System iNetwork

December 2007

December 19, 2007 9:09 AM

System i Directions as We Slide Out of 2007

There's a two-part set of articles we published in the November and December issues of System iNEWS magazine that is particularly noteworthy: "The Direction of System i Technology, Part 1" and "The Direction of System i Technology, Part 2". The articles are basically a transcript of a roundtable discussion with some of the top minds in our industry -- System iNEWS technical editors Mel Beckman, Paul Conte, Michael Otey, Don Denoncourt, Carsten Flensburg, Scott Klement, Sharon Hoffman, Bryan Meyers, Dan Riehl, and Carson Soule, as well as guests Scott Steinacher and Dan Darnell, longtime contributor Bob Tipton, and Wayne Madden. The set is packed with points, and most every reader will likely find at least a few resonating chords of insight.

Here's a snip:

Wayne: Our topic for today is where System i technology is headed. We can discuss hardware, applications, software -- whatever you feel is important. To begin, is there anything significant that IBM has done in the past 12 months that will truly make a difference to this platform, or is there anything you believe is on the short horizon that IBM is doing or should be doing to affect the System i or the System i community?

Scott S: Absolutely. IBM is introducing a brand-new DB2 Query product. More and more System i shops have been bringing in Windows servers to do business intelligence (BI) because there's a perceived lack of software in the System i market. IBM is introducing this product at a low price point because of that. I saw a two-hour demo, given to me by the Toronto lab, and the product is phenomenal. It's Web 2.0 all the way, with Ajax and so forth. As I was watching the demo, I almost forgot that the product was browser based -- it was that impressive.

The reason IBM is doing this is to try to stem the flow of shops going to SQL Server for BI. A case in point is one of my biggest clients, a very large manufacturer. This client just hired a new VP who doesn't know much about the System i. One of his first mandates was exploring moving a data mart off the System i and onto SQL Server. He sat in on that two-hour demo from IBM and was just bowled over by the product's functionality. It literally changed the course of direction there, and the client is going to be sticking with the System i for BI in the hopes that this query product will be as good as it appears. If that happens across the install base, well, you can see the payoff. More System i machines will be running BI. People will buy a small one and dedicate it to that. DB2 Query has the potential to be a category killer in the BI space because it'll be cheap enough for everybody to own.

Don: Scott, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're talking about all high-end functionality. That's great with BI, but I also heard that DB2 Query is a replacement for Query/400, so you can create simple PDF reports for the web, which has been a problem for Java-based applications for years. So isn't it a very simple entry for getting web reporting?

Obviously, we've had a few things hit the System i world after this roundtable conversation took place, most notably the IBM System i and p reorganization. For those of you in a reflective frame of mind, feel free to post the biggest System i issues -- or gains -- that stick in your mind as we slide out of the year 2007. . . .

Posted by cmaxcer on December 19, 2007 at 9:09 AM | Comments (4)

December 18, 2007 11:39 PM

What Would You Tell Your Own Daughter?

Nate Viall, a System i recruiter and analyst and president of Nate Viall and Associates, dropped me a note, commenting on contributing writer Larisa Redins's news story "Next Generation of IT Women Few and Far Between".

He thought Redins did a great job and offered a few additional points. Here's a snip from Viall's e-mail:

Your readers should copy that article and send it to each of their Congressional reps as reminders:

1. The problem is NOT that students aren't getting the high school and college training for STEM careers (science, tech, engineering, and math); it is perceptions.
2. Outsourcing and offshoring news does have an impact on career selection. Women are making other choices.
3. Females may have been smarter than males in getting out of IT careers at the beginning of this decade. As noted, this is a great time to consider returning.
4. Trend lines are really curves. This trend will change also.
5. Congress needs to refrain from destabilizing market forces with an increase in H-1b professional and related visas.

So I was thinking about high school students and college freshmen and sophomores . . . what would most parents who already work in the IT field recommend to their own children in this age group? Dive into IT? Become a programmer? Focus on systems administration? Go into project management?

The question is really two-fold:

1. Would you recommend an IT-related career to your own daughter? Son?
2. And, if so, where would you steer them?

Of course, these questions depend on the personality and aptitude of each child. However, would you, could you, should you recommend an IT career?

Personally, I think there are jobs for talented, hard-working people in most fields and that you can carve out some sort of niche, but that doesn't mean that certain fields come with inherently more risk for employees. I have a nephew in Seattle who's in the third grade. There's a program he can start at school that would prep him for the gaming industry -- and I'm not talking about Las Vegas. Video games are a huge industry, with big titles like Halo 3 eclipsing the revenue driven by Hollywood blockbusters. Not a bad IT angle to get into, but I'm betting there's plenty of opportunity for off-shore programmers to take video game programming jobs, too.

How would you answer if your kid walked up and said, "So tell me, is information technology a good field for me to get into?"

Posted by cmaxcer on December 18, 2007 at 11:39 PM | Comments (30)

December 13, 2007 7:26 AM

One Week Later: Hurricane Dean Hit

I received a press release from high-availability and disaster-recovery solution provider Vision Solutions this week, and the core story is worth sharing: Terminales de Contenedores de Yucatan (TCY), a shipping company in Mexico, implemented iTera HA one week before Hurricane Dean hit -- talk about fortuitous timing. Here are a few snips, with some minor text cutting, from the release:

"One week after implementing iTERA HA, the hurricane hit, and we were forced to evacuate our terminal," says engineer Jose Antonio Islas Dolores, head of TCY's Systems Department. "Although the storm caused massive damage throughout the area, we came back to work with our systems fully operational and with no loss of data."

TCY is located in Progreso Yucatan, Mexico. From this strategic location, ships can quickly reach the most important markets in the United States, the Caribbean, and Central America (with connections to South America and Europe). TCY serves four leading shipping companies, including the world's largest. For each shipping line, the company keeps precise track of every container -- its exact location in the port, its shipping movement records, and the days it is held at the terminal. All information is managed by TCY, and the company provides customers with 24/7 continuous online information availability, 365 days a year, in spite of being in a hurricane zone.

With Vision Solutions' iTERA HA, TCY's systems continuity includes:

• Assured 24/7 terminal operations and guaranteed accurate records
• Continuous protection and immediate availability of its customers' critical information
• Online and continuously updated systems, even under extreme conditionss such as during a hurricane
• Immediate productivity after emergency evacuation
• The ability to maintain and continually upgrade compliance with ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management requirements by minimizing freight damage and loss, accidents, and work stoppages due to information system failures
• Improved information security and systems productivity through elimination of downtime during backup, hardware upgrade, and maintenance processes

"Before iTERA HA, our system failed catastrophically, and it often took a week to get the server back online, during which time we had to perform all recordkeeping operations manually," says Dolores. "Because of this situation, we acquired an additional System i Model 800 server to have as a backup system and incorporated iTERA HA software into our overall IT strategy."

Posted by cmaxcer on December 13, 2007 at 7:26 AM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2007 7:24 AM

The 2008 Conference for IT Leaders

Remember the roundup of 2008 conferences I published last month? I've got a new one for you: the 2008 IT Leaders Forum. In terms of full disclosure, this is a System iNetwork event, which also means you'll get a chance to meet and attend sessions with System iNEWS magazine technical editors Mel Beckman, Paul Conte, and Bob Tipton. In addition, Gartner's John Enck, IBM's Doug Mack and Bob Cancilla, ASNA's Roger Pence, and Synergy Connects' Dave Ellison -- among others -- will deliver sessions designed to tackle the industry's toughest issues.

The gathering is July 20-23 in Denver, Colorado, at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center. Early-bird registration is $995 for the first person and $495 for each additional person.

Posted by cmaxcer on December 12, 2007 at 7:24 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2007 10:42 AM

Traditional Teaching

One of the blogs I read* is one by Aaron Bartell of MowYourLawn fame, and he has an interesting post I'd like to note. Here's why: Last week we published a news story about programmer/analyst/instructor/author Jim Buck and his efforts at teaching System i-focused curriculum at Gateway Technical College. In Bartell's blog post, he mentions using a book co-written by Jim Buck -- Programming with RPG IV, 4th Edition, which is available from Penton, published by the same organization that publishes Maxed Out, etc, etc. The point is, Bartell is using the book to teach three "students" the latest features and techniques of RPG IV.

Why? Because the three are current and future employees so they can aide the company Bartell is working for on future projects and support. Here's a snip:

The three people I am training are very diverse - one has extensive experience in Unix and related scripting and programming languages (over 40 yrs old :-), another is a yung pup (24 yrs old) who has done some gaming programming and a little Unibasic (yowie mama), and the last is a recent mother that is at the VERY beginning of learning about programming.

We are about two weeks into using the book where they (my students :-) do some reading and then we have a web meeting (GoToMeeting.com) to ask questions and I go over some real-world RPG and how I develop using my favorite tooling (WDSC). So far the book has been given excellent feedback from the readers to the point where we are going to get more copies so they can each have their own :-)

Bartell's post focuses more on the book, but what I find cool is the non-traditional RPG training going on here -- then again, maybe this type of training is more akin to the history of the System i -- the in-house, on-the-job training that gave rise to our current pool of System i pros.

* I really must publish a blogroll on Maxed Out. I've neglected this far too long.

Posted by cmaxcer on December 11, 2007 at 10:42 AM | Comments (2)