• IBM Lassos Texas Memory Systems For Flashy Storage

  August 27, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  IBM has been partnering with SandForce, now part of storage controller maker LSI, and Fusion-io for server-based PCI-Express cards with flash memory welded onto them to boost server performance. But now, with the acquisition of Texas Memory Systems, there’s a new flash storage sheriff in town. Just as I was getting ready to go on holiday on August 16, IBM shelled out an undisclosed wad of cash to acquire TMS, which is the pioneer in memory-based accelerated storage. The company was founded in Houston back in 1978, at the dawn of the minicomputer and supercomputer ages, in

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• BCD And Zend Expand PHP Pact

  August 27, 2012 Alex Woodie

  Business Computer Design Int’l. and Zend Technologies have unveiled a partnership to boost the visibility and usability of their respective PHP offerings for IBM i shops. The pact today revolves primarily around sales and marketing initiatives for the Zend Server for IBM i runtime environment and BCD’s template-based PHP development tool, but the companies are working on delivering more integration in the products themselves at some point in the future. BCD unveiled a PHP version of its WebSmart development environment almost five years ago, and since then it has gradually picked up steam. Today, BCD sells as many licenses for

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• SAP On IBM i: The Best Alternative?

  August 27, 2012 Dan Burger

  IBM considers SAP to be one of its top independent software vendors (ISVs) on the IBM i platform. As such, SAP gets preferred treatment. If SAP suggests certain features for the operating system or the database that would help its game, it is likely to get done. Technical advice from IBM that benefits its SAP software development is part of the living arrangements. Some of the best brains IBM i has work with SAP customers. How’s that working out? A lot of people would rather slow dance with a half-starved grizzly bear than mess with an existing ERP system. What

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• As I See It: All the Server People, Hot, Hot, Hot

  August 27, 2012 Victor Rozek

  The same day the temperature topped 110 degrees in Oklahoma, I happened to listen to a radio broadcast featuring several scientists and climatologists discussing climate change predictions for the Pacific Northwest. Computer models foretell that–in the not too distant future–temperatures will rise 7 to 15 degrees, and the snowpack in the Cascades may fall as low as 5 percent of current levels. As a result, some rivers are likely to be seasonal, and those with moderate water flows will be too warm to support salmon and other fish stocks. In the Midwest, the future appears to have already arrived. Thousands

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• IBM Touts PureSystems Uptake For PoCs, In Emerging Markets

  August 27, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It has been four months since IBM launched its Flex System modular systems and the management and cloudy infrastructure software that turns the server, network, and storage in the machine into a PureSystems box. The software vendors are lining up behind the machine, and the first customers are starting to buy boxes to kick the tires and see how they might work in production. As of early August, IBM had an ecosystem with over 700 business partners, mostly independent software vendors (ISVs) and system resellers, who were certified to peddle the boxes, and over 160 software packages have been put

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• More Reader Feedback On Big Blue Gives A Solid Installed Base Number

  August 27, 2012 Hey, TPM

  Well I, for one, am glad IBM put an actual figure to their active customer base, machines, and/or customers. At least it is 150,000 active paying businesses using the AS/400-i and gives me some credence for continuing to develop on them. I have five AS/400-i’s laying around and too many PCs. None of them are on maintenance, so the active figure maybe a tad low on those with used machines and no maintenance. And yes, I actively use only two of those i machines, and for development only. –TS To be precise, and as I said in my previous comment

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• Join John Earl’s Battle

  August 27, 2012 Dan Burger

  The IBM midrange community has known John Earl for a long time. He has guided several of the top security ISVs in the IBM midrange and is one of the most well-known, well-liked, and well-respected security subject matter experts in our industry. He has also served as a director of COMMON and has shared his knowledge and advice with tens of thousands of AS/400, iSeries, and IBM i enthusiasts while speaking at local user group meetings and writing hundreds of technical articles. Earl stepped away from his role as president and CEO of Townsend Security in March 2012 for medical

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• ECS Sales And Profit Bump Can’t Offset Components Slump At Arrow

  August 27, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  With the economy slowing down in Europe and China, it is not an easy time in either the electronic components or IT systems business, as the most recent financial results from Arrow Electronics show. In the second quarter ended in June, Arrow’s revenues dropped 7 percent, to $5.15 billion, and even with lower cost of sales and other expenses, net income for the company fell 26.8 percent to $114.4 million. Arrow simply needs a higher volume of business to make its numbers, but to be fair, if it did not have $13.3 million in restructuring charges in the quarter, the

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• Vallee To Retire From Avnet As Revenues And Profits Weaken

  August 27, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In his 35 years at master reseller Avnet, Roy Vallee has spent 13 of them as chief executive officer and 14 of them as chairman, and he has seen many ups and downs in the systems and components rackets. And Vallee also knows that Avnet can roll with the punches and will do so after he retires from the company. Avnet has been working on a succession plan for a number of years, tapping Rick Hamada last July to be CEO and a few weeks ago tapping board member William Schumann, executive vice president at FMC Technologies, to

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• The Ethernet Switch Market Is Booming

  August 27, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The server market has stalled a little bit as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, IBM, Oracle, and Fujitsu are in various stages of processor transitions. But the Ethernet switch market is going gangbusters as companies begin the transition to from Gigabit to 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching in the data center. According to the box counters at IDC, the worldwide market for Layer 2 and 3 switching gear that adheres to the Ethernet protocol accounted for $5.52 billion in revenues, an increase of 8.5 percent year-over-year across all Ethernet port speeds. At Layers 3 through 7 in

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