System iNetwork

March 2010

March 29, 2010 8:30 AM

Halcyon, BCS Partnership Creates Multi-Platform, Automated Systems Management Solutions

Halcyon Software, Inc., a developer of multi-platform, automated operations software, has announced it is partnering with BCS Group, LLC, a business continuity specialist on IBM midrange platforms, so that BCS clients can take advantage of Halcyon's portfolio to proactively monitor, manage, and automate their IT operations. BCS Group offers high availability, business continuity, and disaster recovery solutions. Halcyon's job scheduling and spool file management solutions will let BCS Group's clients work effectively with limited resources by automating many of their routine manual tasks. Halcyon's technology offers BCS Group a single interface to monitor and manage multiple operating platforms, no matter whether they're remote or within the BCS management facility.
—Rita-Lyn Sanders, Programming & Systems Management editor

Posted by rsanders on March 29, 2010 at 8:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2010 12:11 PM

Raz-Lee Security Announces Several Product Updates, New Case Study

In the March issue of its email newsletter, Raz-Lee had several product-related announcements, as well as a new case study about an Italian bank's selection and deployment of Raz-Lee solutions. Here's a recap:

IBM i 7.1 Compatibility:
Raz-Lee is currently testing all products on IBM's new 7.1 release; they will be generally available on the date of IBM's announcement.

Product Updates:
Scope:
•  CodeScope: supports Unicode
•  FileScope: supports Unicode and SYSLOG, will soon be integrated into Visualizer

iSecurity AP-Journal:
•  APJ application definitions can be defined and maintained in the GUI
•  APJ application outputs can be displayed from journal receivers, product containers or displayed and analyzed online with Visualizer

iSecurity GUI:
A new GUI release, V4, will soon be released and will include the ability to export table information to Excel, HTML, PDF, CSV, or ODF files. This version will also include advanced HELP capabilities such as a Table of Contents, Indexing, Search, Bookmarks, Navigation and more.

New Case Study:
Banco di Sardegna Selects iSecurity

Posted by lharty on March 25, 2010 at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2010 12:19 PM

Unitrends Launches New Cloud-Based Rapid Disaster Recovery Service

Unitrends, a provider of heterogeneous, vertically integrated, disk-based all-in-one data protection appliances, announces general availability of its new Vault2Cloud disaster recovery (DR) service. Unitrends uses a common backup and recovery engine for providing protection for over 100 different versions of applications and operating systems, including IBM i. Vault2Cloud integrates Unitrends' all-in-one on-premise backup and archiving appliances with a multi-tenant cloud-based storage architecture implemented via an SAS 70–compliant cloud backup infrastructure. With Vault2Cloud, Unitrends offers comprehensive solutions for the fast physical seeding of customer data into the cloud and for next-day shipment of a fully loaded, on-premise appliance for data recovery. The new service is monitored and managed through the same web 2.0–based user interface offered for all Unitrends appliances.

The service, which has been in beta since late 2009, solves many of the traditional challenges and concerns with cloud computing, such as security, performance of local backup and recovery, and initial data synchronization. Vault2Cloud provides data encryption, on-premise appliance integration, and RapidSeed fast physical seeding of customer data into the cloud. For fast cloud data recovery following a disaster, Vault2Cloud offers RapidReplacement services, which replaces and fully restores the customer's on-premise appliance with the protected data from the cloud.

Vault2Cloud offers a simplified cloud backup management console, as well as automated monitoring and notification features to assure the protected data is synchronized, available, and secure. From the same web-based Unitrends Rapid Recovery Console customers are familiar with, storage administrators can access vaulting reports and status.

"Unitrends has been offering private vaulting services for years. What we've found is that in spite of the dire financial impact of disasters on business operations, many small and mid-sized companies avoid implementing disaster recovery solutions because of the capital and operational expense," Unitrends' Russ Holt, senior vice president of business development, said in a press release. "With Vault2Cloud, small and mid-sized companies can dramatically reduce their capital and operational expenditure."

Vault2Cloud is a capacity-based solution with pricing starting at $0.49 per gigabyte per month. Channel partners selling Vault2Cloud receive a 100 percent discount for the first 100GB of reserved capacity.

For more information, visit unitrends.com/cloud-backup-overview.html. A virtual appliance free trial is also available for download.

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

Posted by lharty on March 23, 2010 at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

Bsafe Releases New Version of Network and Data Security Software for IBM i

Bsafe Information Systems announces the general availability of Bsafe/Enterprise Security software version 6.1 for IBM i. Major new capabilities in version 6.1 include a new Report Generator with hundreds of predefined compliance-related reports, enhanced multi-system capabilities, and a new Identity Management module.

The new Report Generator has been redesigned and includes a freshly designed interface. The new interface allows multiple reports to be aggregated into report folders. In addition, an integrated job scheduler allows all the reports included within a folder to be run with a single command. Beyond the multi-system/partition reporting capabilities offered on all natively accessible audit data such as system journal, file journal, TCP/IP network events, and SQL statements, the Report Generator leverages proprietary audit logs activated by the Bsafe/Enterprise Security audit policy to allow reporting on IP packet events, Bsafe/Policy Compliance Manager deviation events, and many more. A new import/export function has been created as well, to allow quick report propagation across the enterprise.

Based on Bsafe's experience with regulatory measures, version 6.1 includes complete libraries of market-tested, predefined regulatory and category-specific reports. Regulations such as PCI, HIPAA, and SOX have a vast list of reports. Reporting categories such as TCP/IP Network Activity, PTF, Field-Level Audit, Object Authority, System Audit, and System Values are all ready to use out of the box.

Version 6.1 includes a set of capabilities in the area of multi-system and policy-based user profile management and provisioning. These functions permit tighter integration of Bsafe/Enterprise Security into an organization's identity management and business application processes.

For additional information about Bsafe/Enterprise Security, visit bsafesolutions.com.

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

Posted by lharty on March 23, 2010 at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2010 4:34 PM

Tony's Fine Foods Delivers Non-Stop Customer Service with IBM and Vision Solutions

IBM announces that Tony's Fine Foods, a perishable foods distributor, has put into place a new business continuity infrastructure to protect the mid-size company against unplanned interruptions, improve systems availability, and keep its warehousing and delivery operations running efficiently.

Tony's Fine Foods is a family business based in Sacramento, California, specializing in delivering a million dollars a day worth of perishable foods such as deli and bakery items, prepared salads, pastas, meats, and cheeses to thousands of customers, including grocery chains, delis, bakeries, and restaurants. As part of its commitment to customer service, Tony's wanted to minimize the risk of unexpected business downtime and provide a seamless business for its customers, partners, and sales representatives. The company selected Vision Solutions' MIMIX HA for IBM i as the foundation of a planned disaster recovery infrastructure (see a case study about Tony's implementation of MIMIX HA, published in System iNEWS in July 2008). MIMIX helped the IT team migrate the entire system to a new IBM Power Systems server with minimal downtime. The system keeps processes moving smoothly across company operations and ensures that websites are online for orders and other business requirements.

In addition to the company's primary distribution and strategic systems, Tony's Fine Foods also runs logistics software for its third-party partners on a Power Systems server running AIX. To keep those applications available, Tony's chose Vision Solutions' EchoCluster and EchoStream for AIX. In addition to data protection, EchoStream for AIX offers "dial back" capabilities to return applications or databases to a previous point in time to solve a problem or check on a business or IT event.

"An effective business continuity strategy is vital to success in today's highly connected and dynamic marketplace," Marc Dupaquier, IBM General Manager, Global Midmarket, said in a press release. "The ability to keep your business operating under virtually any condition and quickly recover from disruptions is a competitive advantage for companies of all sizes."

For more information about mid-sized business solutions from IBM, IBM recommends visiting its Small and Medium Business Center website.

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

Posted by lharty on March 22, 2010 at 4:34 PM | Comments (0)

Profound Logic Releases IBM i Modernization Solution with Enhanced Visual Designer

Profound Logic Software has released Genie 4.0, the latest version of its on-the-fly green-screen modernization solution. This release features enhancements to the interface that provide a more intuitive and convenient user experience while offering additional capabilities and developer control. Genie 4.0 also offers compatibility with the latest popular browsers, enhances session handling, and adds an array of new integration capabilities.

New features include:

• Major enhancements to the visual designer that let users dynamically grab elements or "Widgets" from a sliding toolbar and drop them directly into their application with no additional coding or positioning.
• Enhanced editing functionality. This includes the ability to copy, cut, and paste any element with the click of a button. Users also have the ability to undo or redo element changes made to screens during a design session. In addition, the element properties window now features an image explorer for finding image files and a script editor for assigning JavaScript events.
• Support for systems that use double-byte character sets (DBCS), allowing for data stored in languages such as Japanese and Chinese to be displayed on the web.
• The automatic disconnect feature, which detects when a user has closed their browser without logging off the system and properly disconnects the session.
• Integration with desktop applications, including Microsoft Office and other executable programs. With this feature, users can use secure applets to call desktop applications from their web-enabled screens, enabling them to perform tasks such as exporting data to Excel and constructing Outlook messages from customer records within an application.

"Since its release in 2007, Genie has been continually enhanced and improved to meet the demands and requirements of developers and programmers in the field," says Alex Roytman, CEO of Profound Logic. "We're always talking with our customers to learn how our tools can better assist them in meeting their objectives in a timely manner. This new version is just another step towards our goal of providing comprehensive solutions that improve the way we modernize and build interactive user interfaces within the IBM i community." A free, 30-day trial of Genie 4.0 is available at profoundlogic.com/genie.

—Rita-Lyn Sanders, Programming & Systems Management editor

Posted by rsanders on March 22, 2010 at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

CoralTree Updates Open-Source RPG Toolkit

CoralTree Systems has announced the availability of Version 4.12 of its Renaissance Framework, an open-source RPG developer's toolkit for the creation and deployment of CGI-based applications on IBM i on POWER. Version 4.12 of the Renaissance Framework incorporates the jQuery Javascript library (http://jquery.com), enhancing the Framework's core functionality and providing the foundation for incremental improvements based around various jQuery plug-ins in future Framework releases. More information, a demo, a support forum, and the Renaissance Framework, including full source code, is available for download at renaissanceframework.com.

—Rita-Lyn Sanders, Programming & Systems Management editor

Posted by rsanders on March 22, 2010 at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

Linoma Software Makes Tokenization and Faster Encryption available for IBM i

Linoma Software has added tokenization features to Crypto Complete 2.20, which protects sensitive information on IBM i (iSeries) systems using strong AES encryption, integrated key management, and auditing. Crypto Complete automatically encrypts targeted data wherever it is stored on IBM i, including database fields, tape backups and the IFS. This encryption solution helps organizations comply with PCI DSS, HIPAA, GLBA, Sarbanes-Oxley and state privacy laws. Crypto Complete 2.20 offers tokenization, which should be considered when sensitive data is stored on multiple systems. Additionally, release 2.20 offers faster encryption for backups while eliminating the need for intermediate save files. A free, 30-day trial of Crypto Complete is available at LinomaSoftware.com. Crypto Complete runs on IBM i 5.2 and higher. Crypto Complete pricing starts at $3,995 for a P05 processor group.

—Rita-Lyn Sanders, Programming & Systems Management editor

Posted by rsanders on March 22, 2010 at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

IntelliChief Release Provides New Document Routing, Approval Features on IBM i

IntelliChief, a Quadrant Software company, has announced the release of the latest version of the IntelliChief paperless process management solution for IBM i and Windows enterprises. IntelliChief Version 2.6.1 adds flexibility to help companies of all sizes process documents more efficiently and embraces business process management to enable companies to configure it to mimic internal business processes rather than only focus on the movement of documents in a system. New features include workflow routing capabilities that facilitate the routing of documents for review and approval, enhanced document monitoring and processing, better control for document distribution, and a new routing administration screen. Release 2.6.1 is available. You can get more information about the solution at intellichief.com or by emailing sales@intellichief.com

—Rita-Lyn Sanders, Programming & Systems Management editor

Posted by rsanders on March 22, 2010 at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)

Stonebranch Provides Managed File Transfer, Job Scheduling Solutions for IBM i

Stonebranch has released Infitran and Indesca versions 4.1.0. Infitran is Stonebranch's managed file transfer solution for IBM i and z/OS, while Indesca is the company's independent scheduling agents solution for SAP. Infitran's extended logging capabilities provide customers with improved internal reporting and governance requirements for their production operations. And combined with improved SAP enhancements, both Indesca and Infitran customers can support key business processes of their financial and reporting systems. Stonebranch customers benefit from end-to-end visibility and workload automation across their key SAP business processes.

—Rita-Lyn Sanders, Programming & Systems Management editor

Posted by rsanders on March 22, 2010 at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2010 4:04 PM

Tooting IBM i Horn Difficult When Clients Demand Stealth

Many big-name companies don't allow solution providers to mention that they use their tools or applications, which makes it hard for us to toot the IBM i horn! However, in response to "World-Class Companies Rely on IBM i - Case in Point: Nike" (Product Lines, February 18, 2010), LANSA reached out to us to tell us about several interesting case studies it has, including:

• "John Wiley & Sons reengineers its applications for the Web"
• ViaTech Publishing Solutions offers customers total control

LANSA has more case studies posted at lansa.com/casestudies.

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

Posted by lharty on March 11, 2010 at 4:04 PM | Comments (0)

The 400 School Introduces Virtual Classroom for IBM i

The 400 School, Inc., has launched the Virtual Classroom for IBM i. Students can attend full-length, multi-day courses from their own desk or even from home, anywhere in the world. Geography is not a barrier to receiving System i technical training. Live, Instructor-led, lecture/lab style classes are scheduled starting in April:

• April 12-16--Introduction to RPG IV Programming Workshop
• April 19-21--System i (AS/400) Security Workshop
• May 17-21--RPG IV Interactive Programming Workshop
• May 24-28--System i (AS/400) Administration and Control

The 400 School has presented AS/400 and System i technical training classes to students at customer sites for more than 20 years. But now with the availability of live web audio and video technology, those same classes can be streamed--live--to student computers. "While there is a demand for operations, administration, and RPG IV programming classes, there remains few venues that can provide that training for individuals and companies that need to train one or two people," says Dan Riehl, president of The 400 School. "With the new Virtual Classroom, the same live training that we present at our customer sites is now available to individuals and companies all over the world, regardless of the number of students."

The 400 School's virtual classes also feature access to the school's System i (AS/400) during the class (IBM i 6.1), hands-on lab exercises with instructor oversight and assistance, shared live video from students using an optional webcam, and small class sizes geared to personal attention.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Programming & Systems Management editor

Posted by rsanders on March 11, 2010 at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

March 9, 2010 12:00 PM

Vision Solutions Announces PowerPack for POWER7 Migration

Vision Solutions, Inc., a high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) solutions provider in IBM Power Systems markets, announces the availability of a new Vision PowerPack for POWER7 Migration. This offering combines Vision Solutions software with the latest IBM POWER7 technologies to deliver cost-effective, turn-key solutions supporting virtualized, energy efficient, and resilient nonstop operations.

Vision Solutions' exclusive Information Availability Institute research indicates approximately half of the respondents intend to upgrade to IBM’s Power Systems platform (lack of time is one of the concerns cited by those not currently upgrading). Vision’s PowerPack for POWER7 Migration is designed to eliminate these hurdles, enabling customers to migrate to POWER7 with minimal downtime.

Market requirements for the PowerPack offerings were developed with a list of customers implementing IBM and Vision's integrated availability solutions. Discover how these offerings enable organizations of any size to improve service levels while managing risk: register for the March 16 webinar "Ride the POWER7 Surge" at visionsolutions.com.

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

Posted by lharty on March 9, 2010 at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

Capitalware Helps Companies Secure Their WebSphere MQ Environments

Capitalware Inc. has created two new WebSphere MQ security products: MQ Channel Encryption (MQCE) and MQ Channel Encryption for z/OS (z/MQCE). These security products provide message encryption that is compliant with industry standards (including PCI) and governmental laws. MQCE works with WMQ v5.3, v6.0, or v7.0 (and MQSeries v5.2) on IBM i, Windows, Unix, and Linux environments. z/MQCE works with WebSphere MQ for z/OS v5.3.1, v6.0, or v7.0 on z/OS v1.4 or higher environments.

MQCE and z/MQCE provide encryption for MQ message data, which flows between WebSphere MQ (WMQ) resources. MQCE and z/MQCE operate with Sender, Receiver, Server, Requestor, Cluster-Sender, Cluster-Receiver, Server Connection, and Client Connection channels of the WMQ queue managers. Both security products use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to encrypt the data.

To learn more about Capitalware Inc.'s WebSphere MQ products and the business value they provide, visit capitalware.biz.

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

Posted by lharty on March 9, 2010 at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

Patrick Townsend Security Solutions Announces Encryption Key Management Solution

Patrick Townsend Security Solutions (PTSS) has released a new encryption key management appliance named Alliance Key Manager. The appliance is OS independent and works with the IBM i and, according to PTSS marketing manager Scott Nelson, should be part of the data security plan for most enterprises employing an IBM i-based server.

Data privacy regulations such as PCI, HIPAA, and GLBA require organizations to not only encrypt data but to also securely manage the data encryption keys. Alliance Key Manager is a centrally administered solution for managing and storing symmetric encryption keys. It simplifies encryption key management for the enterprise. This new appliance racks up in any server environment and services all major business platforms, including IBM i, Linux, Unix, Windows, and IBM System z.

Alliance Key Manager is designed for easy integration with all software and hardware systems. Major features include:

• NIST-certified: The Alliance Key Manager solution meets the following National Institute of Standards in Technology (NIST) validations: NIST AES (all key sizes, all modes of encryption), NIST SHA, NIST RNG, and NIST FIPS-140-2 Level 1. Alliance Key Manager is in the process of receiving the FIPS 140-2 certification.
• Automation and easy deployment: Alliance Key Manager is a non-intrusive solution that doesn't require the installation of outside agent software in the enterprise. Administrators can configure, manage, import, export, create, and expire thousands of keys automatically from a central location.
• Control key access: Encryption keys can be regulated so that only the right users have access to the data. Key access can be restricted to a specific list of users, a specific list of groups, or specific users within a group. Distinguished names in security certificates allow the administrator to enforce user and group controls, reducing physical key management time and cost.
• Key mirroring and hot back up: Key servers that control access to data must be resilient. Alliance Key Manager automatically mirrors keys between multiple key management appliances over a secure and mutually authenticated SSL/TLS connection. It is an efficient solution for hot backup and disaster recovery support of sensitive encrypted data.
• Secure logging: Everything the key server does should be auditable. Alliance Key Manager has built-in logging, allowing administrators to track all key retrieval, management, and system activity. Reports can be sent automatically to a central log management console, alerting facilities, or to SIEM products for a timely and permanent record of all activity.

Visit patownsend.com to request a demonstration.

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

Posted by lharty on March 9, 2010 at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

March 3, 2010 1:04 PM

Tango/04 Computing Group a Sponsor of Regional IT Event in Boston

Tango/04 Computing Group, a developer of enterprise monitoring software, will participate as a sponsor at the Midsize Enterprise Summit Regional Series Boston, the second of a series of three regional events. This particular one will be held on March 11 in the Westin Waltham Hotel, Boston.

With education as the key component, both senior IT executives and technology vendors will be able to find common ground and multiple networking opportunities.

Tango/04 will participate by hosting a roundtable on how to achieve IT business service visibility and control, and will present its "1-2-3" monitoring strategy, which explains the use of its multiplatform solution to (1) monitor all technological infrastructure and applications, (2) provide sustainable compliance and realtime security control, and (3) manage business processes in a centralized way.

The company will also be available for meetings at its booth, for which attendees can make an appointment in advance by e-mailing salesusa@tango04.net.

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

Posted by lharty on March 3, 2010 at 1:04 PM | Comments (0)

March 2, 2010 3:40 PM

Quick Takes: Vendor News Roundup for Security and Availability Beats

Raz-Lee Security to Provide Imperva with IBM i Security Technology for Imperva's Database Monitoring Tool
Raz-Lee Security Inc., a supplier of information security solutions for IBM i servers, announces a partnership to provide technology for Imperva's SecureSphere Agent for DB2/400, to be available this month.

Imperva's cross-platform analysis and reporting of database activity, together with Raz-Lee's IBM i security expertise, enable SecureSphere customers to enjoy seamless integration of IBM i database security with similar functionalities on other platforms. Raz-Lee's technology embedded in SecureSphere Agent for DB2/400 enables SecureSphere to monitor all database activities, including insert, update, delete, and read access to sensitive business data. This is achieved by tracking information sources such as the IBM i audit journal (QAUDJRN), database journals, or ODBC network requests.

---

Crossroads Systems and Help/Systems Partner to Deliver Data Protection Solutions for IBM i
Crossroads Systems, Inc., a global provider of solutions to connect, protect, secure, and restore data, and Help/Systems, LLC, the world leader in operations automation software within the IBM i market, today announced a significant technology partnership.

Through technological collaboration, Crossroads' SPHiNX appliance now integrates transparently with Help/Systems' Robot/SAVE solution, offering reliable, secure, and cost-efficient backup and recovery solutions for IBM i. The partnership creates a significant new sales channel for Crossroads' SPHiNX product and opens additional integration opportunities with Help/Systems' Robot/SCHEDULE and Robot/REPORTS solutions.

Integrated together, SPHiNX, Robot/SAVE, Robot/SCHEDULE, and Robot/REPORTS operate seamlessly to deliver error-free automated media management of IBM i systems. Users also gain a suite of data security and management benefits, including complete object inventory of systems, audit trails, encryption, and optional use of tape. The solutions will be offered through Help/Systems to target both Crossroads customers and the Help/Systems customer base of more than 21,000 organizations.

Help/Systems will host a free webinar on Thursday, March 18, from 12-1 p.m. Central / 1-2 p.m. Eastern to highlight the Help/Systems Robot/SAVE and Crossroads SPHiNX integration. To register, visit helpsystems.com/training-schedule.

---

nuBridges Leads Efforts for Tokenization Standardization Body at RSA
nuBridges is taking the lead to form a new industry standards group for tokenization, a new data security that's rapidly gaining traction with CISOs who want to reduce PCI DSS scope and compliance costs, and protect volumes of credit cardholder, personal and health information. However, with no standards in place for tokenization, security can be jeopardized and customers may have trouble adapting their systems to future security improvements.

"Tokenization augments encryption to increase the security of sensitive data, but there are no standards for tokenization," said John Pescatore, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Without standards, there is no consistent way to validate the security achieved by various tokenization approaches. Because tokenization solutions are becoming more widely used, standards are needed to ease both evaluation and interoperability of tokenization."

The purpose of the Tokenization Standards Group is to develop industry standards for the tokenization data security model to ensure a high level of security and interoperability among tokenization solutions. nuBridges is inviting all tokenization vendors to join the new group and as such is making this announcement at the RSA 2010 conference.

---

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

Posted by lharty on March 2, 2010 at 3:40 PM | Comments (0)