Glad to have you back for this week's IBM i Pulse! Each week we will be taking a deeper look into this week's IBM i news. This week we are looking at Counting Companies, IBM i Pride, and a commitment from IBM. But First...
Our own Ted Holt is at it again with his Guru Insight on the IBM i. This week is Part 1 of Error Handling in SQL PL... enjoy!
Source: https://www.itjungle.com/2017/06/12/guru-error-handling-sql-pl-part-1/
Counting Companies With An IBM i in the Mix
by Dan Burger
How many companies are running their mission critical business applications on Power Systems loaded with the IBM i operating system? Is it the 125,000 that IBM believes it to be? Is it closer to 100,000 as some experts believe it to be? Dan found a man that is determined to find out exactly. In this article he interviews John Rockwell of www.all400s.com who is on a mission to find out just how many companies are using the IBM i operating system for their business applications.
Rockwell is on a mission to create a list of verifiable companies that are still on the IBM i, to help squash the myth that the operating system (formally known as the iSeries or AS 400) is dying out. His hope is to help educate companies on the importance of the OS BEFORE they entertain ideas of getting off of it.
"Rockwell says his intent in building this list is to possibly end the erosion of IBM i shops by providing a verified accounting, which would demonstrate the widespread use of the system and inspire confidence. A lot of it has to do with re-assuring the companies who use the platform that they belong to a large ecosystem that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”
Rockwell has been in the IBM i area for over 31 years, and though he considers himself semi-retired, hunting for IBM i shops gives him a way to continue to help people still in the area.
Source: https://www.itjungle.com/2017/07/10/counting-companies-ibm-mix/
Pride in Advancing the IBM i Community
by Dan Burger
In this article Dan interviews Ranga Deshpande, president of COMMON Europe on how the conference has been a pivotal role in advancing the pride of the IBM i community. The COMMON Europe Conference (CEC) in the past has had varying degrees of attendance (although attendance has averaged 250-300 the past few years), but vendor and speaker attendance has skyrocketed in recent years. According to Deshpande, this shows a great deal of pride that the community has. Here are some of the highlight quotes from Deshpande:
" Our organization is stronger than ever, we have a strong and committed board of directors and a renewed and energetic volunteer community. With these ingredients, I’m confident we can address new challenges and will be fluid enough to meet new member needs as they do come up."
"There is discussion for additional education, although it may not be in the typical conference format. For example, Common Europe will again hold its iTour series–one-day events held in conjunction with one or two vendors and many Common Europe local user group members."
"Experienced attendees favored new technologies and some newer attendees may have gravitated toward some traditional topics that may have been new to them. And others may have re-acclimated themselves to technologies they may not have used in a while or simply wanted to know about new features that were recently implemented. I can tell you a number of sessions were completely filled, Some of those sessions were by industry and local experts (using open source tools to modernize IBM i applications, customer testimonials, security essentials, and more."
Profound Logic was one of those industry experts, as we discussed Profound.js at this year's conference and the power it has using Node.js to help modernize your applications.
Source: https://www.itjungle.com/2017/07/10/pride-advancing-ibm-community/
IBM Commits to Power9 Upgrades for Big Power Systems Shops
by Timothy Prickett Morgan
There are plenty of small to mid sized shops that utilize the power of the IBM i system, but the bulk of the use is made up of a few hundred large shops. These shops make up a large chunk of the revenue for by the IBM i. With that in mind, what IBM does (or doesn't do) for these companies can affect the smoothness of the product transition of Power9 next year.
When dealing with upgrades technology is not the only factor, accounting and economics have to come into effect. Certain rules express specific regulations about upgrades, depreciation schedule, and serial numbers. That is why IBM recently released a letter for all those who are running on Power8-based Power E870, Power E870C, Power E880, and Power E880C machine. Here are the points they brought up to help smooth out the upgrade paths for Power9 next year:
- IBM plans to offer system upgrades from Power E870, E870C, E880, and E880C systems to the next-generation Power9 systems that will maintain the serial number of the existing IBM Power8 systems.
- IBM intends to allow the next-generation, high-end Power9 systems to participate in the same Power Enterprise Pool processor capacity pooling with the Power E870, E880, or E870C/E880C system that use the Power8 chips.
- IBM plans to offer the ability for new Mobile Processor and Memory activation features, initially purchased on a Power8 machine, to be eligible to convert and migrate to a Power9 system at no additional charge – subject to terms and conditions, which it did not specify.
Hopefully this news will help you better understand what you options are for the upcoming Power9 upgrade.
Source: https://www.itjungle.com/2017/07/10/ibm-commits-power9-upgrades-big-power-systems-shops/
One of our focuses for 2017 is the continued adoption of Node.js in IBM i shops. Click here to read our white paper on Why Node.js Is The Solution Your Company Needs.
Also, Profound.js 2.0 has been released! See how Profound.js 2.0 can help modernize your IBM i today!
And there, you're all caught up! Sounds like we have an interesting 2017!
