i ViewPosts by Bill Langston
Posted on July 1, 2025 by Bill Langston
Enterprise AI requires many data types and sources. During this presentation (recorded June 26), you'll learn about IBM's AI strategy, data lakes and lakehouses, business considerations before starting your enterprise AI project, and how IBM i and NGS-IQ can help you get started. Approximately one hour.
Posted on January 23, 2025 by Bill Langston
IBM i software developers, operators, and system administrators deserve a lot of respect. Their mostly invisible efforts literally enable businesses around the world to process trillions of dollars of economic output each year. However, IBM i and the integrated Db2 on i database make up a very specialized enterprise computing environment. IBM i doesn’t run on ubiquitous personal devices like phones, laptops, and tablet computers; it runs exclusively on IBM POWER servers. In other words, you aren’t likely to find a lot of useful IBM i education on YouTube or tips on social media. Read more 
Posted on December 19, 2024 by Bill Langston
During this presentation (recorded December 12), you'll see how to develop and run queries to populate detail and summary data to different sheets of a Microsoft Excel workbook. You'll also learn how to use the new extended record selection feature and how to take advantage of the different ways NGS-IQ can generate Adobe PDF files. 50 minutes.
Posted on August 28, 2024 by Bill Langston
During this presentation (recorded August 21), we contrast the different ways you can output queries to Microsoft Excel to help you decide which method is best for any business requirement. We also explain the new CSV delimiter and escape character settings, commands to help you manage email distribution lists, and keywords you can use to integrate NGS-IQ web reporting into applications. 55 minutes.
Posted on June 18, 2024 by Bill Langston
The reporting and analytics software marketplace is mature. Historically, business intelligence software vendors designed their solutions to address every step of the data extraction, transformation, and presentation process. As a result, many applications became increasingly complicated and challenging to deploy. Read more
Posted on February 22, 2024 by Bill Langston
Do you have customers, suppliers, financial institutions, public agencies, or other trading partners who share data through application program interfaces (APIs)? Do you run your enterprise applications on IBM i? If so, you need an easy way to develop and use those APIs. Read more
Posted on January 24, 2024 by Bill Langston
APIs have become the industry standard for trading partners and customers to share the data they need to efficiently collaborate and provide better service. The people who use your ERP software need access to the data APIs can provide. We believe that NGS-IQ and RPG API Express present an optimal solution for IBM i customers. Read more
Posted on January 8, 2024 by Bill Langston
Just as you were returning to work to begin the new year, IBM published a security bulletin, alerting DB2 Web Query customers that the software is "vulnerable to a remote attacker bypassing security restrictions or executing arbitrary code, to a local authenticated attacker obtaining sensitive information, or to denial of service." Read more
Posted on October 17, 2023 by Bill Langston
On October 10, 2023, IBM surprised many IBM i customers by announcing the immediate termination of all DB2 Web Query marketing, which covers all DB2 Web Query modules and licenses. They also said they wouldn't offer customers software maintenance beyond each customer’s current term. So for most companies, technical support and program updates would end in the next year or two. IBM’s announcement letter recommends companies look at alternative solutions. Read more
Posted on June 28, 2022 by Bill Langston
Technically, a Microsoft 365 user can connect to Db2 on i through the IBM Access Client Solutions (ACS) ODBC driver. But in practice, few Microsoft 365 users understand their company’s Db2 on i database well enough to join tables, select columns, and format the data they need. Read more
Posted on March 3, 2022 by Bill Langston
Hopefully you’ve eliminated your company’s Log4j risks and improved your security practices. Now, world events strongly point to a different security risk: dependence on offshore IT staffing and offshore software development in nations either at risk of attack or aligned with rogue nations. Read more
Posted on January 10, 2022 by Bill Langston
IBM i is a unique and proven enterprise computing platform. IBM announces software, operating system releases, technology refreshes, and new hardware periodically, but often the specific information you need to complete a task or explain a concept effectively isn’t in those announcement letters. Read more
Categories
Education (21)
Enterprise Software (1)
IBM i Marketplace (3)
Recent Posts
Archives
Subscribe to our blog
