Talsco Weekly: Blockchain, Careers, Modernization and Integration for the i

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

Learning: Java vs Node.js on the IBM i.
Career: The IBM i Market Transformation.
Integration: Digital Made Easy.
Modernization: Why mainframe modernisation should be in your IT strategy for 2022.
Blockchain: Blockchain technology: Is it ready for prime time?

Learning

Java vs Node.js on the IBM i What is Node.js? "It is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript (JS) runtime environment that allows programmers to write JavaScript on the client and server sides. It runs JavaScript applications outside of a browser. Node.js is not a programming language, but rather an environment that works with JavaScript. Node.js also lets developers execute their code on the server-side and provides a faster way to write light, scalable scripts." What is Java? It "is an object-oriented, class-based, general-purpose programming language. Stability, efficiency, and cross-platform capabilities count among Java’s chief characteristics. Java is one of the most popular and heavily used programming languages around the world." This article is a comparison between Java and Node.js with some uses for each. While Java has been around the IBM i for long time, Node.js has been gaining in popularity.

Career

The IBM i Market Transformation Looking back to January 2019 and comparing it to January 2022, there is a stark difference in the employment landscape. We all know why. To sum it up, it changed the way we look at work, careers and life. We've all had a chance to reflect on the intersection between our personal and professional lives. It's hard not to think about things differently. The IBM i Market Transition The differentiator between 2019 and today in the IBM i market is the overwhelming acceptance that remote work is effective. It has brought about a complete mindset shift. Overall, people are not willing to go back to the office like they once did. One can argue that 100% remote work can create gaps in communication and make team building more difficult, but overall, it has been positive for the IBM i developer community. Here are some key takeaways, from Timothy Prickett Morgan and his article in IT Jungle this week.

"Employees are not willing to give it up, and 75 percent say they want to work remotely at least part of the time and 34 percent say that they won’t stay at a job that doesn’t let them do so."
"78 percent of employers realize that they have to recruit from outside of their geographies for new talent."

What does this mean for Modernization and Digital Transformation projects on the IBM i platform? It means they are within reach. We have hit fast forward as it relates to eliminating one of the biggest constraints to finding talent: location. AS/400 Developer & IBM i Developer Partnership. There is a large pool of incredibly talented IBM i Developers, who not only have a weath of "tribal knowledge" within any given company, they also have a weath of knowledge that is vital to the future of the IBM i platform. A partnership between the AS/400 Developer (retiring) and the IBM i Developer (current) must be forged. The need for collaboration between the two is the most overlooked aspect of the RPG Developer shortage.

Integration

Digital Made Easy Here is a case study that offers an example of how organizations can modernize and digitally transform by using existing technology assets. Legacy systems are incredibly valuable but need to be extended to take advantage of data, API's and outside applications or services. In this particular case, the tools used are IBM Cloud Pak for Integration. When watching this short case study, consider the relationship between the customer, user and technology. The technology is irrelevant; rather the key takeaway is understanding what the technology can do and then building a road map of how to get there and who will help along the way.

Modernization

Why mainframe modernisation should be in your IT strategy for 2022 This article touches on what we have been preaching for years now as well as outlines the importance and strategy for IBM i modernization. Key highlights and thoughts:

Few systems have the capability of processing huge amounts of data that are required for mission critical systems. This makes them "ideally placed for business-wide deployment of emerging tech such as artificial intelligence and blockchain."
"The typical applications deployed on these mainframes are data-intensive and essential to business operations, namely enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), accounting and data analytics."
Modernizing the IBM i allows companies to leverage their current assets while at the same time building scalable applications and systems upon it. We see countless clients implementing this strategy.
"The typically siloed nature of technical teams means that many are excluded from strategy meetings and decisions, and subsequently many mainframe evaluations fail to connect the technology to its real-world business impact." This indeed, has been part of the problem for the IBM i market. Breaking down the walls within technology departments is essential for modernization to be successful.
"Businesses are neglecting the opportunity to turn the mainframe into a driver of innovation."
Best of both worlds: Let mission critical, data intensive systems of differentiation run on the IBM i and then support it with other applications running in the cloud.

The IBM i (AS/400) is not going anywhere. It is here to stay.

Blockchain

Blockchain technology: Is it ready for prime time? This article is focused on the Food Industry and how it uses Blockchain technology in tandom with ERP, MES and other systems so food can be tracked and traced throughout the supply chain. It highlights how blockchain has become easier to implement over the past 5 years as the technology has evolved. What is Blockchain?

"Think of blockchain as an immutable ledger for supply chain data that can safely live there in perpetuity, where authorized stakeholders can access and add to the information recording a product’s movement from origin to point of use. Pointers and hashes on the blockchain ledger can prove that the off-chain data was not tampered with."

Think about your current business. Is there an opportunity for Blockchain? Its use is not isolated to the food industry.

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