System iNetwork

Industry Issues

March 3, 2010

System i Developer Offers 12 Grants to Unemployed Developers

System i Developer has announced a new educational grant program aimed to help unemployed RPG/DB2 developers update their skills through an exchange of work for study. Through the program, which is called EDiT (Education for Developers in Transition), System i Developer will award 12 work/study grants for the next RPG & DB2 Summit, scheduled for March 23-25 at the Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel and Spa in Texas. Two developers will be selected to join the SiD team as room monitors in exchange for full conference registration, and an additional 10 developers will be selected to attend a half-day Headstart Seminar of their choice on March 22.

"We're concerned about the large number of unemployed developers out there who are finding it a challenge to upgrade their skills, just when their skills need to be at their most marketable," explains Susan Gantner, System i Developer partner and founder of EDiT. "System i Developer has provided work/study grants to several developers and students over the past few years. By formalizing and expanding on our past work/study activities, we can reach out to help more developers help themselves. In return, we ask that those developers find a way to help others in their community."

Developers selected as room monitors will help SiD staff and conference speakers by distributing handouts, tracking session attendance, helping with registration and providing other assistance as needed. In exchange for this help, they will receive all benefits of a Summit registration, including attendance at conference sessions, meals, handouts and evening events.

Recipients of the EDiT Headstart Seminar grant will be able to attend one of four half-day Seminars held on Monday, March 22 at no charge.

"We wanted to include as many developers as possible in this program, so we had to limit free participation to one seminar," explains Gantner. "If a grant recipient wishes to take advantage of two seminars, we just ask that they contribute $50 to cover the extra expense of lunch and the bound handouts."

The Headstart Seminars include:

• PHP for RPG Developers with Jon Paris
  
• SQL: Beyond the Basics with Skip Marchesani
  
• HTML/Javascript/CSS for RPG Developers with Paul Tuohy
  
• From Subroutines to Subprocedures & Service Programs with Susan Gantner
  

The application deadline for EDiT grants is Thursday, March 11. All work/study grant recipients will be responsible for their own travel and hotel expenses. Details on the grants, including qualification criteria and how to apply, can be found at http://www.systemideveloper.com/EDiT.html.

The RPG & DB2 Summit is sponsored by three leading media organizations, IBM Systems Magazine, System iNetwork and MC Press Online. For more information on attending the RPG & DB2 Summit, check out http://www.systemideveloper.com.

--Chris Maxcer, News Editor

Posted by cmaxcer on March 3, 2010 at 10:53 AM | Comments (4)

February 1, 2010

The New Oracle-Sun Combo and IBM Both Ready to Rumble

With all the Oracle and Sun acquisition talk in the news, along with Oracle offering up a webcast and details about how Oracle and Sun will transform the IT industry, IBM wasn't going to let the timing pass: IBM fired off a quick press release about how more than 200 customers moved critical business workloads to IBM systems and storage from Sun and HP systems in the fourth quarter of 2009. IBM also unveiled new software that helps customers accelerate and automate their migration projects.

The good news for businesses here, of course, is the potential for some serious enterprise-level competition.

Posted by cmaxcer on February 1, 2010 at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2010

IBM Publishes IBM i Strategy and Roadmap

Don't get too excited by the headline--while it's accurate, IBM hasn't given away all of its secrets. In fact, if you've been actively reading our blogs and news coverage, particularly around IBM i 6.1.1 and the upcoming next release, there's probably not much you don't already know. Still, IBM is promoting a new white paper on its IBM i Power Systems page. The paper is tuned toward executives who might need an IBM i primer and assurance that IBM will be keeping IBM i around for years to come.

For everyone else, it's worth a quick scan, if only for the heartening references to the superiority of IBM i on Power over Windows-based server models. Here's a few snips:

Unlike Windows-based servers, IBM i has an all-in-one system design that helps integrate the wide range of information and processes that lie behind a successful business.

Unlike Windows-based servers, the IBM i operating environment is almost always used to run multiple business applications on the same system, accessing the same database. That helps a company better utilize its IT assets today, while avoiding the costs of deploying and managing a new server every time the business needs another application.

For companies running Windows-based servers, security and virus management are major challenges in terms of time and money. Compare that with the simple-to-deploy security of the IBM i platform. Its virus resistant design helps companies keep their business more secure, safeguarding data against hackers with built-in intrusion detection.

Svendsen, a specialist distributor in Germany, migrated their business applications from x86 systems to a Power 520 with IBM i. "For the same price as the proposed Intel architecture, we purchased a single, more powerful and scalable Power Systems server, with all the characteristic advantages of IBM i: legendary reliability, high resilience against viruses, and the built-in IBM DB2 database." - Lutz Ilgner, CEO

There's more nuggets, of course, like the fact that more than 2,300 applications from more than 850 independent software vendors are supported on IBM i 6.1. Not on 6.1 yet? Check out "Get Off the Island: Plenty of Good Reasons to Upgrade Your OS".

Meanwhile, IBM reiterates that its plan is to deliver a major IBM i OS release every two years -- 6.1 came in March 2008, what will presumably be IBM i 7.1 will hit by May in time for COMMON's conference in Orlando, and in a chart there's a graphic that holds a spot for a future IBM i release in 2012.

--Chris Maxcer, News Editor

Posted by cmaxcer on January 11, 2010 at 10:54 AM | Comments (6)

January 4, 2010

Survey Says CEOs Looking to IT for Post-Recession Strategy

Sixty-two per cent of CEOs recognize that IT-enabled changes will be a key element in their post-recession strategy, while only 13 per cent disagree, according to a recent survey by Gartner. Better yet, preliminary results from the survey show 42 per cent of business leaders are already focusing more on revenue growth than cost control.

In the third quarter of 2009, Gartner conducted a targeted web-based survey of 190 senior business executives, 81 of whom were CEOs, which probed their views and priorities for 2010 and beyond. It examined companies in the U.S. and UK with annual revenues of more than $1 billion and specifically excluded technology service providers and government.

"Business leaders are gasping for growth after a long period holding their breath, and they are expecting to increase the importance of IT in their post-recession approach. It is critical that CIOs review business leaders' rapidly changing tactical business priorities and often unstated new expectations of where IT can help as the economy turns. CIOs are in a good position to have that conversion right now," notes Mark Raskino, a research vice president and Gartner fellow.

In contrast, in 2009, CEOs initially placed cost cutting at the top of their priorities to cope with the recession. In 2010, the focus for 71 per cent of business leaders is a return to revenue growth, Gartner says.

For more detail, check out http://www.gartner.com/resId=1250218.

Posted by cmaxcer on January 4, 2010 at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

December 9, 2009

Quadrant Scores Big OEM Deal with Infor

Here's an interesting bit of i-focused action. Infor, which just announced its new IBM i document management solution for manufacturers, Infor Document Management for System i, is basically using Quadrant Software's IntelliChief document imaging product as an OEM solution, rebranded with the Infor name, of course. According to Quadrant Software, the solution suite consists of IntelliChief for the imaging/workflow piece, FastFax for the enterprise faxing and email, and Formtastic for the electronic forms creation.

It's a nice win. Infor is a strong ERP vendor with $2 billion in revenue and 70,000 customers. After various acquisitions, Quadrant says Infor was looking to find one solution that could handle the fax, forms, and imaging needs of their customers and which would work with all their ERP packages. Enter Quadrant's solution set.

"Infor is entrusting us with an exclusive deal that basically enables all their ERP XA, ERP System21, ERP PRMS, and ERP BPCS/LX customers to go paperless with IntelliChief," notes Gary Langton, co-founder and CEO of Quadrant Software. "Not only have we invested significant resources in IntelliChief prior to this agreement, but we have plans to do even more to make this partnership a success."

--Chris Maxcer, News Editor

Posted by cmaxcer on December 9, 2009 at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

November 2, 2009

IBM Touts 235 New Switchers From Sun, HP

IBM is pleased to report that it has snagged 235 customers who moved critical business workloads to IBM servers and storage systems from Sun and HP in the third quarter. Essentially, we're talking about Unix, moving from Sun and HP's Unix flavors over to IBM's AIX.

The latest numbers represent action from IBM's three-year-old Migration Factory program that helps clients move to IBM systems--all told, nearly 2,000 customers have switched to IBM servers and storage, primarily from Sun and HP, including approximately 400 from Sun and 200 from HP this year, IBM says. (IBM does not report how many IBM AIX customers moved from IBM to its competitors, but presumably there's been at least a handful.)

In October, Oracle bragged up its latest benchmarks, calling out IBM. Oracle, of course, is looking to complete an acquisition of Sun, and oh, by the way, IBM says, 84 clients formerly running Sun-based workloads moved over to IBM Power Systems in the third quarter.

To put dollars on the third-quarter action, IBM says it increased the revenue generated from competitive Power Systems displacements of both Sun and HP customers to over $150 million in the third quarter. This amounts to more than $400 million in sales from UNIX competitive takeouts this year.

(I've said it before, if only IBM i had some direct competitors!)

--Chris Maxcer, news editor

Posted by cmaxcer on November 2, 2009 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2009

COMMON Needs Leaders

COMMON is looking for members who are interested in running for its Board of Directors. Come Spring 2010, there will be three open positions, but the time to act is now. COMMON says its Nominating Committee will accept applications through October 9 and conduct interviews through October 15. It's unclear whether COMMON's application and interview process is a vetting process or a qualification confirmation process. Either way, directors are elected by the COMMON members for a three-year term.

COMMON says you're qualified to be a COMMON Board of Director if you're:

• A leader
  
• A team player
  
• Experienced with budgets and business planning
  
• Familiar with financial management and process management
  
• Familiar with goal setting and strategic direction
  
• Attended a least one COMMON Annual Meeting and an
  educational event in the past two years
  
• Have at least five years experience in a system (software,
  hardware, or applications) and/or management environment
  
• Are willing to commit to a three-year term
  

For more, check out http://www.common.org/about/elections.html.

Posted by cmaxcer on September 23, 2009 at 7:50 AM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2009

Rochester Newspaper Reports IBM Layoffs

The Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn., reported Wednesday that at least 68 IBM employees were laid off earlier this year from the Rochester facility where IBM i technologies originate.

The newspaper quoted an official with Rochester's Workforce Development office, who said that 68 people attended a meeting at IBM that was held by the office's Rapid Response team. Those 68 workers were helped in May by monies from the state of Minnesota that were earmarked for education and training. That money will now be covered by a $4.8 million National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Of course, we still don't know exactly what it means since the Rochester plant manufactures both IBM i and AIX-based Power Systems; but this reporter has heard suggestions through more than one grapevine that IBM was likely to let go of those employees who favored working on one platform rather than branching out to a more Power Systems-friendly workload.

Still, anyone who did get laid off probably got a pretty darn good assistance package from IBM, as Chris Maxcer reported. And now federal grant money is available for education and training assistance to laid off workers.

We've discussed possible layoffs at IBM in past posts.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Posted by rsanders on June 18, 2009 at 2:40 PM | Comments (7)

May 28, 2009

Cobol Celebrates 50 Years—Alone

Aaah, lucky us. Because we know what Cobol is, right?

C'mon, you know—the COmmon Business-Oriented Language (thank you Wikipedia) created by the Department of Defense, computer manufacturers (IBM was there), and university people to further harness computing and the programming of business applications. It's one of the lovely little languages you can use on IBM's mainframes, or with IBM i.

But what you probably don't know is that it turned 50 on Thursday.

Yes, that's right. Happy birthday Cobol! The meetings (at the Pentagon, no less) that initiated Cobol occurred May 28 and 29 in 1959.

I bet if you had known sooner you would have put on a little party hat and had a piece of cake for the programming language. Perhaps you would have even sung.

But, alas, Cobol celebrated alone—or darn near it.

According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Micro Focus (a vendor of enterprise application management and modernization solutions), only one in four survey respondents have heard of Cobol or know what it is.

And, of course, men are more than twice as likely as women to know about Cobol, with 33 percent of male respondents versus just 14 percent of female respondents aware of Cobol's existence. Among age groups, middle-aged respondents (45-54) were most likely to know about Cobol (29 percent), as opposed to younger generations. Of the respondents aged 18-34, only 15 percent knew what COBOL was.

According to the survey results, the average American relies on Cobol at least 13 times per day for routine activities such as making phone calls, using a credit or debit card, and commuting to and from work. All these daily transactions are originally based on Cobol.

And yet three quarters of the surveyed folks are oblivious to the programming language that originally made it all possible.

Datamonitor said in its November 2008 report "Cobol—Continuing to Drive Value in the 21st Century," that

• Around 200 billion lines of Cobol code are in live operation.


• 75 percent of the world's business data is processed in Cobol.


• 90 percent of global financial transactions are processed in Cobol.


• There are 1.5-2 million developers, globally, working with Cobol code.


• Around 5 billion lines of new Cobol code are added to live systems every year.

So if you missed the non-existent celebration, don't worry. It isn't too late to spread a little hoopla in honor of the programming language. To commemorate the 50th birthday of Cobol, Micro Focus has launched a social media hub of videos, photos, and Cobol facts at cobol.com.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Posted by rsanders on May 28, 2009 at 11:11 PM | Comments (6)

May 6, 2009

mrc Wants You to Outsource to America

This little nugget just about slipped by with all the hullabaloo surrounding COMMON's conference, but it's well worth sharing: software tool developer mrc has created an "Outsource to America" promotion that's designed to help keep jobs in America.

"Basically, we'll beat any outsourcing quote for web application development," notes Sal Stangarone, senior product consultant for mrc. "Tell us your project, show us your outsourcing quote, and we'll beat it, simple as that."

mrc says it realizes that companies everywhere need to cut down on costs, which often means offshore outsourcing; however, when it comes to web application development, offshore outsourcing isn't the cheapest option.

Here's a few key example projects that mrc says might be outsourced:

• Web reporting solutions
  
• Order entry systems
  
• Executive dashboards
  
• E-Commerce sites
  

"This offer contradicts the belief that outsourcing is the cheapest option," Stangarone notes, adding, "Show us a current outsourcing quote and we will prove it."

Nice.

--Chris Maxcer, News Editor

Posted by cmaxcer on May 6, 2009 at 9:32 AM | Comments (1)

April 26, 2009

Award Recipients Honored by COMMON, IBM

COMMON and IBM both handed out awards during the opening session at COMMON Reno 2009. IBM presented its Innovation Awards to companies that have created innovative solutions on the IBM i platform, while COMMON presented its Distinguished Service Award, Impact Award, and the Al Barsa Memorial Scholarship. Recipients of the 2009 COMMON awards are:

• Al Barsa Memorial Scholarship--Paul Rogers
• COMMON Impact Award--Al Barsa, Jr. (awarded posthumously to Sue Barsa)
• Distinguised Service Award--Ron Newman

Recipients of the IBM Power Systems Innovation Awards are:

• Education Excellence--Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, Neb.
• Energy Efficiency (IBM Systems Director Active Energy)--United States Bowling Congress
• Web Solution--Allied Beverage Group, LLC
• Business Solution--Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles, CA
• Virtualization Solution--Perishable Distributors of Iowa

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Posted by rsanders on April 26, 2009 at 10:46 PM | Comments (1)

April 22, 2009

Services Highlight IBM's 1Q Financials

IBM announced its 2009 first-quarter financial results this week, noting that net income declined 1 percent while total revenue for the quarter ($21.7 billion) declined 11 percent. IBM cited the obvious difficult economic environment, and pointed out the company's transformation away from a dependence on hardware toward a more economically-resilient services-oriented business is already paying off for the company. IBM managed to eek out diluted earning of $1.70 per share, up 4 percent, no doubt in part due to rigorous operational cost cutting.

Here's some illuminating highlights from the IBM conference call with investors--the block quotes below are all from IBM Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge, who traditionally delivers the complicated results in a relatively easy-to-understand oral form:

We've done a lot of work over the last decade to transform the company, shifting to higher value areas, globalizing our business, and constantly working to improve efficiency. I'll give you a few examples of how the changes we've made have positioned us to deliver this performance in a challenging economic environment.

First, with a focus on higher value offerings and strong services capabilities, we can adapt our offerings to deliver what clients are looking for. Today, clients remained focused on trying to save cost and conserve capital. Our services signings reflect our ability to meet these needs.

Second, the actions we've taken have dramatically shifted the mix of our business--and our profit model has less dependence on hardware, which is more vulnerable to economic conditions. In fact, this quarter effectively all of our pre-tax profit came from software, services and financing. The annuity nature of these businesses provides a solid base of revenue, profit and cash.

Third, we have been investing to capture the opportunity in the growth markets. Our constant currency revenue growth in these markets remained about 8 points higher than in the major markets.

Finally, we've had an ongoing focus on driving productivity in all parts of the business, from sales efficiency to supply chain management to service delivery to global support functions. The result of this work is to reduce our fixed cost base, and therefore improve the operational balance point.

Bottom line, we have built a more resilient business model, and one that generates more profit from each dollar of revenue.

Power Systems and Hardware, etc

Loughridge noted, "Systems and Technology performance reflects the challenges that transaction-based business are facing today. Within the segment, our UNIX servers performed well." He didn't mention IBM i at all, but that's to be expected in how IBM is reporting its Power Systems hardware line.

Systems & Technology revenue of $3.2 billion was down 23 percent year to year, or 18 percent at constant currency. We continued to have strength in the high end of our servers--driven by virtualization, increased efficiency, and good returns on investment. First quarter was the fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit MIPS growth on mainframe servers, and we had double-digit revenue growth in the high-end of POWER servers. . . .

Focusing on the brands, System z revenue declined 19 percent year to year, or 12 percent at constant currency, while MIPS grew 18 percent.

Converged System p was down 2 percent but up 5 percent at constant currency, gaining 4 points of share. Revenue from our high end converged System p continued to be very strong. Revenue was up 35 percent. We had 62 UNIX competitive displacements this quarter, with half of the transactions over $1 million.

System x server revenue declined 27 percent year to year. The demand for x86 solutions continues to soften as customers virtualize workloads and consolidate onto more efficient platforms.

Storage revenue declined 20 percent year to year, with double-digit declines in both disk and tape.

Overall, Systems and Technology results reflect the challenge of this economic environment.

IBM clearly is having success poaching Unix customers from competitors--no doubt due to the awesomeness of the POWER6 processors and IBM's Power Systems hardware. The point? Unix competition gives IBM customers it can snatch from competitors. IBM i doesn't have any similar competitors.

What About Software

Moving on to software, IBM's $4.5 billion of revenue was down 6 percent year to year--but up 2 percent at constant currency. Most notably, Loughridge's comments reflect IBM's efforts to snag fast ROI software sales, as well as the company's appreciation of recurring revenue from software:

Customers continued to purchase mission critical software to run their businesses. And demand was strong for software that delivers fast returns on investment, while adoption of software for transformational projects slowed, and non-essential purchases were heavily scrutinized. . . .

Across all software brands, we have strong recurring revenue; in fact, annuity content represents two-thirds of our software business. This provides a good base of profit, and helped our software business to deliver solid performance in this tough environment.

And the layoffs?

This quarter our workforce rebalancing charges were about $265 million, most of which was for our services business. We expect to spend between $300 million and $400 million globally for the full year, which is a typical level of restructuring for us, and as we said a lot of this was skewed to the first part of the year. Since most of this is behind us, the benefits of these actions will start to come through in the second quarter.

Go Big or Go Home

For high-end customers, IBM appears to be doing exceedingly well.

We signed 16 deals larger than $100 million, and that's on top of the 24 deals larger than $100 million that we signed in fourth quarter last year.

Wow. That's more than $4 billion from just 40 customers.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 22, 2009 at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2009

The Road to COMMON

This year's COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition in Reno, Nevada is somewhat of an enigma. On one hand, it's simply the year's premier event for the IBM i/System i/iSeries professional, and it happens to include a user group meeting, gobs of education, a solution provider expo, and some industry innovation awards, along with a tangential IT Executive Conference and a 5k Run/Walk and blood drive charity event. As if that weren't enough, there's still more, and that's where the enigma comes in.

Fittingly enough with its Reno location, there's some wild cards thrown into the COMMON mix this year. First, Reno is located on the western side of the U.S., which is on the light side of the country's population base. Will fewer IT pros cross the continental divide this year? Hard to say. After all, COMMON only has one large conference each year now, so more people might attend.

But what about our faltering economy? Might companies slash travel budgets? It's entirely possible, but then again the cost of travel has dipped, and the room rate at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino is by far more affordable than it has been at many a COMMON in years past.

So the outside forces at play this year may or may not cancel each other out.

Elections on the Table

Meanwhile, COMMON has its own business to conduct, and front and center are elections for the COMMON Board of Directors: Bruce "Hoss" Collins, Richard Dolewski, Leo Lefebvre, Pete Massiello, and Trevor Perry are COMMON's candidates for the 2009 Board of Directors election. The five will vie for three open positions. Electronic voting will continue through 5 p.m. April 28, 2009, but COMMON members will be able to vote on site.

And why are the elections so important this year?

COMMON--and its membership--are clearly facing big changes in its ecosystem. With last year's big-boom announcement of IBM's newly unified System i and System p into Power Systems, the new IBM i world has been left spinning. A new name, new boxes, new options, and new price points--it's all still shaking out for most i-focused shops. How will COMMON embrace the new Power Systems world? AIX-focused professionals? How can COMMON help ensure that the major investments companies are making . . . continue to pay off in the short and long term?

COMMON is in a unique position of power to shape how IBM responds to customer need (and sometimes, desire). And more importantly, COMMON may also be able to provide resources and guidance to companies as they navigate through rocky landscapes.

Off to a Great Start

As for education, there are 58 brand new i-specific sessions this year, as well as a new lab. Let's say that again: 58 new i-specific sessions. That's pretty amazing, really, when you consider that some conferences don't even have that many sessions in total. Plus, there are 39 sessions specific to those interested in AIX.

Oh, and one more thing: there are 17 brand new speakers this year, too. Of course, we're not sure if COMMON is counting its keynote speaker, but no matter--the keynote should be quite interesting indeed: Jeff Jonas, chief scientist of the IBM Entity Analytics group and an IBM Distinguished Engineer, will present "Cops and Robbers Las Vegas Style." Attendees should get a wonderful peek into the wild west security efforts employed by Nevada casinos.

And What About IBM?

Speaking of the keynote, what might we hear from IBM? Ross Mauri, general manager of IBM Power Systems, will be there, and while he's set to announce the 2009 COMMON/IBM Power Systems Innovation Awards, along with COMMON President Randy Dufault, what might he have to share after the awards? Certainly he'll have something to say. Will he talk about sales and marketing efforts? Hot technology advances? IBM's vision for the long-term direction of Power Systems? And what about the nascent IBM Smart Market, Smart Business, Smart Cubes? Might IBM i become a significant player in IBM's newest go-to-market model? Or might IBM have little to say at all?

In any event, after the cards are cut, IBM will show its hand in Reno . . . and we're looking forward to it!

Posted by cmaxcer on April 21, 2009 at 4:39 PM | Comments (0)

March 12, 2009

Got CO2? Let IBM Conduct a Strategic Carbon Management Analysis

With all the hype around going green, sustainable management and social responsibility, IBM has developed a new consulting service to help companies analyze their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and energy usage. But, is this what companies really want and need, especially in this new economy with tighter and tighter practices?

Perhaps tighter practices equate to saving money any way that a company can, including reduced energy costs.

An IBM global corporate social responsibility survey of more than 250 c-suite executives found that 68 percent of them already are focusing on corporate social responsibility activities to create new revenue streams, and 54 percent believe it's giving them a competitive advantage. In addition, 85 percent said they were using corporate social responsibility initiatives to reduce costs, and a third report that their business partners are requiring them to lower their CO2 emissions. Hmmm. Who is requiring you to lower your CO2 emissions? Walmart?

The new service, dubbed Strategic Carbon Management, should help companies develop strategies to better manage and reduce energy use and CO2 emissions while improving efficiency and lowering costs throughout their operations. By implementing the strategic recommendations, IBM expects companies could reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 50 percent--ranging from 15-20 percent for travel and up to 90 percent for datacenters--with corresponding reductions in cost.

"Companies are being driven to reduce their environmental impact and improve their energy efficiency--their customers and partners demand it, their financial performance depends on it, and governments increasingly require it," says Eric Riddleberger, who heads up IBM's corporate social responsibility consulting efforts as the business strategy consulting global leader. "Piecemeal approaches yield piecemeal results, but setting a comprehensive strategy for emissions and energy management can provide real improvements and business value."

IBM can conduct a Strategic Carbon Management analysis on a company's entire operation or any single department--business travel, transportation systems, datacenters and IT systems, manufacturing and distribution centers, office facilities, retail space, research and development sites, etc.--anywhere energy is consumed and CO2 is produced.

The Strategic Carbon Management offering uses a number of IBM consulting processes to help companies perform the analysis, including a carbon management diagnostic, carbon footprinting, green action planning, and business case modeling. It uses measuring and monitoring tools and dashboards to help customers analyze a wide range of issues and opportunities, including carbon trading, regulations, and incentives.

You can check out a demo of the Strategic Carbon Management services online.

If you don’t care to jump onto IBM's social responsibility bandwagon, or it isn't a company-wide choice, you still might be able to do some personal analysis of your servers and impress your boss. IBM Systems Director has a new feature--Active Energy Manager--that apparently measures energy usage among systems.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Posted by rsanders on March 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM | Comments (0)

March 1, 2009

Worldwide Server Market Contracts Sharply at End of 2008

Surprising no one (except maybe those who've been living under a rug), IDC reported last week that worldwide server market revenue declined 14 percent year-over-year to $13.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. It's the second consecutive quarter that revenue declined. Server shipments declined 12 percent worldwide in 4Q08 when compared to the year-ago period.

"The server market experienced its sharpest decline since the middle of the dot-com slowdown nearly seven years ago. All server vendors, geographies, and technology segments were impacted significantly as the global recession gained momentum and market conditions weakened as the quarter progressed," says Matthew Eastwood, group vice president of IDC's Enterprise Platforms Group.

The year ended not quite so dismally, with revenue declining 3.3 percent from 2007 to $53.3 billion, while server shipments grew 2 percent to 8.1 million boxes.

All five of the top server vendors saw year-over-year declines in their quarterly server revenue and in their annual server revenue--the first time this has happened since 2002.

IBM maintained its number one spot in the server market with 36.3 percent market share in factory revenue for 4Q08. Still, Big Blue's server revenue was down 20 percent year over year.

Hewlett-Packard took the number two spot with a 29 percent share for the quarter as its revenue declined 10.1 percent compared to 4Q07. Dell maintained third place with a 10.6 percent market share and experienced a 9.9 percent revenue decline compared with 4Q07. Fourth place Sun experienced a year-over-year revenue decline of 14.1 percent in 4Q08 to 9.3 percent market share. Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens experienced a 14.9 percent decline in revenue, holding 4.2 percent revenue share in 4Q08.

Looking at servers by operating system, Unix servers nabbed 36.2 percent of quarterly server spending in 4Q08, while Microsoft Windows servers took 35.3 percent of quarterly revenue and Linux servers represented 13.6 percent of all server revenue.

It appears that the Unix share of server market revenue increased from the year-ago quarter from 33 percent of quarterly revenue, according to IDC. "While actual revenue was lower this time around ($4.9 billion in 4Q08 vs. $5.2 billion in 4Q07), the share of total revenue shows continued investment in Unix servers, where customers have invested so deeply over the years to support mission-critical workloads," says Jean Bozman, research vice president of IDC's Enterprise Platforms Group.

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

Posted by rsanders on March 1, 2009 at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2009

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

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 3, 2009

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)

January 23, 2009

IBM Absent from Top 100 List, Perhaps Sam Should Take Note of Google's Spa-Like Atmosphere

Apparently, cows are not the only happy mammals that come from California. Workers at IT companies Google, Cisco Systems, and Qualcomm--all headquartered in California cities--gave their employees enough of a thumbs up to rank them in the top 10 of Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For 2008 list. Google took No. 1, Cisco No. 6, and Qualcomm No. 8.

Incidentally, this is the second year that Google took the No. 1 spot. (Hmmm. Maybe free cafeteria food, onsite haircuts and oil changes, massages, and fitness facilities do make a difference! Sounds more like a spa stay to me. Where can I sign up?)

And who is conspicuously absent from the list? IBM! Of course, not every company has an equal opportunity to make the list. First, someone at the company has to give the okay for its employees to take a 57-question survey distributed by the Great Place to Work Institute. Fortune says that of the 1,500 firms it contacted to offer the survey, 407 participated.

So perhaps IBM didn't even give its employees a chance to speak their minds. Which wouldn't surprise me. For a public company, IBM sure is secretive about, well, everything except tooting its own horn!

Even with stellar 2008 financial results, though, the prospects of major layoffs can't make employees too happy.

But I still think it would behoove Mr. Palmisano to check out what Google is doing!

Anyway, rounding out the top 10 best companies to work for in 2008 (and the number of U.S. employees at each):

1. Google--8,134
2. Quicken Loans--4,920
3. Wegmans Food Markets--35,302
4. Edward Jones--31,451
5. Genentech--10,842
6. Cisco Systems--32,160
7. Starbucks--134,013
8. Qualcomm--10,095
9. Goldman Sachs--13,764
10. Methodist Hospital System--10,481

I've always wanted to own my own coffee and ice cream shop/bookstore. Perhaps I need to start with a stint at Starbucks to learn the ropes!

But I do love working from home right now--thanks Penton! What about you? What perks or benefits does your IBM i, i5/OS, System i, AS/400-loving company offer that make you give it a thumbs up?

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, senior industry editor

Posted by rsanders on January 23, 2009 at 8:31 AM | Comments (1)

January 21, 2009

Big Blue Makes Bigger Deal About Annual Patent Score

IBM sure has been tooting its horn of late. Sure, the little VW Bug-like beeps that it emitted last week about its patent progress weren't near as loud as the cruise-ship sized blast that it bellowed this week announcing its stellar financial results; but that doesn't mean the patents weren't any less important--uh--to someone.

Big Blue said it scored 4,186 U.S. patents in 2008, the first time a company has ever earned more than 4,000 patents in a single year.

The score also ushered in a Sweet Sixteen for IBM--the company has been at the top of the list for most patents won for the past 16 years.

And if those statistics didn't ring in the ears of its competitors, IBM also pointed out that it took nearly three times as many patents as Hewlett-Packard in 2008 and that its total exceeded the combined patent issuances of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Apple, EMC, Accenture, and Google. Ouch!

Why? Why would IBM care to have so many patents? I know they're pretty hard to get, and each application costs a bundle of money. When I covered Oregon State University as a cub reporter I did a story on the university's patent office and the paperwork required to get one of the little protective documents. With all the questions surrounding intellectual property and who invented what, I guess it can't hurt.

And if you make a lot of money off the patented invention, then I suppose the application fees are a drop in the bucket. Hmmm. Maybe you all have some ideas.

Here are the scores of the top 10 companies earning patents in 2008 (according to IFI Patent Intelligence):

1. IBM--4,186
2. Samsung--3,515
3. Canon--2,114
4. Microsoft--2,030
5. Intel--1,776
6. Matsushita (now Panasonic Corp.)--1,745
7. Toshiba--1,609
8. Fujitsu--1,494
9. Sony--1,485
10. Hewlett-Packard--1,424

And in case you missed the other noise coming out of IBM, there's always some honking at Lotusphere, which is just wrapping up this week in Orlando. And then there was the announcement that IBM would create 1,300 jobs in a technology service center it plans to open in Dubuque, Iowa.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, senior industry editor

Posted by rsanders on January 21, 2009 at 6:47 PM | Comments (1)

January 6, 2009

Layoff Rumors Swirling Among IBM Employees

The rumor mill is churning, and the potential for layoffs at IBM is fueling it. The Job Cuts Comments page on the website of Alliance@IBM, the IBM Employees' Union, is loaded with comments since December about possible job cuts, focusing on U.S. operations.

The speculation has the website wagging with rumors and some possible nuggets of truth, plus a big dose of fear. Many of the comments suggest January 23 as the notification day for layoffs, but others question that logic because IBM plans to release its annual financial statements a few days before that. Some of the comments speak of thousands of layoffs--as many as 16,000--in a "sweeping resource action" (RA) that will hit all divisions.

Regardless, I contacted IBM to see if the company could provide any information, and a spokesperson says IBM doesn't comment on speculation. Go figure.

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

Posted by rsanders on January 6, 2009 at 4:41 PM | Comments (3)

December 18, 2008

IBM Still Has It—Customers' Trust, That Is

The Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe released Ponemon's fifth annual survey of Most Trusted Companies for Privacy, and Google and Microsoft aren't on the top-20 list, but IBM is. Computerworld offers an analysis of the results, and you can also read the TRUSTe/Ponemon press release about the survey results, which includes a quote from Harriet Pearson, IBM vice president and chief privacy officer.

It's probably not news to any of us, but the survey found that worry about privacy is higher than ever, consumers believe they're losing control of their personal information, and identity theft is of primary concern.

Here are the companies that made the list:

1 American Express
2 eBay
3 IBM
4 Amazon
5 Johnson & Johnson
6 Hewlett Packard
6 U.S. Postal Service
7 Procter & Gamble
8 Apple
9 Nationwide
10 Charles Schwab
11 USAA
12 Intuit
13 WebMD
14 Yahoo!
15 Facebook
16 Disney
16 AOL
17 Verizon
18 FedEx
19 US Bank
20 Dell
20 eLoan

--Linda Harty, security & networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on December 18, 2008 at 8:59 AM | Comments (0)

December 4, 2008

5.3 Ends It, You Need to Move On...

In case you were hoping to continue your happy bliss with 5.3, let me crush that dream for you. IBM will stop supporting 5.3 on April 30, 2009. But they make you feel like you should have known this already with their latest announcement. Here's a snippet of the "you knew this was coming" breakup letter, er, I mean announcement letter...

Every release of IBM i, i5/OS, and OS/400 software has a finite support period. The End of support date for each software release is announced either with the initial release announcement or twelve months prior to becoming effective. When a software release reaches the End of support date, direct upgrades to subsequent releases are only available for a limited time.

But make sure you don't wait until the last minute to upgrade. IBM goes on to warn that

If a direct upgrade to the latest software release is not available, you need to conduct a multiple-step upgrade. This requires upgrading to an interim release to enable upgrading to the latest release.

If all direct upgrades to subsequent software releases have been withdrawn, there is no supported way to upgrade the system. The only alternative is to perform a labor-intensive manual upgrade, which typically requires hiring custom services.

So, even if you're not ready to say goodbye, sounds like it's time to shed a few tears, dig into the Ben and Jerry's, and move on. Hey, I hear 5.4 is single and still looking...

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by ebradford on December 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

December 1, 2008

IBM Pulls the Plug on Select Power Systems

But don't freak out yet! Replacements are available. In this announcement, dated November 18, 2008, IBM announces its plans to cease the sale of the following machines:

IBM System i 9406 Model 525
IBM System i 9407 Model 515
IBM Power 520 Express 9407-M15
IBM Power 520 Express 9408-M25
IBM Power 550 Express 9409-M50

All the models will be replaced with IBM Power 520 8203-E4A except 9409-M50, which will be replaced with IBM Power 550 8203-E8A. A slew of feature withdrawls also accompany the model withdrawals, including some select Base DVD-Roms, power supplies, and about a hundred other components associated with the recently killed models. It might be time for that upgrade afterall...

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by ebradford on December 1, 2008 at 3:11 PM | Comments (0)

November 4, 2008

IBM i Shops Get Ready: Nielsen Predicts Healthy Online Sales Amid Bleak 2008 Holiday Spending

IBM i shops in the retail market have just a few short weeks to prepare for Cyber Monday, the first Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, which marks the official start of the online holiday shopping season.

Despite a shaky economy and predictions of bleak sales, The Nielsen Company suggests online retailers will fare well, having the largest chunk of customers (12 percent) who say they'll spend more money this year at online stores. The growing dollar store outlets also will enjoy a larger percentage of customers who say they'll spend more in these shops.

"We expect the 2008 holiday season to be a healthy one for online sales as consumers use comparison shopping sites to locate bargains and competitive prices during a tough economic climate," says Ken Cassar, vice president of Industry Insights for Nielsen Online. Though growth is unlikely to reach historic rates, online retailers should out-pace traditional stores in terms of growth and continue to increase their share of overall holiday spending.

So what are you doing to get ready for the holiday season and attract customers? If you offer customers online sales, has your company employed any new IT strategies or deployed any new technologies to help with the holiday shopping melee?

Better yet, can I write an article on your i system retail strategy? Email me!!!

What does a retail outlet do to attract customers? Does having the right IT infrastructure help?

Does it make a difference to customers whether your e-commerce application is running on an i system or a Wintel box? Probably not. But I bet customers care whether the order they make on Dec. 23 is processed quickly and deposited with an overnight shipping company in enough time to be tucked underneath the family's holiday tree.

Traditional retailers won't be as lucky in 2008 as online outlets. Overall, The Nielsen Company predicts one-third of consumers will spend less this holiday season on gifts than they did last year. Only six percent expect to spend more and 50 percent expect to spend the same as last year.

"The expanding credit crisis, housing malaise, commodity price pressures, an unstable labor market, and plummeting consumer confidence all contribute to a weak holiday shopping season and quite possibly the worst holiday spending decline since the worldwide recession in the early 90s," says James Russo, vice president of marketing for The Nielsen Company.

How's that for optimistic?

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

rita dot sanders at penton dot com

Posted by rsanders on November 4, 2008 at 4:10 PM | Comments (1)

November 3, 2008

Former AS/400 GM Tom Jarosh Dies at 55

Tom Jarosh, 55, a dynamic former general manager of the AS/400 Division at IBM, died in October of melanoma.

Jarosh started his IBM career in 1975. He worked the channel as a vice president, ran IBM's AS/400 Division, and was a vice president in the IBM Systems and Technology Group at the time of his death. He had a hand in guiding the current unification of System p and System i into the converged Power Systems lineup.

Jarosh was the oldest of 10 children. He had three daughters and five grandchildren. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published his obituary, which has more detail.

Jarosh became GM of the AS/400 Division late 1997, and he quickly took the reins as one of the division's most energetic leaders. He kicked off one of the biggest sustained advertising campaigns for the AS/400 and oversaw the shift to iSeries.

On a personal note, I first saw Tom take off his suit jacket at an AS/400 Soundoff session at COMMON and field many of the questions, in addition to introducing the new AS/400 marketing messages. He gave the impression that with the AS/400 at IBM, the buck stopped with him.

Jarosh was also my first big interview--the head of a multi-billion dollar division. I had the chance to sit down with him one-on-one at COMMON. Our scheduled 20 minutes stretched into 45 as he answered questions and spoke with passion about the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead. I must admit, when I left the conference room and saw half a dozen green-shirt-wearing analysts milling about waiting their turn, I did notice a few surprised glances at the empty conference room. I had been in there, making them wait, alone. Just one kid. I was quite pleased with that, but I think the key point here is less about my questions and more about the fact that Tom was there in the room, using the time that was needed, in that moment.

Rest in peace, Tom Jarosh.

--Chris Maxcer, news editor for System iNetwork

Posted by cmaxcer on November 3, 2008 at 8:06 AM | Comments (0)

October 8, 2008

IBM Keeps Its Head in the Clouds....

IBM, having already covered the earth, has decided to branch out into the clouds, launching a company-wide initiative to extend its software delivery with both on-premise and cloud-computing applications. Affected products include new software, services, and technical resources for clients and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).

"We are moving our clients, the industry, and even IBM itself to have a mixture of data and applications that live in the data center and in the cloud," said Willy Chiu, IBM's vice president of high-performance-on-demand solutions. "IBM's cloud computing strategy was inspired by feedback from the business world's broadest IT customer base, indicating a growing desire to utilize data, applications, and services from any device and from any location based on open standards."

IBM will deliver its own cloud services portfolio; help ISVs design, build, deliver and market cloud services; help clients integrate cloud services into their business; and provide cloud computing environments to businesses.

IBM has13 Cloud Computing Centers and 40 IBM Innovation Centers to help test applications via cloud computing models.

Some of IBM's cloud services include:
1. Bluehouse, a web-delivered social networking and collaboration cloud service designed to connect people from different businesses.
2. Lotus Sametime Unyte, which provides web conferences with document and application sharing.
3. IBM Rational Policy Tester OnDemand, which automates web content scanning for privacy and quality.
4. IBM Rational AppScan OnDemand, which scans web applications for security bugs.
5. Telelogic Focal Point, which lets product-management teams collect, analyze and prioritize product features in line with broader organizational goals.
6. Remote Data Protection, which lets clients achieve a rapid time to protection for their business data and to remotely recover that data as a cloud service 24/7.

To help ISVs jump on board, the new offering also features white papers and demos on getting started, an SaaS Enablement Network of infrastructure providers, and new marketing resources such as web conferencing.

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by ebradford on October 8, 2008 at 3:52 PM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2008

YiPs Plan to Host Open-Source Development for i on Website

The coolness factor of IBM i is about to be elevated to the level of awesome. A small group from Young i Professionals (YiPs) has fired up a website dedicated to educating people about the i OS and all that it can do, including supporting open-source development.

The website (YoungiProfessionals.com) features a forum, Wiki, and blog and soon will support open-source development projects on i.

"Open source is really the grassroots initiative of this group," says Brian May, a 30-year-old YiPs website blogger and the de facto webmaster. "We plan to do some open-source development using apps that people haven’t necessarily put on i: RPG/CGI apps on DB2." May is the information systems project lead for software development at Garan Manufacturing in Starkville, Mississippi.

The website went online a few months ago right after COMMON Nashville when the YiPs expressed to Trevor Perry how cool it would be to have a website for open-source development and other YiPs activities. He made it happen about the same time that one of the YiPs in the group landed on the tarmac after his return flight from the conference.

The website relaunched just last week on an IBM Power System 570 running i 6.1. It is written in PHP using Zend Core and has other applications using the MySQL database. The website is set up on its own partition in the box, which is maintained by the IBM Academic Initiative for educational access. The box also runs sandboxes where educators and students can play with IBM i.

"It really coincides with the general mission of the Academic Initiative," says Justin Porter, one of the minds behind the YiPs website and a blogger on the site. "It integrates the academic community with the needs of the business community and gets them on the same page." Porter is a 26-year-old director of technology for Westside Produce, a small company in California's bread basket.

The YiPs hope the website will uncover the secret that IBM i is technology for today's world. "Some people don’t realize you can take any application from open source and port it over pretty easily," Porter says. "The website is a proof of concept. It's us turning back to the community and saying, 'You can do this and here it is.' This is our answer that we don't need to have that debate."

And it just might work. Sure, IBM and others have tried to elevate IBM i's coolness through web videos on YouTube, games unlocking RPG programming and i Security, and other tactics, but I'm guessing that those kinds of activities don't hold a programmer's interest for long.

Enter what a programmer likes to do--write code--and perhaps there exists a winning solution that will raise people's awareness of all that the i can do.

"It's a never-ending passion to tinker with; it's something we've all learned to enjoy," says Aaron Bartell, another YiPs website organizer and blogger. "I don’t have any hobbies other than technology. When I get done with work, I go and pound out code on something else because it’s driving me nuts that I can’t figure out how something works." Bartell, who runs his own MowYourLawn.com website, is a 29-year-old software developer for Krengel Technology, Inc.

Bartell is enthusiastic about ending the i's image as archaic technology and opening other programmers' eyes to its open-source possibilities. "We accept the challenge and want to take it to the bank," he says.

Most of the applications running on the box are open source. May has spent the last few months porting open-source applications that run on Linux to IBM i for the website.

The forum runs on an open-source application called phpBB. The open-source blog publishing application WordPress lets the group communicate with other YiPs and open-source enthusiasts. Another customizable, PHP weblog tool called Pivot handles the site's news announcements because it doesn't require a back-end database. The wiki runs on the PHP-based PmWiki application. And the whole enchilada is under the care of the open-source content management system called Joomla!.

"That application is going to help us a lot when new content is added because we don't have to go in and manually add it to the website ourselves," May says. "Users with the appropriate login can add it themselves."

The website's wiki contains a section that details exactly what May did to get the applications on the i so that other programmers can take those instructions and have the applications "up and running in a half hour," May says.

There doesn't seem to be any limit to what the YiPs have planned for the i. The group wants the website to be a host code repository for open-source projects. They want other i enthusiasts of all ages to download source code and submit changes and updates and new features to projects the group initiates.

The first project the group is working on is a tool to management all the planned projects. They've been busy creating an interface for the subversion client that will communicate with the subversion server to transfer RPG and PHP code to the repository. In this case, the i will serve as both the client and the server.

It may seem obvious that the younger crowd among the fanatical following would launch such an endeavor. But it shouldn't be.

If IBM i can do anything as many proclaim, then why hasn't anyone else thought about an open-source development website for i projects? Or maybe there is one and I don't know about it. Let me know.

And tell me what you think. Would you participate in open-source projects on the i? (All are invited to participate, not just YiPs.) Do you have the time? Is that what you'd use your free time for?

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

Posted by rsanders on September 29, 2008 at 10:23 AM | Comments (3)

August 5, 2008

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)

July 23, 2008

Can Outsourcing Save the i?

So, if any of you didn't happen to listen to the Q2 financials last week from IBM, you really missed out. To sum it up, IBM is kicking butt and taking names.

Overall revenue growth was up 13%, with major improvements in mainframes (up 32%) and System p revenues (up 29%). Although System i revenues were way down, that's to be expected with the convergence of the two lines and promotion of the new "Power Equation" instead.

One bit of revenue growth that stood out (at least for me) from the results, which were presented by Mark Loughridge, IBM’s Senior VP and CFO:

"Our Strategic Outsourcing revenue was up 13 percent. Driven by prior year signings and continued growth in our base accounts.

"Business Transformation Outsourcing was up 29 percent as reported. We had double-digit revenue growth in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. And our BPO Daksh business continued to grow at double-digits."

So I ask you this: With outsourcing playing a major role in IBM's growth this quarter, and Power Systems looking strong for the future, is it possible that outsourcing could be the savior of the i?

Certainly some vendors, including MKS and their Integrity suite and Federated Service Architecture, which helps teams on opposite sides of the globe communicate and work in sync, seem to be following that logic.

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by rsanders on July 23, 2008 at 10:28 AM | Comments (4)

July 21, 2008

IBM Knocks Out Investor Expectations in Q2 2008

IBM reported last week its second quarter financial results for 2008, zooming past Wall Street estimates to the obvious delight of Mark Loughridge, IBM's chief financial officer.

Total revenues for Q2 2008 were $26.8 billion, an increase of 13 percent. Second-quarter income was $2.8 billion compared with $2.3 billion the previous quarter. Income increased 22 percent over the second quarter of 2007.

In a conference call with investors last week, IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said IBM was "ahead of track" in its gains for the quarter. "I've got to say that this is one of the best quarters I've ever seen, and remember we delivered an outstanding second quarter a year ago. So these are truly powerful results."

Systems & Technology revenues of $5.2 billion were up 2 percent year to year. But--expectedly--System i revenue declined 47 percent in the quarter, as IBM transitions the System i customer base to the converged POWER platform.

Encouragingly, converged System p grew 29 percent, and midrange growth accelerated by 68 percent. "The decline in the System i was more than offset by the jump in System p revenues," says Bob Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research. "Now that these two lines are being integrated, what matters to IBM is how the revenues are doing in the aggregate. And that's a net positive."

High-end servers grew 21 percent, driven by the new POWER6 595 announced early in the second quarter. System x server revenue declined 5 percent, and storage revenue was up 12 percent.

Loughbridge is confident in the continued growth of the Power market, saying that "with POWER6 performance now available across the entire product line, this platform is well positioned to sustain its technical and market leadership as we enter the second half."

In a further breakdown of IBM's business segments, total Global Services-related revenue was $15.2 billion, up 16 percent as reported.

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by rsanders on July 21, 2008 at 9:14 AM | Comments (3)