• VAULT400 Updates Backup Agent

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  System i shops using the VAULT400 online backup and recovery service from United Computer Group will experience faster, more trouble-free backups thanks to an updated backup agent for i OS, the company says. The new agent also supports the latest release of the OS/400 operating system, now called IBM i, as well as new security capabilities. Cleveland, Ohio-based UCG launched VAULT400 two years ago to capitalize on the growing interest in remote backup and disaster recovery (DR) services utilizing high-speed Internet connections. While tape-based processes continue to dominate backup and DR plans, security and reliability concerns of backup tapes is

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• ProData Widens Database Support with RDB Connect

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  ProData Computer Services yesterday launched RDB Connect 3.0, a new version of its remote database connectivity software for the System i. With version 3, ProData is opening the product up to support practically any database management system, providing System i shops with more options when it comes to sharing data among applications running on different systems. Few System i shops these days run nothing but System i servers. Whether it’s Windows, Unix, mainframe, or Linux, most IT departments rely on different types of computers to run their applications. But accompanying that diversity is increased complexity and difficulty in getting the

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• DB2/400 Utility Gets New Goodies

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Applied Logic‘s all-purpose DB2/400 product, File Edit Utility (FEU), learned a few new tricks with the release of version 16 last week. The Keizer, Oregon, company added new capabilities to FEU in the areas of merging files, conversion to XML, and printing as PDF. The product’s main file search capability was also improved. FEU gives programmers and administrators for i-based Power Systems servers (formerly System i, i5, iSeries, and AS/400) a range of capabilities that come in handy for dealing with problems and situations that come up during day-to-day operations, including making changes to multiple files at once; recovering

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• CPS Taps ACOM for Infor A+ ‘Gap’ Solutions

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  ACOM Solutions last week announced a new reseller agreement with Commerce Plus Services (CPS) to target users of Infor‘s Application Plus (A+), an i OS- (i5/OS) based ERP application that’s commonly used in the wholesale distribution industry. CPS was formed to target various functionality gaps in the A+ product line, according to Rick Redden, vice president of operations for the Dallas, Texas, company. The first of these point products was a sales tax solution that CPS sells for about $8,000. Along the way, one of CPS’ customers asked about electronic payment software, including hooking into the ACH, or Automated

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• CCSS Helps Automate iSeries Operations at American Software

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  In its quest to trim the cost of monitoring and managing its production iSeries environment, American Software has installed systems management tools from CCSS, the software vendor announced this month. From its headquarters in the heart of OS/400 country–Atlanta, Georgia–American Software develops ERP software that runs on i OS, in addition to other platforms. In addition to making and selling i OS ERP software, the company’s subsidiary, American Software USA, also uses the platform to run its business. Like other OS/400 shops, American Software needs to manage and monitor its servers for maximum performance. Recently, the company launched a

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• CYBRA Updates MarkMagic for i 6.1

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  CYBRA last week announced MarkMagic version 6.5, a new release of its package of software for creating and consuming barcodes and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in an AS/400 environment. With the new release, CYBRA is now supporting IBM i 6.1, the operating system formerly known as i5/OS V6R1. MarkMagic version 6.5 is largely based on the last major release of the product, version 6.1, which CYBRA announced about 10 months ago. Besides support for i 6.1, the only other major feature mentioned by CYBRA was the inclusion of the new Print Manager functionality, which gives users more options

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• Unaka Goes ‘Global’ for Spreadsheet Automation

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  Tennessee-based Unaka Company has licensed the whole group of Excel-based analysis tools from Global Software. With Spreadsheet Server, Executive DASH, and Budget Manager in place, Unaka managers have another avenue for accessing and analyzing data stored in their ERP systems. Unaka is a group of companies that includes a manufacturing and import company, an office space company, and an international food supply company. Managing this diverse set of properties are a collection of ERP products from Infor and Ross Systems, including Infor ERP XA (formerly MAPICS) and iRenaissance, which runs on open systems platforms. Like many organizations, Unaka

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• BOSaNOVA Launches New Line of Thin Clients with 2X

  September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

  BOSaNOVA has teamed up with 2X to launch a new line of thin client computers. The new thin clients, the 732x and 762x series, feature 2X’s software for deploying and managing a Windows- or Linux-based thin client computing infrastructure. 2X was founded in 2004 with the goal of developing terminal services software for server-based computing. In 2005, 2X bolstered its existing Linux product when it acquired Terminal-Services.NET, which developed Windows-based terminal services software. Today, 2X develops and supports several products as part of its ThinClientServer suite, including LoadBalancer for Terminal Services/Citrix, ApplicationServer for Windows Terminal Services, and VitualDesktopServer. 2X sells

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• Look for an Interim i Release Next Year, and i 6.2 in Early 2010

  September 15, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  As some of you know, IBM hosted two Power Systems Technical Universities in Chicago last week–one for i nerds and the other for AIX and Linux techies. As we went to press with this issue of the newsletter, some news was beginning to filter back into the cosmic ether–OK, really my email and my telephone, nothing cosmic about it–about what IBM is telling the i crowd. There’s nothing earth shattering so far, but some interesting points. First, the Virtual I/O Server that, as the name suggests, virtualizes disk, tape, and networking I/O for JS12 and JS22 blade servers running the

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• Power 550 i Edition Versus Windows: Get Big Discounts on i Software

  September 15, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In last week’s issue of The Four Hundred, I did the first in a series of articles comparing the Power Systems i Edition platform to other competitive platforms. In that case, I compared entry Power 520 rack servers and JS12 blade servers in the new BladeCenter S chassis to ProLiant alternatives running Windows from Hewlett-Packard. I was gratified to see that the i platforms were absolutely competitive with the Windows iron, at least when comparing machines with system software suitable for online transaction processing. This week, I am not as happy, since the Power 550 M50 machines, thanks

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