System iNetwork

August 2008

August 21, 2008 3:13 PM

The i and the iPhone: News from the Front (and the Back)

With looksoftware's snap solution pack for mobile front ends, i back-end applications can integrate with the latest generation of mobile devices, such as Apple's popular iPhone3G. "We think this is great news for the i community and more proof that the i is a great back end that can easily connect to the market-leading front ends," reports Swina Kalwar, marketing spokeswoman for the Australian-based software company.

Q: How does the i work with the iPhone, as well as Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices?

pKalwar: "It’s a lot more than just accessing OS/400. snap for mobile front ends includes both front-end UI support and back-end access to IBM servers. Initial front-end support includes on-the-fly generation of AJAX-based iPhone UIs from IBM 5250- and 3270-based applications. You can define and connect new UIs to a variety of back-end sources, and you can optimize the UI look, feel, and behavior for specific channel types such as smart, thin, and mobile devices. Also, you can integrate UIs directly with iPhone features such the mobile browser, email, GPS, and the phone itself.

"Back-end support includes access to most popular databases via ADO and DDM, System i RPC access to 5250- and 3270-based application components as web services, and access to any device, application, or server that supports web services."

Q: How much uptake do you expect there to be?

Kalwar: "We expect strong interest in connecting IBM i applications to newer waves of mobile devices--not just the iPhone, but Blackberry and the latest generation of Windows Mobile devices are much more enterprise-ready than previous generation devices. Improvements in broadband access, user experience, security, and device management has resulted in both Gartner and Forrester now recommending these devices as suitable for access to enterprise applications. We've been using these devices internally, and they are a significant improvement over earlier devices. One in five people in Japan now use a mobile device (rather than the PC) as their primary access to the web. Think of emerging economies where many workers don’t have PCs-- new mobile devices offer the most economical way to connect these people to applications. This is supported by the advanced users we already have in places like South America.

"The growth in mobile broadband during the past 12 months has been staggering and has taken Europe's mobile operators by surprise. At the end of 2007, Vodafone reported a 58 percent year-on-year increase in global mobile broadband subscribers, and Telekom Austria saw its mobile broadband subscribers' base reach 290,000."

Q: How can i folks use the iPhone?

Kalwar: "Practical examples include RPG-based System i applications integrating with iPhone features such as the browser, email, GPS, and the phone itself. For a workflow example, an iPhone user clicks on a URL in a email sent from an i application. The URL connects to System i and initiates a web service which updates the back-end RPG application. Not one line of code has been changed or written on the System i!

"For example, the Oracle JDE World customer green screen can be dynamically transformed into a native iPhone panel--letting the customer service rep in the field click the telephone number to call the customer, click the address to produce the Google map showing where you are now and directions to the customer’s location, review the customer's order details and inventory information, access DB2 data directly, if authorized, and so on."

Vicki Hamende, application and database editor

Posted by vhamende on August 21, 2008 at 3:13 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2008 12:25 PM

RFID: Convenient or New Route to Identity Theft?

Imagine a world where you can walk into a grocery store, pick items off the shelf, and tally your bill as you drop the food into your cart. Then, after you are finished shopping, rather than heading toward a long check-out line you merely stroll out the door knowing that what you bought is being charged to your bank account or credit card. Crazy? Not quite. The technology of RFID is already almost to this point. Many stores now use RFID “smart” tags on their products to track things such as where and when it was produced. Offices also use RFID to follow important documents, and hospitals can use it on ankle bracelets to make sure patients stay in certain wings.

Today, it’s difficult to get a credit card without a microchip in it. Because of that microchip, you can just wave your card in front of a magical machine and get charged without even having to swipe it. That’s RFID at work! All my cards have this express pay feature, but I have yet to use it. I don’t really see the difference between swiping and waving because both take some sort of effort. However, I never realized the potential harm this sort of technology could impose. If all our cards are readable without a swipe, couldn’t someone get his or her own RFID reader and read my account information without me even pulling my card out of my wallet? This appears to be a very legitimate concern, especially when technology is advancing every day.

In researching this topic I found an interesting video at BoingBoing that illustrates how someone can easily get all your credit card information with an RFID reader purchased on eBay. You should definitely check it out. You can watch the video at http://tv.boingboing.net/2008/03/19/how-to-hack-an-rfide.html. The RFID reader used in this example supposedly cost only $8.00, but I found the cheapest to be about $30.00. Nonetheless, the availability of such readers is a real concern. As the technology is perfected and a store can read our account information without us even pulling anything out of our wallet, why couldn’t an identity thief do the same?

I am not completely against RFID. I think the technology is fascinating and can be beneficial in quite a few areas of life. As a matter of fact, RFID is a huge technology growing in the world of System i. To get a little insight into how RFID is affecting the System i, check out this blog.

However, Microchipping my identity (such as on my passport or credit cards) might not be the best way to go. True, it does make counterfeiting passports more difficult, but is the possibility of making my identity easier to steal worth it? I’m not really sure. What do you think?

--Cassandra Deemer, editorial assistant

Posted by cdeemer on August 12, 2008 at 12:25 PM | Comments (2)

August 8, 2008 11:47 AM

IBM Steps into the Big League

And I mean that literally, as in Major League Baseball. A few weeks ago, IBM published a really exciting press release, "Major League Baseball Hits Home Run With All Star Line-Up of Web 2.0 Technology From IBM."

Here's the vital snippet:

"MLB is using IBM collaboration software to provide improved intelligence and historical data directly to umpiring crews. With MLB's Umpire Desktop, powered by IBM Portal software, officials gain advanced insight into players' behavior, based on historical issues or likely tendencies. Within the Umpire Desktop, you can also see Google Gadgets at work, mini-objects that can be placed on an internal Web page to offer more dynamic, real-time content. This way, umpires can get up-to-the-minute weather views from Google Gadgets, along with statistics and other key information."

Additionally, the MLB will use WebSphere Portal combined with Symbol handheld wireless devices in order to authenticate official merchandise on-the-fly. Product authentication has always been a manual process, which has many times led to forgery. But now, when a player catches a fly ball, for example, it is uniquely tagged and the information uploaded wirelessly to MLB's IBM DB2 9 data server. Now, the authenticity of the ball can be verified immediately on the web.

Now, the next time that you skip out of work to catch a Yankee's game, you can tell the boss that you're doing field research. And it will almost be true...

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by ebradford on August 8, 2008 at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

August 5, 2008 7:10 PM

Editor's Outlook on Instant Messaging Is Integrated

I gotta tell ya, ever since we went from Notes to Outlook a few months ago, I haven't touched instant messaging (IM).

It isn't because my company doesn't allow it. It does. My company is pretty cool (or maybe that's hot), in fact, on technology.

It's because I haven't had time to learn something else that's new.

I haven't even had time to go searching for the IM icon, although I know the little bugger is on my computer somewhere.

I don't even know what it looks like.

Or what it's called.

A few months back I could tell you that we were using Notes 6.0 (don't laugh) and Sametime. A few months back my IM was integrated with my email and all my coworkers were online with presence.

If I had a quick question for someone I could see if they were there and available and just ping 'em.

Today I send an email with what I hope is a catchy subject line and wait. And hope. And wait until I get an answer.

Even if it's critical. (I noticed, by the way, the exclamation point in Outlook doesn't do any good!)

I wish I had integrated IM. You know, the kind where all you have to do is look at your email inbox or your contact list and see whether someone in particular is online at that particular moment.

Don't you?

Well, someone does.

According to a survey of 100 plus companies that Ferris Research conducted not too long ago, you want integrated IM, too.

Or maybe that should be integrated IBM.

Of the survey respondents who said they use Notes/Domino for communication, 70 percent claimed to have turned on the integrated Sametime application for instant messaging.

Nick Shelness, a senior analyst with Ferris Research, says it isn't clear from the survey how many in the Notes community have truly deployed IM, because maybe it's just the company IT department that is using it. But what is interesting is that 70 percent of Notes/Domino shops had installed IM and turned it on.

The same could not be said for Microsoft's Office Communicator, which apparently doesn't come bundled with Exchange/Outlook.

And that seems odd to me, seeing as how Microsoft always tries to get the edge on the competition with various strategies, including bundling.

To get back to the heart of the matter, though, I want to know whether your company uses IM. Do you have Sametime and Notes? Office Communicator and Outlook? Some other combination?

Do you prefer integrated IM or do you use whatever is free and available?

Do you run it on a System i or another box?

As for me, I just looked, and the icon I've been avoiding is Office Communicator.

I guess it's time to jump in.

Take a deep breath.

Here goes . . .

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, industry issues editor

Posted by rsanders on August 5, 2008 at 7:10 PM | Comments (0)