, a data storage software company with experience in IBM i data management, believes it has reduced the entry costs to a level where small to midsize shops can affordably apply backup automation with its DSI425 Series, a package designed to …
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