Rediscovering the IBM i Platform

Back in 1988 IBM announced the OS/400 operating system that is now known as IBM i.  This operating system, running on the AS/400 hardware platform, provided a TCO (total cost of ownership) that, to this day is unrivaled (in the author's opinion).  For a brief history of this platform, click here.

Although today other platforms have pushed IBM i out of the spotlight, many companies running this platform continue to leverage their investment on a platform that offers tremendous scalability and stability.  It comes with the database "built-in".  Applications can be written in a variety of languages such as RPG, COBOL, LANSA and Java.

I have recently joined LANSA and I can see the tremendous opportunity for organisations running production applications on the IBM i to leverage a new technology that LANSA has brought to the table - LongRange.  LongRange allows programmers to use RPG, COBOL or LANSA on IBM i and build applications that connect and run on most of the popular mobile platforms such as Apple's iPhone and iPad as well as Android SmartPhones and tablets.

Up until now, to unlock the investment in IBM i applications, it was necessary to learn a number of new technologies such as Objective C, HTML, etc.  And the more mobile platforms you want to support, the greater the complexity of your solution which increases your TCO.  You also get the problem of "re-integrating" your technology "supply chain" when any of the components brings out a new release - more cost!

So LongRange is designed in keeping with IBM i's low TCO goal.  Code mobile apps in your native IBM i language once, then deploy it to all of the mobile platforms mentioned above.

I know that I have a vested interest in LongRange, but it resonates with so many of what I look for in a solution, that I believe it is something that all IBM i users should seriously consider.

Touchdown - Android Exchange support made easy

Connecting to Microsoft Exchange from Android

I was recently trying to connect to an Exchange server. I got mostly there, then I was told that my phone didn't support the security method required - blast!

I searched around the web a bit and found this to be a common problem.

Like a grizzly old prospector, I finally found that speck of gold at the bottom of the pan - and it's called Touchdown from Nitrodesk.





I installed the free version (30 day trial) to ensure it worked. If you have the required information; it is extremely easy to set up. Once I had it working, I upgraded to the paid version. It's a little pricey when you compare it to other Android apps, but it is a fully-featured product, not just a simple one-function tool.

Highly recommended!

Ubuntu 11.04 "natty narwhal" - my verdict

I'd have to say that upgrading from Maverick Meercat to Natty Narwhal has not been a delightful experience.

It's not because of the new Unity interface - on the usability side, it's because I think they took it out of the oven too early.

I have found at least 2 major shortcomings:

1. Unity window management stability is below par. Unity doesn't seem to work well with a number of Compiz settings. I have found odd behaviours such as the mouse-click not working intermittently; the top bar of windows disappearing altogether; etc. The advice is to restart Unity or restart Compiz - how about fixing it instead?

2. LibreOffice. Now you would have thought the LibreOffice team would like to have really shown up OpenOffice - particularly as Canonical now packages their suite instead of OpenOffice. However, if you edit the newer format Microsoft file formats such as .docx - then beware! I have found that LibreOffice is very limited in reproducing what the content looked like when open with the relevant Microsoft Office function.

There may be other limitations or improvements, but the above problems stand out for me in that what I have is a backwards experience when compared to the previous release.

What do I suggest?

If you want to stay on Natty, then simplify your Compiz settings. The next action is to remove LibreOffice and install OpenOffice. I strongly suggest you install OpenOffice by downloading the Deb package from here. Then follow the installation instructions from here. Although the installations instructions are for a previous release of OpenOffice - they still work fine with 3.3.

Let's hope Canonical addresses the Unity shortcomings quickly and that LibreOffice lifts their game!

Designing in Supportability

This post is a bit of a rant.


I'm not continually amazed by what I'm about to describe - because I have seen it too often.  What I find hard to understand is why corporations continue to fall into the same trap.


And what is the trap I'm talking about?


It's failing to cost for the non-functional or operational features of a solution.  Most IT projects are either building a solution, or customising a product, to meet some business requirements. Up front, someone has prepared some form of Business Case that has demonstrated that there will be a positive return on investment - maybe even fully costed it over say 5 years and calculated that the NPV (Nett Present Value) is greater than zero.


The trouble is, most of these business cases tend to not adequately cost in the non-functional aspects of operating the solution once it goes live.


Here are some of the things that are quite often underdone or totally overlooked:


General Housekeeping
This includes the cost of operators, backups (& restores), database reorganisations, patch management, upgrades (both software & hardware), data management (like archiving), etc.


Monitoring
The level of monitoring depends on how critical the solution is to the business.  A minimum level would be that the solution is running and producing the desired results.  This may be a simple checklist performed by someone in the company at a set interval.  More critical solutions may have multiple real-time points to ensure that users are receiving the service experience desired by the business.


Help Desk
Larger organisations may have a Help Desk or a Customer Service Desk whose goal is to receive calls about service anomalies and, where possible, either fix them during the call or ensure that they gather information and pass it on to the relevant area that will resolve the issue.  In order to perform this function well, the personnel on the Help Desk need adequate training and even a list of known problems and how they can be overcome.


Capacity, Performance, Availability
Like a stool needs three legs to provide a stable platform - so does an IT solution!


These three aspects of an IT solution are interlinked and need to be planned.  ITIL has the term "Patterns of Business Activity" or PBA.  This is where you capture the way in which the business intends to use the solution.  Different businesses will have different patterns such as:

• daily usage profiles (peak and off-peak)
• weekly usage profiles (weekday and weekend)
• monthly usage profiles (start/end of month, special day of the month)
• quarterly, half-yearly & yearly (end of calendar/tax year)

Apart from the above, you need to understand how the solution will be accessed by the intended users - local LAN, over the Internet, Mobile, etc.  What are the volumes by access method?  What response times do I require?  What are the expect transaction volume peaks?


Sometimes, the above information is not exact.  Whether it is, or is not known, prior to launching the solution for general use it is advisable to put it through a "break test".  This means you push transactions through the solution until it breaks.  Monitoring should be in place during a break test to determine where the solution will fail and what the lead indicators are.  This information is extremely useful in determining what needs to monitored to ensure the solution is operational.


WIth Capacity there are 3 main aspects to consider:

1. BAU (Business As Usual) growth - meaning how the solution will grow in its use of IT resources without major change.  This should incorporate PBA information.
2. IT Project growth - this may mean a once-off step change, or it may alter the BAU growth profile.
3. Business Project growth - this is where the business runs a project without any of the IT components being changed.  A good example of such a project is where the business decides to run a marketing campaign to increase the number of applications for new accounts.

The solution's usage of the underlying IT infrastructure must be monitored and tracked, with predictive analysis ensuring that adequate resources will be in place.  The diagram below shows a simplistic view of how to calculate the predictive analysis horizon for a given resource.

There, I feel a bit better now - perhaps I'll add to this or write a supporting blog entry a bit later...

Is 2011 the year of "Being Digital"?

Back in the mid-1990's, Nicholas Negroponte authored a book entitled "Being Digital" in which he discussed some of the challenges we will face when "virtually unlimited" bandwidth becomes widely available.

One of the points he put forward was how should we utilise this bandwidth. He argued that it would be better for us humans to pursue the holographic path and develop 3D personas through which information would be delivered. He (correctly) predicted that mankind would not take this path (initially), but instead push for the simpler achievement of higher and higher levels of picture definition/resolution. His reasoning for this is that the human brain "creates" a lot of what we think we see. Providing it with fantastic visual detail may not necessarily deliver a superior picture in our minds. This is also true for hearing.

Instead, Negroponte proposed we deliver holographic 3D images, because that is what human beings are best suited to interact with.

IBM Predictions
A recent news article here, provides IBM's view on the emerging capabilities we should expect to see over the near future. Sadly, they have omitted one of my favourite emerging technologies - racetrack memory.

In one of their predictions they talk about is holographic communications - hence the reference to "Being Digital". I think this is a great step forward because we humans work better in 3D (we were designed to work that way!) There is also a lot of work in being able to "interact" with 3D holographic objects. Have a look at this video clip - it's early days, but what does this mean? Interacting with characters whilst "watching" a DVD? Actually feel an object that comes out of a movie?

I'm going to add more to this post, but I thought I'd get what I've done so far up for people to read.

What Android Apps Should I Have?

Overview
Lots of people are seeking the "top 10" or "best ever" Android apps. However, the old saying "one man's meat is another man's poison" really applies when seeking an answer.

In this article I list the apps I use on my Motorola Milestone, with a brief explanation of why I have selected them. Unfortunately, I haven't kept track of the apps I've tried and removed...

Email
There are quite a few email apps for the Android. I use K9 for a few reasons:
- it allows me to have as many email sources as I like
- it provides a Unified Inbox feature that has all of your emails accessible in one list
- it is very easy to use and quite intuitive
- it has never Force Closed on me - so it's pretty reliable

SMS
ChompSMS is my choice here.
- it is very configurable
- has the conversion bubble UI like the iPhone
- and once again, is pretty reliable

Weather
I have the Accuweather widget installed. This gives me enough information by simply viewing the widget, but allows me to click on the widget for more information, and ultimately launch the browser with my location pre-selected in the Accuweather web site.

Task Manager
I've just recently installed this app. My main reason for selecting it was to have an easy-to-use Task Killer. I have tried other task killers and found minor irritations with them. It's a bit too early to say this is a "keeper", but it's doing it for me right now.

Astro
My file manager. Easy to use, reliable, functional - what more do you need?

Evernote
Just recently installed this as another app can sync with the Evernote web environment. Also installed Nevernote on my Linux laptop (Ubuntu). This means I can work with whatever device is at hand and access it on any other device I use - nice.

Cadre Bible
This is quite a good resource, with 3 translations available in the base install. It can sync information with Evernote and provides an easy-to-read white on black display.

eBay
If you are an eBay user, then this app is great. You can do most eBay functions with this app and it can keep you informed as to how your actions are progressing.


Aldiko
This eReader is quite good. I have read a few books using it. I'm running the free version but you can upgrade to a premium version with more content. My advice? Use the free version, read a few books, then YOU decide whether this is a medium through which you want to read more books. I think I'll be waiting for an Android tablet for that.

Adobe Reader
What else? View PDF files.

AndroidVNC
I've already written an article on this excellent VNC client. You can jump straight to the article here.

Apps Installer
Lets you install apps from your storage card.

Barcode Scanner
Allows you to scan barcodes on products then look up prices and reviews. You can also scan Data Matrix and QR Codes containing URLs, contact info, etc.

Facebook
Access your Facebook using this app.

Got Sydney
Provides timetable for Cityrail services

ICE Bot
Essential if you receive calendar invitations via email. Open the .ics attachment and ICS Bot will create/update your calendar.

NubiNews
A simple and easy to use news reader/aggregator.

Remote RDP Lite
RDP into your Windows machine.

Swype
Great text entry app. I've written an article previously on it here.

Tablets - Android, Linux, the iSlab?

Why Do You Want A Tablet?
OK, the first thing to ask yourself is why you want a tablet because, let's face it, you don't need one.
Things that you could use a tablet for:

• viewing videos
• surfing the web
• note taking
• entertainment

Viewing Videos
Well, the iPad (I call it the iSlab) certainly allows you to do this. It's display is a little under 10 inches (diagonal) and it has a 024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi). The display is a back-lit LCD. So if you are looking for a comparable viewing experience, then you need to match this kind of display characteristics.
The iSlab supports H.264 video up to 720p, whereas a lot of the HD devices are up to 1080p.
You also need to consider whether you want your tablet to potentially output to other video devices - like your HD TV...


Surfing The Web
The iSlab boasts a lot about the surfing experience, but it doesn't (and won't) support Flash (from Adobe). Their argument is that HTML 5 will provide a better solution for animation, but the fact is, there is a lot of current content out there in Flash format and it may not be cost-effective for content providers to convert current Flash objects to HTML 5.


Note Taking
You have to understand what your note taking needs will be. In another of my blog entries, I talk about Swype - it's a breakthrough text input application that I believe will make it into most Android-based phones and tablets. You can then use something like Evernote or 3banana Catch Notes to synchronise your notes with the web (or cloud). These applications also provides integration with other applications - so check out what gives you the best overall results.


Entertainment
You'll want to watch videos on your tablet. So how do you get them there? One solution is to download content from the web - which can prove quite expensive depending on your data plan. Another approach is to load a DVD on to your tablet. With this approach you'll need to consider the amount of on-board storage available on your tablet AND whether it supports either a built-in DVD player or has USB support. Then there's also the question of whether you'd want to output video from your tablet. Does the tablet support HDMI? Some do, so again it's up to you.


Summing It Up
Sit down with a beer/glass of wine/hot beverage, a pad (paper pad that is) and a pen, then note down all the things you THINK you want in a tablet. When you're finished, read the list again (at least a day later) to reassess your requirements. When you've firmed them up, then that's your "shopping list". My advice is to wait until 2011 (at least mid year) because there will be a huge number of tablets released as some of the vendors are waiting on Android 3.0. Also consider other operating systems like Linux. Once again, it depends on how you use to use the tablet. Before the final purchase, clearly think through how you will incorporate the tablet into your day-to-day business. The golden rule with adopting new technology is to make a firm commitment to using it in the way you planned - otherwise it will quickly turn into an expensive piece of shelfware.