Information Services purchase decisions used to start with the application platform. In the past, the AS/400 seemed like a limited player against the likes of UNIX and PC servers because the only AS/400 applications available were large and business-specific. But since V4 of OS/400, strange things have been happening to AS/400 software availability. These new opportunities may seriously impact the way you think about buying software.

Packaging the Port: No More Brown-bagging Software

Big-name software companies with real packaged products are now porting their application suites directly to the AS/400. IBM’s porting centers are booked for months in advance as hundreds of UNIX-based server suites are being readied for the traditional AS/400 market. Why is this happening so quickly? Version 4 has made this process much simpler than it was in days of old, with Qshell facilities and more standardized Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)-compliant APIs. That means two things: The rapid porting of new application servers will raise the standard for all the software on the AS/400 (making those old applications look shoddy), and the overall costs of AS/400 software should decrease in the next two years. Why? Because these new ports are expanding the competition of solutions into the AS/400 market.

The Domino Effect

The smartest move IBM made in recent years was to purchase Lotus. Domino has opened the AS/400 to a whole new class of applications. These applications are self- contained Lotus Notes databases that run everything from document management (Domino.DOC) to sales-force-automation (ACT! for Notes) to e-commerce (Binary Tree ezMerchant for the AS/400). Moreover, these cross-platform Notes databases turn the AS/400 into a collaborative computing platform, offering a broader market for IBM Business Partners and enabling them to leverage software costs across a wider clientele.

At the same time, IBM/Lotus has built the links between the Domino document database structure and the DB2/400 relational database structure so that information stored

in traditional AS/400 application suites can link directly to replicated databases on the user’s workstation.

This “Domino effect” is redefining how we should think of the AS/400. Now, we can buy fully functional, high-quality collaborative Notes database applications that run in a pure client/server environment without modification. Or we can quickly customize existing Domino templates to our own unique high-quality collaborative applications with little programming knowledge.

Having Your Cake and NTing It, Too!

Of course, Microsoft fans think the only way to go is NT. And that automatically eliminates the AS/400, right? Wrong! The Netfinity Server for the AS/400 (formerly called so many different acronyms that IBM has run out of letter combinations for this product) is an option that allows us to run almost any application server in the Microsoft NT retinue. The advantage of implementing the Netfinity Server for the AS/400 is a bit like having your cake and eating it, too. You can have multiple NT servers dispensing applications on one AS/400, thus letting your users implement the latest Windows software. You can even run your Web site with the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) under the covers (although IBM doesn’t like to advertise this fact). But at the end of the day, you have to back up only one AS/400.

Moreover, if you’re worried about fragile NT downtime, you can always keep a Netfinity server card as a hot spare in an AS/400 card slot, allowing you to quickly switch the users between shared pools of DASD with a simple stroke of the keyboard. In other words, instead of letting multiple NT servers monopolize your IT staff’s time, you can turn the management of the entire server farm into a single-person task that can be integrated with your other AS/400 operations jobs.

Crossing to the Isle of Java

Finally, many of us are waiting to see this year’s new Java applications. Will servlets finally catapult Java into general acceptance on the AS/400? Should Java be seriously considered as the language for in-house AS/400 development?

The high quality of Java servlets and Java applications—combined with the modular nature of object-oriented programming—creates a different kind of bridge between traditional AS/400 applications and the software suites of tomorrow. Instead of being given a Java compiler and some monolithic application, we’ll be offered finished applications and their associated frameworks. This combined package will allow us to easily tailor applications to meet our specific needs.

How is this different from the traditional “buy-and-customize” scenario of yesteryear? Quite simply, it’s the difference between programming an application and configuring a service. One example is CCPAY. CCPAY, a Java server built by Synergy Software Corporation, integrates with any hardware and software to provide complete credit card processing for any business requiring quick and secure financial transactions. CCPAY is one of these new forms of applications that use the SanFrancisco Java frameworks. But it’s not designed to run specifically on the AS/400 at all. It’s designed to run on any compliant Java Virtual Machine (JVM), including the AS/400.

Decision Support for the AS/400

So, what does this evolving array of opportunities mean to your application decision support process? It means more options, more choices, and a better chance that you’ll get the right application software at a decent price. But first, we have to stop relegating the AS/400 to the status of a “legacy system.” Our mind-set is crippling our ability to choose valuable tools. IBM may have reinvented the AS/400 with RISC technology and a more flexible OS/400 operating system, but until we start seeing the opportunities this new combo provides, we’ll be looking at our automation opportunities through green-screen tinted glasses.

Thomas M. Stockwell is an independent IT analyst and writer. He is the former Editor in Chief of MC Press Online and Midrange Computing magazine and has over 20 years of experience as a programmer, systems engineer, IT director, industry analyst, author, speaker, consultant, and editor.  

 

Tom works from his home in the Napa Valley in California. He can be reached at ITincendiary.com.