LANSA Introduces "Transforming IBM i Applications" eBook Trilogy

Paul Conte has been known as a Leading Technology Guru in the AS/400 market for many years.

I just read an interesting news from Lansa that I copy below for your convenience.

Leading Technology Guru Paul Conte Imparts a Transformational Strategy for Taking Applications Beyond Modernization

Downers Grove, Ill. USA — February 7, 2011 — For the past decade, modernization has been common water cooler banter among IBM i application developers and is still recognized as a high priority project for many CIOs and IT Managers. But recently the bar has been raised considerably as modernization projects are now expected to be more forward-thinking – they need the flexibility to quickly adapt to new business requirements and be hardware and software platform agnostic. To help these CIOs and IT Managers navigate a steady course beyond modernization, LANSA is introducing a “Transforming IBM i Applications” eBook Trilogy by well-known author, speaker and consultant Paul Conte.

This complimentary 3-part eBook addresses many common issues that IT managers are currently facing including:

• transforming (refreshing & reengineering) legacy applications so that they deliver efficient, integrated capabilities, including workflow, rich media and “anywhere/any device” access to business data and functionality
• helping their IT staff maintain the skills and tools necessary to deliver the level of application innovation and agility demanded by enterprises – especially in these tough, competitive economic times
• ensuring that their applications can be rapidly deployed with the same functionality in the event of business changes such as mergers or acquisitions

The complete Trilogy is comprised of the following books:

Book 1 – Prepare for Your Journey – Know your goals & chart a course – delves into the challenges faced by IBM i organizations as they strive toward success, providing insight into the major business and technological drivers behind the movement that forces them to transform their legacy applications and development strategies.

Book 2 – Be a Savvy Traveler – Plan your trip, step-by-step – lays out the steps to create an incremental transformation plan. The ultimate transformation goal is far reaching – to implement a comprehensive enterprise application architecture encompassing all your legacy and new applications. But the goal should be reached through a series of non-disruptive steps where each step produces immediate returns and minimizes risk. This book dives deeply into a variety of ways your enterprise can reuse, recycle and reengineer legacy applications, as well as providing advice on minimizing risk and other aspects of a sound plan.

Book 3 – Embark with Confidence – Be well-equipped and follow this guide – completes the trilogy by examining specific technologies and practices that support a non-disruptive, low-risk transition process from an organization’s current application portfolio and practices to a “new generation” of applications and an architecture-based approach to development. This book concludes the series by specifying a set of “best practices” for a successful transition process.

Steve Gapp, president of LANSA Americas, said, “Paul has put together a compelling series of eBooks, which really gets to the heart of the matter when it comes to the challenges facing the majority of IBM i IT shops today. The best practices, steps and guidance offered towards transforming these shops to implement agile, innovative applications that prepare them to face both current and future needs is a must read for any IBM i software developer or manager who is looking for a strategy for success – and some peace of mind!”

You can download a complimentary copy of the eBook Trilogy at www.beyondmodernization.com

GoAnywhere Director for Managed File Transfer

As you know I am always on the lookout for interesting news on the AS400 market and today I found an interesting article about systems integration that I copy below for your convenience:
Linoma Software has released version 3.50 of GoAnywhere Director, a Managed File Transfer (MFT) solution which will automate and secure the exchange of data with your customers, trading partners and enterprise servers.

“GoAnywhere Director allows customers to eliminate custom scripts and the numerous tools that were typically needed for transferring, encrypting and translating data.” says Bob Luebbe – Chief Architect

Omaha, Nebraska (Vocus/PRWEB) February 08, 2011

Linoma Software has released version 3.50 of GoAnywhere Director, a Managed File Transfer (MFT) solution which will automate and secure the exchange of data with your customers, trading partners and enterprise servers. New features in GoAnywhere Director 3.50 include:

• Message Queues - Connects to enterprise message queue (MQ) services including Websphere MQ (MQ Series), SonicMQ and ActiveMQ using the JMS standard. Both MQ Topics and Queues are supported for exchanging data between customer applications and GoAnywhere Director using this fault-tolerant communication model.
• Network Shares – Provides access to files and folders on almost any system within a customer’s network including Windows servers, Linux/Unix servers and IBM i (iSeries) file systems using the SMB/CIFS protocol. GoAnywhere Director can be used to manage, encrypt and securely transfer files from/to these Network Shares through scheduled and automated work flows.
• File Monitors – Includes new wizards to set up monitors that can scan for new, modified and/or deleted files in targeted folders, which can then execute predefined workflows to process the files.
• Auto-Resume - Automatically reconnects and resumes file transfers when server connections break for FTP, FTPS and SFTP protocols. This feature is critical in helping to guarantee delivery.
• File Locking – Allows locks to be obtained on data files on read and write operations, which is important for ensuring the integrity of files and eliminating conflicts between applications.
• Command Shortcuts – Provides new IBM i (iSeries) command shortcuts to popular functions including SFTP gets/puts, Open PGP encryption/decryption, ZIP and UNZIP.
• High Availability (HA) – Allows GoAnywhere Director configurations and logging data to be stored in customer database systems including SQL Server, MySQL and DB2 for IBM i. This allows customers to manage and replicate this data using in-house database and HA tools.

GoAnywhere Director allows for remote administration from any Web browser, including iPads and smart phones. The latest release includes improved styling and organization of the screens, along with more on-screen help to enhance usability. Additional templates have also been added to make it easier to create more variations of project workflows. For instance, in just a couple minutes, a user could utilize a template to create a project that extracts data from a database, converts it to CSV format, encrypts it with Open PGP and sends it to a FTP server.

“GoAnywhere Director allows customers to eliminate custom scripts and the numerous tools that were typically needed for transferring, encrypting and translating data,” says Bob Luebbe – Chief Architect. “As its feature-set continues to grow, GoAnywhere Director can be used to streamline even more data transfers while providing the audit trails and security needed for compliance.”

GoAnywhere Director installs on most platforms including Windows, Linux, IBM i (iSeries), AIX, UNIX, HP-UX, Solaris and Mac OS X. A fully functional trial of GoAnywhere Director is available at http://www.GoAnywhereMFT.com. Pricing starts at $3,995.

The document was originally published on the PRWeb Website

Goto400 – AS400 Freeware, Software and Other Services

I found an interesting site which provides AS/400 Freeware, Software and Other Services.

I have written a short presentation on my blog AS400SoftwareDowanlods

Bulk Transportation and Logistics Company Chooses UNIT4 CODA Best-of-Class Financial Software

I found an interesting press release on the Marketwire website and I copy it below for your convenience

Feb 01, 2011 15:10 ET

Reliable Financial Intelligence Will Help Drive Competitiveness Across Diverse Range of Industries and Materials

MANCHESTER, NH--(Marketwire - February 1, 2011) - UNIT4 CODA, Inc., a business unit of UNIT4, the world's leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and financial management software for fast changing organizations, today announced that Superior Bulk Logistics, a leading bulk transportation and logistics company, has purchased Coda Financials as its financial management software.

Superior Bulk Logistics required accounting software that could handle the company's operational complexity across the range of industries and types of materials it transports. Using Coda Financials, the company will benefit from accurate, real time financial intelligence that will help drive competitiveness and optimize profitability in a competitive marketplace. Superior Bulk Logistics operates four divisions, each specializing in a different part of the trucking industry, ranging from transporting hazardous and non-hazardous materials, transloading food and non-food, liquids and dry bulk products as well as cleaning and sanitizing those trucks.

According to Donna Hudson, Accounting Manager for Superior Bulk Logistics, "As a growing leader in bulk trucking, with complex accounting needs across multiple subsidiaries, we needed a comprehensive financial software solution that maximizes our IBM AS400 systems and applications and integrates our operational data for both financial and operational reporting.

"After evaluating several industry offerings, such as those offered by JD Edwards, Microsoft and others, we realized that Coda Financials knocked it out of the park with its deep functionality, flexibility, integration and performance. Its single financial model, real-time reporting and multidimensional analysis are just three of the standout features that made Coda Financials the preferred choice for Superior Bulk," she concluded.

In making the announcement, Steven J. Pugh, chief executive officer of UNIT4 CODA, said, "In the demanding and complex trading world of transportation and logistics, access to reliable financial intelligence, and comprehensive analysis and control of financial information can set a company apart from its competitors. Today, more than 200 of the world's leading transportation and logistics companies rely on our best-of-class Coda Financials global accounting solution. It is especially invaluable for those organizations where classifying, measuring, and analyzing profitability by shipment, vessel voyage, container and bill of lading are of utmost importance."

About Superior Bulk Logistics
Superior Bulk Logistics, through subsidiaries Superior Carriers and Carry Transit, hauls liquid and dry bulk cargo, including both chemical and food-grade products. Overall, the trucking units of Superior Bulk Logistics operate a fleet of some 875 tractors and 2,000 trailers. The company's SuperFlo unit provides transloading services -- the transfer of cargo between railcars and trucks. Superior Bulk Logistics' Sanicare Wash Systems unit cleans tank truck trailers and other bulk containers used for food products. Superior Bulk Logistics offers service between Mexico and the U.S. and Canada through a partnership with Transpormex, a division of Grupo Dexel. For more information, please visit http://www.superiorbulklogistics.com.

About UNIT4 CODA
UNIT4 CODA, Inc. is part of UNIT4, a $517 million global business software company that creates, delivers and supports adaptable business software and services to help dynamic organizations manage their business needs effectively. We strive to set the global standard for business solutions that enable companies to embrace change -- simply, quickly and cost effectively. Coda Financials is an award-winning suite of best-of-class management software designed to integrate with industry- and company-specific applications. CODA provides real-time financial visibility and control across people, processes and systems. By acting as the financial information backbone for companies with fast-changing and mixed application environments, it offers a "no compromise" approach to financial modeling, process controls and application choice. For more information on UNIT4 CODA, visit http://www.unit4coda.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/UNIT4CODA.

For further information contact:

Margaret Bonilla
Birnbach Communications for UNIT4 CODA
603-548-0693
Email Contact

Magic to Sell MicroStrategy BI into IBM i Base

Magic to Sell MicroStrategy BI into IBM i Base

Published: February 1, 2011

by Alex Woodie

Magic Software will offer the complete suite of MicroStrategy's business intelligence offerings as part of an alliance the two software company's announced last month. The MicroStrategy BI solution is a good fit for IBM i and JD Edwards shops because of its relatively low overhead and openness, according to Magic, which will also be helping IBM i shops build DB2/400-based data marts using its iBOLT integration tool.

MicroStrategy has not traditionally been one of the BI vendors that IBM i shops look to when contemplating the implementation of a BI solution. While the Vienna, Virginia, software company and its customers have undoubtedly tapped into IBM i data sources before, MicroStrategy, for whatever reason, just hasn't had much of a presence in the IBM midrange marketplace, especially compared to competitors like Cognos and SPSS (both owned by IBM) and Informaiton Builders, which is a close IBM partner.

That is about to change as the result of MicroStrategy's new relationship with Magic Software, which develops native IBM i integration and development tools, and is well-known and respected in the IBM i community. Magic executive vice president Glenn Johnson says the company is excited to be selling the reporting and analytics from MicroStrategy, and expects the tools to be a good fit for many IBM i shops.

"MicroStrategy's reputation is awesome. They have the number one rankings from Gartner and a number of specialized analysts that look at business intelligence tools," Johnson says. "MicroStrategy tends to be a very efficient solution, and I think it matches well with IBM i."

Johnson referenced a recent Gartner report that found MicroStrategy customers analyze the largest amount of data, and that they have a large (but not the biggest) user base compared to customers of other enterprise-level BI offerings. And when it looked at the number of administrators required to support the BI environment, Gartner found MicroStrategy to be at the bottom of the list.

"In other words, it requires the least amount of administrative overhead to keep it running," Johnson says. "You've heard all of our pitches of our approach, to be meta-data driven and efficient in a development environment. And we felt that in terms of BI solutions, that MicroStrategy was very similar in terms of our own goal to provide excellent capabilities with minimal overhead."

Magic is offering its customers a bundle that combines its iBOLT or UniPaaS software with MicroStrategy products. The bundle includes perpetual licenses for several MicroStrategy products, including development tools and end-user reporting tools. The final per-user cost comes in around $60, which is on the aggressive side. The company can sell any product in MicroStrategy's catalog, which also includes online analytical processing (OLAP), data mining, Web-based dashboards, and mobile interfaces for the iPhone and iPad.

While MicroStrategy's tools are primarily Windows-based, they can access practically any data source, including DB2/400 via MicroStrategy connectors that support i5/OS V5R4 and IBM i 6.1. To that end, Magic plans to use iBOLT, which is typically used as a business process integration and orchestration tool, as an ETL tool of sorts, to load data marts and data warehouses on the IBM i server. The capability to keep BI-related data on the IBM i server will appeal to midrange shops that don't have skills on other databases, or who are concerned about the security of their data residing on other platforms.

Johnson says JD Edwards' customers will be primary beneficiaries of Magic's new MicroStrategy offerings. Indeed, later this month Magic will participate in iConsortium's JDE Executive Summit in Hilton Head, South Carolina, alongside MicroStrategy representatives and Lyle Ekdahl, general manager of Oracle's JD Edwards business.

Oracle sells its own BI stack and competes with MicroStrategy's OLAP software with its respected Hyperion offering. Nevertheless, the software giant is pragmatic about helping its JD Edwards shops acquire BI capabilities, and is open to working with MicroStrategy, Johnson says.

"You have to be realistic about the differences between Red Stack and Blue Stack," Johnson says. "When it comes to really building a data mart on the IBM i, how are you going to do that? How is that solution going to be positioned in the marketplace, especially when you're talking about JD Edwards World, which is exclusively on the IBM i platform?"

The IBM i server may also get a sort of reprieve from migration plans when customers make DB2/400 data available to MicroStrategy's BI tools, Johnson says. "I think having BI tools that can run in other environments is going to be advantageous to preserving the investment in IBM i," he says, "because it will mean that you can get the reports, analytics, and decision-making tools into the hands of senior management, line of business managers, and knowledge workers that otherwise might not be there in typical IBM i environments. And that will, I think, reduce the pressure to move to other platforms."

For more information on Magic and MicroStrategy offerings, visit the companies' websites at www.microstrategy.com and www.magicsoftware.com.

The article was originally published at Four Hundred Stuff

IBM Investigates Options for Keeping MySQL on IBM i

I am always on the lookout for interesting news on the IBM iSeries (AS/400) systems and today I found an interesting article on the SystemINetwork Blog that I have copied below for your convenience.

Just when you think it's safe to jump in the PHP sandbox and play with all the cool toys, a bully comes along and tries to snatch one out of your hands. According to the MySQL website, Oracle Corporation has dropped support for versions of the MySQL open-source database that run on IBM i and AIX. Citing "very low demand," Oracle says it won't build anymore MySQL binaries for the AIX and IBM i platforms.

It's too bad that Oracle has decided to not play fair, but the company is in the database business, and in business, I suppose it doesn't make sense to continue something that doesn't benefit you.

Still, IBM users don't need to get in a huff at the prospect of losing one of the keys to running open-source apps on i, nor should i users launch into a tantrum (yet).

True, Oracle ultimately owns the MySQL code (even though it's open source). But the IBM i versions at least are available through the Zend PHP bundle that is distributed with current versions of IBM i, and you can download MySQL for i from the YiPs website as well. Besides, that latest version of MySQL for IBM i works with i 5.4, 6.1, and 7.1. "And that's quite a bit of runway that people have," says Alison Butterill, IBM's application development offerings manager for Power Systems.

And lest we forget that once a upon a time, before the IBM i version of MySQL existed, folks did download MySQL and compile it for their i systems so that they could make use of open-source programs like Joomla and SurgarCRM. I remember those days . . . and the buzz that a potential IBM i version of the database created.

Because of the way open source works, anyone still can download the source code for the MySQL database and compile it for their server environment. "They [Oracle] were creating the object code, and that's what they've stopped," Butterill says.

Oracle hasn't answered my query for more information about the decision to put an end to MySQL versions for IBM i, but it seems odd to me that there is "very low demand," especially considering that Zend seems to have a large customer following on IBM i.

Oracle will likely honor any existing support contracts it has with customers for the application. And as is the case with any open-source software, there is a community through which users can find support in the shape of forums and blogs.

For IBM's part, Big Blue is investigating the options, Butterill says. "We're focused predominantly on keeping the open-source commitment on IBM and figuring out some way of maintaining the MySQL option."

Too, IBM put a lot of time and energy into writing the IBM DB2 for i Storage Engine that translates MySQL statements for DB2 and owns that code. I doubt IBM is going to just stand by and watch as the bully tries to knock that out of the sandbox.

—Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Some PostgreSQL news

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Come visit our newly upgraded website, designed so that you can easily find the content that you need.

We recently announced the availability of three components, adding important security and replication technology for community PostgreSQL Server users - SQL/Protect, PL/Secure and xDB Replication Server.

These add-on modules make PostgreSQL more secure and supply data integration capabilities between multiple PostgreSQL servers as well as between PostgreSQL and Oracle.

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