Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

IBM i Brief: 🛡️ Fortra Leans On XDR For Full Spectrum Security. InterForm A/S acquired by VIA equity for global expansion.
Career: 💼 Workplace Communication Struggles. 🔍 Employee engagement hit record lows.
Development: 🛠️ New release for iBuild tool. 📊 Enhanced SQL Alias feature rolled out by IBM. Node v20.16.0 (LTS).
Database: List of 45 databases used in the world today.
Modernization: ℹ️ IBM AS400 legacy lives on.

IBM i Brief

🛡️ Fortra Leans On XDR For Full Spectrum Security

When it comes to security, more is often better.

As in more security professionals running more security products and services that deliver more overlapping coverage of your security weaknesses. The good news for IBM i shops is that Fortra delivers more solutions with more coverage than probably anyone else in the industry, particularly with its XDR solution.

What is XDR? See the press release here.

XDR, or extended detection and response, is today’s state of the art enterprise security and essentially is replacing security information and event management (SIEM) tools at the top of the security food chain.

InterForm A/S acquired by VIA equity for global expansion

The Danish output management vendor, known for its solutions on IBM midrange systems since 1987, secured a majority stake sale to the local private equity firm VIA equity.

The investment will fuel InterForm’s growth worldwide, aiming to leverage its 4,000+ installations on IBM i and open systems.

The move signals a strategic shift towards broader market reach beyond the IBM ecosystem, with an emphasis on accelerating business development and innovations in output management technologies.

What else does this signal?

That the IBM i market is thriving.

Career

💼 Workplace Communication Struggles

Not sure how to categorize this article, but it seems fitting to be placed here.

Communication is one of valuable and sometimes overlooked skills to have as an IBM i Developer, let alone any developer.

It goes deeper than the day-to-day communication, or how employees interact, share ideas, and overcome challenges in the workplace.
There is often a disconnect.

The disconnect between what is said and what is experienced is based on two sets of competing values: Professed Values, and Operational Values.

Professed values are the principles and standards that an organization claims to uphold, often communicated through mission statements, company policies, and official communications. These values represent the ideal beliefs and behaviors for which the organization wants to be known.

Operational values, on the other hand, are the actual values that are evident in the day-to-day operations and behavior of the organization. These are the real-world practices and priorities that are demonstrated through decisions and actions.

The difference between the two lies in the alignment or misalignment between what is said (professed values) and what is done (operational values). When there is a gap between the two, it can lead to a loss of trust and integrity within the organization.

This can be further complicated when you consider the multiple generations in the workplace. As the Baby Boomers are on the way out, next generations are will have different needs.

🔍 Employee engagement hit record lows

Gen Z suffers the most as Baby Boomers see a rise in engagement. Gen Z’s waning engagement could jeopardize future workforce performance, signaling the need for transparent organizational strategies to retain and engage employees effectively.

Gen Z: Born 1997-2012, Gen Z values transparency, financial stability, growth opportunities, and purpose-driven roles.

Gen X: Born 1965-1980, Gen X values work-life balance, autonomy, and a pragmatic approach to career advancement.

Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964, Baby Boomers value job security, loyalty, a strong work ethic, and are often characterized by their competitive and goal-oriented nature.

Transparency is critical for Gen Z, who prioritize aligning personal values with workplace ethos. Key focus areas for transparency include career development, compensation, and meaningful work, catering to Gen Z’s pursuit of financial stability, growth opportunities, and purpose-driven roles. Mentorship and clear remote work expectations are additional strategies recommended to bolster Gen Z engagement and retention.

This makes me think about: Remote work, which is certainly at the intersection of Process and Operational Values is clearly here to stay, not just because Gen Z cares about it, but also because many Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers I talk to like it too. This doesn’t mean that working in the office isn’t desired by these groups but they just appreciate having the option to work remotely when it makes sense to.

Development

🛠️ New release for iBuild tool

The open-source iBuild tool now supports VS Code.

This update strengthens iBuild’s compatibility with the IBM i platform by offering full support for ILE.

iBuild remains a vital free tool for RPG developers, automating the compilation process for RPG source code when using IBM compilers.

📊 Enhanced SQL Alias feature rolled out by IBM

The latest IBM i Technology Refreshes, version 7.5 TR4 and 7.4 TR10, introduced improvements to the SQL Create Alias statement. Earlier, specifying a member in the DDS Physical file was required, but now *LAST can be used to refer to the most recent member. What’s particularly exciting is that adding a new member to the file automatically updates the Alias to utilize the latest member. This enhancement simplifies database management and offers more flexibility in SQL operations.

See the examples here.

Node v20.16.0 (LTS)

For RPG developers that are using Node.js, this new release introduces the process.getBuiltinModule(id) function, which allows for conditional loading of Node.js built-in modules within ES Modules. This feature enhances compatibility across different environments by avoiding resolution errors and eliminating the need for dynamic imports that can make synchronous APIs asynchronous.

Here are the security vulnerabilities as of July 8th, 2024.

Database

List of 45 databases used in the world today

Since I am not a database guru, I am not sure how complete this list is. I am sure there are databases that may have been missed. Nevertheless, it is quite interesting.

Database Category List

Traditional RDBMS
Modern SQL DBs
NoSQL Databases
Graph
Vector
Time-Series
Search
Key-Value
Multi-Model
Wide Column

Note: The link to DB2 (the database that powers mission critical workloads) is missing, so I have included that one here.

Modernization

ℹ️ IBM AS400 legacy lives on

There always seems to be some name confusion with regards to the IBM i (current name), and it’s predecessors, the AS/400, iSeries, i5, etc.

The AS400, a revolutionary computer system released in 1988, evolved into the IBM iSeries and now the IBM i.

The updated IBM Power System is fast, cloud-ready, and supports multiple operating systems. The IBM i operating system is fully backward-compatible with AS400 programs.

Some still reference AS400 due to familiarity and resistance to change, despite it not being sold for over a decade. Handling incorrect references with care is advised, as some programmers may exhibit unexpected reactions.

Thoughts: I don’t get wound up into the name debate, even though it is important to call the current platform for what it is, the IBM i. It’s not because it doesn’t matter, because at many levels, it does. I simply like to focus my energy in other areas.

My thought is there will be a tipping point in the near future, where most everyone will call this platform by it’s rightful name.

The IBM i.

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