Infor may have the most well-known collection of IBM i ERP systems, but there are other such groups of IBM i assets, particularly for tier-two applications. One such grouping of tier-two software vendors is the ongoing work of Friedmann, the developer of ERP for windows and door makers that is owned by the mega software conglomerate Constellation Software.

Friedman has been owned by Constellation for many years. But it’s only been over the last several years that Friedman has been let loose to gobble up IBM i software companies. The list of IBM i-related acquisitions (including date acquired)

Information Builders is in the process of overhauling its iWay data integration tools as part of a new focus on data asset management. With the new strategy, the company is looking to tie the disciplines of data integration, quality, and master data management (MDM) closer together. The new iWay 7 suite is the result of this strategy, and will be rolled out over the next 18 months.

The market for data integration tools has changed dramatically over the years, according to Dennis McLaughlin of Information Builders. Instead of trying to hook together disparate databases or utilize application-level adapters–as was traditionally

Ensuring that real-life products in the consumer goods supply chain match their digital GS1 records can be a time-consuming and error-prone job. To speed up the task of executing data quality audits, LANSA last week unveiled DQ Inspector, a free mobile iOS app that streamlines the work of recording physical attributes of goods and verifying that they match GS1 records.

The GS1 organization is dedicated to helping businesses and consumers by driving standards into processes. In the consumer goods supply chain, the organization sets standards over the use of Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and the synchronization of related product

Tributary Systems last week announced a new release of Storage Director, its storage virtualization software used to create virtual tape libraries (VTLs) in IBM i environments. With version 4.1, Storage Director can now input data into the VTL through new LTO-5 and LTO-6 emulation connections. It also gained support for outputting data to LTO-6 drives and NFS repositories.

Tributary markets Storage Director as an “any-to-any” storage virtualization tool that can move data from practically any computer in the data center to just about any form of storage. Loaded onto a VTL or disk-based backup appliance, Storage Director can speed up

Organizations that tap IBM for private cloud services will be able to get the PHP runtime from Zend as part of the bargain, the companies announced this month.

The expanded partnership has the companies working together to load Zend Server on SmartCloud Application Services (SCAS), IBM’s platform as a service (PaaS) offering that includes Linux, WebSphere, DB2, SAP business applications, and Rational’s Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools.

A new pattern, dubbed the Zend Server V6 Application Pattern for PHP, provides SCAS customers all of the capabilities of Zend Server 6, the latest PHP stack from the Cupertino, California company. The

FalconStor is teaming up with IBM once again to get its virtual tape library (VTL) software preloaded onto IBM servers. The X64-based appliance, called the FalconStor VTL IBM Series, will be marketed heavily to IBM’s midrange customers, including IBM i shops who want a backup system that is faster and more reliable than tape, and which offers deep support for the IBM i OS.

Mellville, New York-based FalconStor previously had a distribution deal with IBM, but ended it several years ago after IBM launched its ProtecTIER family of data de-duplication appliances. However, ProtecTIER is simply too much tech and costs

Velocity Technology Solutions grew its managed service provider (MSP) hosting business for JD Edwards with its acquisition of iXtend this month. The deal broadens Velocity’s services for JD Edwards World and EnterpriseOne customers.

Founded in 2001, iXtend provides a range of technical services for both JD Edwards ERP systems, including hosting, extended support, integration, training, project management, and CNC administration, among others. The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company also provides Red Stack hosting of EnterpriseOne on Oracle Sparc servers in its data center, where it also runs customers’ World and EnterpriseOne apps on the Blue Stack from IBM.

The acquisition

Developers who use mrc‘s m-Power tool can now use email to pull data into applications, the company announced. This can provide advantages in certain types of applications, such as help desk apps, CRM systems, or any other application that depends on workflow.

Chicago, Illinois-based mrc laid the groundwork for email enablement with a recent update to m-Power that gives developers the capability to generate event-triggered messages from an m-Power app. This feature could be used to automatically send an email or a SMS message when a certain event occurs on the system, such as completion of a form on

JD Edwards EnterpriseOne shops that are looking to enforce segregation of duties (SOD) rules may be interested in the latest release of software from Q Software. The London company last week announced that the version 5 release of its flagship Q Software Suite offering has been validated by Oracle for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne version 9.1.

The QSoftware Suite helps reduce the uncertainty that exists around the people who manage and maintain JD Edwards systems, including World and EnterpriseOne. The software does this by providing a layer of security over the ERP system that enforces SOD and manages the multiple

StorageQuest recently launched a storage appliance that uses Compact Flash memory cards instead of spinning disk to store data. Called the Flash Storage Appliance, the Windows-based device can communicate with any host over the iSCSI protocol–including, presumably, the IBM i server.

Flash memory has been used as a high-speed replacement for spinning disks for some time. In the IBM i space, solid state drives (SSDs) can be used in place of internal DASD, or loaded on IBM or EMC SANs to provide an I/O boost in external storage.

According to Canada-based StorageQuest, its new FSA appliance is the first storage