Jenny Thomas
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 28
October 28, 2020 Jenny Thomas
It can be argued that this whole year has been a horror story, but with Halloween right around the corner, COMMON is getting into the spirit with an online event featuring IBM i horror stories – and how to avoid them – in conjunction with HelpSystems. It’s happening tomorrow so check out the details in the first link of our Top Stories below if you’re interested. It’s interesting to see how quickly we’ve all adapted to virtual meetings, which is evident in our growing “Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings” section below. Check it out for the latest learning …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 14
October 21, 2020 Jenny Thomas
It’s been said that “life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” I think most of us would be happy for a redo on 2020, but since that’s not possible, we can point to some signs of better days ahead by taking a look at IBM. Big Blue surprised us last week by splitting its managed infrastructure services business from Global Services and giving it life as a new, publicly traded company. And now CEO Arvind Krishna has set his target for growth (in our lead story below), which gives us a reason to be optimistic …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 14
October 14, 2020 Jenny Thomas
We take a lot of pride in keeping the pulse an eye on the IBM i ecosystem. We know the cadence of announcements and our “spidey sense” gets tingling when there’s some news getting ready to break. But IBM had a surprise for everyone this week with its announcement that it was planning to break out its managed infrastructure services business from Global Services and create a new, publicly traded company. How important this will be to IBM i shops remains to be seen, but it certainly should lead to some interesting articles from our team in the coming months. …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 7
October 7, 2020 Jenny Thomas
Fall is a special season. As we look forward to the holiday season, we can enjoy watching the leaves turn and the welcome return of cooler temperatures. And most important to our little ecosystem, fall brings us Technology Refreshes from IBM. Our readers were the first to get the news on Monday from our fearless and always in-the-know editor-in-chief Timothy Prickett Morgan. (Never fear if you missed it, you can find TPM’s story at the top of our Top Stories of the week listed below.) With any luck, fall will kick off a new trend and we will end this …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 30
September 30, 2020 Jenny Thomas
One of the topics that never seems to go to the backburner at IT Jungle is security. We write articles on the regular about solutions and analyze options and concerns. Our top story this week is a grim reminder of how prevalent cyberattacks remain and why the safety of our data should always be on our minds. It is always one of the hot topics of the IBM i Marketplace Survey, which is underway again this year and your voice is needed to help strategize what’s to come in 2021. You’ll find the survey link in our Redbooks, White Papers, …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 23
September 23, 2020 Jenny Thomas
It’s been a busy week for IBM and you’ll see a lot of activity from them in this week’s Monitor. Some of the news isn’t directly related to the IBM i, but still important to us as the overall direction and health of IBM is directly related to our ecosystem. The IBM i does get some love this month, however, including a free webinar coming up next month (October 21) that will give you to get the latest updates and information about IBM i, which you can find details about in our Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings section …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 16
September 16, 2020 Jenny Thomas
Virtual POWERUp 2020 is happening this week, the first time ever being completely online, and possibly the first time ever attending an online conference for many of you. Personally, I like the travel and seeing people in person, plus who doesn’t like the happy hours in the exhibit hall? But we are all learning to adapt and it seems almost fitting that COMMON is celebrating a “quarantine” birthday as so many of us have done this year. At 60 years young, COMMON has quite a legacy of serving the members of this community with education and resources to enhance their …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 9
September 9, 2020 Jenny Thomas
For many of us, Labor Day is a signal that the end of the year is near, and now we are in a straight sprint to survive the holidays and get the heck out of 2020. While it’s probably a good idea to start bracing for whatever grand finale this wacky year has in store for us, IBM might actually be looking forward to what’s in store for Q4. Our top two articles below make some positive predictions for how Big Blue may finish out the year, and it looks like despite the pandemic IBM might come out a winner …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 2
September 2, 2020 Jenny Thomas
Labor Day is right around the corner, which means the end of summer and the kids are headed back to school. Just like many of you have already done with your jobs, many students are adjusting to doing their schoolwork from home. In my house, day one was bumpy. My son couldn’t get into his first class. But by day two, the kinks were worked out and he was (begrudgingly) officially back to school. While we may be newbs at online schooling, there are plenty of experts in the field right here within our IBM i community. If you’re feeling …
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Four Hundred Monitor, August 24
August 24, 2020 Jenny Thomas
The response to our current worldwide pandemic has forced a lot of change in our industry. Many of us have had to adapt quickly to working remotely, and we have all gotten better at Zoom calls. But now, as parts of the world ease out of quarantine, some enterprises are finding workers are stressed about making a return to the office. Our top story this week looks at one of the ways IBM is trying to help make the road back as safe – while quelling as much anxiety about going back – as possible. Whatever stage of return your …
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