System iNetwork

November 2008

November 19, 2008 7:17 AM

Frank Soltis Calls It Quits

Amid rumors of layoffs in Rochester, Minnesota, Dr. Frank Soltis, creator of the technology-independent architecture used in the System/38, AS/400, and subsequent i systems, is retiring from IBM after a long and enviable career. There's a bit more to the backstory, of course, plus a bit of supposition, and maybe even a dose of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

It seems as if the news publicly broke last week via a note shared by Neil Palmer on the Midrange-L mailing list titled, "IBM's Frank Soltis 'let go.'" Palmer paints a vivid picture of Soltis being forced out of IBM, amid a "purge" of Rochester System i faithful employees. Palmer's post represents the darkest explanation for Soltis's retirement, as well as any layoffs that come from Rochester.

If you're into the dark side, check out the thread and imagine the chilly winters in Rochester. If you're not, IBM's business is still changing. IBM figured out much of its reorganization of the Systems and Technology Group, which started in 2007, by January of 2008, well before IBM made its Power Systems convergence announcements at COMMON in April of this year. What does this mean? IBM's future was settled on a single hardware platform, and most jobs were morphed to adhere to a new Power Systems focus. Soltis had a choice--take on a new broader cross-platform position at IBM--or move on. As irritating as this might be to the System i faithful, it's hardly surprising. Jobs change and great people are laid off all the time. Are the decisions behind the scenes particularly good? Not always. Either way, it's often based on math and budgets, as in, "If we change your title to this, we can put you in that budget and still make our numbers."

Plus, IBM's brass doesn't see shifting jobs as an issue at all--in fact, the executive shuffle is part of the company's culture. We don't know the exact weather in Rochester, the winds of change or barometric pressure under IBM's roof. But I do know something--everybody has job opportunities they are disinterested in taking advantage of. Soltis, it turns out, was planning to retire in January, but IBM asked him to stay on during a Power Systems transition period.

What About Those Layoffs?

Meanwhile, the Post-Bulletin newspaper in Rochester reported two separate IBM layoffs--10 people on October 31 and 12 people on November 12. Some of those IBMers have 30 days to try to find another job within IBM. The paper didn't reveal specific job types or business segments, and IBM apparently declined to provide details. In addition, 35 contractors working for Computer Task Group in the Rochester facility lost their jobs, and some contractors to IBM are being hit with 10 percent pay cuts.

The Post-Bulletin reported that IBM has approximately 4,000 employees in Rochester. Have other layoffs gone unnoticed? Probably. But 22 positions? The percentage is so small I can't even figure it out in my head. How many employees is Sun Microsystems laying off this month in the U.S.? Somewhere between 5,000-6,000. And Dell? I believe the company planned to cut nearly 9,000 jobs in October.

Change By Design

IBM's business is most definitely changing, but the sky is not falling.

Incidentally, the convergence with System p has been in the works for a long time, and more important, it happened by design--it's an evolutionary advantage. As Soltis noted in a 2005 article in the SystemiNetwork.com archives, the iSeries has more than 25 years of experience in implementing virtual technologies:

The decision to create a virtual system is probably the most important one that the original designers of the S/38 ever made. Without that decision, it's difficult to say where the iSeries would be today. In all likelihood, it would have joined the many other midrange servers from Digital, Data General, Wang, and HP that were popular during the 1980s and 1990s but are now relegated to scrap heaps. Thanks to its virtual system design, today's iSeries and the i5/OS operating system can live virtually forever.

No Word From IBM

By the way, IBM didn't respond to SystemiNetwork.com inquiries by press time, but IBM typically does not discuss layoffs in any sort of detail.

Soltis Talks

I did, however, catch up with Soltis via email and asked him about his upcoming retirement and what he's interested in doing next. Here's a snip:

I have been one of the strongest advocates of using common hardware and software technologies in all our systems. With the Power Systems announcement in April, we have accomplished much of this sharing. In the future, IBM developers need to focus more on this cross-system sharing instead of the individual systems. I have spent my entire career at IBM working on one system, and it has been a great career. I could not see myself working on anything else, so I decided it was a good time to retire.

I did agree to spend this year traveling around the world talking to System i customers and business partners about Power Systems and what this unification of i and p means to them. I am currently in Canada meeting with various customer groups. Tomorrow [today, actually], I will be in Toronto speaking at TUG. This is one of our best user groups, and I always enjoy speaking to this group.

My official retirement date is December 31st. After that date I am looking forward to finishing some of the many projects I have started. The pile of parts that has been in my garage for over a year may even turn into a car. I plan to do more teaching, and I may even finish another book that I have started.

Soltis also mentioned that he plans to stay involved with the i world through some business partner and user group activities, though he's not yet sure how that might shake out.

"I don't think it is possible for me to entirely leave the System i community," he added. "Nor do I want to."

Of course, as Soltis says above, the IBM i world isn't exactly losing him . . . still, retirement is a pretty big opportunity. Who knows what paths will open up for our Dr. of the i?

Posted by cmaxcer on November 19, 2008 at 7:17 AM | Comments (20)

November 17, 2008 9:57 AM

Stories From the Trenches: RPG to BladeCenter and Everything in Between

I realized something important last week . . . and only you, our readers, can help: We need to share more stories with each other. Our world is changing, and sometimes the surface news is all about IBM's new Power Systems lineup and how the POWER6 processors can walk all over HP and Sun. I mean, sure, I like raw power as much as the next guy, but come on--I know there's more going on with IBM i than that.

There's a whole world of activity out there--the problem is finding it. IBM i customers are actively writing new RPG-based applications, and even more important, modernizing their application development efforts to deliver new front ends. There's the rise of PHP, and although PHP might not be as clean as RPG, it continues to gain steam. As Mike Pavlak noted, "When embraced properly, the new PHP developer and the RPG developer start to trade ideas. The cross-pollination of skills can be quite contagious."

Then there's Nathan Andelin, who noted:

Who knows about most shops? But my company is pursuing an ambitious web application development plan using RPG for back-end servers with browser clients (HTML, JavaScript, and CSS).

My current project is a web portal that provides shared infrastructure and utilities for future applications that will run within it. The portal package itself uses an IBM i database of about 40 tables. In the past two weeks I've cranked out about 28 new database maintenance programs.

Sure, some developers are stuck maintaining "legacy" code, but that's not the whole story. Here's what we need to do: send me an email with some of the details about what your company is doing with System i, IBM i, Power Systems, storage, and Blade Centers . . . how are you investing in IBM i? In your skills? In new system setups to solve problems?

We want to know what kind of company you work for--a shoe manufacturer? A gear distributor? A bank? In a tough economy, I'm guessing that few organizations are willing to toss out cost-effective System i solutions . . . but still, new kinds of application access and delivery needs abound. Share your story.

I understand that some of you have problems with corporate regulations, and I can abide by them--if we can't mention your company name, we can describe the industry sector instead. If I can't mention your name, I won't. But you have a core story to tell; I know you do. Not all stories are novels, and many can be short and sweet.

Let's make this easy. What are the key components of a good story?

The first part usually introduces what you're trying to do. What's at stake? What's the challenge? What is the business needing to accomplish?

The rest is what you're actually doing. Rewriting code? Writing new code? Investing in new tools or software?

The last part is where you're at now . . . plugging away? Almost done? Looking ahead? Any key tips to share about the experience?

If you can answer three short questions, please share your story. Cut-and-paste the questions below and just fill in the blanks. Take five minutes here, four minutes there, and before you know it, you'll be shaping the news that shows the world what's really going on with IBM i.

• What's the challenge?
• What's the action?
• What are the results?

And IBM i solution providers, we're interested in your stories, too--what new customers have come to IBM i? Which System i customers are making compelling investments in Power Systems?






Let me know . . . and I'll share.

Posted by cmaxcer on November 17, 2008 at 9:57 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2008 9:23 AM

Ross Mauri Chat Transcript Ready

The transcript to yesterday's iSociety fireside chat with Ross Mauri, IBM's GM of Power Systems, is now ready.* Mauri kicked off his comments with a little buttering up to the participants, noting, "I still consider myself a newbie, especially when it comes to the long technical history that most of you all have with IBM i." Of course, he did bring up more interesting points.

For instance, he mentioned that IBM has completed its first round of worldwide blade education of Business Partners, which IBM expects will pay off in 2009. The delivery of some additional blade-related customer requirements such as support for virtual tape and new disk options such as RAID on the BladeCenter S won't hurt either.

There's more, of course, in the transcript!

*Note: Thanks go to Trevor Perry for cranking the transcript out so quickly!

Posted by cmaxcer on November 12, 2008 at 9:23 AM | Comments (6)

November 10, 2008 3:11 PM

Fireside Chat Tomorrow with Ross Mauri

Heads up: the next iSociety Fireside chat will feature IBM General Manager of IBM Power Systems Ross Mauri . . . and the chat is tomorrow. Just to be clear, it's set for Tuesday, November 11, at 1 p.m. Eastern (12 noon Central, 11 a.m. Mountain, 10 a.m. Pacific).

Mauri will discuss the "Power of i" and will field questions in light of IBM's Power Systems lineup.

To attend the chat, along with details for getting your PC set up, check out http://isociety.common.org/chat. You must be an iSociety member to participate (but membership is free).

Posted by cmaxcer on November 10, 2008 at 3:11 PM | Comments (1)

Unstated App Dev Assumptions: Old on i, New on Linux?

Every now and then I'm contacted by professionals in our industry who see and hear interesting news, and they pass it along to me so that I'm aware of it, knowing that it'll likely come out in print at one time or another. On rare occasions I get news and perspective rolled up in one. In this case the reader feedback is from a System i ISV employee who wishes to remain anonymous. The message presents some disturbing positioning of IBM i application development.

I recently attended one of IBM's "Power of i" half-day seminars, and as someone who has spent 25 years in the software business, it was very interesting to hear the speakers praise legacy code, RPG, and the efficiency of the 5250 user interface. There was some mention of the possible need to modernize the user interface on existing applications, but nothing like the days when IBM was encouraging everyone to rewrite in Java. EGL was only briefly mentioned in this presentation as the focus was on the benefits of the Power System. In contrast, IBM strongly promoted using PHP and particularly emphasized the benefits of running Linux on Power. The "i for Business" operating environment was primarily promoted as a terrific place to manage your combined Linux and legacy i workloads. There was some talk of managing Windows from Power via a Blade and of course some comment about the potential to also run AIX on the box. The most notable thing to me was the unstated assumption that i is for running existing software applications that work well and are critical to the business, but that new software development projects and new applications will be written for Linux. The speakers were very clear on IBM's commitment to let you keep running your existing i-based application software for years to come, but it was just as clear that they don't expect companies to add workload on the i side, outside of what's needed to modernize and more effectively use those "legacy" applications. If you ask, "Why would IBM stop encouraging developers to leverage the incredible strengths of the i operating system for running modern business software," all I can assume is that the environment doesn't require sufficient IBM middleware and consulting to fit into today's IBM business model.

On one hand, this reader's message notes the varied strengths of IBM i running on a Power System, IBM's clear commitment to supporting its customers, and yet, the underlying assumption that IBM doesn't expect customers to continue adding application workloads to IBM i.

Interesting indeed.

There are a couple of things to note here. First, it's hard to say how much of IBM's presentation was the official IBM line and how much was amped up or tamped down by particular speakers. Some speakers have biases and agendas, and they can wiggle around the official lines to encourage or discourage what they believe to be best for customers. I'm just saying that people are people, IBMers included, and without directly quoted official statements of fact, we don't want to leap to any conclusions here.

Still, our reader has 25 years of experience in the industry and so likely has some skill in reading between the lines and understanding the base position of a company that's talking around the edges.

The question then, is: "Beyond modernization and the leveraging of existing applications, does IBM want IBM i customers to stop developing new application workloads for IBM i?"

Meanwhile, in the November issue of System iNEWS, Carson Soule, who is a System iNEWS technical editor and the CEO of CAS Severn, Inc., as well as an IBM Premier Business Partner, asks the question, "Why are we still programming in RPG?" . . . and then answers it.

Another question is, are most IBM i/System i shops actively developing new applications to run on IBM i . . . or is it more about modernization and maintenance?

Posted by cmaxcer on November 10, 2008 at 7:20 AM | Comments (10)

November 3, 2008 8:01 AM

Surf's Up for Lawson

Enterprise Resource Planning solution provider Lawson Software has picked up a cool new customer, O'Neill Europe, which produces action sports clothing and equipment for the surf, snowboard, ski, wind-surfing, kite-surfing, and wakeboard worlds. O'Neill Europe will implement Lawson Fashion, which is part of Lawson's M3 Enterprise Management System, on a System i to support its supply chain operations in Europe.

O'Neill Europe is headquartered in Warmond, The Netherlands, and since last year, holds the rights to the worldwide O'Neill brand. The implementation project will include Lawson Fashion and Lawson Smart Office, and it will first be implemented in The Netherlands followed by a further roll-out to O'Neill subsidiaries in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, and France. Lawson says the system will initially support 140 users.

"One of our objectives is to reduce the complexity of our current infrastructure, work toward a common, global and standardized platform which will help improve the collaboration with our subsidiaries and our distribution and retail channels," notes Arjan Kaaks, COO/CFO and project executive for O'Neill Europe. "Operating with an integrated and scalable ERP platform that is based on the latest technology will also help simplify our business processes and bring consistency and integrity to our company data."

Although portions of the businesses that owned the previous O'Neill brand ran on System i, O'Neill Europe evaluated competing solutions from other ERP providers before choosing Lawson.

"Lawson's company culture felt familiar to O'Neill. In addition, Lawson's industry focus and expertise, reflected in its numerous references in the apparel business in general and sportswear industry in particular, has been a key driver in our decision," notes Anton Langeler, global IT director for O'Neill Europe.

Three of the Top Surf Brands

"This new relationship with O'Neill is more evidence that we are becoming the obvious choice for the apparel industry by bringing a solution that delivers a greater return on investment and good functional fit," says Bob McKee, industry strategy director for fashion at Lawson. "We are building a track record in sportswear and now have three of the top surf brands as customers."

One of the three surf brands is Quiksilver, which uses Lawson's solution in Australia and parts of Asia. Lawson declined to publicly name the third surf brand customer.

Posted by cmaxcer on November 3, 2008 at 8:01 AM | Comments (0)