The recent release of Rational Business Developer includes the first generally available version of the Rich UI, and it continues to impress.

By Joe Pluta

I've written a lot about Rational Business Developer and the EGL language, and recently I've started telling you about the Rich UI features that have been added to the language. I worked extensively with early releases of the software and even worked with the primary architect of EGL Rich UI, Chris Laffra, to create the first public application using EGL Rich UI and the i. Our scheduler application was quite the hit at the Rational Software Developer's Conference, and the Rich UI portion of the scheduler has gone on to see success at other technology conferences. Unfortunately the i is not an active participant in those other conferences, so the business back-end hasn't gotten the chance to advance with the UI, at least not publicly. I'm planning to change that, and this article is one of the first steps in that effort.

Do you need a DBA for DB2 for i? Maybe more than you realize.

By Mike Cain

As I travel around the world engaging clients, one question that I am always asked is "Do we need a DBA"? Sometimes, the question takes the form of apparent confusion, such as, "We have an SQL Server DBA. We have an Oracle DBA. Why don't we have a DB2 for i DBA"? In other situations, I hear clients, business partners, and IBMers proudly state, "You don't need a DBA"!

With this article, I hope to illuminate the many facets of the DBA question and, more importantly, make the case for why you should seriously consider adding or retaining someone who focuses on DB2 for i.