• Zend Preps Speedy New PHP and Runtime for IBM i

  October 19, 2016 Alex Woodie

  Zend today will officially launch the beta program for Zend Server for IBM i version 9 and the new PHP 7 language running on the Power Systems platform. The combination of the new language and runtime, which are being unveiled at the annual ZendCon 2016 show in Las Vegas this week, is expected to give customers a big boost in performance for their PHP applications, provided they don’t run into backward compatibility breaks that Zend built into the framework. Performance is the definite headliner for the new PHP 7 language and Zend Server runtime. As we told you back in

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• The Negative Impact Of Software Pricing On The IBM i Community

  October 17, 2016 Pete Massiello

  Here is an important question: Are some independent software vendors having a negative impact on IBM i? You are probably thinking that this question is a little harsh. But time and time again, I continue to get questions from customers on this issue. As such, I feel compelled to address it and take a look at what is currently going on. Starting with a little history will help. Back–and I mean way back when the AS/400 was first announced nearly 30 years ago–remember what the AS in AS/400 stood for: Application Systems. Without a doubt, the success of the

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• IBM Brings DDR4 Memory To Bear On Power Systems

  October 17, 2016 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Every new generation of DDR main memory brings advantages of lower latency, higher frequency, higher bandwidth, and lower energy consumption, and this is always a good thing for any server platform. The Power8 systems that launched in 2014 with the Power8 processors were based on DDR3 technology, which was mature at the time and, frankly, less costly for IBM to deploy in its systems then DDR4 DIMMs would have been. Now that DDR4 pricing has come down, thanks in large part to the widespread adoption of this chip technology by Intel‘s “Haswell” and now “Broadwell” lines of Xeon E5

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• IBM i Open Source Roadmap Finds Perl

  October 17, 2016 Dan Burger

  Support for open source development on IBM i has been a big deal for the Technology Refresh program. Just last week, with the latest TR announcement, support for Perl was added along with support for the current version of Node.js, which is v6. In previous TRs, we have seen support for programming languages like Ruby and Python, plus tools such as the GNU Compiler Collection and Git. The PHP language, the Eclipse integrated development environment, and the Apache web server are pre-TR open source advancements. Compared to Node.js, Python, Ruby, and PHP, there’s not much happening in terms of new

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• IBM i Finally Gets Native Cloud Backup

  October 17, 2016 Alex Woodie

  One of the most compelling announcements out of IBM last week was the launch of Cloud Storage Solutions for i. The new offering, which becomes available October 28 with a starting cost of $2,400, will allow customers on IBM i 7.1 or later to back up to 1TB on IBM’s cloud, directly through BRMS. Some may even be able to get rid of their tape drives entirely, IBM says. Cloud storage isn’t new, of course. It’s not even new on the IBM i platform, thanks to the work of a number of managed service providers (MSPs) who have been offering

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• Mobile Apps As Easy As RPG III

  October 17, 2016 Dan Burger

  You probably don’t know Chris Rushak. But the odds that you know someone like him are pretty high. In fact, you might be the person who has a lot in common with him. Rushak is an RPG developer with a boatload of experience coding green-screen applications from scratch. He’s done it for decades and is comfortable with his fixed-format RPG III skills. Those green-screen applications do the job just fine. But then came the request for a mobile application. The business problem was an inability to accurately track inventory from the receiving area to the warehouse and then to production

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• IBM i Tech Refresh Arrives; JSON And Perl In Spotlight

  October 11, 2016 Dan Burger

  After the release of IBM i 7.3 this past spring, we’ve traveled six months down the road and it’s already time for a Technology Refresh. That’s TR 1 for the fresh-faced 7.3 and TR 5 for i 7.2, which was hatched in May 2014. For the record, let’s also note that i 7.1 debuted in April 2010 and the Technology Refresh program is now six years old. Here’s the latest stuff from the TR pipeline. As always, there are added features to appreciate in this latest TR. After all, the software is guided by requests from the IBM i advisory

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• The Deal The Power 850C Implies For IBM i Shops

  October 11, 2016 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  As we have been hearing on the grapevine, IBM is indeed going to put out a cloudy, revved up version of its four-socket Power Systems machine, the Power E850C. This system actually features a faster–and hotter–Power8 processor, which gives the machine a little more oomph so it can better compete against systems based on Intel’s Xeon E5-4600 and Xeon E7-4800 motors. This machine also represent the entry level of the C-style cloudy systems that IBM has cooked up, which sport OpenStack cloud controllers and PowerVM hypervisors for building private clouds. But like the Power E850 predecessor that Big Blue

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• IBM Rejiggers PowerHA CBU And HyperSwap

  October 11, 2016 Alex Woodie

  IBM today unveiled several enhancements to PowerHA for i as part of its semi-annual Technology Refresh for the IBM i stack. First up is a new Capacity BackUp (CBU) system that will be more affordable and easier to use. The company also announced that it will officially be supporting PowerHA’s HyperSwap functionality on SAN Volume Controller (SVC) appliances, not just the DS800. Cloud-based IBM i storage and Unix-only resiliency features round out what’s new in PowerHA. IBM is rolling out a rehashed CBU for Power Systems offering that will be better than last year’s CBU program. IBMers say last year’s

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• HelpSystems Adds High Availability After Bug Busters Buy

  October 11, 2016 Alex Woodie

  You can add one more item to the long list of products that HelpSystems offers: high availability software. Following its recent acquisition of Bug Busters Software Engineering, HelpSystems last week unveiled its new Robot HA product, which will be targeted largely at small and medium IBM i shops that haven’t had HA before. Robot HA is the new name for RSF-HA, the IBM i data mirroring product that Bug Busters launched more than 10 years ago at the bargain-basement price of $1,300. Over the years, Bug Busters president and sole developer Bruce Lesnick expanded upon the core functionality shipped

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