Attendance is up over last year as user group adjusts to a new economic reality.

Written by Chris Smith

The 50th anniversary of COMMON celebrated in Orlando earlier this month with the annual conference and expo was a dignified yet upbeat event that commanded the attention and support of users and IBM alike, an event by its attendance alone that suggests IBM i will evolve and remain a vital part of the IT landscape for quite some time to come.

With new application development and system management tools, a powerful new hardware chipset, and a commitment to preserve customers' software assets, IBM customers have much to look forward to.

Written by Chris Smith

Having returned from COMMON's 50th Anniversary conference and exposition in Orlando last week, I think it's clear to everyone who was there that the IBM Power Systems platform and IBM i operating system will be with us for many years to come. If I could summarize the themes of the show, they would be these: modernization, consolidation, automation, and virtualization.

Europe, Japan, and the U.S. agree to collect 1,000 IBM i customer stories by next year.

Written by Chris Smith

The first worldwide meeting of leaders of the iManifest Alliance took place last Tuesday at the COMMON conference in Orlando, Florida, and concluded with a commitment to develop and publicize 1,000 customer stories of successful implementations of solutions on IBM i.

Despite difficult times from the world economy, the spirit of IBM i endures.

Written by Chris Smith

The financial crisis ravaging state and local education budgets in the U.S. could have far-reaching effects on the next generation of information technology workers as students search high and low for instructors who haven't been left in the dark ages due to a lack of staff development funds.

Among numerous upgrades, one of the most noteworthy enhancements is full database support of XML, while changes to RPG will permit sending data to a variety of pervasive devices.

Written by Chris Smith

IBM announced a significant new release of IBM i this week, the first major release to the operating system since 2008. While IBM i 7.1 touches on nearly every aspect of the operating system, making it easier to work with new technologies such as XML, the company took the opportunity also to announce enhancements to the RPG language that will make it easier for developers and ISVs to interface with mobile devices and Web services. The company also announced new BladeCenter hardware running the POWER7 chip.

Do you have a good idea for reducing your company's carbon footprint?

Written by Chris Smith

If your boss looked across the meeting table tomorrow and asked you what your department is doing to reduce energy consumption, would you have anything to contribute?

BCD's latest release of its Web-enabling solution takes modernization to new heights.

Written by Chris Smith

I guess it's a guy thing, but we just love tools. It doesn't matter whether it's a cool new circular saw or a great computer development tool—it's a tool, we can get a lot accomplished with it, and that's what counts. Guys are expected to get a lot accomplished in little time. It means we're powerful, more potent. Well, a cool tool just got better, and you'll love how much you can get accomplished with it.

Special task force delivers on new technology course of study.

Written by Chris Smith

If anyone thinks the upcoming COMMON conference is going to be the same old stuff that they have heard in the past, they should take a look under the covers.