From AS400 to iSeries to System i to Power Servers and beyond

projex is an ibm business partnerWhat is the IBM i on Power Systems?

The IBM i is part of the IBM POWER family of e-business servers and midrange computers. Previously known as the AS400, evolving to the iSeries and System i most recently re-branded the IBM i (or IBM i on Power Systems to give its full title) this flexible machine offers a secure platform capable of running thousands of the world's most popular business applications - all on a single, highly integrated, powerful system.

The IBM Power System is the physical machine and IBM i is the operating system.

IBM i integrates a trusted combination of relational database, security, Web services, networking and storage management capabilities.

It has long been recognized for delivering business value through innovations and programs that reflect industry-leading technologies and best practices. IBM i's integrated design helps reduce cost with its famous 99.999% availability and increases productivity of your existing IT infrastructure and system users.

The bottom line is:

The IBM i is the worlds leading business platform, running a totally secure operating system that interfaces with every other computer and software application that your business may be using. A safe, secure, reliable and hitech solution for business in the Internet age.

Specializing in the IBM i arena for many years has generated a wide ranging industry experience, exposure to hundreds of applications and broad technical knowledge.

As an IBM i Consultant the critical qualities include; a detailed knowledge of the platform, a superior grasp of related technologies, an ability to quickly produce tangible results, professionally and with a specialist approach.

ProjeX - Simple Solutions in a Complex World

timshel

"timshel is a weird hebrew word. Thats true, but it's also a wel known English rock band. timshel have a dedicated fans following them around the pub, club and festival scene for their alternate rock sound which is reminiscent of a mixture of various gods of rock ranging from the Stones to Blind Melon to Nickelback to that fat mad scottish bird on XFactor (maybe not so much the last one). timshel comprises a bunch of lads that play loud music and they play it very well. Nuff Said" - quote: me, last week.

Based in Southampton, a large seaside town on the southern coast of England, these chaps have been writing and playing their blend of musical rock for years. I have a vague familial connection, my cousin Rob Litten, is the drummer in the aforementioned band. However, putting all family bias aside, timshel rock. Quite literally. That's an emprical fact.

I've been listening to various timshel mp3s in my car for years, so a few weeks ago when Rob called me and asked if I could help them get a website off the ground I was delighted to be involved.

Heres a quick overview of what made up the timshel website http://www.timshel-band.co.uk

The website core is Drupal 6 running a number of modules to tweak its performance and versatility:

  • Advanced Forum - an absolute requirement if you are implementing the out-of-box drupal forum
  • CCK - of course. Drupal6 without CCK is simply drupal not-quite-working-right
  • CCK Embedded Audio and Media - letting us play MP3 and sample videos
  • Calendar and Date Modules - we are still fine tuning this, but by the time you read this it's probably being used to broadcast gig dates, festival venues and auspicious lunar cycles
  • CKeditor - Simply the best wysiwig editor for Drupal. If you dont think it is... well.. your wrong. so there. This should be in core.
  • ActiveTags and Taxonomy Cloud - for those lovely keyword clouds
  • dfGallery - first time I have used this Gallery display module. And its really cool.
  • XMLSitemap - yet another Drupal module that should be in core.
  • and loads more...

IBMi + WDSC7.0 + TN5250 = Wow Squared!

Posted Tue, 12/15/2009 - 11:20

WebSphere Development Tools for the IBMi is Very Very Very Cool!

I've just installed WDSC7.0 for the first time (/me ducks from the barrage of rotten fruit launched at him from the rowdy-RDi-crowd) and have almost had a religious experience with it.

For years I've been feverishly hammering away in S.E.U. and P.D.M. mistakenly thinking that I just haven't got the time to learn a new G.U.I for writing RPG and CL programs on the IBMi.

Look at that - I used WDSC, RDi, SEU, PDM, GUI and IBMi all in the same paragraph Wink but at least I never used the word leverage or any other business junk phrases like lets run that idea up the flagpole and see who salutes

Possibly I'm the only IBMi Developer who wasnt already using a modern source code editor, in which case you're laughing at me, but just in case you (dear reader) are still in the world of SEU then just stop right now and get a copy of WDSC7 from your IBM business partner. It's FREE as its been replaced by the new, very expensive, re branded Rational Developer.

From my perspective, WDSC7 is simply amazing.

The AS400 has a new name - lets use it!

Posted Mon, 11/16/2009 - 20:11

Its IBM i running on IBM Power systems ( think Windows Server 2003 running on Dell Poweredge Hardware ) but thats a bit of a mouthful so we just say IBMi. After coming back from last months i-Developers convention and feeling excited about all the fantastic things that this machine is capable of, yet feeling a little depressed that the community out there still thinks of it as an old green-screen AS400, it's time we got up and said "no more" to the dusty old farts that insist on degrading the IBMi and trying to relegate it to the annals of history.

  • You dont refer to your laptop running Windows as a DOS PC do you?
  • So why take a modern Power System running IBM i  and then refer to it as an old fashioned AS/400?

The IBMi is a terrifically versatile machine, an industry leader with a globally established presence and a totally integrated Web Server, PHP/JAVA/EGL/RPG System and does everything that Windows Servers do but with a more secure operating system, virus immunity, support for thousands of concurrent users and 99.9% reliability!

Still confused about AS400, DB2, UDB, i5/OS, OS400?

The AS400, Dinosaurs, Whizzkids and the Plodders

Posted Tue, 05/19/2009 - 10:50

The IBM System i has a strong following, in part because companies have not generally been required to upgrade hardware or software on an arbitrary schedule. This means that many business are running legacy computer applications (for legacy read 'old fashioned') that have typically been running on green-on-black terminals for many years - "if it aint broke why fix it?"

Since the 1990's computer technology has been evolving at an incredible pace. Todays mobile phones pack in far more technology and firepower than a desktop computer from ten years ago. Even your family car with its engine computer and GPS/SatNav is doing these incredibly technological things that we now take for granted.

The IBM System i has been evolving at an equally exciting pace, now with fully integrated website support, FTP, email, support for just about every language and even integrated Windows/Linux Servers. The original programming language (RPG - Report Program Generator) has evolved into this incredibly powerful tool that can write/read websites, do incredibly complex maths and convert data to PDF's and emails and talk to just about any other language on any other platform.

So, "why isnt it being adopted by more business?" I hear you ask.

It's our own fault... IBM are just simply terrible at marketting this machine imho of course so speaking as a Software Developer it's definitely down to us to promote this machine and fantasticly versatile language.

The trouble is that developers, programmers, coders or whatever you want to call it, are a fickle lot....

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