Talsco Weekly: Breaking into IBM i

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

IBM i Brief: 📢 Eradani launches AI-powered IBM i integration tool. ⬆️ Remain Software upgrades IBM i change management. 🔐 Avatier modernizes identity management for IBM i.
AI: 🛑 GenAI now creates malware delivery vehicles (Security).
Career: Breaking into IBM i: Newcomer’s Perspectives on the RPG Community.
Development: 🖱️ RPG Select operation gets new powerful upgrades. 💾 Copying source files to IFS for Git integration. 🗑️ Managing and deleting old journal receivers on IBM i
Hiring: 👥 Hiring IBM i talent: A delicate balance.
Learning: Are you interested in NAViGATE ing to Toronto?🧳

IBM i Brief

📢 Eradani launches AI-powered IBM i integration tool

What if:

you could rejuvenate legacy applications and connect them to the outside world?
or you could save $1 million annually in chargeback fees by integrating directly with Amazon’s APIs?
or you did not need to learn a new language to integrate all of your IBM i applications?

It would be a Game Changer, right?

Since 2019, Eradani has been pushing the envelope in the IBM i ecosystem to help businesses leverage, extend, and integrate the outside world to the time-tested and innovative IBM i platform.

Eradani just released its newest product offering.

Eradani Assist™, an AI-driven solution for IBM i integrations, simplifies code generation using natural language processing. It offers standard, editable code output, seamless integration with Eradani Connect, DevOps compatibility, and comprehensive connectivity options. The tool aims to reduce coding complexity while providing flexibility and avoiding vendor lock-in. Eradani Assist™ is currently available in beta.

See the press release here.📰

⬆️ Remain Software upgrades IBM i change management TD/OMS 16.1 introduces significant enhancements, including the integration of Remain’s Web-based Octo framework and support for VS Code IDE. This update, building on Octo’s introduction over two years ago, aims to unify Remain’s IBM i offerings and provide developers with more flexible, web-based tools for managing changes in IBM i environments. 🔐 Avatier modernizes identity management for IBM i

A relatively low-profile player in the IBM i space, Avatier, a 25-year-old company, is revolutionizing identity and access management across platforms, including IBM i.

Their Identity Anywhere product offers seamless user experience, multi-factor authentication, and zero-trust administration. With support for major computing platforms and IBM i applications, Avatier aims to simplify identity management while enhancing security for enterprises managing large user bases across diverse systems.

AI

🛑 GenAI now creates malware delivery vehicles (Security)

HP’s recent report reveals GenAI-generated malware, marking a significant shift in cybersecurity threats. Researchers identified a malware campaign using GenAI-crafted scripts to spread AsyncRAT.

While the HP Wolf Security team had seen convincing phishing lures created by GenAI, it hadn’t seen any actual malicious code written by GenAI before. But that changed during the second quarter, when the HP Threat Research team identified a malware campaign spreading AsyncRAT using VBScript and JavaScript.

This development lowers the bar for cybercriminals and accelerates attacks.

While GenAI poses new challenges, it also offers tools for security professionals to enhance defenses.

“GenAI seems destined to change the nature of the cybersecurity business permanently.” IBM i shops, have seemed to be immune to security threats over the years, but that is no longer the case.

IBM i shops must remain vigilant as the cybersecurity landscape evolves.

Career

Breaking into IBM i: Newcomer’s Perspectives on the RPG Community

We here at Talsco took the opportunity to venture to Bonita Springs, FL this past week and attend the NAViGATE conference.

What a fantastic experience!!☀️🏖️

Aside from all the wonderful IBM i-ers that I met along with the vendor community, I was able to meet some amazing developers who are N2i (new to the IBM i).

What is N2i? N2i hopes to support the IBM i community, build skills and confidence, and fuel fresh careers. Part of COMMON’s community of programs.

A couple of the developers came through Kisco’s RCL Fellowship Program.

What is The RCL Fellowship Program? The RCL Fellowship Program is a training initiative by Kisco Information Systems (and imPower Technologies) to develop new IBM i talent through hands-on experience and mentorship.

What a concept! Develop your own RPG Developers.😊

Impressions:

What impressed me was not the fact that we have a new crop of talent coming to the IBM i that can help offset RPG retirements (this is, of course, amazing).

It was something different.

For each of these individuals, they had a different story and a different reason for ending up working on the IBM i.

One individual was a .NET Developer who was introduced to RPG; the transition was eye-opening. He was amazed at how seamlessly integrated everything was on the IBM i platform. From his perspective, the architecture was more efficient and logically structured compared to .NET.

The other was a US Marine, and after graduating from college, he started out as a web developer and then transitioned to the IBM i.

Yet, another was a complete newcomer to IT.

He brought a strong tech background, having built his first PC at 14. With a Business Administration degree and additional technical education, he discovered IBM i through his help desk role at his sponsoring employer, showcasing how diverse paths can lead to IBM i careers.

What stands out most about these new RPG developers was their enthusiasm for the opportunity to work on the IBM i platform. It was an excitement you could see in their eyes and something they truly appreciated.

Does your company have someone who might appreciate a similar opportunity than these individuals were given?

Development

🖱️ RPG Select operation gets new powerful upgrades

The latest updates to the RPG language’s Select operation in V7R5 TR2 and V7R4 TR8 offer two new op-codes: When-is and When-in. These enhancements allow developers to present values and manage complex conditions with more precision, improving flexibility in coding scenarios where more than two outcomes are possible. The upgrades streamline the handling of multiple conditions without the need for convoluted If-Else statements.

Learn more in this article.

💾 Copying source files to IFS for Git integration

Have you ever needed guidance on copying source file members to the Integrated File System (IFS) for future use with Git?

If so, you are in luck.

Here is an example, source members from the DEVSRC file in the MYLIB library are transferred to the IFS directory /home/MyFolder.

See the details here.

🗑️ Managing and deleting old journal receivers on IBM i

IBM i journal receivers store detailed records of file changes, including updates and deletions, crucial for data recovery and auditing.

When a journal is created, it must be paired with a receiver that captures these events. Over time, unused journal receivers accumulate and should be deleted to manage storage efficiently.

See the instructions (screenshots).

Hiring

👥 Hiring IBM i talent: A delicate balance

Finding the right IBM i professionals involves weighing multiple factors, from technical skills to workplace preferences.

As recruiters specializing in IBM i, we aim to match companies with talent that can support succession planning, modernization, and digital transformation.

The process requires balancing current needs with future goals, considering remote work options, travel requirements, and evolving role responsibilities.

Ultimately, successful hiring goes beyond just replacing retiring developers; it’s about shaping the future of your IBM i shop.

Learning

Are you interested in NAViGATE ing to Toronto?🧳

NAViGATE 2024, the premier IBM i conference, is coming to Toronto November 4th - 6th, 2024. This event offers a unique opportunity to learn from industry experts, network with peers, and explore the latest innovations in IBM i technology.

For those of you in Canada (at least the Toronto area), this is a no brainer.

If you have not attended COMMOM in the past several years, the educational and networking opportunities will certainly give you an edge over the competition.

Here are just a couple of the learning opportunities:

Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is a distributed streaming platform for building real-time data pipelines and streaming applications. It’s scalable, fault-tolerant, and supports high-throughput publish-subscribe messaging.

APIs with: Python, PHP, Node.js and RPG.

Learn how APIs allow the IBM i to connect with other systems safely and securely, using the languages you already know. It’s not rocket science.

Join

Contact us

If you are an RPG programmer looking to explore opportunities or a client who is looking for a talented IBM i professional, please contact us. We look forward to assisting you.

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