Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

IBM i Brief: 🔋 IBM scraps IBM i System Subscription offering. 🔧 IBM Tweaks Power10 Hardware: Fatter Memory, Other Stuff. 💡IBM i and RPG: Is it still worth it?
Development: Understanding ACS Auto-Update: A Guide for IBM i Users📝.
Data: What is Entity Resolution? And Why It Is Important 📊.
Leadership: 7 Ways to Keep RPG Developers Happy 😊.
Security: What is Pen Testing And Why Should You Care? 📹
Reader Questions 🧐: Complex excel doc (python + other packages).

IBM i Brief

🔋 IBM scraps IBM i System Subscription offering

On August 13, the tech giant withdrew the subscription-priced Power S1014, replacing it with IBM i under subscription pricing plus Power Virtual Server in the cloud or Power Virtual Server Private Cloud on premises.

This change signals a shift from a per user cost model as IBM adapts to the evolving hardware landscape. Future updates are forthcoming on IBM’s subscription pricing strategy across its Power Systems hardware line.

🔧 IBM Tweaks Power10 Hardware: Fatter Memory, Other Stuff

IBM switched main memory for Power10 from DDR4 to DDR5 technology on July 9, increasing availability and lowering costs.

The Power10 chip was designed to support both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, hinting at compatibility with Power11 machines.
New DDR5 DDIMMs for Power10 offer increased density and bandwidth, enhancing performance.

IBM also introduced NVM-Express flash drives and Ethernet adapters for the Power10 line, along with the ability to run KVM hypervisor inside PowerVM and support for Live Partition Mobility.

IBM i Engineers, Architects and Administrators, you can dive into all the details here.

💡IBM i and RPG: Is it still worth it?

Here is an article based on a white paper that addresses the question:

Is it worth continuing to invest in the IBM i?

While it’s focus is on the trucking industry, the general question applies to all companies leveraging the platform.

As you read through both the benefits and challenges of the IBM i platform, it is equally important to ask the following questions:

What are the benefits to XYZ platform?
What are the Challenges of moving to XYZ platform? These are often the same challenges discussed regarding the IBM i—namely, the skills gap and talent shortage.
Is it really about XYZ vs IBM i, or is better to think about the IBM i is great for this, and XYZ is better for that?

Opinion: 🤔

Going forward, it is not an all or nothing but rather a best of breed approach leveraging the IBM i as the core of the enterprise.

Remember: The IBM i is the Base Layer.

Development

Understanding ACS Auto-Update: A Guide for IBM i Users📝

IBM Access Client Solutions has an automatic update feature accessible through the Help menu or Edit → Preferences.

Data

What is Entity Resolution? And Why It Is Important 📊

We recently had a search request (job opening) that called for an IBM i expert with expertise the MDM, ERP and Item Master.

In this case the organization struggled with the following:

a plethora of customer data entered multiple times in unique sources by various people in their own ways.

The key part of the role was to clean up the data, in this case Entity Resolution.

Entity Resolution

Entity Resolution is a technique to identify data records in a single data source or across multiple data sources that refer to the same real-world entity and to link the records together. In Entity Resolution, the strings that are nearly identical, but maybe not exactly the same, are matched without having a unique identifier.

Are you dealing with something similar?

The linked article here, dives into the details.

Leadership

7 Ways to Keep RPG Developers Happy 😊

Here are seven ways to hold on to and keep your RPG developers happy:

Recognize them. We all live and die by recognition. A simple thank you sometimes is all it takes. Let them know what they have done to contribute to the organization.
Offer hybrid or remote work.
Give them the day off after working extra hours to complete a project to show them you care.
Give them a mentor to work with. Mentorship in IBM i shops creates loyalty and engagement.
Dedicate a 1/2 a day a week of uninterrupted time to learning something new.
Send them to training in Florida. NAViGATE 2024 is a great option this year.
When they return ~~allow~~ require them to implement what they learned at training.

Missing anything?

The more of the above you can implement, the more it guarantees your RPG developers will be happy and not want to leave.

Security

What is Pen Testing And Why Should You Care? 📹

Have you heard this before?

The IBM i is one of the most secure platforms for the enterprise.

I have.

This is certainly true, if you stay up to date on how you secure your IBM i and integrated systems.

Here is the problem.

Many IBM i shops have ignored security and have no idea where they could be vulnerable or not in compliance.

It’s not just about the IBM i anymore, but everything that touches it.

Security controls naturally tend to degrade over time and at the same time, many organizations are not keeping pace with modern threats or the modern IBM i security features that address those threats.

If this sounds like your organization, or simply want to become more well versed regarding the various security threats that are out there, you might want to participate in this webinar with IBM i Security expert, Carol Woodbury.

Reader Questions

Starting a new section here to support our readers who are looking for solutions for their environment.

Complex excel doc (python + other packages)

Patrick, Thank you for your time the other day.

It appears that we have a new challenge, and I’m currently researching options for creating complex Excel documents using open-source packages natively on IBM i.

Do you happen to know anyone who has faced a similar challenge?

If you have a solution or an idea how to solve the above, please respond to the newsletter (or submit a contact form) with your ideas or recommendations. We will post the responses as we get them.

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