• Technology Always Replaces People While Augmenting Others

  May 8, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  If there is one rule of technology, it is that technology always replaces some people while augmenting others. And like religion and politics or how much money you make, it was not discussed in polite company. With the advent of machine learning-driven AI and the modern and often impolite world it was born into, this may not be the case anymore. People are talking. IBM among them.

  When IBM launched the System/360 mainframe in April 1964, it was a transformative thing for what was yet to become the computer industry. Early on, with the advent of data store and database …

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• Guru: Speeding Up RPG By Reducing I/O Operations, Part 1

  May 8, 2023 Gregory Simmons

  Perhaps one of the easiest ways to speed up an RPG program is to reduce the number of I/O operations it needs to perform. In this article let’s explore one simple method for moving toward dataset processing.

  Here I have a simple RPG program. Okay, admittedly, we don’t often get to write “simple” RPG programs, but for this example, I have stripped the RPG program down to just the read loop so I can demonstrate the conversion.

  1     Dcl-f AcctMstr Usage(*Input) Keyed;
  2     Dcl-pr entry ExtPgm('RPGRPT1');
  3       n Packed(3:0);
  4     End-Pr;
  
  5     Dcl-pi entry;
  6       inBranch Packed(3:0);
  7     End-pi;
  
  8     

  …

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• Virtual Student Meet And Greets Are Building Momentum – And Futures

  May 8, 2023 Laura Ubelhor

  As an active member of the COMMON Education Foundation board, education advocate, and active community volunteer, I am often in conversation with organizations seeking to connect with student resources, schools that provide IBM i curriculum, and the IBM i community. These conversations inspired me to organize an informal virtual student meet and greet earlier this year, and to then do a more formal one in the wake of the POWERUp23 conference.

  The initial event turned out great and has inspired me further. Many connections were made. The students who are ready to become the next generation on IBM i are …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 19

  May 8, 2023 Doug Bidwell

  There are new cumulative updates this week, and a couple of security vulnerabilities that you need to be aware of, which we cover along with the normal PTF updates and defective PTF rundown that we do every week. Let’s start, as we often do, with the vulnerabilities.

  First, we have Security Bulletin: IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty for IBM i. which is vulnerable to a server-side request forgery, a denial of service, an attacker obtaining sensitive information, and gaining elevated privileges due to multiple vulnerabilities. You can find out more about at this link. The issues can be fixed …

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• OpenShift Can Be The New PASE For IBM i Shops

  May 1, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  If you can’t beat ‘em, encapsulate ‘em. That is not the official rallying cry of the IBM i platform, but that certainly has been the philosophy of the Private Address Space Environment that was cooked up by the techies in IBM’s labs in Austin, Texas, home of the RS/6000, and Rochester, Minnesota, home of the AS/400. The marketing people eventually changed its name to the Portable Application Solution Environment, which we know as PASE either way. We have a great PASE, but it is time to make a new one that is more relevant for the time. We are …

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• The IT Balancing Act

  May 1, 2023 Bill Langston

  Medical research suggests that how well you can maintain your balance is a powerful predictor of your longevity. Balance is also a good indicator of longevity for your IBM i environment. The challenge is striking the right balance between “vertical” technology that helps your company work efficiently and accurately, and “horizontal” technology that reduces risk.

  Over the past few years, unprecedented forces shifted IT priorities and may have knocked your company’s IBM i environment off balance.

  Enabling IT Balance

  IBM i exists because of how well it runs complex business applications and manages data. We take for granted that the …

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• IBM Looks To Grow New Power College Program From The Ground Up

  May 1, 2023 Alex Woodie

  The “DANGER” sign is flashing red when it comes to IBM i skills. There simply aren’t enough people with IBM i skills to fill the market need, and the situation seems to be getting worse year by year. The good news is that IBM is aware of the problem and has launched a new program that executives hope will lead to more students learning IBM i skills and getting good jobs in the industry.

  The worker shortage is a nationwide problem and is impacting multiple industries. From waiters and truck drivers to teachers and programmers, there just aren’t enough workers …

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• IBM Updates Performance Guide For Latest Power10 Iron

  May 1, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  No matter what system you are talking about, no matter what kind of applications you are running, there are always ways to squeeze more performance out of the system. The IBM i platform running atop Power10 and earlier processors is no exception, and to that end, for several years now Big Blue has provided some guidance on pushing performance with each new CPU family and as new features are added to the OS/400 and IBM i software stack.

  The latest such update, according to Steve Will, chief architect of the IBM i platform, has just been published, and you can …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 18

  May 1, 2023 Doug Bidwell

  A new week, a new security vulnerability in the IBM i platform. This time around, we have Security Bulletin: Vulnerability in libtasn1 (CVE-2021-46848) affects Power HMC, which you can read more about at this link. The Affected products and versions are: HMC V10.1.1010.0, HMC V10.2.1030.0, and HMC V9.2.950.0. The remediation/fixes for the vulnerability are:

  Product	VRMF			APAR		Remediation/Fix
  Power HMC	V9.2.950.0 SP3 ppc	MB04397	MH01954
  Power HMC	V9.2.950.0 SP3 x86	MB04396	MH01953
  Power HMC	V10.1.1020.0 SP1 ppc	MB04388	MF70701
  Power HMC	V10.1.1020.0 SP1 x86	MB04387	MF70700
  Power HMC	V10.2.1030.0 ppc	MB04401	MF70890
  Power HMC	V10.2.1030.0 SP1 x86	MB04400	MF70889
  

  …

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• IBM i at 35: A Walk Down Memory Lane

  April 26, 2023 Alex Woodie

  You may have heard that the IBM midrange platform is turning 35 this year. IBM has a number of events planned in honor of that milestone, culminating with a big birthday bash on June 21. IBM execs gave us a sneak peak of the festivities to come at this week’s POWERUp show in Denver, as well as a technical look back at exactly how we got here.

  The day the AS/400 launched in 1988 was notable for several reasons. IBM i CTO Steve Will, who was just starting his distinguished engineering career at IBM, recalls lots of excitement in the …

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