System iNetwork

February 2009

February 24, 2009 10:31 PM

IBM Makes List of Top Entry-level Employee Recruiters on College Campuses

Despite word of layoffs at many major companies, including IBM, some still seem to be hiring.

And I'm not just talking about replacing U.S. employees with lower-paid workers in overseas countries. The U.S. companies are still seeking skilled people with intelligent minds to replace the folks leaving the companies for their own reasons--usually retirement.

Take IBM, for example. The company ranked number 19 on a survey of companies actively recruiting college seniors for entry-level jobs.

The survey, conducted by The Black Collegian Magazine, asked employers about the number of projected hires from on-campus recruiting, the number of campuses they recruit on, and the top majors they are recruiting.

Incidentally, computer science, information services, and information technology are among the majors companies are recruiting.

IBM ranked just below the Federal Bureau of Investigation with 1,000 projected hires and 100 campuses visited. Microsoft came in at number 15 with 1,250 projected hires and 120 campuses visited.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, senior industry editor

Posted by rsanders on February 24, 2009 at 10:31 PM | Comments (5)

February 21, 2009 5:33 PM

Your Picture Here!

How long have you been involved with the i system? Email me two or three sentences describing how you work with the i, along with a quick snapshot in JPG, PNG, or GIF format, and I'll post it here, and you might even show up in the print magazine as a featured reader!

Here are the submissions so far, posted with the most recently received at the top. Thanks for sending, and keep 'em coming!

--Linda Harty, executive editor & security/availability/networking/connectivity editor

---

My first experience was in 1990 on the AS/400. My prior computer experience was in college with PASCAL and BASIC and later the PC. When I came upon the 400 I couldn't get enough of it. I read, played and inhaled all that I could get my hands on about the system. To this day I am a voracious proponent of this system. What a box!
— Silvana Della Camera, Applications Technical Lead II, HP Hood [no photo provided]

I started working on the AS/400 in 2000, now I work in the Managed Services Group at MSI Systems Integrators, I'm more or less a Systems Engineer for rent. I'm deeply involved in the Local LUG (www.quser.org) (Local User Group, not IBM's Large Users Group). I use the SystemiNetwork Forum's all the time to read up on what people have questions about and ask some of my own. I try to help out where I can, but I'm not much of a programmer. My screen name on the website is deadduck.
— Ryan Cooper, System i Engineer, MSI Systems Integrators

My wife and I are looking forward to our 37th anniversary in August 2009. A month before we married I started my first job as an operator on an IBM 1401 card system. It had a couple of disk drives, but we didn't use them much. Since then it has been System/3 models 8, 10, 15, System/34, System/36, System/38, a little bit of Series/1 and 5280 (anyone else remember DE/RPG?), and the "400." My first exposure to the AS/400 family was in the Rochester Executive Briefing Center a few months before it was announced.
— Tim Holt, Software Development Manager, Independent Computer Services, Inc.

I started full time programming in 1982 on a S/23. Graduated to the S/34, S/36 and finally to the AS/400 in 1988, at which time I became system administrator and was in charge of WAN/LAN communications for a major corporation, even to be on a committee to redesign the WAN for a fortune 17 company. I gave it all up and decided to work in my hometown in NE WY as a programmer/System Admin for County government, currently using Power6 P520.
— Rocky Marquiss, Programmer/Analyst, Campbell County Government

I've been involved with the AS400/iseries/series i since 1994. My first job was in a converted SYS36 shop and a great deal of my early years was involved in converting and upgrading RPGII and OCL code. It still comes up a lot since there are still a lot of shops running on series i with a converted SYS36 code base. Most of my development these days is in the ILE languages RPGLE and CLLE. I am also learning how to develop PHP applications using the DB2 database. The bulk of the work in the past several years has been regarding integration work. Getting data from the series i to some other platform and back again.
— Ray Marsh, Senior Analyst, Marsh Analytical Services LLC

I have worked with the i and its predecessors since 1988, beginning on an IBM System 38 in my first position as a programmer, devloping in RPG and CL. Programming and administration was such a pleasure with the integrated database, I continue to want to stay with with platform. I've always had a mix of maintenance and new development to support manufacturing and accounting operations of my employers. For the last year I've been concentrating on web development in ILE RPG.
— Bryan Leaman (bryan641 in the System iNetwork forums)

I've been working on the AS/400 since it was called a S/38 and real men read only the CPF Programmer's Guide (aka H2G2). Having had a brief foray into web-enabling iApps, I've recently changed assignments and taken several steps backwards. Hoping to iPHP as soon as I'm given a chance.
— Clive Rose (WillyRose in the System iNetwork Forums)

I have been working with AS400 since 1991 migrated from S/36. Worked with JDEdwards One World on AS400 and Syntax ERP packages. Startd with COBOL but then gradually came to RPG world and working with RPG II, RPG III, RPG IV and now free form RPG. Life has become so easy with the free form and enjoying writing interfaces to Oracle and peoplesoft paltform using the power of free form and ILE.
— Syed Farhan Qadri, Sr. Programmer Analyst, Wolseley Canada

I have been on the iSeries for over 15 years and have seen many changes for the good. It is still a very stable platform.
— Bill Mitchell, iSeries Consultant/Project Manager

I've been with IBM midrange systems nearly all my 40 year I.T. career. I've worked with IBM mainframes and "unit record" equipment, but got my feet wet programming RPGII on a System 3 model 15D. For the past 25 years, I've enjoyed the different flavors of the iSeries by working as a Senior Services Analyst for McKesson, a U.S. based distributer of pharmaceuticals & provider of hospital information systems.
— David Shafer, McKesson Provider Technologies

I started working on a IBM System/3 as an operator in 1975 and worked my way up to being a Systems Analyst/Programmer on the S/38 and AS/400 eSeries, dividing my time now to 20% development and 80% maintenance work.
— Gerard Rosink, Cannondale Europe B.V., Holland

I have been working on the I system and its predecessors, the AS/400, System 36 and System 3 since 1977. I work in the health care industry and developed so many applications especially in the financial and administrative area. The System I has been with me all the time nearly the same period since I got married.
— Karam Rizk, American University of Beirut Medical Center

I have been working with the i System prior to it being named the "AS/400", when the code name was Silverlake. When my former company purchased them (many of them), they failed to obtain the Cobol compiler and we were a Cobol shop! Prior to the AS/400 I was a mainframe programmer. Sure glad I made the move to the i!
— Grant Bastian, Foremost Farms USA

I came late to the iSeries after a degree in math and music, too long in grad school, and self-employment. I dabbled with things like Commodore 64's and yellow-screen PC's. Then I started working with the System/38 and AS/400 in 1989 in a technical support role, eventually moving into programming through a series of jobs, and am now enjoying continued challenges in development on this most vigorous platform.
— Vern Hamberg, RJS Software Systems

I started out on a System 38 back in 1985 as a computer operator. I’ve been a RPG programmer, Data Processing Manager, and an I.T. Vice President of a small manufacturing company. I currently work for a large bank overseeing two data centers on each side of the United States. I’ve worked on other platforms and don’t understand why anyone would want anything other than an AS/400, iSeries, System i, or what ever they’re called this year, running their companies business.
— Greg Root, Capitol Bancorp Limited

Linda...i probably get the prize for longevity...was an IBM SE that was added as an experiment by IBM in 1964 to have field people on product launch teams ... worked on the launch team of the IBM System/360 Model 20 that became the System 32, then 34, then 38, then AS/400...Dave Duke started NEWS 34/38 [which today is, of course, System iNEWS], and I started writing short articles for him on products and other stuff...there was no other mag to write for, for many years. I worked on product roundups long before John Ghrist arrived...way back when Dusty Johnson was selling your ads and making holsters and saddle bags for Harleys.
— Dennis A. Fletcher, Marketing Consultant for IBM Business Partners

I have started programming RPG on a System/32 in the late 70's and went through all the machines (S/3, S/34, S/38, S/36, AS/400) and now the i. In the last decade as a Project Manager and also as a programmer for a Software house developing and implementing Manufacturing Systems for the Textile Industry. I still like to learn new programming techniques and technologies and worked with the IBM boxes except for 4 years with Digital in the late 80's. Today I'm working as an Independent Consultant and Programmer for the i's.
— Yehuda Vago, Independent Consultant

I started on System/38 in 1983 as trainee programmer. Have been on the architecture ever since, but dabbled with Bell Labs UNIX System V, early LAN architectures in the middle to late 1980’s. Extensive programming experience doing low level data communications with PLC’s and other devices. Designed and developed technology to virtually partition a single AS/400 in die middle 1990’s. This technology was adopted by IBM internationally to render their Rapid Recovery/400 service. This was years ahead of LPAR. Responsible for cluster enabling the first commercial applications for ClusterProven status and developed technology to manage clusters and retrofit and cluster enable software (Lakeview licensed this technology) at the turn of the millennium. Focus now exclusively on SOA, SaaS, Cloud Computing and Application Modernisation.
— Marinus Van Sandwyk, TEMBO Technology Lab (Pty) Ltd.

I started in Asia with IBM doing support for AS400 since Nov ’91. I was supporting customers on different aspects of the B60 and D35, backup recovery, performance tuning, PTF, OS upgrades. For the last 8 years, I was supporting a few HA logical replication software on the iSeries,. I am currently a System i customer in Singapore.
— Mok Chi-kin, Singapore

I started in 1964 at the University of Idaho in the data processing center. We ordered a 360/20 (the wait time was one year) and started converting our applications to RPG. We would mail them to IBM in Portland OR and they would send back the compiled results – a two week turn between when we wrote it before we could see how it worked. It’s been a big evolution in machines (1620,360/20,1120,32,64,38,36,400,I,i5), but it has been amazing how much of the software still runs.
— Leonard Hart, Gulf Lumber Company

I ordered 2 System 38's the day they were announced and have been working on the system since then. I have been a programmer (RPG) and an administrator. Unfortunately our business has taken us off the i and onto a Oracle system which I am now working with. I still prefer the i!!
— Darrel Mattoon [no photo provided]

I started working with the AS/400 in 1994 after leaving college in the UK with a bachelors degree in Philosophy. The company I got a job with wanted non-techie people as RPG programmers (their advertisement actually said "Perfect for Arts graduates with no computer experience"). Originally it was just a job, then it became a career. In 1997, I moved to the US to work for Synon Inc. (makers of the Synon/2E CASE tool). They got bought a couple of times, and now I work for Computer Associates (CA), still working with the same team, but spending a lot more time doing web-enablement and tools development. I'm one of the few people left programming PL/I on the iSeries, I think, but mainly I do RPGIV work.
— Rory Hewitt, Computer Associates

I've been on the platform since the early '80s. We got one of the first System/38s in NH and wrote/tested early code at the Bedford NH IBM branch office while waiting for our box to arrive from Rochester. We first displaced a Honeywell mainframe and later installed several S/38s at 5-6 factory locations to replace DG Nova/Eclipse minicomputers. We've done all the upgrades along the way, now using a single Power6 machine with 8 or 9 partitions to operate sites in various geographies. Our corporate path is SAP on Wintel, so at some point we may obsolete the "i" -- leaving a different landscape 5-10 years hence. I'm also part of the IBM Academic program, teaching "i" topics to eager college students at Keene State, building up the ranks of Yips.
— Rick Flagler, Timken Super Precision

I have been working with the AS/400 since 1994, when our shop migrated from a Burroughs mainframe. In addition to programming in RPG IV, CL and CGIDEV2, I am also the system administrator responsible for capacity planning, operating system and hardware upgrades, PTF's, Vision Solutions high systems availability, and change control using MKS Implementer.
— Terry Herrin, New Hanover Regional Medical Center

I’ve been working with the “i” system and its predecessors since 1983 at the age of 19. I worked for many years as an RPG developer for Applied Logic with the S/36 and AS/400, eventually moving into non-programming areas. More than 25 years later, I continue to work with the i platform as Director of Business Development at Applied Logic, specializing in providing contract programming services and programmer productivity software.
— Bryan Schaap, Applied Logic Corporation

I cut my teeth in IT programming business applications on Apple IIs in Basic. Looking to expand my horizons a bit, I took an RPG programming class even though I really didn't have a clue about what truly was real business computing. I quickly learned. I had the great privilege of starting out on an early ship AS/400 in 1988 and never left the platform. Interestingly, even though I cut my teeth on RPG, I did most of my production development in COBOL and C. And, who can forget, Net.Data. Too bad they don't let me code much anymore.
— Randy Dufault, Genus Technologies LLC

Hi, I've started developing iSystem Apps back in Sept '88. Actually before it was formerly released (I remember the rel was still 0.). As IBM partners we had access to a machine at IBM Porto. I'm proud to say we were one of the 1st to develop real iSeries (AS/400 by the time) native Apps.
— Fernando Pereira, Business Application Engineer System i at I2S

I have been working on the AS/400 - iSeries - i5 - i since 1988. Originally as an operator/systems analyst and then onto programming in RPG. Currently I program in RPG & LANSA performing roughly 80% maintenance and 20% new development. I am also the LANSA & TurnOver administrator.
— Sean Tyree, LifeCare Assurance

I moved from a System36 to an i System in 1994 (the beige AS400 with slash). My first subscription to SystemiNews (it was called System36News I believe) was the same year. I have been a member of forums since July 2006 and can be found lurking there almost every day.
— Daniel (Danny) Exum, Shelton Trucking Service Inc. (System iNetwork forums screen name: DEXUM)

I have been working with the AS/400--IBM 'i' since IBM retrained me to be a programmer in 1989-90 from a Senior Buyer position. I started working on the 400 supporting Multiple Systems Software which was IBM EMEA's HA product of choice at the time. I have been developing products on the platform since that time but always circling the HA space. I don't write in RPG which makes me a bit of an anomaly in the IBM 'i' space, but do quite a lot in 'C' and 'PHP'. We have a number of products all developed for the IBM 'i'...
— Chris Hird, Shield Advanced Solutions Ltd.

Posted by lharty on February 21, 2009 at 5:33 PM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2009 9:11 AM

Encrypt or Die! Or Just Go Broke...

As if veterans weren't already getting the short end of the stick when it comes to funding, the US Veterans Affairs Department (VAD) just lost a whopping $20 million over sloppy data procedures.

Credant Technologies, a military grade encryption company, says that the $20 million settlement by VAD over the loss of one laptop and one external drive containing personal data "should serve as a wake-up call to IT managers not using and not enforcing encryption technology on their portable devices."

"The settlement with the Department's members and families over their alleged invasion of privacy should be a severe warning to any organization that isn't using encryption on its laptops and other portable devices capable of data storage," says Michael Callahan, Credant's vice president.

He adds that this whole fiasco could have been avoided with simple encryption on both the laptop and portable device.

"This isn't rocket science. It's similar to operating your business without liability insurance. The consequences of failing to encrypt are simple--your company could go under or become uninsurable as a result, which is pretty much the same thing," he says.

Ouch! Do you need another reason to get smart with your security and start encrypting your devices? If you're stumped about where to start, check out the Backup Encryption Product Roundup from 2006.

-Erin Bradford, systems management and availability editor

Posted by ebradford on February 11, 2009 at 9:11 AM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2009 11:18 PM

COMMON Sets Sights on Orlando in 2010

COMMON, the IBM i users group, will celebrate its 50th anniversary at its 2010 annual meeting and exposition in Orlando, Florida. The event will take place May 2-6 at the Hilton Orlando.

The group says the gathering will spotlight both the longevity of the midrange platform as well as the evolution of COMMON into a leading voice for the Power Systems community.

Hmmm. I hope it's right. The Power Systems community is lacking a single, unified voice. This isn't difficult to understand, seeing as how AIX, Linux, and IBM i have always been three separate operating systems serving different, and sometimes competing, purposes.

It would be nice if all three operating system interests could be represented by a single group with a super event highlighting the server platform on which they all run--a common platform, a COMMON organization.

It will be interesting to see what happens at this year's annual event in Reno April 26-30.

The organization has already built a rich curriculum around IBM i and Linux and has been working to pull AIX education into the mix.

If COMMON wants to take the lead and be the glue that binds them all together, so be it.

Someone, after all, needs to take the lead. I don't think there are too many i enthusiasts who would want to leave that to IBM.

Go COMMON!

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, senior industry editor

Posted by rsanders on February 10, 2009 at 11:18 PM | Comments (1)

February 6, 2009 1:29 PM

inFORM Decisions Takes Paperless Document Management One Step Further

So now it's not just enough to save paper by using paperless document management. inFORM Decisions has set the bar even higher by actually partnering with Arbor Day Foundation to give away trees. Under the new agreement, Arbor Day Foundation will plant 10 trees in the name of each customer who orders inFORM's document or banking automation software.
Says Dan Forster, President of inFORM,

We are finding in our conversations with clients that there is an immediate need to utilize paperless technologies to reduce costs in the current dire economic climate. But our clients are enthusiastic that their investment in our software addresses another type of climate problem, resulting in the growth of more needed trees in our threatened forests.

Orlando Ferrer, VP of Operations, adds,

The Gift of Trees Program will bring us closer to our clients in a new way that ties to mounting concerns in business that the environment is protected for future generations. I anticipate a very positive reaction to these gifts of trees among our client base.

So if your company is like most, you've been challenged to cut costs and also try to be more environmentally conscious in this new year. inFORM Decisions is doing its best to help you kill two birds with one stone.

Posted by ebradford on February 6, 2009 at 1:29 PM | Comments (1)

February 5, 2009 4:51 PM

Why Didn't I Think of That? IT-Focused Ideas for Saving Money

Mel Beckman, a System iNEWS tech editor and a top network engineering consultant, mentioned that he has been helping a lot of companies downsize and that he has collected a slew of cost-saving tips. I asked him if he would share some of them with me, so that I could share them here with you.

Businesses have to get smart about spending, but there's a risk that cutting too deeply could be fatal. Where do you draw the line?

Beckman: It's not one line really, but many. The biggest cost for most businesses is labor. Nobody wants to get voted off the island, but it's the first place to look for fat. You can often leverage technologies to merge job functions and reduce headcounts by attrition, but that requires planning: training staff on new technologies, which is spending, to save money down the road.

Employee training can be expensive. Is that a necessary casualty of cost cutting? Isn't there a risk that you might be training people to leave your organization?

Beckman: I forget who said this, but a business owner who once voiced that complaint said, "I worry about staff education. What if I train them and they leave?" His peer at another business replied "Really? I'd worry that the ones you don't train might stay." Training is essential, but it's one of those expenses that don't incur benefits until down the road. But then those benefits are big: lower headcounts when you really need them.

When a company is downsizing, I have a checklist of cost containment measures they should investigate. Some items on the checklist create immediate savings; others cost today but save money down the road. The idea is to balance these so there is no or little net cash outflow.

What is one of the most common hidden costs that companies overlook?

Beckman: Telecommunications bills. On a monthly basis, these often don't seem like much, but because they're recurring they are actually major expenses. I tell clients to automatically multiply any monthly telecom bill by 10 and think in terms of that amount. Even that is low, but it at least illuminates the problem. Telecom services often go unused and forgotten or can be substituted with Internet equivalents. It's also a good idea to check for contracts that might auto-renew but that you're better off getting out of. Company cell phones were once a popular perk, especially before everyone had them. It's better now to just give employees a cell phone "per diem" and let them use their own phones. And in case anyone missed the memo, nobody pays per-minute fees for long distance anymore. If your LD is not flat rate, change that immediately.

Is there a close second?

Beckman: Behind telecom costs? Believe it or not, it's printer toner and ink cartridges. People print far more than they need to in most businesses, and when toner and ink runs out, they take the easy path, buying brand new OEM replacement cartridges. Using ink and toner refills can reap significant savings. But tied in second place with this cost is plain old AC power. The cost of electricity has skyrocketed in recent years and hasn't retracted like gas prices have. Due to regulatory issues, the cost likely will never go back to where it was. The thing is, we all know how to conserve electricity, but it's easy to fall out of the habit. Getting employees to check each other can fix that, and a simple power audit--often a free service from the utility company--can pinpoint some huge power wasters so you can address them.

Have any of your clients found some uniquely creative ways of saving money?

Beckman: Yes, and I'm constantly saying, "Why didn't I think of that?" One client is renting out unused office space to itinerant business people, and the practice has cut its rent by a few thousand dollars a month. The attraction is fully equipped office space with phone and Internet. Partitioning these services turned out to be easy. Another company set up a wireless hotspot to sell Internet connectivity to its neighbors. Most residential Internet contracts forbid reselling, but if you have a commercial connection, reselling is fair game. A third turned its IT tech support staff into a mini consulting firm for its clients and nearby businesses. The IT staff kept their jobs, and the company kept its IT staff.

New cloud-based services are another opportunity to save costs. [Spoiler Alert: Coming up in the March issue of System iNEWS, Mel has a great article on infrastructure virtualization in the cloud.] Used properly, various software-as-a-service offerings can cost much less than maintaining the same thing in-house. And telecommuting is back in a big way, since companies can reduce office space while maintaining employee effectiveness with network technologies such as VoIP, SSL VPN, screen sharing, and video conferencing.

~ ~ ~

Readers, what cost-saving ideas do you have? Let's band together and think of ways to help our companies save money and operate as efficiently as possible! Post your ideas here as comments in this blog for your peers in IT to read and learn from.

--Linda Harty, executive editor & security/networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on February 5, 2009 at 4:51 PM | Comments (6)

February 3, 2009 2:38 PM

Young i Professionals Fill Sandbox with Open-Source Apps for IBM i Shops

If you loved playing in the sandbox as a kid, then you'll love the new section of the Young i Professionals (YiPs) website, which is dedicated to open source on IBM i. The YiPs' Open-Source Sandbox for IBM i hosts open-source applications that IBM i shops can evaluate before deciding whether to download and test them. The first application you can take a shovel and rake to is SugarCRM, the open-source customer relationship management (CRM) application.

"The idea behind the Sandbox is to give the IBM i community a place to find open-source applications that will run on IBM i and 'kick the tires,' so to speak," says Brian May, a YiPs website blogger and the de facto webmaster. "We have taken the time to find applications and get them running on i so our visitors don't have to."

The first application in the Sandbox is SugarCRM. You can run the open-source app on your System i or Power System. Visitors will find two logins: a standard user login and an administrator login. "This lets our visitors explore an application's functionality from the perspective of both IT and end users," May says. A link to the application and instructions for logging in is on the Sandbox section of the website.

Visitors can use any option available to each profile. May says that each morning the database is refreshed with a standard set of test data so that users don't need to worry about "breaking" anything. "This also means I won't have to monitor the application for spam or other abuse," he says.

YiPs planned to embrace open source from the beginning. The group built the Sandbox first because they wanted to go with a project that would make a difference and contribute to the IBM i community. "This just felt like the right project at the right time," May says.

Just because it's the YiPs website, visitors are not limited by age. Anyone can use the website's resources.

"We hope to increase awareness of open-source solutions available to IBM i shops," May says. "By providing these applications in the Sandbox, we have removed one of the biggest excuses for not investigating open-source applications when presented with a new business requirement. IBM i users will not have to spend time loading an application and learning about PHP and MySQL just to evaluate an application."

Loading PHP onto your System i or IBM i box just got easier, by the way. Zend and IBM have announced that IBM i 5.4 and IBM i 6.1 come preloaded with Zend Core as an optional install.

Also in the Sandbox? Moodle. Moodle is an open-source course management system for offering classes online. "A visitor requested that we add this application to the Sandbox as an example for educational institutions that run IBM i," May says. "The application works great. I have been amazed at the functionality."

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, industry issues & RPG editor

Posted by rsanders on February 3, 2009 at 2:38 PM | Comments (3)