iSeries shops waiting for a firewall that installs on their iSeries should get one soon. Stonesoft, a Finnish developer of security software and hardware, recently announced that its Linux-based StoneGate firewall and virtual private network (VPN) software will be available for iSeries early in the second quarter.

First available on Intel-based xSeries servers, and then on zSeries mainframes, the StoneGate Firewall and VPN software suite provides integrated firewall and VPN capabilities from a “hardened” Linux partition. Officials with Stonesoft, based in Helsinki, Finland, say IBM approached it to develop a version of the StoneGate product for the iSeries

One of the main drivers in IBM‘s high-intensity push toward open source systems is a program called the ISV Advantage. By working directly with the independent software vendors, or ISVs, IBM is taking the open source mantra to the users, through the trusted application providers. This is particularly true in the small and midsized arena, where companies are showing greater interest in technology. In so doing, IBM expects to increase its own revenue, market share, and development of the on-demand operating environment.

The ISV Advantage initiative debuted at IBM’s PartnerWorld conference one year ago. More than 100 members worldwide

As the tidal wave of e-mails infected with the MyDoom virus continued to circulate across the Internet last week, OS/400 security software vendors emphasized the importance of checking the iSeries Integrated File System (IFS) for Windows viruses. Bytware, which launched the first native OS/400 virus scanner last year, reported that some of its customers found MyDoom on their IFS systems, while Kisco announced a new deal with Symantec to distribute Norton AntiVirus 2004 with Kisco’s OS/400 security software, for PC-based IFS scanning.

By some experts’ estimates, MyDoom became the most prolific Windows virus to date when it hit the

Randy Myres’ story about the travails of running an Intel-based server farm are not unusual. Frequent crashes, memory leaks, and troublesome integration drove the chief information officer to check the state of American Mortgage Network’s xSeries servers at 1:00 many mornings. But now that the quickly growing wholesale mortgage bank has moved its core lending, e-mail, and Web server applications to a three-way iSeries Model 825, AmNet has room to grow and Myres is sleeping much better.

From its headquarters in San Diego, AmNet manages a wholesale loan business that wrote $10.2 billion in loans last year. The company