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Visit our website neugc.org for everything you need to know about the event, including the costs, hotel registration details, speakers, sessions, and more. pic.twitter.com/PbHBOKS2Z3
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A few months after we published the article Apache for IBM i: Where to Find Documentation, astute reader Paul Nicolay shared yet another hard-to-find Apache resource with us. Paul recommends IBM Support’s IBM HTTP Server for i PCI Compliance page for organizations following the stringent PCI DSS security standard for accepting card payments. In addition to confirming that Apache on IBM i is a PCI-compliant web server, the page lists the IBM i PTFs required to fix known vulnerabilities. According to Paul, the compliance page can help demonstrate to auditors that Apache on IBM i, patched appropriately with PTFs, has all…
The post IBM i Apache Security Fixes for PCI Compliance appeared first on Seiden Group.
News: ChatGPT is the fastest growing app of all time. IBM i Champions Announced for 2023. 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey Results Revealed.
Development: PHP 8.2.2 Released! New Open Source Language for the IBM i. Using ChatGPT to improve your coding skills.
Leadership: Storytelling Will Make You a Better Leader.
ChatGPT is the fastest growing app of all time
It is hard to know how ChatGPT will impact our market. Nevertheless, as this article points out, it is the fastest-growing app of all time.
It is clearly a useful tool that will change the way we do our work.
IBM i Champions Announced for 2023
Out of the 839 IBM champions, 90 of them are on the IBM i globally.
The breakdown by country.
United States – 32
Germany – 8
France – 5
Denmark – 5
UK – 5
Spain – 3
Italy – 3
Belgium – 2
Netherlands – 2
Czech Republic – 2
Canada – 2
Sweden – 2
Japan – 2
Argentina – 2
Mexico – 1
Poland – 1
Ireland – 1
Austria – 1
India -1
Luxemburg -1
“There are 11 categories for the IBM Champions program, including AIOps, business automation, cloud, data and AI, hybrid cloud, IBM zAnoints, integration, Power, security, storage, and sustainability.”
2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey Results Revealed
There is a lot to unpack here. Anyone who is concerned about the viability of the IBM i platform and its marketplace should take the time to view the webinar covering the IBM i Marketplace survey results for 2023.
Here is a quick overview of the topics covered.
Power10 adoption and future plans.
How organizations continue to support remote workforces.
The trend towards higher adoption of Rational Developer for i (RDi).
The shift from hybrid to more cloud-based environments.
Top concerns when planning IT environments with IBM i.
For IBM i developers using PHP:
“The PHP development team announces the immediate availability of PHP 8.2.2. This is a bug fix release.
“All PHP 8.2 users are encouraged to upgrade to this version.”
New Open Source Language for the IBM i
Could Julia be the next programming language for the IBM i?
“Julia is a high-level programming language that is applicable to a range of fields, but has mostly been used for technical computing, such as numerical analysis, scientific computing, and data science.”
Julia is similar to Python and MATLAB and is apparently easy to learn for those familiar with them. Developed at MIT back in 2009, it has “been widely adopted around the computing community, by governmental agencies as well as corporations.”
She is currently ranked 29 on the TIOBE Index.
Will Julia be added to the list of languages like Python and R for the IBM i?
“There’s no telling whether IBM will act on this request, or if there is an upwelling of support for getting Julia on IBM i. IBM has already brought two languages commonly used in data science, Python and R, to the platform. Does it need another one? Only time will tell.”
Using ChatGPT to improve your coding skills
I know, another article about ChatGPT. But, this one brings up an interesting use case for IBM i developers.
If you are an RPG developer looking to learn Javascript, consider using ChatGPT to explain coding concepts and algorithms to help solidify your understanding of them. This can also help you identify areas where you may need to study more.
Research and Learning
“ChatGPT can be used for coding research and learning by inputting prompts that ask for information on a specific technology or programming language. For example, one can input a prompt like “What are the key features of Python 3.0?” or “What are the best practices for writing efficient JavaScript code?”
Storytelling Will Make You a Better Leader
Storytelling isn’t show business, it’s good business.
To make a case for why your company should modernize and leverage its investment in the IBM i, you need to be a “good storyteller.”
Have you ever heard someone suggest that IBM could improve its platform marketing efforts?
I have.
However, it is fair to say that IBM has done its job in many ways.
For example, take a look at the IBM i Marketplace survey, which is highlighted in this issue of Talsco Weekly, and it is evident that a number of innovative things are happing in the community.
Be well-informed.
Being a well-informed IBM i professional is a necessary component of being able to convince management and the user community at any given company about how “amazing the IBM i platform is.”
Then become a good storyteller.
“The ability to tell good stories that fully engage others – is the most powerful instrument in the communication toolbox.”
In fact, “the storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda.”
As you read this article about how storytelling makes you a better leader, think about how you could incorporate some of the methods when you are presenting your next IBM i modernization project.
Sign up for Talsco Weekly to get the latest news, insight and job openings for the IBM i professional.
If you are an RPG programmer looking to explore opportunities or a client who is looking for a talented IBM i professional, please contact us. We look forward to assisting you.
Do you know of someone who could benefit from Talsco Weekly? If so, please use the social media buttons to spread the word. Thank you!
The post Talsco Weekly: Storytelling Will Make You a Better Leader appeared first on IBM i (AS/400, RPG) Recruiting, Staffing & Consulting.
How to count number of simultaneous IBMi users archive.midrange.com/midrange-l/202… (midrange-l) #IBMi
– midrange.com (@midrangecom)03:49 – Feb 02, 2023
February 1, 2023
Alex Woodie
Kisco Information Systems recently launched a new IBM i product designed to facilitate native SMS messaging on IBM i. Pre-integrated with Twilio, kConnect will not only keep administrators aware of security and other events occurring on IBM i, but it will also help streamline the configuration of two-factor authentication (2FA) setups on the box.
Kisco’s newest IBM i utility allows users to send SMS messages to recipients directly from an IBM i application, which can be useful for a variety of reasons. The product supports sending messages via a command line or directly from their custom IBM i applications, using CL and RPG code snippets that Kisco includes with the product.
kConnect is pre-integrated with three Kisco products, including the network security utility SafeNet/i, the 2FA offering i2Pass, and iEventMonitor, which provides a remote monitoring service. This integration allows users to receive native SMS messages directly if, for example, a security event is detected by SafeNet/i, a user needs to be authenticated via i2Pass, or iEventMonitor has detected that a disk-usage threshold has been exceeded.
The new software requires a customer to have an account set up with a third-party SMS service. Currently it requires Twilio, but other SMS services will be available for use with kConnect in the future, the company says.
Kisco’s new kConnect presents a native SMS interface for IBM i.
Using a native SMS service is superior because it doesn’t require the user to fuss around with an email-to-text conversion. That’s the current method supported by Kisco, but it’s an outdated method that can be tedious and time-consuming to configure, Kisco CEO Justin Loeber says.
“With some carriers, [email-to-text conversion] works fine, but others are starting to have more stringent requirements, for reverse-DNS lookup and stuff like that,” Loeber says. “Some of our customers were not wanting to add reverse DNS to their public domain. They weren’t willing to have to do all this stuff just so they could get messages from the i.”
More than half of Kisco’s help desk calls are related to the email-to-text alerting, Loeber says. The company has no plans to end support for use of the email-to-text, which is supported by all the major carriers. But the move to a native SMS service should help simplify the setup for customers, he says.
The move to native SMS will also pay dividends down the line for Kisco when it rolls out a new MFA offering that should allow IBM i shops to adopt the latest authentication standards.
“The underlying architecture that allows us to interact with a third party messaging API is the same Archi urea that we’re leveraging now that will allow us to do the next release of our 2FA products, which will be able to work authenticator apps,” Loeber tells IT Jungle. “So the same core functionality, kConnect, will also be part of that flow of communication.”
Enterprises are starting to adopt authenticator apps, such as Microsoft Authenticator or Duo Mobile, to help ensure only authorized individuals are given access to sensitive data and applications. With authenticator apps, the second form of authentication (besides the user name or other initial identifier) is the app itself, which the user has already been authenticated to.
Authenticator apps have one key advantage over traditional 2FA and multi-factor authentication (FFA) methods: There’s no need to enter a six- or eight-digit PIN. That will be important when Kisco rolls out another new capability in its security lineup: the ability to receive an alert when somebody tries to access an IBM i exit point.
“When it comes to 2FA, email is not considered to be secure anymore,” Loeber explains. “In order to complete the 2FA cycle with just email, somebody has to key in the code, which means you have to have access to the UI in order to complete the login. So if we’re trying to put 2FA in an exit point and no UI in play, we can’t do it.”
With native SMS hooked into authenticator apps, there’s no longer a need for a user to enter a PIN to prove themselves. If they initiate a transaction that involves an exit point on IBM i, they’ll receive a notification on their mobile device, asking them to authenticate that they had initiated the transaction. They click a button in the app, which communicates back to the Kisco product to enable access.
“We don’t have to worry about presenting a data input on the UI,” Loeber says. “It opens up a whole new world of places where we can integrate 2FA.”
kConnect is available now. New Kisco customers will pay $850 for a standalone copy, while existing customers can get a 40 percent discount on that. For more information, see www.kisco.com.
Kisco Makes Moves In the IBM i Security Business
