Planet i

As part of the ZendFramework excercise I am following the author describes some automated testing process for the Framework modules as we build them. He talks about using the PHPUnit testing software which is available here http://www.phpunit.de/. This allows a developer to write automated tests for his objects as he develops and greatly improves the [...]

Iowa and Delaware Websphere Administrator- Description • Installs, configures, supports, and administers Websphere and HTTPServer systems on AIX environments (Windows experience is fine as l...

I am in the throws of going through a tutorial which shows how to set up and use the ZendFramework. It comes as part of a book I found which goes into some detail about the ZendFramework but in a much more readable (understandable?) method than the documentation. Once I have been through the [...]

Using the WRKLNK command, navigate to the folder that is above the folder you want to delete and type option 2. Press Enter. From the display that appears, type option 9 (Recursive delete) next to the folder you want to remove and press Enter. The folder and all sub-folders will be removed. Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and

Lotus Notes 8 has added two new coloring features to calendar. Now in addition to defining the colors for the different meeting types, we can now define how we want unprocessed meetings and cancellations to appear on the calendar.

In Preferenes -> Calendar & To Do -> Colors, there is a option to set colors for the New meetings and Cancelled meetings.
Here is an example where we invite a person to a meeting.

He has not yet accepted the calendar invite that is in his in-box, but Notes 8 now displays the unprocessed meeting on his calendar anyway.
After he accepts, it is displayed as we would expect.
Then as the chairperson we have to unfortunately cancel the meeting. The person has not had the time to open the cancellation notice in his email, but Notes 8 automatically changes the way the meeting is displayed on his calendar, visually informing him that the meeting has been cancelled.

If you write RPG subprocedures, you should know about the differences between automatic and static storage. (If you don't write subprocedures, shame on you!) I've found that many writers and/or users of subprocedures don't fully understand the differences. So let's start at the beginning.

In the past couple of years, I have talked with colleagues and read articles about the complexity of WebSphere and the resources it uses. There are alternatives to WebSphere when you need a Servlet or JSP container. Apache Tomcat is probably one of the better known competitors to WebSphere. However, I would like to introduce you to another one that is smaller, easier to manage, and just plain works: Jetty.

Many i5/OS administrators hate system audits the way dental patients hate getting their teeth filled: they despise it with all their might, but realize the process might be somewhat healthy and beneficial for their system. This week, I'm going to look at some common system auditor requests for i5/OS configurations and show you how to retrieve that information from a Power i, System i, iSeries, or AS/400 machine.

So what is the IBM i guy doing talking about MacOSX, when I happen to like MacOSX and I happen to think that OSX Server is rock’n!

Link :: Top Ten Myths and Misconceptions About Mac OS X Server

I was trawling through the iNetwork forums and found this link to an open source emulator plug in for WSDC. http://www.taskforce-it.de/downloads/TN5250J_Manual.pdf. It installed in a few minutes and configured just as easily as the manual stated. Having requested a single IDE for both IBM and PHP and not getting a result, the next [...]

Sometimes you just have to read the documentation to find out what you did wrong! The ZendFramework uses a concept which pushes all requests through the index.php page in the root directory, this in turn calls the Controller functions to determine how the request is to be handled (yes I made that a lot [...]

Debates have been raging since early in the life of the i (back when it was an AS/400 ) about "native vs. SQL." Most of...

Hi Well I had hoped to be a bit further along with the project to enhance my Software Manager Product with a PHP interface using the 5250 bridge, but a couple of things are bogging me down at the moment. Firstly the documentation available and the examples need a bit of work to be able to [...]

Infinitely, IBM has kindly provided us with QWVRCSTK at V5.

D GetCaller PR Extpgm('QWVRCSTK')
D 2000
D 10I 0
D 8 CONST
D 56
D 8 CONST
D 15

D Var DS 2000
D BytAvl 10I 0
D BytRtn 10I 0
D Entries 10I 0
D Offset 10I 0
D EntryCount 10I 0
D VarLen S 10I 0 Inz(%size(Var))
D ApiErr S 15

D JobIdInf DS
D JIDQName 26 Inz('*')
D JIDIntID 16
D JIDRes3 2 Inz(*loval)
D JIDThreadInd 10I 0 Inz(1)
D JIDThread 8 Inz(*loval)

D Entry DS 256
D EntryLen 10I 0
D PgmNam 10 Overlay(Entry:25)
D PgmLib 10 Overlay(Entry:35)
D
C CallP GetCaller(Var:VarLen:'CSTK0100':JobIdInf
C :'JIDF0100':ApiErr)
C Do EntryCount
C Eval Entry = %subst(Var:Offset + 1)
C Eval Offset = Offset + EntryLen
C Enddo
C Eval *InLR = *on

Domino got one (the original 'Bumblebee'). JD Edwards, Linux, and the high availability vendors got theirs, too. We're talking about dedicated System i hardware--or appliances, if you will. So why isn't there a pre-integrated i OS bundle for business intelligence, one of the fastest growing application segments in IT? For whatever reason, that's about to change, thanks to a group of IBM business partners in Southern California, who have teamed up to create the 'Smart i.'

While the Payment Cardholder Industry (PCI) has been congratulated for publishing clear and concise rules (especially compared to the muddy mess that was Sarbanes-Oxley), the 12-part Data Security Standards (DSS) regulations actually could have made a little more sense. According to Ira Chandler, president of i OS payment software provider Curbstone Software, following the letter of the PCI law is just not practical on some points. To address these concerns, the company launched a new dedicated communication module for its i operating system (i OS) payment software that keeps System i servers off the dangerous Internet.

From the consumers' point of view, the Apple iPhone epitomizes the ultimate in style and sophistication for handheld devices. For the sum of $200--plus a two-year service commitment to your local telegraph company (ATT)--a consumer can gain entry to this exclusive club. For software companies developing applications for the iPhone, the equivalent mark of Web 2.0 sophistication may be Morph Labs, a cloud computing provider that ensures iPhone applications scale to meet demand.

ADC Austin and WebSydian last week released a new version of WebClient for CA Plex, a tool for generating user interfaces for ca Plex and 2E development environments. With WebClient version 1.4, the partners have given developers more controls for creating AJAX-style interfaces for 2E and Plex applications running on i OS or Windows.

Avnet, one of two distributors atop IBM's System i reseller channel, announced plans to sell in the United States an integrated suite of content management software developed by the French company VDoc Software. The VDoc suite spans several disciplines, including content management, document management, business process management, and Web-based collaboration, and runs on i OS, Linux, Windows, and Unix operating systems, Avnet says.

COMTEK Services, a New Hampshire consultancy and developer of software for i OS and other operating systems, recently launched a new release of its simple network management protocol (SNMP) software for i OS, called NMServer for AS/400.

The customer news came fast and furious from Lawson Software last week, as the St. Paul, Minnesota, ERP software developer unveiled a slew of licensing deals for S3, M3, and other products.

RJS Software, the Minnesota developer of document and content management systems for the IBM i operating system (formerly i5/OS), is hooking up with Sophos, the English developer of security software, the vendors announced last week.

Do you DBU? Do you know others that DBU? ProData Computer Services, makers of the DBU database utility for DB2/400, is encouraging DBU users to get together on a new community forum it's set up for DBU users--as well as users of other ProData products--to share their tips and techniques.

Network security is the focus of the new episode of 'Moshi Moshi,' the animated series of short stories from Bytware that's intended to entertain viewers while educating them about i OS security. With a potential hole in his company's network perimeter, the protagonist of Moshi Moshi must act before it's too late!

Today in my mail box I received the newsletter from the folks at Search400.com and this is what it said:

FROM THE EDITOR
Open source for i
[Leah Rosin, Associate Editor]

Last month I attended OSCON in Portland, Ore., and learned from Bernard Golden that open source utilization in the enterprise is on the rise. At the conference, IBM featured its free DB2 Express-C version of DB2 9. When I asked Rav Ahuja, the strategy manager of information management at IBM, whether this would work on i, he explained that it would if you run a Linux partition. All of this was a great primer on the implementation of open source and, specifically, Linux on i. And now the first of a three-part series of Linux on i is here.

Let us know what you think. And if you run or develop open source apps on a Linux partition on i, consider writing a tip or submitting a guest column.

RELATED INFORMATION:
> System i Blogger: Linux Foundation launches killer development tool
> System i Blogger: Getting started with Zend PHP

Firs I am humbled that they linked to my blog on ITKE, thank you Leah!, and second lets talk about this for a bit.

It’s all about the money is it not? I am pro open sourced dude, but let’s face it if your not making money or able to support your code writing habit then it’s all a wash? While the Linux community is best known for their OPEN projects, the IBM i has not seen this kind of energetic code writing.

There have been attempts at OPEN SOURCED projects for the IBM i over the years but it’s been scarce, and nothing out there that could change the face of a buisness. I would love to see an open sourced web site for all IBM i projects with many many active projects.

There should be CRM and ERP projects for the IBM i, and there just aren’t.Projects like this would do two things, drive people to contribute and wake up CRM and ERP software offerings to kick them in the tend bits so that they know they need to step up the code they are working on because there is a FREE open sourced equivilant that is coming and could replace them. It does create competition, even if it is frustrating.

I don’t see this being something that is going to happen anytime soon. The community does not lend itself to lots of after hours late night coding. For one the IBM i is not a platform you can just get at your local Best Buy and write some code for at home with your newly open i/OS. If that were the case I think we would see more OPEN projects.

I would still like to see IBM really rethink how they sell the smaller IBM i systems. I would love to be able to put down less that $2,000 USD and get and IBM i that I could work on, or maybe IBM takes a really large IBM i and places it in Rochester and lets you have a partition to write code on and stuff. That would cost them little to nothing but would foster community growth. They should offer it for FREE and more over allow any student in college a larger chunk of the machine than you would let me have, and IT professional. I can’t afford to have a new 520 at home, but I could afford to log into a partition that was FREE, then I could create a project, open source it on SorceForge and let the world help me build it and make it better. Sadly I don’t think IBM is that “hip” yet and they never will be.

If you are looking for IBM i Open Source Projects check these links:

Link :: Open Source for i

Link :: The iSeries-Toolkit

If you have a good project idea then let it be known! If you think IBM should build a sandbox for us all, say it. They are reading this blog and they do wonder what we are thinking. I would love to build a CRM package for the IBM i that is open sourced and free.  I am sure some of you out there have done it a thousand times but never like you wanted. Now is your chance.

Faster is better when accessing large volumes of data. There are many ways to improve SQL performance, but here are four tips that are especially useful for high volume, read-only database access.

• Code a Set Option AlwCpyDta = *Optimize SQL statement (or the AlwCpyDta(*Optimize) parameter on the appropriate CL command). This lets the optimizer choose whether to create a new index or use a sort for a temporary copy of the data.

• Note that AlwCpyDta=*Yes actually means "use a copy only when it's required to perform the query." This allows the optimizer less latitude than the *Optimize option provides.

• Code a Set Option AlwBlk = *AllRead SQL statement (or the AlwBlk(*AllRead) parameter on the appropriate CL command). This maximizes system blocking when possible.

• Use a CL OvrDbF (Override with Database File) command with the SeqOnly(*Yes, mm) and/or the NbrRcds(nn) parameter(s) to specify system blocking for batch sequential Fetch's.

Use multi-row fetches to read a set of records with each Fetch statement.

It’s been a few months and not much has come from the POWER Equation. I don’t see what I expected to see from IBM over the new POWER thingies and I really wanted to see more. I have been on the IBM Power site every week for about 5 months now waiting for something cool to happen.

The two solutions I know the best are IBM i and Linux. I do know something about AIX but not as much as I would like.

I can tell you that I am working ona site like IBM to pull POWER and experts together in one place. I do think the future of the POWER community is in unification and COMMON and the AIX Convention (If there is one?) should merge and come together.

I was reviewing the code for the 5250 bridge demo when I came across an issue which should be looked into immediately. One thing the i5 is known for is being secure, the addition of a user profile which allows a user to gain access to the system by a third party application is [...]

While this link is not i5 Specific it does provide anyone who is looking for help on how to set up a LAMP server a centralized point for information. I did a quick review of the post and the links and found some interesting detail which I thought readers would be interested in. [...]

SQL's INSERT command adds records to a table (physical file) or view (logical file). There are three forms of INSERT. The VALUES form allows you to create a record from constants. For example, assume a table PLANT with two columns (fields)--ID and NAME.

create table qtemp/Plants (ID char(4),Name char(12))

To create rows (records) for two factories, you could use two insert commands.

insert into qtemp/plants values('1492', 'Lost Angeles')
insert into qtemp/plants values('2001', 'New Yolk')

In V5R3, IBM enhanced the VALUES form of INSERT to permit you to insert more than one row at a time. The following INSERT command inserts two rows.

insert into qtemp/plants values ('1492', 'Lost Angeles'), ('2001', 'New Yolk')

Each row's values are enclosed in parentheses and separated from other rows with commas.

This is not an IBM-only feature. Other SQL platforms support it as well.

Jon Paris and Susan Gantner have an interesting article this month in the IBM Systems Magazine about how some independent software vendors have been a little behind the eight ball in getting their applications ready for IBM i 6.1 (V6R1), the newest System i operating system, or at least, making ...

Mid-deranged.com's "article" is called "Egyptians More Advanced than Earlier Believed." Turns out they were running a data center with an AS/400. But I've got some problems with this piece. Clearly it wouldn't be an AS/400 they would be running, but rather a System/38 or System/36, right?

In an announcement that stunned the computer industry, Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan admitted the Unix operating system and C programming language created by them is an elaborate prank, kept alive over 20 years. Speaking at the recent UnixWorld Software Development Forum, Thompson revealed the following: “In 1969, AT&T ...

There is no "right-justify" string function built into SQL, but it can still be done: Taking a character string of variable size and right-justifying within a target column containing a maximum of 12 characters. The example below does a bit more but it illustrates well what can be done, effectively concatenating blanks (up to 12) for a length of 12 - the length of the source column.

INSERT INTO TARGET_TABLE
SITE_CODE_RIGHT_JUSTIFED
SELECT
SUBSTR(' ', 1, 12 -
LENGTH( TRIM( CHAR_COLUMN_NAME)))
|| TRIM( CHAR_COLUMN_NAME )
FROM TABLE
FROM SOURCE_DATA

Our August EXTRA story 6.1 and Your Vendor Applications is now available. Please leave your comments here on our blog site. Happy reading!

To get to the Command Entry screen from any command line, do a Call QCMD. Once you are on the Command Entry screen, to view a full screen of lines for the entry of your command, press F11. Pressing F11 again brings your screen back to a partial display mode. If you select F10 (with the screen on partial display mode) it will include all detailed messages and commands that you have previously

**********************************************************************
* character dates
d @chara s 8 inz('04/12/01')
d @charb s 10 inz('12/02/2004')
d @charc s 8 inz('12/03/04')
**********************************************************************
* date field
d @datea s d inz(d'2004-12-04')
**********************************************************************
* numeric dates
d @numa s 6 0 inz(041205)
d @numb s 7 0 inz(1041206)
d @numc s 8 0 inz(20041207)
d @numd s 6 0 inz(120804)
d @nume s 8 0 inz(12092004)
**********************************************************************
/free

//character to character...
@charb = %char(%date(@chara:*ymd/):*usa/); //'yy/mm/dd' to 'mm/dd/ccyy'
@charc = %char(%date(@chara:*ymd/):*mdy/); //'yy/mm/dd' to 'mm/dd/yy'
@chara = %char(%date(@charb:*usa/):*ymd/); //'mm/dd/ccyy' to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charc = %char(%date(@charb:*usa/):*mdy/); //'mm/dd/ccyy' to 'mm/dd/yy'
@chara = %char(%date(@charc:*mdy/):*ymd/); //'mm/dd/yy' to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charb = %char(%date(@charc:*mdy/):*usa/); //'mm/dd/yy' to 'mm/dd/ccyy'

//character to numeric...
@numa = %dec(%char(%date(@chara:*ymd/):*ymd0):6:0); //'yy/mm/dd' toyymmdd
@numb = %dec(%char(%date(@chara:*ymd/):*cymd0):7:0); //'yy/mm/dd' to cyymmdd
@numd = %dec(%char(%date(@chara:*ymd/):*mdy0):7:0); //'yy/mm/dd' to mmddyy
@numa = %dec(%char(%date(@charb:*usa/):*ymd0):6:0); //'mm/dd/ccyy' toyymmdd
@numb = %dec(%char(%date(@charb:*usa/):*cymd0):7:0); //'mm/dd/ccyy' to cyymmdd
@numd = %dec(%char(%date(@charb:*usa/):*mdy0):7:0); //'mm/dd/ccyy' to mmddyy
@numa = %dec(%char(%date(@charc:*mdy/):*ymd0):6:0); //'mm/dd/yy' to yymmdd
@numb = %dec(%char(%date(@charc:*mdy/):*cymd0):7:0); //'mm/dd/yy' to cyymmdd
@numd = %dec(%char(%date(@charc:*mdy/):*mdy0):7:0); //'mm/dd/yy' to mmddyy

//date to character...
@chara = %char(@datea:*ymd/); //d'ccyy-mm-dd' to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charb = %char(@datea:*usa/); //d'ccyy-mm-dd' to 'mm/dd/ccyy'
@charc = %char(@datea:*mdy/); //d'ccyy-mm-dd' to 'mm/dd/yy'

//numeric to character...
@chara = %char(%date(@numa:*ymd):*ymd/); //yymmdd to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charb = %char(%date(@numa:*ymd):*usa/); //yymmdd to 'mm/dd/ccyy'
@charc = %char(%date(@numa:*ymd):*mdy/); //yymmdd to 'mm/dd/yy'
@chara = %char(%date(@numb:*cymd):*ymd/); //cyymmdd to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charb = %char(%date(@numb:*cymd):*usa/); //cyymmdd to 'mm/dd/ccyy'
@charc = %char(%date(@numb:*cymd):*mdy/); //cyymmdd to 'mm/dd/yy'
@chara = %char(%date(@numc:*iso):*ymd/); //d'ccyy-mm-dd' to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charb = %char(%date(@numc:*iso):*usa/); //d'ccyy-mm-dd' to 'mm/dd/ccyy'
@charc = %char(%date(@numc:*iso):*mdy/); //d'ccyy-mm-dd' to 'mm/dd/yy'
@chara = %char(%date(@numd:*mdy):*ymd/); //mmddyy to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charb = %char(%date(@numd:*mdy):*usa/); //mmddyy to 'mm/dd/ccyy'
@charc = %char(%date(@numd:*mdy):*mdy/); //mmddyy to 'mm/dd/yy'
@chara = %char(%date(@nume:*usa):*ymd/); //mmddccyy to 'yy/mm/dd'
@charb = %char(%date(@nume:*usa):*usa/); //mmddccyy to 'mm/dd/ccyy'
@charc = %char(%date(@nume:*usa):*mdy/); //mmddccyy to 'mm/dd/yy'

//numeric to date...
@datea = %date(@numa:*ymd); //yymmdd to d'ccyy-mm-dd'
@datea = %date(@numb:*cymd); //cyymmdd to d'ccyy-mm-dd'
@datea = %date(@numc:*iso); //ccyymmdd' to d'ccyy-mm-dd'
@datea = %date(@numd:*mdy); //mmddyy to d'ccyy-mm-dd'
@datea = %date(@nume:*usa); //mmddccyy to d'ccyy-mm-dd'

//numeric to numeric...
@numb = %dec(%char(%date(@numa:*ymd):*cymd0):7:0); //yymmdd to cyymmdd
@numc = %dec(%char(%date(@numa:*ymd):*iso0):8:0); //yymmdd to ccyymmdd
@numd = %dec(%char(%date(@numa:*ymd):*mdy0):6:0); //yymmdd to mmddyy
@nume = %dec(%char(%date(@numa:*ymd):*usa0):8:0); //yymmdd to mmddccyy
@numa = %dec(%char(%date(@numb:*cymd):*ymd0):6:0); //cyymmdd to yymmdd
@numc = %dec(%char(%date(@numb:*cymd):*iso0):8:0); //cyymmdd to ccyymmdd
@numd = %dec(%char(%date(@numb:*cymd):*mdy0):6:0); //cyymmdd to mmddyy
@nume = %dec(%char(%date(@numb:*cymd):*usa0):8:0); //cyymmdd to mmddccyy
@numa = %dec(%char(%date(@numc:*iso):*ymd0):6:0); //ccyymmdd to yymmdd
@numb = %dec(%char(%date(@numc:*iso):*cymd0):7:0); //ccyymmdd tocyymmdd
@numd = %dec(%char(%date(@numc:*iso):*mdy0):6:0); //ccyymmdd to mmddyy
@nume = %dec(%char(%date(@numc:*iso):*usa0):8:0); //ccyymmdd to mmddccyy

@numa = %dec(%char(%date(@numd:*mdy):*ymd0):6:0); //mmddyy to yymmdd
@numb = %dec(%char(%date(@numd:*mdy):*cymd0):7:0); //mmddyy to cyymmdd
@numc = %dec(%char(%date(@numd:*mdy):*iso0):8:0); //mmddyy to ccyymmdd
@nume = %dec(%char(%date(@numd:*mdy):*usa0):8:0); //mmddyy to mmddccyy
@numa = %dec(%char(%date(@nume:*usa):*ymd0):6:0); //mmddccyy to yymmdd
@numb = %dec(%char(%date(@nume:*usa):*cymd0):7:0); //mmddccyy to cyymmdd
@numc = %dec(%char(%date(@nume:*usa):*iso0):8:0); //mmddccyy to ccyymmdd
@numd = %dec(%char(%date(@nume:*usa):*mdy0):6:0); //mmddccyy to mmddyy

*inlr = *on;

/end-free

As part of the setup for NameVirtualHost delivery of my websites I forgot to add a VirtualHost directive for the initial page shown when you simply enter http://serverip:80/. This causes the apache server to return the information found in the initial VirtualHost container we had defined. This was pointing to our new Software [...]

We have started to build out the panels for the initial modernization of the Software Packaging Manager Product. This product is used internally to package all of our products as IBM Licensed Program Product’s. The menu design we have chosen is based on the code we generated for our companies website and uses [...]

We've both recently read "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely and we already know we'll be re-reading it in the days to come. This is one...

The steps to transfer the Lotus notes contacts to an ipod is given below.

Step 1. Attach your iPod to your computer. This should mount your iPod as a removable storage device, and you will see it has a folder called Contacts.

Step 2. Open your Lotus Notes Address Book to the Contacts view, and select the documents you want to export, or simply select all with CTRL+A.

Step 3. From the menus, choose File - Export. For "Save in" navigate to your iPod's "Contacts" folder. Provide a file name, for example, "Lotus Notes Contacts", and make sure to choose vCard for the "Save as type". Click Export.

You will be prompted with a few additional vCard export options, Leave the default options as such.


You'll see a progress bar as Notes exports the file, and you're done!

Disconnect your iPod, navigate to the iPod's Contacts application, and you'll see all your Lotus Notes contacts!

looksoftware next month is expected to deliver a new 'solution pack,' called 'snap for mobile front-ends,' that will enable users to access i OS server-based applications from the new generation of mobile devices, including the newest Apple iPhone. While customers today can use look products to deliver 5250 applications to iPhones, which have full Web browsers, the new look solution pack will streamline the integration process and take advantage of the latest iPhone features, the company says.

Is your credit card data safe? That's the question millions of people are asking themselves following the recently exposed international identity theft ring that allegedly stole more than 41 million credit card numbers. While security is a relative term, experts in the field of electronic payment systems, including Ira Chandler of i5/OS payment card software developer Curbstone, say the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) provides good protection of sensitive data. Unfortunately, not everybody is following PCI DSS to the letter.

Original Software recently launched a new release of its TestBench for iSeries software. With version 6.3, the English software company has included a new report compare feature that should dramatically speed the analysis of test results and improve test quality, the company says. Original also launched a new test-asset management portal for heightened collaboration among testers, and released a new version of TestBench for Oracle databases.

Business Computer Design Int'l last week unveiled WebSmart PHP 2.0, the latest version of its PHP development environment for the System i and other platforms for running PHP code. With version 2, BCD has enhanced the tool's PHP code generation wizard with the addition of programmer prompts. It also introduced new template customization capabilities that make it easier for programmers to copy elements of existing PHP applications in the creation of new ones.

If you've ever looked for encryption software for the i OS (formerly OS/400 and i5/OS) operating system, you've probably heard of Patrick Townsend and his software company, Patrick Townsend and Associates. At some point over the last few months, the company changed its name to Patrick Townsend Security Solutions, or PTSS, as part of a Web site overhaul. The company also launched a new file encryption management solution for Windows Server.

Quadrant Software recently unveiled a new release of Formtastic, its electronic document management offering for i OS servers. With Formtastic version 5.4.2, the company has added new features in the area of spool file processing, image capture, error reporting, and file naming, and added support for i OS 6.1.

More than 150,000 developers and designers have registered to download the latest release of XAware's graphical open source data integration software, the company recently announced. Along with the user update, XAware unveiled version 5.1 of its software, which delivers XML and DB2 enhancements, among other features.

With the onslaught of identity theft and the increase in instances of corporate data loss these days, forensics is becoming a word more IT administrators are becoming familiar with. In the world of log management solutions, however, most vendors make users choose between speedy log collection and the capability to forensically mine for important system events. With the addition of 'forensics on the fly' to its Security Information Event Management (SEIM) system, ArcSight claims users can now do both without compromise.

Investment Systems Company (ISC) will modernize its i OS-based suite of portfolio management applications using LANSA's RAMP (Rapid Application Modernization Process) solution set, the companies announced yesterday.

Lawson Software announced that PHS Group, one of England's largest workplace service providers, recently licensed M3, its Java-based ERP suite most commonly deployed on i OS. PHS will install M3 on an i-based Power Systems server and utilize it as the new backbone of the company.

As individuals and teams starting building new applications using new technologies like EGL, an opportunity also arises to change how you do development. Many teams inside IBM have started to adopt the Agile methodology and have already seen marked benefits.

Take the time and consider changing the way you work. There's a growing community around Agile and a significant amount of material is already available. For a great starting reference check out the latest Agile conference held in Toronto Canada earlier this summer:

http://www.agile2008.org/

Thanks.

Draft Redbook, last updated: Mon, 18 Aug 2008

- Understand the Blue Gene/P programming environment
- Learn how to run and debug MPI programs
- Learn about Bridge and Real-time APIs

This IBM Redbooks publication is one in a series of IBM books written specifically for the IBM System Blue Gene/P Solution.

The Four Hundred is reporting that Help/Systems has acquired PowerTech, an large security firm and software developer, in a move that shows the IBM i space is still active and changing.

“The consolidation of the midrange continued last month when The PowerTech Group, a leading developer of i OS security software, was acquired by Help/Systems and Audax Group, the private equity group backing the i OS utility developer. Few details of the deal are being released, as the companies are privately held and therefore under no obligation to spill the nitty gritty. What is known is that PowerTech will continue to function as a completely independent entity.”

“By all indications, PowerTech has become a powerhouse of i OS security software this decade. Whereas many of its competitors had been acquired by large firms with nary a new product release to be heard of again, PowerTech’s 800 customers have been treated to a steady diet of new products and upgrades, integration with third-party products, the industry’s only i OS-focused conference, annual “state of security” reports, and numerous white papers, educational events, and Webinars. PowerTech customers could feel safe in the fact that PowerTech lived and breathed i OS security, and were active in the midrange community.”

Read More here at The Four Hundred

Big news in the IBM i market. Help/Systems acquires PowerTech. Link to News on The Four Hundred

Nominal data are categorical data where the order of the categories is arbitrary.

The data related to gender, race, religious affiliation, political affiliation etc; are the examples for Nominal data. In a more general form the data assigned with labels or names are considered as the data in Nominal scale. Since, each label or name indicates a separate category in the data; this data is also called as categorical data. The only comparison that can be made between two categorical variables is that they are equal or not, these variables can not be compared with respect to the order of the labels.

The consolidation of the midrange continued last month when The PowerTech Group, a leading developer of i OS security software, was acquired by Help/Systems and Audax Group, the venture capital group backing the i OS utility developer. Few details of the deal are being released, as the companies are privately held and therefore under no obligation to spill the nitty gritty. What is known is that PowerTech will continue to function as a completely independent entity.

If there is any rule in the latter stages of development in any market, it is that the big get bigger. So it has been in the market for application software for businesses of all sizes, and last week JDA Software continued to exert its gravity in the software space by acquiring sometime-rival supply chain software specialist i2 Technologies for a net cost of about $346 million. The move not only makes JDA that much more of a player in supply chain software--and for many companies, positions JDA up above SAP and Oracle--but also puts to rest years of speculation about what would happen to i2.

This bit of news will come as no surprise to any IT Jungle readers who have run their own businesses or who work for small companies where money is a lot tighter than at larger enterprises, which always seem to have a lot more dough to spare for IT projects that may or may not pan out. According to research performed recently by IDC, SMB shops, which have IT budgets that are growing at least twice as fast as spending among larger companies, are more worried about the state of the economy than all the latest gadgetry or hot buzzword ideas.

Richard Stengel describes him as 'the closest thing the world has to a secular saint.' And Stengel is in a good position to know. For two years, the managing editor of Time collaborated with Nelson Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. How better to describe a man who endured 27 years of hellish captivity, emerged unembittered, and rejected vengeance in favor of creating a more perfect union.

The product might still be bearing the cryptic XIV name its founder, Moshe Yanai, gave the storage company he founded after leaving EMC, but now the XIV Storage System also has the IBM 2810 Model A14 designation, and this new type of clustered storage system is available in the Big Blue catalog.

I seem to have missed something on the DDS versus DDL topic, which Dan Burger wrote about in Database Modernization Still Unknown Territory. Explain why and how DDL is faster if they both run on the same box. The speed of the disk drives is the same. If there is some

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A guy walks into a bar wearing a Microsoft .NET T-shirt and challenges any Java-loving pansy to fight. The place gets deathly quiet, and one guy in the back of the room slides his chair back from a table, stands up, and glares at the intruder.

With so much dicey news out there in the economy, you have to look high and low for a little good news. IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel have been doing pretty well for themselves in recent quarters, but in a market where Microsoft is under pressure and Sun Microsystems can't seem to right itself as Dell is making progress. And, as it turns out, so are the largest IT and electronics distributors in the world, Arrow Electronics and Avnet.

Application tool and integration software provider Magic Software Enterprises continued to make progress on riding up the wave of legacy application modernization out there in the world, and reported record sales and profits in its second quarter ended June 30.

The one thing that happens when a company goes from being publicly held to private is that it has at least four fewer reasons to talk to the world about itself since the company doesn't have to do the quarterly dance with Wall Street and the financial and trade press. But old habits die hard, and human resource and talent management software maker Kronos reported financial results for its fiscal 2008 third quarter, just because it can if it wants to and just to make a little noise for itself.

It was not a hard week at work. I had a chance to blog and keep you all up today. Hope you all have a good weekend. See you all next week. I have some stuff to post this weekend.

A question which is asked of us many times is how often should you change the journal receiver when you are using RAP as your availability solution. Obviously the longer you leave the receiver before changing it the more data RAP will have to apply at once when it is eventually changed. [...]

I have a number of problems with the WSDC which require IBM’s assistance to resolve. None of them are critical (or at least they don’t appear to be?) but do need to be resolved at sometime. I requested assistance from IBM who asked for me to send them a copy of my workspace which [...]

Luxor, Egypt - An Egyptian-Dutch team unearthed a hall in a tomb at Zira Abu al-Naga, on the Westbank at Luxor. The tomb was thought to be another burial site because of its proximity to the tomb of Tutankhamun. However, upon entering the tomb, the discovery of a lifetime ...

I have been struggling to get a drive mapped from my Vista PC to my i5 running V6R1. At first I thought it was simply due to the fact I was running V6R1 but trying to link to my V5R4 system came up with the same result. Every time I entered my user name [...]

If you know me you will be aware that I am color blind! This means sites that I develop can be pretty harsh to look at for those of you without that affliction! This has made website design a two way process, I design the flow and the interaction while someone else has to [...]

I was trying to get to the Vision Solutions website http://www.visionsolutions.com only to find its not responding! Apparently they have a computer room issue which has caused their servers to go down… Looks like the hot back isn’t available either? Or perhaps they don’t have one? I have a couple of products and ideas which may [...]

Redpaper, published: Thu, 14 Aug 2008

- PowerVM virtualization technology including Live Partition Mobility
- World-class performance and flexibility
- Mainframe-inspired continuous availability

This IBM Redpaper is a comprehensive guide describing the IBM Power 595 (9119-FHA) enterprise-class IBM Power Systems server.

To get a subfile to display the "More..." or "Bottom" automatically is an easy process for subfiles when configured in the mentioned way. In the subfile control record we need to use the same indicator for both the SFLDSP and SFLEND(*MORE) keywords as follows:
A 26 SFLDSP
A 26 SFLEND(*MORE)
Then in the program, when we write the first subfile record, the indicator will be turned on. As the subfile fills up, it will automatically put the correct value at the bottom of the screen.

I have been trying to determine if the ZEND Apache Server which runs in PASE is able to be configured and managed using the IBM HTTP Admin interface (:2001/HTTPAdmin). It looks like this is not available? I did have a number of issues which have taken many hours to resolve, the PTF’s on my V5R4 [...]

This one is from Edmund Biggs saying my Auto Identification Card document is enclosed! Sender is Edmund Biggs pds@bonds.com.au Wont be opening that one either! Chris…

I just received an email which said it was from Southwest Airlines and that my Credit card had been charged $467.05. Simply open the zip file to view the ticket! HA HA HA!!!! If your stupid enough to open the zip file I am sure its not going to be a nice experience, so if [...]

We are looking for a seasoned Domino Designer to help in our Rock Hill, SC location. I am in the process of gathering resumes and details. The position would be contract to start out and eventually go...

Link :: Search400.com - Linux for IBM i: Introducing Linux to IBM i people

The IBM i is a great platform. Not many of you out there will argue that point. It’s solid, robust and very powerful. Part of that power is just that power or the hardware that we now call Power. The operating system (OS) is nothing unless it has rock-solid hardware to run on. So part of the IBM i’s stability is the hardware. Another fine example of a powerful OS that runs on Power is AIX. The problem is that not everything needs an IBM i or an AIX partition. Sometimes, you just need a file and print server or maybe a DNS or mail router. Of course you could do this all on Windows, but that gets really expensive and it does not run on Power. So, what do you do? Linux on Power: It’s easy, cheap and very powerful, much like its AIX cousin.

As we have noted in previous posts we are going to use one of our internal products to show application modernization using the Zend 5250 Bridge, we will be using the application we use to package, license and track all of our products which ship as IBM LPP’s. The first action we need to take [...]

I need resumes of people who are in the Charlotte/ Rock Hill area who would like to work on a contract basis and eventually go full time. Send me your resume or if you know someone please let them know we are looking for them. You need to be in the or around the area.

david dot vasta @ gmail dot com

Armonk NY – Early photos of the prototype version of the famed Batmobile have revealed the real manufacturer as none other than IBM. Who else could pull off making a car with heavy armor plating, a high performance engine, rocket boosters and a weapons system controlled by an IBM Bladecenter ...

Replication is one of the most important, yet least understood features of Lotus Notes/Domino.

Replication is the process of keeping databases synchronized. That applies to both the design (the look and colors, the forms, the views that display the documents, the security, etc), and the information (documents) inside the databases.

Think of one of the Lotus Notes databases that we use at our company. May be a HelpDesk application, or Email, or a Document Library. That database most likely resides on more than one server in the company. Perhaps employees in Noida access it on Server A, while employees in Hyderabad access it on Server B, Chennai uses Server C, and people in US use Server D. We want everyone to see the same information. So when we create a new document in that database, or edit (update) and existing document, or even delete a document, replication is the Domino process that makes sure those changes are also reflected in the other databases.

Replication occurs on a schedule that your Domino Administrators set-up. For important databases this schedule maybe frequent, such as every 10 minutes, or 5,or even 1. Other databases which are not as "time sensitive" may replicate only once a day.

Our users are always looking for information in different formats. They want to see it on a screen, in a report, in a PDF document, in an email, or in a spreadsheet. There are many ways of achieving all of these but most require third-party products or quite a bit of study to master a new programming technique.

Among the many enhancements that V6R1 provided for System i and i5/OS are several for Run SQL Scripts, which improve its function and broaden its usability. Run SQL Scripts is part of the Database function in System i Navigator.

My shop ran its first high availability failover test in 2007. We've since run many more tests where we configured two different System i 550 Capacity BackUp (CBU) units to impersonate other systems. We've also made many mistakes in the process. Today, I'm focusing on common CBU failover problems and how to avoid them. Hopefully, this information will help make your failover process run smoothly.

This tip is particularly useful if you are using a high availability product. The idea is to create one startup program that will work on two or more systems -- one source code for multiple systems. Use a data area to define the system's role in the replication environment. For example, the production system data area would have a setting of SRC and the backup system the setting of TGT. You may

One of the most important items when looking at the modernization of an application is the user interface and how you will take your existing Green Screen displays and change them into a a GUI Interface. Having seen some of the converted screens which are supplied by the IBM GUI interface available with UIM [...]

Process capability compares the output of an in-control process to the specification limits by using capability indices.

We are often required to compare the output of a stable process with the process specifications and make a statement about how well the process meets specification. To do this we compare the natural variability of a stable process with the process specification limits.
A capable process is one where almost all the measurements fall inside the specification limits. This can be represented pictorially by the plot below:

Most capability indices estimates are valid only if the sample size used is 'large enough'. Large enough is generally thought to be about 50 independent data values.
Process Capability is given by,
Cp = USL - LSL
_________
6 Sigma

Quite often when we talk to people, they say, "It must be nice to travel so much." And then there's the inevitable "have a nice...

If you have been having problems viewing the blog it is probably due to the update to 2.6. Its now complete so you should be able to view and comment etc as before. We did remove a couple of plugins which are no longer useful so if you do see any issues please [...]

Is the i5 community as active in application modernization as some of the popular rags would have us believe? (more…)

We were surprised to see logical files in the file list when looking at WRKJRNA on V6R1. We asked IBM why they just appeared and how could we turn journalling off for them as we don’t want them to be journalled.

IBM came back and stated that we could not end journalling for Logical files, as soon as the Physical file is journalled all logical files built over that physical file would automatically be journalled. We did not get a full explanation of why or what the impact is for this new feature in terms of CPU utilization, but we have just seen a redbook technote which explains the reasoning behind the new feature (Its not really new, they simply opened the view up in the interfaces).

Chris…

Now that I have the software all loaded I need to start to configure the Apache servers. Having the ability to configure the PASE server directly from the IBM interface is a big improvement over the old methods. Also using V6R1 adds a new dimension of having the Navigator and Apache server interface into a single server access. I did try to get directly to the IBM webserver pages using the http://serveraddress:2001/ route but was directed to a new page which was http://serveraddress:2005/ and asked to sign in there! I did find the link to the IBM Apache set up pages. I also tried a direct link to the HTTP Server configuration which is http://serveraddress:2001/HTTPAdmin and that worked as well! (I suppose I should read the new manuals sometime to find out how things are done? but being a male tends to make that too easy!)

I found the interfaces very intuitive, so setting up the initial webservers was easy. I decided to run the following servers:
1. IBM Admin server, required to be able to configure all of the other servers (Port 2001 on IP 192.168.200.20)
2. PASE Zend Server, required to all Proxy PHP services to all my other websites (Port 89 on IP 192.168.200.20)
3. Apache Default, only used for delivery of non PHP sites, will still use Named Virtual Hosting but reduces complexity as I dont have to Proxy host the PHP server (Port 80 192.168.200.20)
4. WEBSERVER, this will be where all of my PHP content driven sites will be served from. This will use Named Virtual Hosting and Proxy to the PHP server (Port 80 192.168.200.21)

I will develop and post the configurations as I go along, this is a test server so nothing is going to be available to the internet. The security I implement will not be as robust as that which is required for a full production website where it will be available to the internet or even one which is internally available to an intranet. I will however try to play with things such as the Zend framework and 5250 bridge using the current application I have as a testbed.

Here are the configs which have been generated so far.

PASE Zend Server, we will be making a number of changes to this file as we implement the new servers

1 # Configuration originally created by Create HTTP Server wizard on Tue Apr 11 01:53:18 CDT 2006
2 LoadModule proxy_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
3 LoadModule proxy_http_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
4 LoadModule proxy_connect_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
5 LoadModule proxy_ftp_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
6 Listen *:89
7 DocumentRoot /www/zendcore/htdocs
8 Options -ExecCGI -FollowSymLinks -SymLinksIfOwnerMatch -Includes -IncludesNoExec -Indexes -MultiViews
9 LogFormat “%h %l %u %t \”%r\” %>s %b \”%{Referer}i\” \”%{User-Agent}i\”" combined
10 LogFormat “%{Cookie}n \”%r\” %t” cookie
11 LogFormat “%{User-agent}i” agent
12 LogFormat “%{Referer}i -> %U” referer
13 LogFormat “%h %l %u %t \”%r\” %>s %b” common
14 CustomLog logs/access_log combined
15 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “Mozilla/2″ nokeepalive
16 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “JDK/1\.0″ force-response-1.0
17 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “Java/1\.0″ force-response-1.0
18 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “RealPlayer 4\.0″ force-response-1.0
19 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “MSIE 4\.0b2;” nokeepalive
20 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “MSIE 4\.0b2;” force-response-1.0
21 ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
22 ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
23
24 Order Deny,Allow
25 Deny From all
26
27
28 Order Allow,Deny
29 Allow From all
30
31
32 Order Allow,Deny
33 Allow From all
34
35 Alias /ZendCore “/usr/local/Zend/Core/GUI”

This is the PHPSERVER configuration, we will be adding and removing Virtual servers from this file. It already has the initial PHP configuration started so a few lines of the config relate to the PHP setup. We will explain these as we go forward.

1 # Configuration originally created by Create HTTP Server wizard on Thu Nov 15 08:37:37 EST 2007
2 LoadModule proxy_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
3 LoadModule proxy_http_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
4 LoadModule proxy_connect_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
5 LoadModule proxy_ftp_module /QSYS.LIB/QHTTPSVR.LIB/QZSRCORE.SRVPGM
6 Listen 192.168.200.21:80
7 DocumentRoot /www/phpserver/htdocs
8 Options -ExecCGI -FollowSymLinks -SymLinksIfOwnerMatch -Includes -IncludesNoExec -Indexes -MultiViews
9 LogFormat “%h %l %u %t \”%r\” %>s %b \”%{Referer}i\” \”%{User-Agent}i\”" combined
10 LogFormat “%{Cookie}n \”%r\” %t” cookie
11 LogFormat “%{User-agent}i” agent
12 LogFormat “%{Referer}i -> %U” referer
13 LogFormat “%h %l %u %t \”%r\” %>s %b” common
14 CustomLog logs/access_log combined
15 LogMaint logs/access_log 7 0
16 LogMaint logs/error_log 7 0
17 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “Mozilla/2″ nokeepalive
18 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “JDK/1\.0″ force-response-1.0
19 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “Java/1\.0″ force-response-1.0
20 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “RealPlayer 4\.0″ force-response-1.0
21 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “MSIE 4\.0b2;” nokeepalive
22 SetEnvIf “User-Agent” “MSIE 4\.0b2;” force-response-1.0
23 ServerName www1.phpserver.local
24 ProxyPreserveHost On
25 ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
26 ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
27
28 Order Deny,Allow
29 Deny From all
30
31
32 Order Allow,Deny
33 Allow From all
34

This is the Apache Default Server. It is as shipped so we will add the relevant changes to allow Named Virtual Hosting to this file. There are a number of rules imposed with the Apache Servers which we will discuss as we develop the configurations.

Chris…

1 # Apache Default server configuration
2
3 # General setup directives
4 Listen *:80
5 HotBackup Off
6 CgiConvMode %%MIXED/MIXED%%
7 HostNameLookups Off
8 UseCanonicalName On
9 TimeOut 30000
10 KeepAlive Off
11 DocumentRoot /www/apachedft/htdocs
12 AddLanguage en .en
13
14 # Deny most requests for any file
15
16 order allow,deny
17 deny from all
18 Options -Indexes -ExecCGI -includes
19 AllowOverride Limit Options
20
21
22 # Allow requests for files in document root
23
24 order allow,deny
25 allow from all
26
27
28 # The following directives support serving some pages
29 # that are part of a sample database.
30
31 order allow,deny
32 allow from all
33
34 Alias /QIBM/ProdData/OS400/SQL/Samples /QIBM/ProdData/OS400/SQL/Samples

This will form the basic starting block for any websites or application modernization projects we develop and publish through the Blog. Previously we had to do a lot of configuration for the MySQL server, the new install routines build and start the initial MySQL environment so we will only show where the configuration has to be changed as we implement MySQL features. One particular piece of software we always implement where we have MySQL content to manage is PHPMyAdmin which is one of the easiest MySQL admin tools we have found. We are going to take the single install route where all MySQL Data will be stored in a single DB and served dependent on the security passed (User name and DB required).

Let us know if you have any specific requests for configuration types and we will see if we can develop something which shows you the basics. This is a test server and nothing will ever be pushed to users, we can play with the setup without any problems.

Chris…

Believe it or not, we have discovered an amazing and easy technique that will convert your ordinary PC laptop to an Apple MacBook. After much research and trial and error, we have perfected and simplified the technique so that anyone can make the conversion. We actually have one running in ...

Facing record lock problem on iSeries is very. Assume that there is a physical file that can be accessed by a number of users at the same time; you want to update a record that is locked by another user. How do you know which user has locked that particular record?
DSPRCDLCK command on the iSeries that gives you this information Type DSPRCDLCK on the command line and take a prompt by pressing function key F4. Fill the required parameters, such as the name of physical file, library name, member name, etc. and press enter.
It's as simple as that!
You will get a screen that shows you the locked record number, name of the job and the user who has locked that record, the job number, status, and the type of lock.

Sometimes, a good idea just doesn't take off. OK, this is information technology, not philosophy, so let me rephrase that more accurately. Sometimes, ideas and habits that were once laudable have an immense inertia that prevents a new and perhaps better idea from building momentum in the market; sometimes, a standard however begrudgingly adopted by IT vendors can overcome that inertia. Such is the case with the wonderful idea of blade servers.

While server makers are, generally speaking, pretty excited about server virtualization, their excitement is not just limited to the idea that the advent of sophisticated virtualization hypervisors and the efficiencies that consolidation affords compels customers to spend money on new gear when they might otherwise not spend anything at all. Server virtualization and the consolidation it allows also compels customers to buy beefier machines, ones with lots of processor, memory, and disk capacity, and I/O bandwidth. These are machines that are inherently more profitable than the little boxes sprawled all over the data center these days.

Just because an IT manager is accustomed to flying in the face of convention doesn't always mean there is a flight plan involved. And that's not to say that the ranks of IT professionals are filled with high stakes gamblers, either. By and large, IT is a safe haven for the risk adverse. As an example, let's take a look at the integrated database used by AS/400, iSeries, and System i users and compare it with what is considered a modern database. Who is ready to make the jump?

Technology is a canvas painted in broad strokes. It tends to be discussed as an abstraction, serving as a one-word synopsis for the diverse exertions of scientists and engineers. Technology is a verb without a definitive object. It has become an end in itself, many steps removed from the lives of end users.

One of the side-effects of unifying the System i and System p Power-based server lines into a single Power Systems division is the unified statistics, when cut along the lines that IBM has been using to show Power Systems revenue increases, that Big Blue is putting out show a radical improvement in the adoption rate of its virtualization hypervisor among its customer base. Some of this growth is a trick of the numbers, but a lot of it is actual adoption of virtualization by an increasing number of AIX and i shops.

If you want to modernize your RPG or COBOL applications on System i or System z platforms and their predecessors or, in the case of the System i, its Power Systems i successor, and you have programmers who learn and type at lightning speed, then IBM has a deal for you.

AMI-Partners is an IT consultancy that makes a living tracking what technologies and management techniques are being deployed by small and medium businesses; think of it as a Gartner and IDC for the little guys. And according to a recent report, two areas are heating up in the SMB space--SaaS and managed services--and AMI is advising companies in the IT channel that service SMB shops start looking in this area.

IT distributor Avnet has been battling wi