The IBM i Sandbox

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

News: Looking for IBMi? Hybrid and Red Hat's new CEO
Career: Jobs have changed.
Database: IBM i TR Enhancements (podcast). Database limits.
Development: Sandbox for IBM i and an API platform for integration.
ERP: AI and Machine Learning the next path for ERP.
Modernization: Low-code is a quick way to modernize.
Trends: Blockchain and Digital Trust Standards.

News

IBM is all-in on hybrid cloud Here is where IBM is headed per CEO, Arvind Krishna:

Hybrid cloud and AI are the two dominant forces driving change for our clients and must have the maniacal focus of the entire company. IBM has already built enduring platforms in mainframe, services, and middleware. I believe now is the time to build the fourth platform in the hybrid cloud.

Hybrid cloud, may or may not be an option for your organization, but understanding what it is - is important. Where Is IBM I? As this article points out, much of the IBM i platform's history is overlooked. For someone that is new to the platform and researching on IBM.com, they might not be able to find what they are looking for. For CIOs, CFO, and CEO's that are looking for a robust, scalable platform this sums it up:

The “i” in iSeries, System i, and IBM I, I recall, stood for “integrated” first and foremost. It means you don’t need an army of technical specialists to run the applications that automate your business.

Takeaway: We have all heard the stories where organizations have moved to other technology platforms to find out it is not what they expected. In a world of complexity. Simple might be better. Open-source giant Red Hat has a new CEO "IBM's open-source software company Red Hat has named Paul Cormier as its president and CEO. Cormier, previously Red Hat's president of products and technologies, replaces Jim Whitehurst, who is now president of IBM."

Career

Your job is never going to be the same again Think about this.

When the coronavirus pandemic arrived in the US and disrupted the world of work, it threw millions of people into a strange new, entirely remote world — CEOs included.

The key here is, the CEOs noticed. What did they notice? They noticed that their work still got done and their employes were still productive. We will see "remote work" policies offer far more flexibility in the future. This is a good thing for the IBM i community.

Database

IBMer Scott Forstie on TR Database Enhancements Here is an iTalk episode discussing the technology refresh for IBM i.

So I would characterize this latest technology refresh update for IBM i 7.3 and 7.4 as our team overachieving. A lot of the ideas that we—we came up with, we not only were able to approach them but we were able to complete them and more. So this—if you go out there and look at those—those technology refresh enhancements, I think it's a pretty impressive list. It falls into different groupings. The first is advancing the—the topic of advanced SQL programming, what you can do with SQL, so something good for anybody in application development, of course; IBM i services, which are the very popular alternative to field commands and APIs; and then finally, new things for the database engineers, services for the database engineers.

Listen or read more here. Discovering the database's limits "Every so often I stumble across something in Db2 for I that I may not have a practical use for, but I find interesting. The SQL table SQL_SIZING is a good example of this. It contains one row for each limit of the IBM I Db2 database manager."

Development

Your public IBM i server Everyone should have a sandbox. A place to test out new versions of RPG, API's and Web Services. So, if you are looking to rent space on an IBM i. Here is a good spot. The Collaboration Platform for API Development The future IBM i developer must understand integration. Not just integration within business systems but with external software, applications, and IoT technologies. The IBM i is one of the most powerful business systems on the planet. It can remain so, only if we connected it to networks. API management platforms are one option for making this happen. Postman is one of many options RPG developers are using that will allow you to develop custom APIs that will connect your IBM i.

ERP

Machine Learning and AI are good for ERP "A new wave of automation is projected to revolutionize the manufacturing industry, with organizations around the world investing in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions aimed at improving every phase of production. And when it comes to ERP, one of the largest challenges that machine learning and AI help address is predicting demand."

Modernization

Low-code is the heart of modern software development The low-code movement is not new to the IBM i.

Low-code tooling has long been seen as a way to get business users involved in the development process or to help developers augment and speed up their own development process. Now those two groups are working together and using low-code at the heart of modernization efforts.

This is an area I see a number of RPG developers exploring. It allows them to bring their expertise in developing back end business systems developed in RPG and integrate them to digital and other emerging technologies. Low-code platforms allow developers to quickly become productive.

Trends

How the Pandemic Is Pushing Blockchain Forward

It’s uniquely suited to the challenges we’re facing today.

Cross-Industry Coalition Advances Digital Trust Standards Digital Transformation is happening. As a result, standards for how we use and consume data need to be addressed.

Businesses today are struggling to protect and manage digital assets and data, especially in an increasingly complex enterprise environment that includes the Internet of Things (IoT), Edge Computing, Artificial Intelligence and much more. This is compounding the already low consumer confidence in the use of personal data and is slowing innovation on opportunities like digital identity and the adoption of new services that can support humanity.

Does your organization have digital trust standards in place?

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