December 2004

• Hot New Products -
• The Missing Scripting Option - Scripting languages such as PHP or Net.Data are a powerful way to perform database-to-Web functions at little or no cost. IBM needs to integrate that option into WDSc.
• Here Comes SANty Clause - Storage area networks (SANs) have been around for some years but haven't been widely adopted by many iSeries sites. That may change soon.
• IBM's Future Paycheck - Que sera, sera; whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. That is, unless you're IBM.
• FAQs: iSeries Access Family -
• Tech Tips -
• The Good, The Bad, The Ugly -
• Industry Observer: 13 Cool Sites - These cool sites will lead you to IBM Redbooks and self-educational materials, discussions of what's happening in the industry, and more.
• Dr. I. Doctor - Dr. I. Doctor describes an ingenious virus cleanup technique and explains why a Cisco router could stop permitting telnet access.
• Check-Printing Solutions Come of Age - If you're still printing checks with bulky line printers and costly preprinted forms, it's time to modernize your accounts payable solution and start reaping the benefits of electronic check-printing solutions.
• RPGsp: A Smarter RPG for Browser Applications - Building browser-accessible iSeries appliactions in RPG can be a formidable task. Profound Logic Software, Inc.'s RPG Smart Pages can automate and simplify many steps associated with such a project.
• An ERP APP for SMBs - PeopleSoft confirms its commitment to its iSeries enterprise resource planning (ERP) products with PeopleSoft World Express, an offering streamlined for small- to medium-sized business (SMBs).
• Dynamic Demos! - When iSeries vendors don't deliver dynamic demos, company decision makers are inclined to reduce their investment in iSeries and increase their investment in other platforms. These Top 10 factors can help make sure your demos are dynamic and convincing.
• The Promise of Portals - The promise of portals remains vague and alluring. Yet analysts and industry insiders agree that most major companies have portals currently in development, and they see an explosion of portals on the horizon.
• Virtual Power, Unlimited Opportunity - An explosion of servers has accompanied a continuing drop in their overall utilization. Al Zollar, iSeries general manager, explains how IBM's new Virtualization Engine technologies can help manage infrastructure and dynamically distribute resources.
• 10 Cool Things About CL - CL was born almost a quarter century ago, making it older than some of the IT professionals who use it! CL has survived the test of time because it has many unique and powerful features. Here are some very "cool" favorites.
• f.y.iSeries -
• IBM Announcements -
• Service Tools Security: Device IDs and Monitoring - Controlling access to service tools is vital to protecting your system and your data. Here’s how to secure device IDs and monitor service tools use, plus recommendations for best practices.
• Understanding Web Services Security - When managing your e-business environment, you know information exchanged on the Internet must be secure. But security often isn’t well understood. This article cuts through the confusion by explaining security technologies as they apply to Web services.
• 10 Cool Things About RPG IV - Learn about some recent RPG IV releases that feature many new techniques and structures that’ll help you get the most out of your programs.
• Automate XML Conversions with XSLT and WDSc - Need a way to output an XML doc in different formats for each trading partner or a way to receive XML documents that don’t conform to your schema? This walk through the translation process shows how to convert XML docs using XSLT and WDSc.
• RPG and the IFS: A Text File Primer - Text files are the basis for many of the files used in business today, including XML and CSV files. But before you can understand these types of specialized text files, you need to learn the basics.
• 5 Cool Things About DB2 UDB for iSeries - In V5R3, DB2 UDB includes several smaller enhancements that are easy to overlook but good to know about, because you can use them to increase your productivity and even to lighten the load on your server.
• Managing System Values Across Multiple Systems - System values are the DNA of OS/400 and managing them is a critical, and often frustrating, task. To help ease this chore, iSeries Navigator provides system value functions, such as new system value categories, compare and update capabilities, and more.