IBM has invested heavily in new features of a leaner and meaner Informix V11.7 that is scalable, more reliable, easier to use, and very fast.

Written by Chris Smith

With the increased interest in AIX on Power, the question eventually arises as to which database the user plans to run. IBM i has DB2 built into the OS, but when you install AIX, you have to go shopping for a database. According to IBM, many AIX users have opted for Oracle. Presumably, this is because the applications they wish to run—such as an ERP solution—are designed to run on Oracle. One could also choose to run DB2 on AIX instead of Oracle. However, there is another choice that might be even more appealing, and that is Informix. You can download, install, and run a robust production version for free.

New SmartCloud Virtualized Server Recovery services from IBM promise to extend to SMBs disaster recovery features approaching high availability.

Written by Chris Smith

IT administrators have for decades backed up data to tape and then quietly endured the surprises that too frequently accompany failed attempts to restore a single file or files from those backup tapes. I would hesitate to ask how many would bet their lives on the reliability of their backup tapes. Yet the survival of their businesses might someday come to depend on them.

For now, however, always try to grab the driver's seat if you anticipate lengthy delays in the car.

Written by Chris Smith

Editor's Note: I'm off this week, but I pulled this column from the 2007 archives of Showcase magazine because I wanted readers to consider whether or not we have made any progress in the past four years in automating traffic management and transportation. Or are we still sitting in traffic jams for hours and wasting gas as we have for years? Feel free to post your comments in the MC Forums if you have any thoughts on the subject or examples of changing times. Transportation system programmers, please step forward.

Sometimes I think writing is all about getting someone to listen. People like email because they can say what they want to, and no one is going to interrupt them. Have you ever realized that when you're driving and you have a passenger, you can start to behave as though you're on a soapbox with an audience? Or is it just me?

If you have ever wondered why today's fireworks extravaganzas are so much better today than they were years ago, it's all due to computers.

Written by Chris Smith

Those of us who are over 40 (ahem—50?) may remember watching fireworks as a kid, but it was a totally different experience from today.

I recall sitting on a rooftop with a view of Long Island Sound watching a barge out in the water. We sat and waited, and waited, and waited, and I thought I would literally explode from the anxiety and, eventually, frustration. Then finally, one rocket would launch and, yes, it was good! A single shower of white starlets floating down toward the water. Then we would go back to waiting—staring at the barge, wondering if the guy lighting them dropped his lighter in the water and there would only be but one "firework."

Company's centennial is marked by release of new book, worldwide volunteer effort, and succession planning for tomorrow's leaders.

Written by Chris Smith

This week marks IBM's 100th anniversary, and the company is celebrating the event with the release of a new business book that not only chronicles the company's long history, but synthesizes the principles necessary for every business to survive in a changing environment. The company also is marking the occasion with an unprecedented worldwide volunteer effort.

With isolated security and a service level promising 99.9 percent availability, the production-ready cloud may be imminent.

Written by Chris Smith

The demand for cloud services is skyrocketing, and IBM is poised to introduce a service later this year that will allow businesses to dial in the security and service levels businesses have come to expect from on-premise servers.

Part of its IBM SmartCloud offerings, Enterprise+ will offer a core set of multi-tenant services to manage virtual server, storage, network, and security infrastructure components, including managed operational production services. For now, the operating systems offered will be Windows, Linux, and AIX. Whether IBM i will be offered at a later time certainly is a reasonable assumption, although it has not been announced to date.

An XML open-source toolkit, addressing programmer-requested needs, is the latest child from the Zend-IBM partnership.

Written by Chris Smith

With all the emphasis on planning these days, I have to say there are times when it's better just to act and amaze yourself with how much gets done as a result. I was trying to arrange a meeting with the folks at Zend last week as they left from different points on the globe for COMMON Europe in Milan, Italy, but we finally threw up our hands and just decided to get it done—right now!

New SQL query feature takes Web-enablement tool to new heights.

Written by Chris Smith

We've all heard the apothegmatic description of screen-scraping programs as doing little more than putting lipstick on a pig, but today's Web-enabling tools are going far beyond just dressing up an unattractive legacy program.