System iNetwork

General

November 20, 2009

Quadrant Software Pledges Support to iManifest Initiative

Quadrant Software, a developer of paperless process management solutions for IBM i systems, has joined the iManifest initiative in the U.S. and pledged its support.

Chris Maxcer has covered iManifest a lot lately in his blog, but it's good to see a grassroots effort trying to take the IBM i forward.

An Advanced IBM Business Partner, Quadrant Software has been involved with the IBM i community since its inception in 1990. "Throughout our history, Quadrant Software has demonstrated its commitment to the IBM i platform by participating in associations devoted to the community, by helping organize events and initiatives that promote the use of the platform, and also by continuing development of software solutions that help companies running the IBM i become more efficient," says Gary Langton, co-founder and CEO of Quadrant Software. "The iManifest initiative is in line with our long-term goal of continued development and commitment to our customers and the IBM i market place. We are proud to support it."

For the latest details and how to participate, check out iManifest United States, iManifest EMEA, or iForum in Japan.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, senior industry editor

Posted by rsanders on November 20, 2009 at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2009

Profound Logic Seeks Beta Testers for New Enterprise Portal for IBM i Apps

Profound Logic Software is finalizing a new enterprise portal product for IBM i and offering a beta program to get feedback on it. The portal, called Atrium, focuses on securely tying multiple applications together into one browser interface.

Atrium lets businesses eliminate green-screen menus that require users to drill down through various levels of options to access particular applications. It offers a tabbed layout that lets users launch multiple applications simultaneously without having to start a new session or back out of applications. Administrators can tailor the layouts for individual users or groups. Atrium provides integration of Profound Logic's modernization suite components (RPGsp Web applications, Genie enhanced screens, and iData database views) into one location with a single sign on. Users also can integrate third-party applications, websites, and data located on the i or other platforms.

"Atrium was based on the business needs and requests of our clients. We worked with several customers, who demonstrated a need to redesign the way their end users navigate between application screens," says David Russo, the Atrium product development team lead for Profound Logic. "It was also important to our clients that they had more control over user access to the individual applications once they were running on the web."

Atrium is scheduled to be released in late September, but Profound Logic is looking for businesses to help beta test the portal. Beta program information is available online. Fill out the beta request form.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Posted by rsanders on June 15, 2009 at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2009

MPG, CCSS Create Marketing Alliance to Benefit IBM i Customers

Midrange Performance Group, Inc. (MPG), and CCSS USA Corp. have announced a marketing alliance to better serve the requirements of their IBM i system monitoring and capacity planning customers.

CCSS develops QMessage Monitor, QSystem Monitor, and QRemote Control, which help users monitor and manage IBM i servers. "Cohesive industry alliances such as this will substantially benefit IT Managers that face a complex landscape of system issues, many of which include dependencies or interactions with other areas of the system. For them, solutions that can accommodate a 'big picture' vision of their needs are unquestionably more valuable." says Ray Wright, CEO of CCSS.

MPG, developer of Performance Navigator and Power Navigator, provides capacity planning, performance management, and problem determination support for the IBM i and AIX/Linux platforms. "This alliance will enable us to serve our customers in a more effective and cost efficient way," says Randy Watson, president of Midrange Performance Group. "Between our two companies, we cover the full range of system management requirements for the IBM i customer."
--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor, Programming & Systems Management

Posted by rsanders on May 11, 2009 at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2008

The Hidden Riches of eBay

In case you missed it, eBay has taken a major step forward to help businesses that rely on the site for sales, in addition to helping support third-party software vendors. According to eBay, the newly offered Project Echo will let developers "integrate applications in Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro, eBay's most popular tools for managing selling activities. The eBay seller community will benefit from a streamlined and trusted site experience with access to advanced selling tools that meet their specific needs. Developers will benefit by integrating, promoting, and monetizing third-party applications on the world's largest e-commerce site."

In other words, the new service will let developers sell their third-party software applications directly to eBay merchandisers via the auction site. Traditionally, eBay users have had two options for running their stores: buy software offered by eBay (and created by eBay) or buy software off the eBay grid from another developer. So even though eBay's Selling Manager subscription service has always sold eBay businesses the software they need, third-party developers have never before had direct access to buyers. Now, Project Echo lets developers embed programs directly where eBay sellers are already managing their online businesses.

The new tool promises to help developers every step of the way by integrating the third-party apps seamlessly into the eBay-offered apps so there will be no favoritism, by promoting new apps to appropriate buyers, and by managing communications between the buyer and the developer.

Project Echo will include helpful APIs such as a trading API, which offers authenticated access to private eBay data to enable automation and innovation in the areas of listing items, retrieving seller sales status, managing post-transaction fulfillment, and managing private eBay user information such as My eBay and Feedback details. Shopping, merchandising, research, pricing, and client alert APIs are also available, among several others. If you aren't sure which API you need, just check with the "API By Feature" finder.

All these APIs will let developers access eBay's information about how and when buyers purchase as well as how and what sellers sell in order to serve customers with programs suited to their needs.

After an application has been approved by the Project Echo team, developers can publish their application within eBay's Selling Manager, and sellers can discover the application and subscribe to the appropriate tool.

Just so you know, this is for everyone, even System i junkies -- the programs can be written in multiple languages, including PHP and Java.

So just because you are not on eBay selling your grandma's collectible teapots doesn't mean you can't make a boatload off the auction website.

--Erin Bradford, Systems Management & Availability Editor

Posted by ebradford on June 24, 2008 at 9:33 AM | Comments (0)