Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

Digital Transformation: Digital Transformation Sales Pitches.
IBM Power 10: The Legacy and Future of IBM POWER.
IBM i TRs: IBM i Technology Refreshes released.
Development: Code for IBM i.
Cloud: Talking about Cloud Migration.

Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation Sales Pitches

If you are an IBM i shop that is in the beginning stages of modernization or digital transformation, you will likely be speaking with a number of different software vendors.

Before you start your journey, I highly recommend watching this video which highlights the potential misleading information you need to be aware of.

Here is a quick summary of some of the things you will hear.

We have the Silver Bullet. You might hear that a vendor can solve all of your problems. This is simply not realistic.

It’s as easy as Lift and Shift. It is really not that simple. Upgrading software to a newer version is one thing, but switching vendors will likely involve an entire change in business process.

Our software can do that. Many vendors will look at the RFP and say, “Our software can do that.” It might very well be true; however, the real question that needs to be asked is, “Can it do it well?”

We use industry best practices. In reality, there are no industry best practices. Each company has its own processes and best practices. So be aware.

Cloud tech is cheaper than on-premise. In reality, “long-term cloud solutions cost more than on-premise.” They very well might add incredible business value but rarely do they offer any savings.

Overselling technology. There are many great technologies out there, but most of them are not relevant to your organization, at least right now.

Our solutions are fully integrated. Nothing is entirely integrated.

Implementation timeline is not realistic. While software can be deployed fast, the real question is, how long will it take for the software to add business value? The focus should be on the implementation of business process improvement.

They pitch agile. Agile implementations often cause more issues. They encourage you to move faster with new technology, but this does not work well when you are changing business processes.

IBM Power 10

The Legacy and Future of IBM POWER

“IBM Power10, the next generation of IBM’s Power central processing unit (CPU) family is here! Designed over five years with hundreds of new and pending patents, the IBM Power10 processor is an important evolution in the IBM Power roadmap. Watch this video to learn more about the Power10 processor.”

Key points:

80% of the U.S. highest revenue companies use IBM POWER for mission-critical applications.
The launch of IBM POWER10 brings applications to the Hybrid Cloud. It is built for cloud computing environments.
POWER10 is energy efficient because of its 7 nm processor allowing for greater performance.
Memory Inception allows for better scalability. It clusters physical memory across the pool of systems. Allowing for any systems in the pool to access the pool of memory.
AI workloads with POWER10 gain better performance than POWER9.
Security – Power10 has 4x the number of encryption engines as its predecessor.

POWER10 is the future of the hybrid cloud.

IBM i TRs

IBM i Technology Refreshes released

There is a great deal to dive into here.

A quick summary of the IBM i 7.5 – TR1 Enhancements:

Db2 for i – There are functional and DB Engineer enhancements along with both new and enhanced IBM i Services enhancements.
Access Client Solutions – ACS – “ACS has been updated to provide significant value for the database engineer as well as the general user that is leveraging SQL for their daily use.”
General Operating System – Compression, Clustering, and CCA release.
Hardware and Virtualization Enhancements – IBM i 7.5 TR 1 supports new offerings for Power Systems.
Application Development – Information for RPG – 5770-WDS, Rest API Engine – Integrated Web Services Server (IWS), Node.js version 18, TLS support for TN5250, Distribution Enhancement for Linux ODBC driver, and Enhancements to Visual Studio Code extensions.
*Merlin – Updates can be found here
Db2 Mirror for i – Submitted job tracker, IFS replication improvements, new adapter support.
IBM Navigator for i – The IBM Navigator interface continues a rapid enhancements delivery path. The updates have been delivered as part of this latest HTTP PTF Group levels for all support operating system levels.

While the TRs might be a little intimidating, they are proof of the long future ahead for the IBM i platform.

Development

Code for IBM i

“Maintain your RPGLE, CL, COBOL, C/CPP on IBM i right from Visual Studio Code. Edit and compile all ILE languages, view errors inline, content assist for RPGLE and CL, source date support, and much more. Code for IBM i has hundreds of daily users and over 6000 downloads. We strive on being open-source so we can best support our community.”

Cloud

Talking about Cloud Migration

Cloud adoption is very uneven among organizations. There are organizations that explore the cloud for competitive advantage and organizations that still think of the cloud as just another data center strategy. While many organizations have adopted at least a little bit of Software as a Service, a very large number of businesses have never done anything.

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