New “Application-Centric Connectivity” solution allows business operations in hybrid cloud environments

By IBM Corporation

IBM, today at ONUG, unveiled IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh, a SaaS offering that is designed to enable  enterprises to bring management to their hybrid multicloud infrastructure. Driven by “Application-Centric Connectivity”, IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh is engineered to automate the process, management and observability of application connectivity in and between public and private clouds to help modern enterprises operate their infrastructure across hybrid multicloud and heterogeneous environments.

Compared to data centers as we’ve known them, it’s the former, but some projections say it could be the latter by 2030. Resolving this environmental conundrum will likely shape cloud computing’s future over the next few years.

By John Ghrist

Cloud computing has enabled a transition in business computing from a situation where most transactions are handled by in-house infrastructures to one in which a majority of compute-intensive activities are handled by independent Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). A Gartner Group study published in June 2022 estimated that in 2021 alone, the cloud services market for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) grew by more than 41 percent, with 80 percent of the market being taken up by just five companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba, Google, and Huawei). Obviously, this kind of migration has been going on for a number of years.

Maybe these companies were able to pivot easily because IBM i doesn’t require the daily hand-holding required to keep other platforms working.

By Steve Pitcher

It’s easy to look at the year 2020 with contempt.

I’ve done it. Most all of us probably have. There’s no reason to do a recap of 2020. It started with a near-miss war with Iran, and it hasn’t let up since. I was joking the other week that the only thing we’re missing in 2020 is the equivalent of the Ten Plagues of Egypt. And we still have a couple of months for that to unfold.

In addition to allowing the external definition of database files, ILE RPG lets you define reports externally.

By Brian Meyers and Jim Buck

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from chapter 3 of Programming in ILE RPG, Fifth Edition.

Externally describing printer files offers many of the same benefits as externally describing database files. In particular, this method lets you change a report format without changing the source code of the program that produces the report—a wise approach to application maintenance. Also, if you externally define printer files, you can use a system utility, such as RDi’s Report Designer, to help you design the report’s layout visually on your workstation. The utility then generates the DDS required to describe the report so you don’t have to do the grunt work of figuring out line position and spacing entries. (Appendix B covers Report Designer in more detail.)

In this second and final part of this short series about mobile app dev, let’s talk about grids and glyphicons.

By Jan Jorgensen

In a previous article, I covered how the grid system in Bootstrap works, so in order not to bore you I will try not to repeat myself.

The grid system in version 4 is still based on a maximum of 12 columns! But even though the grid system seems the same from version 3 to 4, something has changed under the hood. In Bootstrap 3, the grid system was based on floats, but that changed in Bootstrap 4; it is now based on flexbox.

Authorizations lists or group profiles. It seems to be an age-old argument in the IBM i security community.

By Carol Woodbury

There is a great time to use both. In this video, Carol explains why authorizations lists help speed up a security remediation effort by quickly granting authority to multiple objects.  

Want to learn more about the benefits of Pen Testing your IBM i? Contact us today at www.dxrsecurity.com

Ghosts and witches—they’re kid stuff. But there really are other things to be afraid of.

By Victoria Mack

This being October, Steve Pitcher has a bit of a Halloween scare for you. But this goblin isn’t a fantasy. It’s real. IBM has announced end of support for the exceptionally popular POWER7 machines. Will IBM offer extended hardware maintenance? Who knows? It hasn’t happened yet. Read Steve’s article to see his perceptions of what some may consider a truly horrifying announcement.

Not all projects are created equal. There are large projects and small projects, complex projects and simple projects, short-term projects and long-term projects, top secret projects and open source projects

By Colleen Garton and Erika McCulloch

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from chapter 3 of Fundamentals of Technology Project Management, by Colleen Garton and Erika McCulloch.

The list could go on and on. There are many different perspectives on which projects belong in which categories. If a company usually works on projects with a duration of three to six months, it would consider a year-long project to be long-term. An organization such as NASA would likely consider a year-long project short-term. A long-term project for them might be twenty or thirty years! Complexity is also subjective. What one company would consider complex another may consider simple. For these reasons, I am not going to try to specify what these terms mean. Each company will have its own definition for these terms and their meaning within the organization. If you are starting a new job as a project manager, you will need to ask for clarification on the terminology used within the organization. That way you can be sure that you are using the correct terminology and categorization for projects.

These days, consumers expect retailers to provide information tailored personally just for them.

In the industry’s current disruptive environment, retail and consumer product companies are competing with new business models and being forced to refresh their consumer experiences and brand engagements to be more relevant.

A new IBM study finds retailers' current strategies to deliver engaging brand experiences are not keeping pace with what customers’ expect and want out of their brick and click shopping experiences.

Do you realize how many of your personal or business devices are connected to the Internet? Let's talk about that.

By Jan Jorgensen

The Internet of Things (IoT): You've heard somebody talk about it; or you've read about it in a newspaper, in a tech magazine, or on a website; or you've attended a seminar or conference where somebody told you about the next big thing.

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

By HelpSystems

Editor's note: This article introduces the February 2022 Report: 2022 IBM i Marketplace Survey Results, which is available to download from the MC White Paper Center.

Cybersecurity continues to top the charts as the main concern when planning an IT environment.

Perhaps the most consistent data point in the IBM i Marketplace Survey Results is the ongoing cybersecurity threat. Over the past six years, cybersecurity has been the main concern for people planning their IT environment, and this year was no exception. Although it has decreased since last year’s results, 62% of respondents still said this was their number one concern. And although organizations prioritizing security seem to be implementing multiple solutions, it is still alarming that, on average, almost 30% of respondents do not plan to implement each of the surveyed cybersecurity solutions. If your organization has concerns over IBM i cybersecurity skills, managed security services could be a way of filling in any holes.

IBM Notes Domino gets a new future with HCL Technologies.

By Steve Pitcher

On October 25, 2017, IBM announced (well, they blogged it) that they were entering into a strategic partnership with HCL Technologies to give the following products a new lease on development life: