It's time for our first IBM i news roundup of 2017. Aside from new articles, you'll also see new website designs from our favorite news sources. Props to IT Jungle and MC Press for modernizing their website interface! ;)

 IBM i Future – 2017 Update
by Steve Will

• One of the most common questions people ask me is “What’s the future for IBM i?”
• Most of the time, the form or tone of the question is really hinting that the person who is asking it wants to hear me confirm that there is a future for IBM i. 
• So, it’s a new year, and it’s time to refresh the message.  So, to do that, I will try to answer two representative questions.  
  
  • “I’m the director in charge of all IT, including the i guys, but I have a different background.  We’re on your POWER6 system and the 7.1 release, and they tell me we need to move to something new.  What’s your roadmap?”
  • “I would appreciate if you can put some light on future of IBM i in next 5 years.

Source: http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/Blogs/You-and-i/January-2017/IBM-i-Future-%E2%80%93-2017-Update/

A Power Systems Wishlist For The Year Ahead
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

• With this being a big year for the Power platform in general and the Power9 chip and the OpenPower consortium specifically, we are excited about the prospects of a revitalized and growing Power ecosystem, which is a big benefit to the IBM i community.
• We have said this before, and we will say it again: IBM should port AIX and IBM i to the new OPAL microcode and OpenKVM hypervisor and make them true peers to Linux, and allow IBM i and AIX shops to better argue to keep their platforms.
• IBM should be pushing very aggressively to modernize the hardware in every IBM i and AIX account, and I say AIX because these customers are part of the revenue stream that IBM i shops benefit from.

Source: https://www.itjungle.com/2017/01/18/power-systems-wish-list-year-ahead/

IBM i Trends, Concerns, And Observations
by Dan Burger

• There is far more going on in IBM i shops than many non-IBM i people would expect. And the truth of the matter is that some IBM i shops might be surprised to find out what other shops are up to.
• There are more than a few surprises in this year’s report. None are bigger than security taking the number one position on the list of top concerns.
• Right behind security on the top concerns list is high availability.

Source: https://www.itjungle.com/2017/01/23/ibm-trends-concerns-observations/

Modernize Legacy Systems to Enable Full Potential
by Joseph Gulla

• Modernization can mean different things to different people in IT. Legacy or software modernization refers to the conversion, rewriting or porting of an existing application to a modern computer programming language with new libraries, protocols or hardware platform.
• For modernization, what should be the focus? A place to start is updating the user interface, which often means utilizing the web and making use of mobile devices.
• Another area is data modernization, which might involve converting from files to databases and layering other functionality like data replication.

Source: http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/ibmi/developer/modernization/legacy-system/

What Is IBM MobileFirst?
by Steve Pitcher

• IBM MobileFirst (formerly IBM WorkLight) is an enterprise-grade suite of tools which help you build mobile applications.
• MobileFirst is made up of three primary components:
  1. MobileFirst Platform Foundation
  2. MobileFirst Platform Application Scanning
  3. MobileFirst Quality Assurance
• Now, will you ever see MobileFirst running on IBM i? Probably not. That doesn’t mean it can’t interface with your IBM i systems of record. Quite the opposite.

Source: http://www.mcpressonline.com/mobile/development-tools-utilities/what-is-ibm-mobilefirst 

And that's all for this week! Just let us know if we missed anything in the comments below.

Also, if you haven't yet, take our 2017 State of IBM i Modernization Survey for a chance to win an Amazon Echo and a few other cool tech gadgets.