March 21, 2018
March 21, 2018 | Volume 12 Issue 19
- LEAD ARTICLE: New POWER9 Systems and IBM i 7.3 Updates Announced
- FEATURED ARTICLE: Watson for i: Watson Conversation Can Generate Chatbots and Virtual Agents for Your Business, Part I
- FEATURED ARTICLE: 2017 State of IBM i Modernization
- NEWS HIGHLIGHT: IBM Study: Responding to Cybersecurity Incidents Still a Major Challenge for Businesses
- WEBCAST: Make Modern Apps You'll Love with Profound UI & Profound.js
- FEATURED VIDEO: Design an Invoice in 10 Minutes
- EVENT: i Can innovate at NEUGC!
- MC PRESS MAGAZINE: A Small Intro to Big Data, Part 3: HFDS and the MapReduce Algorithm

New POWER9 Systems and IBM i 7.3 Updates Announced
If you're on older iron, then the combination of POWER9 and IBM i 7.3 is your path forward.
By Steve Pitcher
On February 13, 2018, IBM announced the new POWER9 systems. Of course, we knew this would be coming soon as IBM announced the initial POWER9 offerings for Linux back in December. There's a whole lot to cover, so we'll start with the speeds and feeds of the new POWER9 iron.
Seiden Group Announces Free Access to CommunityPlus+ PHP for IBM i

Watson for i: Watson Conversation Can Generate Chatbots and Virtual Agents for Your Business, Part I
Watson Conversation lets you build intelligent apps that can handle customer orders and queries for websites and customer services.
By John Ghrist
By using its combination of speech-to-text and natural-language comprehension skills, Watson Conversation is capable of helping create chat applications and virtual customer service agents that can handle many routine operations in those areas. This two-part series will focus first on Watson Conversation's attributes and some potential applications. The second installment will cover Watson Virtual Agent and explain how applications using that cloud service can improve customer services such as telephone support.
What to Do When Your AS/400 Talent Retires
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small.
This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business?
This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
- Why IBM i skills depletion is a top concern
- How leading organizations are coping
- Where automation will make the biggest impact
Enjoy!
Download your copy today!
2019 State of IBM i Modernization
The annual Profound Logic ‘State of IBM i Modernization Survey” takes a look at the trends and attitudes that shape the IBM i modernization market. We reached out to the IBM i community, and the response was outstanding: close to 800 people, nearly 300 more than last year, took the survey. This enthusiasm resulted in very interesting findings for how businesses plan to use and modernize the platform in the coming year.
As you read through each section of the survey, you will see our summary of the results and suggestions for the future. We hope the survey will help your business better understand what is possible for your IBM i platform in the coming year.
Node Webinar Series Pt. 1: The World of Node.js on IBM i
Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.
Part 1 will teach you what Node.js is, why it's a great option for IBM i shops, and how to take advantage of the ecosystem surrounding Node.
In addition to background information, our Director of Product Development Scott Klement will demonstrate applications that take advantage of the Node Package Manager (npm).
watch now!
What Most IBM i Shops Get Wrong About the IFS
Can you trust all of your users all of the time?
A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six month later.
A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:
- How phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated
- Three little-known ways malicious programs can reach your IFS
- Why the IFS is IBM i’s “Typhoid Mary”
You’ll also learn why some of the most common malware solutions still leave IBM i systems vulnerable—and what you can do to protect your organization.
Easiest Way to Save Money? Stop Printing IBM i Reports
The thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing.
Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:
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- View online without delay
- Browser interface to make notes
- Custom retention capabilities
- Seamless product integration
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2017 State of IBM i Modernization
The IBM i (aka AS/400 and iSeries) market has seen some remarkable changes over the last decade. New capabilities, including graphical user interfaces and support of open source languages, have ensured that the platform is more than capable of supporting the needs of today's businesses.
by Profound Logic Software, Inc.
Editor's note: This article introduces the white paper 2017 State of IBM i Modernization, which is free to download from the MC White Paper Center.
However, the use of these modern capabilities on IBM i varies from business to business. "Modernization", the umbrella term for utilizing the newest capabilities on IBM i - including transitioning from green screens to web GUIs, and updating legacy RPG source code to a newer format or open source language - has not been universally embraced.