Virtualization

RPG as a service

Beyond the world of IBM i, the hottest topic in IT right now is “Cloud Computing,” which is essentially a mix of platform and software-as-a-service (PaaS and SaaS) offerings that are available on-demand. So it was with a little amusement and some interest that I read the press release from vLegaci offering RPGAAS. That’s right, RPG as a service.

“… designed for companies who don’t always have an RPG programmer available, or need quick, cost-effective programming results…”

After a year of reading emails from readers inquiring about a variety of topics, I have to think that there is a market for such a product, and vLegaci’s President, Steve Kilner, says that Gartner’s findings support this supposition.

“Consensus is emerging from IT thought leaders such as Gartner Group and Capers Jones that maintaining and modernizing legacy systems gives the best possible return on IT dollars,” said Kilner. “For businesses with legacy RPG systems, the dwindling pool of RPG programmers poses the challenge of how to get unfamiliar programmers up to speed rapidly on complicated legacy code. vLegaci addresses this through the use of its innovative program comprehension tool, Codelyzer. This static and dynamic analysis tool enables new programmers to quickly assess unfamiliar RPG programs, thereby enabling the concept of a service such as RPGAAS.”

What do you think? Is this a service your company could use?

A taste of COMMON: ILE, IBM releases, Web applications and new products

Day two at COMMON 2009 is under my belt, and the level of news and information was again a bit more than I could take in.

COMMON educational session tidbits
I attended a session at 8 AM (without coffee) on “Taking Advantage of Capacity on Demand” for POWER Systems. The session was led by Mark W. Olson, an IBM Power Systems World Wide Product Manager out of Rochester, Minn. I didn’t know what I was getting in for — maybe I should have read the abstract:

This session digs into how IBM’s Capacity on Demand offerings really work for the Model 570 and 595 processors and memory starting with how they are ordered all the way through how they are paid for. Topics include temporary and permanent activations of processors and memory, contractual requirements, pre-pay or post-pay, trial capacity, how to enable, and more.

On the bright side, if you want to know if you should get the daily or minute-based capacity on demand offering from IBM, just ask me and I’m a fount of knowledge. The session was likely useful for those considering paying for more capacity for their 570 or 595 Power Systems, but it didn’t answer what I consider the first step question, which is: Do I really need more processing power, or are there other tweaks to performance I can make? Again, no fault of Mark’s, just my own lack of reading comprehension.
Continued »

What are the best new technologies in 2009 for IBM System i?

Jim Mason has outlined his best bets for the AS/400 programmers in 2009, in his recent tip on Search400.com. Briefly, Mason’s list includes Rational Developer for i, Eclipse Web tools, Enterprise open source architecture, Qwiki Web work spaces for project management, Web reporting, Web databases, virtualization, and WebSphere Community Edition.

Some of these didn’t surprise me — we have discussed the opportunities that open source can provide System i shops a few times in the past year. We’re also expecting an uptick in use and development around PHP on IBM i soon. And despite some recently reported problems with Rational Developer for i, it’s being used, and the more people using it, the more bugs will be discovered and fixed. We also recently shared how you can use virtualization for backups, and we’re interested in hearing how else virtualization is being applied in AS/400 shops.

What tools are you using that aren’t listed? Do you have any quibbles with Jim’s list? Or do you echo your support for his selections? Share your thoughts!