System iNetwork

August 2008

August 22, 2008 3:23 PM

The Deep Dark Secret of Transient Knowledge

We have, at our disposal, the most powerful information source in the world--the Internet. It's connected, searchable, and consumable 24/7, at will, any time we have a need. Want to know what blue whales eat? You're seconds away from the answer. Want to know how to configure a server or application? You're seconds away from the answer. The web, in all its glory, has become a replacement for our brains, a replacement for real knowledge, and it kind of freaks me out.

The web--and publications like ours--have become peddlers of transient knowledge. This is the expertise that comes not from knowing how to do something yourself but rather knowing where to find the answer. SystemiNetwork.com is just one such place that IBM i-focused pros know to go to find the answers. Our group publisher, Wayne Madden, mentioned this concept a couple of years ago and it stuck with me. Our mission and challenge is at once two-fold--to provide transient answers at a moment's notice and to fight against the habit of transient knowledge in the first place.

This fight takes the form of articles that aim to broaden understanding at the same time they provide answers. It takes the form of our online classes, webcasts, podcasts, and online conferences. These kinds of products help generate understanding more than they generate immediate solutions.

I do think that System i professionals tend to hold and retain more knowledge than some other IT professionals. Imagine the network administrators who grew up finding every single answer on the Internet and have no prior learning experience. If someone turned off the web and asked them to continue working, I think there would be a lot of idle (and scared) IT "pros."

Nicholas Carr hits on a similar phenomenon in his article for The Atlantic, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Carr says his Internet searching and consumption habits have reshaped his ability to read and absorb longer articles and information. He writes:

"What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski."

Some might argue that we're simply facing an astoundingly more complex world. There's just too much to absorb and remember. Our brains can't hold it all. Perhaps, but maybe not. Are there any IT pros in your organization who have most of the answers already stored in their heads? Did they used to? And what about now? What about you?

Some of the best-selling applications in the Apple iPhone App Store are tip calculators. That's right, little applications that run on the iPhone that handle simple math problems so that people know how much to tip a waiter or waitress in a restaurant. This blows my mind and makes me sad at the same time. Now, not only is the answer not in your head (quick, what's 20 percent of $35?), but it is also not even in your gut (quick, was the service actually good?). Is it worth, say, about $7? The answer, it turns out, is in the palm of your hand, locked away in a device that costs hundreds of dollars and an application that's just $0.99.

In a recent Product Lines blog post on security, commenter Raymond Rhyno goes off on security software products that perform functions that are already essentially built into IBM i and i5/OS in the first place. There's a little ranting, but his underlying point gets at a deeper, darker secret: organizations may be losing intelligent, knowledgeable workers, and the replacement is software. For many tasks, this isn't a big deal at all. But what about security? What if only a handful of people know how to secure a system? That's downright dangerous . . . and not because there are hackers in foreign countries who know the system--they just know where to search to find the keys that unlock our world.

Posted by cmaxcer on August 22, 2008 at 3:23 PM | Comments (9)

August 18, 2008 10:09 AM

Help/Systems Acquires PowerTech

For all intents and purposes, Help/Systems has bought The PowerTech Group. The deal is a little more complicated than that because it involves a few private equity firms, but there it is. Reportedly, the papers have been signed for nearly a month, but both Help/Systems and The PowerTech Group have been keeping quiet. They are private companies, so they don't really have to shout out the news. Still, both of these enterprises deliver software solutions to some of the largest organizations in the world, and they've got customers who bet their business on their solutions . . . and these customers might like to know who owns the bank accounts.

I listened to a couple of birds chirp in the wind earlier this month, but I wasn't able to hear them clearly, so to speak--so I've got to give a holler out to IT Jungle for breaking the news in our world. Apparently a reader tip pointed to TheDealmaker.org, where a short article noted the deal, which covers the three private equity groups involved.

Private equity firm Audax Group took over Help/Systems about a year ago. Audax has now acquired PowerTech from the private equity groups that owned it--Bluestem Capital, Inc., and SeaPoint Ventures--and added it to the Help/Systems business portfolio, though both Help/Systems and PowerTech appear to be operating as separate business units.

PowerTech has been providing security solutions in the System i world for years, and it seems to have been doing a great job at it, too. I've talked to a variety of PowerTech experts over the years for various articles, and it seems as if the company has been growing its System i business to good effect. Again, the company is private and has never let me look at the books. All I'm saying is that my first impression is that PowerTech would make a good acquisition, especially since the need for security and compliance solutions in the industry at large is on the rise. We've got a global marketplace now, and the hackers in China and Russia aren't particularly concerned about U.S. authorities knocking on their doors in the middle of the night.

As for Help/Systems, the company's portfolio of system management tools--a.k.a. the Robot suite of solutions--along with the reporting and business intelligence solutions it picked up from Advanced Systems Concepts (ASC) a couple of years ago, make it a System i-focused product powerhouse. The company touts itself as "the world's leader in System i software solutions." It is vague on the criteria, but hey, we here at System iNEWS don't exactly try to spell out the criteria when we say we are "the ultimate resource for System i pros."

In any event, I'll be trying to secure interviews with both Help/Systems and PowerTech, and I'll report back with any relevant news.

Posted by cmaxcer on August 18, 2008 at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

August 8, 2008 10:35 PM

New IBM i Sandbox Lets You "Tinker, Test, and Try" Application Modernization

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled on an IBM website, IBM Enterprise Modernization Sandbox, which has an area for IBM i, the Sandbox for IBM i. It even sports a funny little graphic of a sandbox sprouting servers. On the main page, IBM notes:

"Today millions of lines of RPG application code are running critical business functions on AS/400, iSeries, and System i servers. Although this code works perfectly well and is a source of competitive advantage, it also hinders innovation. Outdated and incomplete documentation, inefficient tools, and skills gaps limit your ability to support new capabilities that users have come to expect.

One of the important decisions you face is when and how to modernize your i5/OS applications to provide improved user interfaces and integration with new technologies, such as web and service-oriented architectures (SOA)."

Hmm. Obviously something interesting is going on here at IBM. I contacted someone at IBM media relations who put me in touch via an email Q&A with Saleem Padani, who handles IBM's Enterprise Modernization Marketing for IBM Rational Software (we both were traveling at the time and couldn't connect via the phone). In any event, here's the Q&A:

CM: Can you give a brief history and describe the purpose of the Sandbox?



SP: The IBM i Sandbox lets you evaluate the IBM Rational Enterprise Modernization Solutions for IBM i through practical hands-on experience. These solutions focus on five key modernization areas: Assets, Architectures, Skills, Processes, and Investment. Each solution is based upon real customer experiences and offers a proven path to get you started with your modernization projects.

The IBM i Sandbox is comprised of best practices and hands-on software trials to help bridge from understanding to adoption. The best practices were defined based on many proof-of-concepts and proof-of-technology engagements by IBM’s leading architects and consultants working with our customers to identify and document the most straightforward challenges that customers are addressing using IBM’s enterprise modernization portfolio. The best practices are available in the new developerWorks Sandbox portal with easy access to all of the Sandbox materials. 

Each entry point is divided into four categories, Learn, Try, Buy and Support. "Learn" provides an overview of the entry points and the products that are included in the sandbox. "Try" provides instructions for online and downloadable trials and detailed steps for the hands-on entry point exercises. "Buy" and "Support" cover the information you need to begin adopting the reuse entry point in your own environment. The hosted sandbox for IBM i provides instant hands-on experience through a "ready to go" Sandbox and tutorials. Developers can use the hosted Sandbox to gain instant hands-on experience by either following the online tutorials in HTML or as printable PDF documents. These tutorials are created based on common scenarios and best practices. Each tutorial would normally take less than an hour to complete. The Sandbox environment is free and available around the clock from any machine with an Internet access.   


CM: What's IBM hoping the Sandbox will do for IBM and for customers? 


SP: IBM is trying to simplify and speed adoption of our latest Rational tooling for the IBM i platform and get this technology into the hands of practitioners. The IBM i Sandbox makes it easy and fun to quickly try our latest product capabilities without downloading or installing these products on their local machine. Online trials help accelerate customer buying decisions and reduce the investment of time and resources they need to apply during evaluation of key technologies they intend to adopt for their modernization efforts.   
  


CM: Some of the features are not yet ready for IBM i . . . any hints on a possible timeline?

SP: Today the IBM i Sandbox hosts scenarios involving Rational Developer for System i, Rational Developer for System i for SOA Construction, and Rational Host Access Transformation Services. We are currently working to add new scenarios that would also showcase offerings such as X-Analysis, which provides comprehensive support for discovery and understanding of RPG applications. We will also add scenarios for IBM Rational Team Concert for IBM i which will be available later this year. Also later this year, IBM will add new scenarios to help our customers evaluate the new Rich User Interface capabilities with IBM Rational Business Developer. 
  


CM: How has the reception been so far? 

SP: The IBM i Sandbox has been live for two months. We have received good response from both our customers and business partners. We will continue to enhance this offering by adding more cross-brand products and provide a complete end-to-end solution for IBM i customers who are looking to modernize, optimize, or consolidate their core business applications written in RPG, COBOL, EGL, or Java for the IBM i platform. 


Posted by cmaxcer on August 8, 2008 at 10:35 PM | Comments (1)

August 4, 2008 7:56 AM

IBM Turns Ear to Business Partners

IBM has launched a marketing campaign and social networking site aimed squarely at helping IBM Business Partners (BPs) grow their mid-market businesses. The program, a.k.a. The Voice of the Business Partner, is designed to help the company open up a conversation with its own Business Partners . . . and any new ones who happen to stumble in.

There's a new site to hold the effort--voicebp.com--and to drive BPs there, IBM has kicked off a marketing campaign that will feature ads in print and online in the bigger channel publications such as CRN, VarBusiness, and ChannelPro magazines. Of course, IBM's PartnerWorld site and communications will feature the campaign, too.

So what is The Voice of the Business Partner, anyway?

"It's a structured discussion," says Karstin Bodell, IBM vice president of channel marketing for North America. "We're not advertising about a product or our programs; we're really trying to open up a dialogue."

The first question is pretty basic: What can IBM do to help you grow your business? After a couple of months, IBM will ask the next question, except it'll be one suggested by the Business Partners through the site.

"The purpose is to listen," Bodell explains. "It's focused on profitable growth for the Partner, and it's meant to be flexible, so we'll go where they want to go."

So, for all your IBM i-focused Business Partners who are interested in the SMB market, this might be a particularly good time to start talking to IBM through a broader channel initiative to make sure your own--and the needs of the IBM i world--are heard. . . . Here's the landing page to get started: http://www.voicebp.com/ibm/portal/home

Posted by cmaxcer on August 4, 2008 at 7:56 AM | Comments (1)