• One Power 750 Matches Two Xeon Servers On SAP BW Test

  August 26, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  For many years now, IBM has been very keen on using various data warehousing benchmark tests based on applications from German software giant SAP to show the relative scalability of Power Systems running OS/400, i5/OS, and IBM i, and to make comparisons to other systems. Now, IBM has perhaps won a throwdown with Hewlett-Packard. Last year, when HP was trying to show off the performance of its ProLiant DL580 G7 servers running SAP code and using the HANA in-memory database from SAP to support its Business Warehouse data warehouse, the company chose the Business Warehouse Enhanced Mixed Load benchmark,

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• Synon Founder Breathes New Life Into Lazy Software

  August 26, 2013 Alex Woodie

  Simon Williams, who created the Synon/2E and Obsydian 4GL development tools that were so popular during the AS/400’s heyday, is back at the helm of Lazy Software, the company he founded in 1998 to develop and market a revolutionary associative database. Williams rejoined Lazy Software in 2010 after the company and product foundered about for several years, and now he is shipping a new release of the database, Sentences 4.0, and gearing up to tackle big data problems. Lazy Software got off to a big start in 1998, the same year that Synon sold itself to Sterling Software, which

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• As I See It: The Rats Are Coming

  August 26, 2013 Victor Rozek

  There are many good reasons why a pack of rats is also referred to as a mischief. They are opportunistic, breed like Kardashians, can chew through just about anything including steel, and host some nasty pathogens including Yersinia pestis, a micro-organism found in fleas responsible for the Bubonic Plague. Rats jump, climb, swim, and can hold their breath for up to four minutes. They’re tough enough to have survived 10 years of atomic testing on Eniwetok Atoll in the South Pacific. And if that’s not enough, they’re quick learners. They can learn to navigate a maze, solve problems, and

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• Avnet’s Solutions And Services Strategy Adjusts To IT Buying Changes

  August 26, 2013 Dan Burger

  We’ve heard it from IBM and all the major analyst companies: companies are no longer buying products; they are buying solutions. IT vendors that have depended on hardware sales for the bulk of their revenue are shifting to a more services-oriented style. Just two weeks ago, at the Avnet Compass conference for the business partners of that giant IT reseller, the services story was emphasized again and again. The way organizations consume IT is changing. Avnet is changing, too. There was a time when Avnet’s business on the IT side–it also has a large electronics components business, of course–was mostly

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• Reeder Feedback On A New IBM i Team Is Needed

  August 26, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Dan: Quite often I pass the articles around from IT Jungle. This one caused quite a stir in our organization–in a good way. My eyes were opened. I learned that management does not understand the difference between “big data” and “data centric programming” vs. “application programming.” I am the database engineer here (a brand new position), and we are going through some growing pains as a result. But, we are in a perfect storm to embrace the challenges. I am looking for a good article, in plain English on data centric programming. Thank you and keep up the good

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• IBM Chops Power7+ Processor Prices On Flex Iron

  August 26, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  If you are shopping for a new two-socket Flex p260+ server node, then good news. IBM just slashed the prices on the processor cards on three out of the four processor card features that were announced with the machines earlier this month. As The Four Hundred previously reported, IBM trotted out three new server nodes in the Flex System chassis on August 6. Apparently IBM is unhappy with the pricing of the 7895-23A processor cards, which were aimed specifically at IBM i shops and which have two Power7+ processors running at 4 GHz, each with two cores. But the

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• IBM To Host Cloud Summit For ISVs and MSPs In Rochester

  August 26, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Big Blue is looking to get managed service providers who are building infrastructure clouds based on the IBM i platform together with independent software vendors who want to run their wares in the cloud together at a IBM i Cloud Summit held in Rochester, Minnesota. The event, which will run on October 2 and 3, will be free of charge to MSPs and ISVs that want to attend, but they will have to cover their own travel and lodging costs, says Ian Jarman, the long-time IBM i product manager who is now business unit executive for Lab Services in the

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• Manta Is Listening To Your IBM i Training Needs

  August 26, 2013 Jenny Thomas

  If you’re looking for IBM i specific training, one of the people you’ll want to talk to is Bill Hansen, president of Manta Technologies. He’s the right person to go to not just because he’s been in the training industry since the 1980s, but because he’ll listen. Hansen has made a business of creating the training courses that people want. Just last year, he introduced a COBOL training series for programming students, which his customers had been telling him was at the top of their wish lists. Since then, he has been rolling out additional courses, and has just

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• Key Information Systems Buys Cloud And Co-Location Biz

  August 26, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Long-time IBM i platform reseller and system integrator Key Information Systems is going into the data center co-location, connectivity, and cloud computing businesses after acquiring ISWest, a data center operator located in its neck of Southern California. Key Info did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition, but Leif Morin, the company’s president, tells The Four Hundred that the opportunity to acquire the assets of ISWest and take on its team of data center operations experts was too good to pass up. Key has 55 employees and generates around $55 million per year from its reseller and consulting

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• IBM Forms OpenPower Consortium, Breathes New Life Into Power

  August 12, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Back in July, I started what will eventually be a series of stories on what IBM should be doing with its systems business. And like a bolt from the blue, the company did something that I have been mulling for the past several months in earnest and noodling for the past several years off and on. And what IBM has done is to mimic the ARM collective and open up the intellectual property surrounding its Power chips to help foster a broader ecosystem of users and system makers. I know what you are thinking. Isn’t it a little too little

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