Birmingham Midrange User’s Group

IBM now has an excellent tool for testing their options for modernization of applications on the System i.

IBM Sandbox for System i

Attached is the latest COMMON Magazine for June 08. This is a great issue…including that woman on page 14!

COMMON Connect - June 2008 (3.46MB PDF)

(In Birmingham April 30, 2008)

The IBM Power Platform team is bringing the April 2008 Power Unification announcements to 16 cities throughout the east region. These 16 cities sessions will be the main way to hear about the announcement directly from IBM in a live face to face event.

These events are for both i and p heritage CUSTOMERS!

IBM has delivered significant Power announcements in early April. Please find a city near you and enroll in that event in order to hear what the latest Power Systems has to make your business run simpler and learn what the New Power Equation can do for your organization.

Topics include:
Power Announcement Overview
Why Power Systems from a business perspective?
Unification Story & Roadmap
Mission Critical Application Support
Consolidation Considerations
IBM Software Group and ISV Environment with Power

AIX Breakout Session (option 1)
Technical Overview
AIX 6.1
Partition Mobility
WPARS
Storage Update

i Breakout Session (option 2) (No i5/OS breakout in Birmingham)
Technical Overview
Storage Update
V6R1 (iSCSI and Blade included)
DB2 Web Query
Application/Web Development Update
Business Resiliency Update

Check website for times and locations:
https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/grp/grp017.nsf/agenda?openform&seminar=AZ2HJRES&locale=en_US

We learned this morning that apparently Al Barsa Jr. passed away in his sleep last night at the Gaylord in Nashville. Please be in prayer for his wife, Sue, and their two children (college age). Please pray for the whole i community who has lost a great contributor to the AS/400, iSeries and System i.

If you knew Al, share your memories here.
Al Barsa Jr. Biography
Barsa Consulting Group

IBM Announcement, April 2, 2008

New IBM i web page

Computerworld Article

Keith Zblewski of IBM was kind enough to provide the slides from his i5/OS V6R1 presentation for BMUG on March 27, sponsored by the Genisys Group.  It is an excellent summary of the changes and even includes links to IBM documentation and upgrade analysis tools available on IBM.com.

Presentation Powerpoint (7.21MB)

Presentation PDF (3.74MB)

(Note: Since this post will eventally work it’s way off the front page, these PDFs will also be posted in the BMUG Forum in the Operating System section.)

Although i5/OS V6R1 is just now rolling off the press we wanted to remind everyone of a potential major impact if you are an On Demand (RDARS) shop. IBM announced in February 2006 that V5R4 is the last release which will support several On Demand options.

V5R4 is the last release for: AnyStore, Record Archive, & Object Archive.  You must upgrade to Common Server BEFORE upgrading the operating system.  This upgrade can be performed on V5R3 and V5R4 systems.

Click here to view On Demand Bulletin (pdf)

Speaker: Keith Zblewski         
Keith Zblewski is an IBM Technical Specialist located in Jacksonville, FL, where he provides technical support to System i customers throughout the southeast. Keith previously spent 19 years as a developer, system architect, and performance analyst at the IBM development lab in Rochester, MN. He has been a frequent speaker at user group meetings and IBM technical conferences around the country.

Topic: i5/OS V6R1
Learn how i5/OS V6R1 helps you take the next step for efficient, resilient business processing. You’ll learn about i5/OS running in IBM BladeCenter, improved storage virtualization, new encryption capabilities, enhanced Java performance, enhanced performance with IBM storage area networks, a new approach to Web-based systems management, a major new disk clustering product, iSCSI-based integrated server enhancements and more.  Learn the steps you need to take to prepare for program conversion on V6R1 which allows you to take advantage of the latest advancements in security, integrity, performance, and processor technology.

WHEN:  March 27, 2008     11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Central Time
WHERE:   IBM - 4th floor conference room - 3500 Blue Lake Drive, Birmingham, Alabama, 35243
COST:    FREE 

Lunch will be provided courtesy of Genisys Group!
PLEASE REGISTER BY March 25th!!!!
REGISTER HERE: http://www.teamggi.com/GGI032708.cfm

Here is an excellent article discussing the new marketing strategy with IBM’s Mark Shearer.

SystemiNetwork Article -Shearer Wants to Mainstream i5/OS by 2009

Click Here to View Meeting Details

We hope you can join us for this IBM sponsored event. You will hear more on the exciting newly announced details related to i5/OS V6R1 and POWER Blades. Several speakers will help explore the potential of the System i to provide business solutions and provide customer education around the System i platform.

“Future Proof Your Business with System i”
February 28, 2008

• 2008 enhancements through V6R1
• POWER Blade support of i5/OS
• Benefits of i5OS V5R4
• DB2 Web Query “New Release” “HOT”
• Unified Messaging with VoIP
• Rational Solutions on System i
• Availability of WPS/ESB V6.1 on i5/OS
• Affordable HA/DR
• Advancements in Portal and Executive Dashboards
• Consolidation with BladeCenter and VMWare “HOT”