It's time for us in the U.S. to step up to the plate.

Written by Jeff Olen

I've been developing applications on IBM midrange systems for over 20 years. I started on the System/34 and progressed through all the incarnations up to and including IBM i (or whatever it's being called today). In all that time, two things have remained consistent. First, IBM has always under-marketed IBM i and under-estimated the midrange market. Specifically,  IBM i, under all its various names, seems to have been left floundering while other systems were marketed to death (lesser systems in this author's opinion). Second has been the almost fanatical loyalty of the IBM i users, including me. While IBM seems content to allow IBM i to ride off into the sunset, we, the users, are decidedly not. But are we willing to do anything about it?

Crossroads Systems' virtual tape appliance for IBM i promises to dramatically shorten backup times.
Written by Chris Smith

The COMMON Directions and Focus educational conferences were held this week, and about 200 users attended the converged Indianapolis events. About 20 vendors also supported the show by sending representatives to explain, and in some cases demonstrate, their products during the one-day exhibition.

i5/OS Query is outdated, and Enterprise BI tools require more licenses, consulting, and money.

Written by Floyd Del Muro

Are users begging you for a modern look and feel when it comes to System i data? Are they telling you that green-screen reports are unacceptable? Is your backlog of text-based reports getting you down? Is your DB2 data warehouse project over budget, past due, and not satisfying user requests? Are you confused about what tools to use for accessing business data, how many tools you need, and what skill sets are required?