Session Descriptions

Track 1 Modernizing and Extending Your iSeries Applications

HATS : Not your Father’s Screenscraper!
Wrap your arms around IBM’s Rational Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) and see for yourself that it’s not the screenscraper of the 90s! See for yourself how HATS enables you to rejuvenate any 3270 screen and deploy it to any user interface. Find out how HATS helps consolidate screens, minimize keystrokes, and access multiple back-end systems all without touching one line of code. Gain an overview of the core features in HATS, including Web browser support, rich client support, and portal support and hear about recently announced HATS features, like mobile device support and the Visual Macro Editor (VME). Plus, understand how the product is now packaged and find out where you can get hands-on information.

Creating Web Services from RPG Applications
Attend this session and get expert instruction on how to create Web services from RPG programs. Dive into the different options available from IBM, while leveraging technology that many iSeries shops are already entitled to. Get an overview of iSeries integrated Web services server for RPG; IBM Web Services Wizard; and HATS VME and Web services. Walk through screen shots of each method, along with step-by-step instructions for deployment. Also, compare different solutions so you can make an informed decision when you need to deploy Web services in your shop.

Building a Web Service in Minutes: Featuring HATS
Take advantage of IBM’s Rational Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) to quickly build Web services into your IBM i applications. Learn how new HATS enhancements enable you to create Web services from your IBM i, System z, and UNIX screens in minutes with absolutely no coding. Get a brief HATS overview then dive into the tooling used to create Web services from any 3270, 5250, or VTXXX application. Step through a demo of using the new HATS Visual Macro Editor to navigate any application and to create the integration objects that are used by Web services and other technologies. Finally, gain an understanding of the business benefits, as well as where you can get trial code and other product deliverables.

Hands-on Lab
Creating a Web Service using HATS
Put your new skills to practice in this lab as you create a Web service using HATS. First, get your hands on the HATS Visual Macro Editor to navigate through an RPG application, defining input and output fields and testing your macro as you go. Then put the HATS Web service creation tools to work to create an integration object that will execute your macro whenever your Web service is consumed by another application. Last, you will create the Web service and use the Web services Explorer to test it immediately. You’ll soon realize that once you get the hang of it, the whole process takes just a few minutes!

Bye, Bye SEU ! (Why You Should Kick the Habit)
See what you’ve been missing all these years and why you should kick your SEU habit to use a more modern development tool. First, decide if replacing SEU/PDM/SDA with a workstation-based toolset is the right decision for your shop. Evaluate the pros and cons of such a change, and figure out exactly how it will affect your productivity. And once you’ve decided to kick your old development toolset to the curb, you’ll get expert advice on the most appropriate tool to meet your specific development needs. Plus, gain insight into what old habits you should be looking to break when moving forward with your new toolset. You’ll find out just how much more productive and fun your programming job can be!

Moving from SEU and PD M to RSE (Remote System Explorer)
This session concentrates on the tools in WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSC) that enable RPG programmers to replace SEU and PDM with Remote System Explorer (RSE). Get expert tips for installing and customizing RSE, starting with the RSE editor and related tools, helpful keyboard shortcuts, handy third-party plug-ins, and much more. Take an in-depth look at how the WDSC toolset changes the way you do your iSeries development in the future…you have nothing to lose but your application backlog!

Hands-on Lab
Taking RSE for a Test Drive
Come find out for yourself if Remote System Explorer (RSE) delivers the serious productivity gains it promises when building RPG applications. This hands-on follow-up session to “Moving from SEU and PDM to RSE” shows you the ins-and-outs of this powerful, Eclipse-based workbench that replaces SEU and PDM. Find out how and why RSE is more than a pretty face for SEU. You’ll see for yourself how productive you can be using the editor, the outline view, the verifier, and other highly productive programming tools. Take RSE for a spin, but be aware that it can become very addictive.

RSE Debugging Tools for RPGers
Gain insight into the most commonly used RSE debugging tools for RPG applications and discover your own favorite ways to accomplish debugging tasks in your shop. Delve into the STRDBG “green screen” debugger and the interactive debugger that is part of both WDSC and RDi. Look at the basics of using both, including selecting a debugging view, displaying and changing variables, and stepping through program execution. Weigh the pros and cons of each method to help determine which is the best for your debugging requirements.

Extending Your Applications with PHP
Take your knowledge of PHP to the next level and learn about the new and more advanced PHP features that help extend the scope of your applications. Get introduced to the Zend Bridge APIs, which enable you to integrate existing 5250 applications with PHP either as a Web service or in a new browser-enabled version of the application. Walk through examples of Zend’s i5 specific functions for manipulating spool files, calling programs and procedures, and utilizing the SQL and record level access functions provided. Familiarize yourself with the more advanced PHP functions like how to supply and consume Web services, interface with Excel spreadsheets, and more! In addition, review tools such as Zend Studio to help simplify your PHP programming tasks. This session builds upon the basics of PHP introduced in the Jumpstart session, and a basic understanding of PHP is assumed.

Hands-on Lab
PHP Programming
This lab provides you with hands-on exploration into the fundamentals of the PHP language and how it is implemented on the iSeries. Walk away equipped with the basics of PHP programming from an RPG programmer’s perspective. In addition, walk through examples of how to use DB2/400 and System i-specific extensions available with the Zend Core for i5. Leave this lab with the skills you need to take advantage of this emerging open source technology.

Leverage HTML, JavaScript, and CSS for Business Applications
See how to make HTML work for your business, how JavaScript can emulate the features in the current 5250 interface, and how to further simplify your development efforts with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). From the basics on the HTML elements and the Document Object Model to the benefits and pitfalls of JavaScript, learn how to use HTML and CSS to create real business applications. Gain the know-how to handle the back button, enable function keys, manipulate the browser, create pop-up windows that make sense, and choose between Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Find out how to use JavaScript to enable AJAX, and see how AJAX is leading the way in the next generation of Web applications — the rich client application — using the newest technologies like Google APIs, Dojo, and Silverlight.

EGL: The Next Generation in Application Design
Discover Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) tooling, IBM’s best-kept secret weapon for application development. Find out how EGL, a high-level language, is specifically designed to take as much of the “plumbing” work off of your hands as possible. Learn how to use EGL to easily communicate with data sources, including Web services, stored procedures, MQSeries, and RPG programs. See how you can easily define interfaces to all these different data sources and then create JavaServer Faces Web pages around them. Walk through the process of making newly built EGL application logic with existing browser-based code via AJAX. Then, take a look at the rich client technology coming in the new releases — get blown away by Google Maps and realtime charting. This is not your father’s business application!

Track 2 Web Development with Java, Rational, and other Technologies

AJAX: New Age Web Development for System i
See a live demonstration of how AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) increases a Web page’s responsiveness, interactivity, and usability by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes instead of reloading the whole page. Get up to speed quickly on how AJAX works, including the key technologies involved in AJAX-like HTML, JavaScript, DHTML, and DOM. Learn how you can improve your iSeries Web applications with this dynamic, userdriven, interactive approach to Web development. Find out who’s using AJAX and how, and explore the best ways to integrate AJAX into your iSeries Web applications. Walk away with sample code to put to use at your organization immediately!

Hands-on Lab
Integrating Applications Using AJAX
Dive into AJAX, the hottest new technology for Web applications, and uncover the collection of development tools that work together that make this technique so powerful. From interactive UIs to multi-homed applications, see how you can leverage AJAX to bring a new level of functionality to today’s browser. Walk through the details of using an open source AJAX framework to build a fully functional portal application using a simple JavaServer Pages (JSP) architecture. Then find out what it takes to expand that framework to integrate multiple host applications. An understanding of JSPs is a prerequisite for this session.

Getting Started with SOA on the IBM i
Learn how to better adapt to the rapid changes you face everyday in your business by getting started with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) on IBM i. Shed light on the many misconceptions by gaining a better understanding of SOA’s business value; find out why every major software company and analyst is endorsing this architecture; and see how it can be used as a foundation for an on-demand business. Wrap your arms around what services, service orientation, Service Oriented Architecture, and composite applications are, and how they are impacting your world.

Hands-on Lab
Introduction to Servlets and JSPs
Adding JavaServer Pages (JSPs) to your programming toolkit was never so easy! This lab removes all the mystery surrounding JSPs and shows you how easy it is to design a browser front-end that executes business logic written in RPG or COBOL. Walk step-by-step through the process, starting from a simple HTML page and adding features piece by piece until you have a complete, working, JSP Model 2 application. Along the way, learn to use servlets, JavaServer Pages, and IBM’s Java Toolbox for the iSeries. You can do it all using the latest version of WDSC, still the premiere development Java EE development tool!

Getting the most out of Java with the IBM i
Come to this session to gain a solid understanding of how to use Java in a business environment. Through a number of practical examples including generating PDFs and sending them via email, learn how and why you should add Java into your existing systems. Familiarize yourself with the incredible spectrum of Java software — much of which is free — so you can integrate it into your shop immediately!

Using the Java Toolbox to Integrate Java with iSeries Data and Programs
Java and Web applications have emerged as dominant and strategic technologies within the iSeries community. Learn how you can leverage and reuse existing iSeries resources as RPG programs, CL commands, message queues, and spool files. See how real business applications have used these components of the Java Toolbox to solve your interoperability challenges. Understand the new components that are now available with V6R1. Explore programming techniques to call RPG programs from Java and integrate iSeries spool files with Java applications. Leave with the skills to effectively use the Java Toolbox and the resources to create your own custom applications.

Hands-on Lab
Building N-Tier Applications Using WDSC
Find out firsthand when (and why) to use N-tier architecture, how to connect a JSP Model 2 user interface to an RPG backend, and how to separate business logic and presentation. This hands-on lab provides you with all the tools and techniques needed to create a maintenance application using a JSP Model 2 architecture with a browser front-end and an RPG back-end. Increase your knowledge of clients, servers, and messages, and see a step-by-step implementation of both the client and the servers that use the strength of JSPs for the UI while keeping your business logic in RPG.

Eclipse, Rational, WDSC : What They Mean to You and i
Eclipse has taken the development world by storm; Rational is IBM’s development product line; and RDi is IBM’s must-have IDE, replacing the powerful WDSC tooling. In this all-encompassing session, learn everything you need to know about these four entities and how they interrelate. Explore RDi, the PC-based GUI development tool that does everything PDM and SEU can do and more, including providing a gateway to Web application development via RDi SOA and EGL. Find out how RDi springboards from the Rational tooling that is built on the open source Eclipse workbench, offering programmers hundreds of reusable plug-ins. Walk through the basics of Eclipse, see how it makes programming easier, and tap into some of the coolest RDi insider techniques — little-known gems that will make you a more productive developer.

Extending Rational Tools Using Eclipse Plug-ins
Extend the capabilities of your Rational Tools and create a working environment that suits you best! This session delves deep into the world of Eclipse plug-ins and provides you with examples of the best tools to add to your workbench for enhanced productivity — some specific to the IBM i and some generic. See how Arcad lets you invoke a 5250 session from within RDi. Learn how to create and install the Quantum DB plug-in so you can connect to any database in your organization using standard JDBC drivers.

Hands-on Lab
Web Development with EGL and RDi-SOA
If you’re looking for the hands-down fastest way to create a Web application, then EGL is the answer, and RDi-SOA is the tool to make it happen. Dive into EGL, IBM’s newest business language that provides fast, efficient WYSIWYG design of browser interfaces. See how EGL enables you to easily connect to back-end business logic by calling an RPG program with literally one line of code! Get your hands on RDi-SOA by building a working multi-tiered business application using both SQL access and RPG business logic. Walk away from this lab with the ability to use RDi-SOA with EGL to build a Web application with no Java, JavaScript, or even HTML required!

Track 3 Working with iSeries Data

Processing XML with RPG
V5R4 added powerful XML processing capabilities to RPG IV. Even if you’re not using XML today, you almost certainly will be in the future, so now is the time to learn how to put this new functionality to work for you. This session goes under the hood of the new XML support. You will learn how to use the new RPG support to process XML documents and see how easy it is to enter the world of XML processing. Plus, gain insight into the XML enhancements made in the V6R1 release. Pre-requisite: Since the XML support is built upon the data structure features added in V5R2, knowledge of these features (or attendance at “The Powerful New Features Lurking in the Modern D-Spec”) is recommended.

Hands-on Lab
Generating and Processing XML with RPG
Gain hands-on experience in both creating XML from RPG programs and extracting data from an XML document using the new V5R4 RPG support. Discover your options for generating XML from an RPG program, as well as how to parse an XML document from RPG in order to process the document’s data. This hands-on lab will provide tips and techniques on how to deal with XML in an RPG environment. Attendance at the session “Processing XML with RPG” or equivalent knowledge is recommended.

Embedding SQL in an RPG Program
Uncover the techniques needed to successfully embed SQL statements within highlevel language programs, specifically RPGLE. Take a deep dive into the intricacies of SQL syntax and learn to develop new application designs that work effectively with SQL. This session arms you with the best processes to optimize the performance of your SQL. Get the do’s and don’ts of using parameter markers and delve down into some of the error-handling methods available. Walk away with compile options, embedded SQL syntax, program design concepts, and sample programs to create effective and reliable application programs which utilize SQL as their primary method of database I/O.

Embed RPG into SQL using User-Defined Functions
Attend this session and learn how to expand the capability of SQL through userdefined functions (UDFs), enabling you to more efficiently perform difficult tasks, like converting date fields in legacy applications into real date data types. Gain insight into error-handling within an RPGLE UDF and review parameters on the CREATE FUNCTION statement. Overcome the challenges associated with integrating SQL with legacy databases, leveraging the use of existing RPGLE code, and finally choosing when to use SQL and when to use RPG. You take home a complete set of example functions that you can begin applying to your own environment.

Working with Stored Procedures in SQL and RPG
Get step-by-step advice on turning high-level languages and SQL Syntax into stored procedures in DB2 that can be called or invoked from any SQL or RPGLE interface on the iSeries. Delve into the creation and use of stored procedures, including how to compile one or more SQL statements into an executable object without embedding the SQL statements in an RPG, COBOL, C, or Java program. Examine passing parameters, returning result sets, error-handling within stored procedures, writing stored procedures in RPGLE and calling stored procedures in DB2 for i5/OS from VB.NET. Come away from this session equipped with a solid understanding of how stored procedures are written in both SQL and RPG.

DB2 Web Query for System i
Come see what all the buzz is about with IBM’s new DB2 WebQuery, a strategic replacement for the Query/400 product. Delve down into this more robust and extensible reporting solution, which leverages the latest reporting and graphing development tools available in DB2 for the IBM i. Improve the look and functionality of your existing Query/400 reports, discover how to send your Query output to a PDF or Microsoft Excel file, and find out how to format your existing reports as graphs and charts. Walk away from this session with the ability to create new reports with drill down, traffic lighting, and OLAP capabilities and the functionality to enable your end users to analyze their reports in a disconnected mode.

Hands-on Lab
Building Reports with DB2 Web Query
Attend this 90-minute open lab for the unique opportunity to get a hands-on experience with the latest version of DB2 WebQuery. This lab walks you through the process of creating metadata against your files, importing Query400 queries into DB2 Web Query to web enable the output, and building reports and graphs using it’s new development tools. You’ll then go one step further and learn how to take advantage of the DB2 WebQuery’s integration with Excel spreadsheet technology. Finally, experience firsthand how to set up Active Reports, a feature rich report output format that lets users analyze and manipulate data in a disconnected mode.

Create Graphical i5 Dashboards with DB2/400 Data
Learn how to take advantage of graphical dashboards to create, present, and interact with live business data in an easy-to-understand form. Get introduced to the key graphic and dashboard technologies and learn how to create an enhanced visual presentation of your data. This session will arm you with field-tested techniques to integrate leading edge components such as gauges, pie charts, tables, speedometers, and other visualization tools with i5 data and programs. Walk away with sample code and the know-how to begin creating your own browserbased dashboards.

MySQL on the System i
The IBM System I now has another database available. This session will introduce the widely used MYSQL database to the System I community. Learn what open source options are available to leverage the MYSQL database directly on the System i. See a live example of the MYSQL administration and query tools. Leave this session with a concrete understanding of how your organization can take advantage of this new option.

Control Language - New Enhancements and Fixes to Old Problems
Come to this session to learn all about the new enhancements that IBM has made to Control Language (CL) in recent releases. Find out how CL can now address a wide range of applications that it couldn’t reach before. Delve into new data types and structured code for easier communication to other jobs on your system. Understand how to declare variables of type pointer in CL and then learn how to use subroutines to divide a CL procedure into tasks of logically related code and understand the types of APIs that CL can now call that used to be unreachable from CL. Take a first-hand look at some of the most annoying problems encountered by CL programmers over the years and get expert advice to overcome them.

Track 4 RPG: Tips, Techniques, and New Insights

API s at Work Part I: i5/OS Unique APIs
Come to this session and see how you can put hundreds of i5/OS APIs to work by leveraging a handful of critical API concepts. Gain a solid understanding of how to use system APIs, including working with the generic List API header structure. Get step-by-step guidance on translating the API documentation into RPG prototypes for APIs and data definitions for the list items. Walk through examples that show the pros and cons, dos and don’ts of Retrieve APIs, List APIs, and Open List APIs. Leave with the knowledge to start putting the vast majority of i5/OS unique system APIs to work right away.

API s at Work Part II : Industry Standard APIs
This session picks up where Part I leaves off and dives into i5/OS industry standard APIs, like the Integrated File System, Sockets, and Environment Variables. Wrap your arms around the concepts necessary to utilize UNIXtype APIs in general, and see how cross-platform portability provided by these APIs can increase efficiency in your shop. Familiarize yourself with the C programming language so you’re able to read UNIX-type parameter descriptions. Walk through examples of the Integrated File System APIs open, close, read, write, and errno. You should be able to use the vast majority of i5/OS provided industry standard UNIX-type APIs by the end of this session.

Leveraging API s to Reduce Support Costs for Your RPG Applications
Learn how to leverage APIs to significantly reduce the ongoing issue of reporting and isolation support costs within your RPG applications. Gain an overview of serviceability, including the three primary types of problems users encounter and how you can achieve enhanced productivity by solving these problems quickly. Follow along through examples and see how to take advantage of key tools that are available such as Message Handling, Message Watching, First Failure Data Capture, Performance Explorer, and Trace. Learn how to use these tools to send meaningful messages, watch for messages on the system, and gather service-related, performance, and trace data. Knowledge of i5/OS System API fundamentals is assumed for this session.

ILE Essentials: Static Binding and Binder Language
Develop the skills you need to start programming in a true Integrated Language Environment (ILE) and understand how knowledge in ILE can change your job as a programmer. This session focuses on creating and using binding directories and binder language, as well as creating modules, bound programs, and service programs. Find out how to write modular applications that perform well and are easily maintained, and hit the ground running with details on how to safely and productively work with static binding. Examine the various maintenance issues that occur most frequently on a system. Uncover options for preventing signature errors when using service programs, including options for managing signatures via a binder language, and rebinding affected programs quickly and effectively.

The Seven Deadly Sins of ILE
Discover the seven ILE practices that should be severely restricted or all together avoided. While some of these might not result in instant death, find out how they can be deadly in an insidious fashion, waiting to come to light when you least expect it. So save your shop time and money by examining the ins-and-outs of each lethal practice, such as allowing scoping parameters to default and using the RCLRSC command. Uncover the essential information you need to recognize these deadly sins and steer clear of them, or if it’s too late, resolve them and prevent them from happening again.

/Free Your RPG
This session delivers a soup-to-nuts review of coding in /Free RPG syntax, first introduced in V5R1 and enhanced with subsequent releases. Familiarize yourself with the basic syntax rules and style guidelines for coding in /Free-form, the new built-in functions (BIFs), and the ways in which they can improve your coding even if you choose not to move to /Free-form. Get introduced to the language features that can only be used in /Free-form. Understand the pros and cons of using /Free RPG, and learn alternative coding techniques to replace functions (such as CALL/PARM and the MOVE opcodes) that are not supported in /Free-form.

The Powerful New Features Lurking in the Modern D-Spec
This session sheds light on the many features of D-Specs that remain undiscovered by the majority of RPG programmers. Get tips that will save you time, like not having to give names to fields and how using group fields as a powerful tool for grouping and sorting data. See how RPG’s *INnn indicators can be mapped to a DS and given names. Increase efficiency by forcing specific fields into a Data Structure simply by listing their names in the DS. Find out how these and many other related techniques can add powerful new weapons to your RPG toolkit. Plus, gain insight into the extensions to RPG’s data definition capabilities made in the V5 releases, as well as details of the other useful features added in the V6R1 release.

Working with IFS Files from RPG
Overcome the challenge of processing non-iSeries data, speed up development, and add more power and control to your RPG IV programs with IFS files. Find out how RPG IV’s ability to prototype C-type APIs opens the door to processing IFS files directly in your RPG programs. From preparing XML files to building comma-separated value (CSV) files for import into Excel spreadsheets, this capability enables you to go far beyond those of CPYxxxIMPF and CPYxxxSTMF. Examine the basic differences between “C style” I/O and traditional RPG methods; learn how to open, read, and write basic IFS files; bridge the ASCII-EBCDIC gap; check for the existence of files in the IFS; and learn how to process directories and subdirectories. Whether you want to process CSV files in an RPG program or produce files for use by Excel, this session shows you how RPG applications can directly access PC-type data.

Beyond the Basics of RPG IV — Subprocedures
Investigate practical ways to leverage subprocedures in your business applications. Discover the various parameter options (i.e., *NOPASS, VALUE, and CONST) that can make your subprocedures more versatile and find out the safest way to provide default values for those parameters. Explore the fundamentals of call-back processing, and see how the technique can add versatility to your utility subprocedures. Take part in a discussion on how to leverage subprocedures to mask application complexity, ease program maintenance, and more. Also, hear all about the exciting new subprocedure enhancements that were announced with the release of V6R1.

Track 5 iSeries System Management and Administration

Performance Tuning Your System i Applications
Attend this session and discover the most effective ways to increase the performance of your System i applications without spending your entire budget on a hardware upgrade. Identify and solve your most common application performance issues. Get detailed information on everything from traditional record-oriented access, to SQL, to exploring the options in the QAQQINI file. Learn to more efficiently manage your access paths and joined files to boost your application’s performance and productivity. Apply best practices to your normal performance-tuning schedule and rid yourself of any bad habits to maintain the highest-level possible.

Achieving Optimal Security on the System i
This session examines security from both inside and outside the System i and delivers battle-tested advice for locking down your system. Learn how to stop unneeded services, prevent unauthorized users from entering the system using filter tables, and tighten up firewalls and other network devices. Uncover key tips on how to keep inside users from accessing data they shouldn’t be able to access, audit what users are doing on specific objects, and make sure that everything they do is appropriate. If your approach to security hasn’t kept up with the advances in i5/OS then you’re almost certainly at risk. Attend this session and walk away with the latest information so you’re prepared to tackle today’s iSeries security challenges.

Managing Your iSeries PTFs
Get practical lessons for administering and keeping track of your PTFs on the iSeries. Compare the four major types: cumulative PTF, group PTF, Client Access Server, and HIPER, and learn what effect they have on the components of your system. Examine which preventive measures are necessary for effective PTF management, how to find PTFs, which PTFs you actually need, and which ones you might not. Uncover different methods for obtaining PTFs, getting them into your system, and then applying them. Plus, learn how image catalogs can make PTFs easier to load and apply, as well as how to cleanup the objects used in PTF processes. Leave this session equipped with a plan to better manage your PTFs.

Cleaning Up i5/OS Through Disk Cleanup and Storage
How much disk storage do you have on your system? The most common answer is “not enough!” Attend this session and find out where all that space went, what you can clean up, and what should be left alone. Learn about reporting, automating, and managing your disk space on the System i. Develop a deeper understanding of the tools IBM has built into i5/OS and how to leverage them to help keep your system clean. Walk away with a solid understanding of how to clean up your disk space, manage your IFS, and reorganize your files.

Inside the Hardware Management Console
As the System i becomes more powerful, the need for the Hardware Management Console (HMC) continues to grow. Find out why you need it and what you can do with this console. This session addresses the most effective ways to configure multiple partitions and manage capacity on demand. Examine the pieces that the HMC comes in and its basic usage, including starting the HMC, changing the HMC language, and logging off the HMC. Learn the best ways to manage your console, implement software updates, optimize connectivity, and manage user profiles and user capabilities. Also, dive into firmware of the i5 and determine what the right and wrong ways are in dealing with the FSP firmware. Finally, get inside tips on things to watch for and things not to do, and leave this session with the knowledge to get an HMC up and running right away.

Leveraging iSeries Navigator to Boost System i Performance
Whether you’re a programmer or administrators, this session delivers key advice on leveraging the fundamental features of iSeries Navigator in your shop. Explore its functionality and strengths, find out why GUI access to i5/OS should be a priority, and see how it simplifies the maintenance of your system. Learn how iSeries Navigator helps you improve general system access, database management, and development. Wrap your arms around the many useful tools in iSeries Navigator and see how they enable you to be better at your job. Also, get introduced to some changes with V6R1, including the release of IBM’s new Web console, Systems Director Navigator for i5/OS.

Pimp My i
Meet the team behind Frankeni.com and learn firsthand just how far you can push the System i architecture. See photos of the build and a history of the project, including a few cautionary tales. The events depicted in this session should not be attempted on any production system, in any production data center. The things shown are entirely unsupported, and may result in data loss, hair loss, and, under the right circumstances, job loss or loss of limbs. Get ready for some fun, some laughs, and maybe even some ideas for your own Frankeni machine.

Track 6 Get Ready For V6R1

Preparing for V6R1
V6R1 will be the first release to require program object conversions since the V3R6 CISC to RISC move. But there’s no need to panic - this process is much easier and faster than the CISC to RISC conversion! This session will cover the details of what’s happening in this conversion process and what your shop should be doing to prepare before installing V6R1. Time will be allocated during the second half of this session for Q&A and an expert-led open discussion on the upgrade.

Top 10 “Gotchas” for Admins in Upgrading to V6R1
Attend this session for the key insights and critical advice on what administrators need to prepare for when upgrading to V6R1, so your upgrade goes as smooth as silk. Save your shop time and money by examining the ins-and-outs of object conversion so it doesn’t set you back when making the move, and prepare for a different experience now that upgrading encompasses Zend PHP. Uncover the information you need in order to avoid the major “gotchas” that are specific to this upgrade, while still conquering the challenges that administrators have been facing with upgrades for years.

What’s New in System APIs
Find out how System APIs in the form of callable services and exit points continue to grow and change with every release. Take advantage of the new and modified System APIs and get a first hand look at the enhancements in Job Interrupt and Message Watch. Learn how to increase user customization with UIM Exit Programs. Gain a solid grasp on the new features in Trace APIs, Set User Function, and Inquiry Message Exit Handler as well as the skills to process commands using Unicode. Come away from this session with the ability to leverage key new and changed System APIs on V5R4 and V6R1 to bring a new level of innovation to i5/OS application development.

DB2 for the iSeries: A V6R1 Update
Arrive at this session for an in-depth look at the exciting new features in V6R1, which will help your DB2 databases and applications make a giant leap forward. See for yourself the latest advancements in the RPG SQL precompiler, supergroups, hidden timestamp columns, and extended indicator variables and find out how these can be used to improve your applications and to reduce application development time. Get an up close view of the new, self-learning capabilities of the SQL Query Engine and realize the productivity gains that the enhancements to the DB2 OnDemand Performance tools in System i Navigator deliver.

V6R1: Rational Developer for the iSeries
T his session will provide details on the recent announcements from Rational on i5/OS development tools. Session will include information on the key Rational application development tools on i5/ OS, including WebSphere Development Studio V6R1, Rational Developer for System i V7.1, Rational Developer for System i for SOA Construction V7.1, Rational Business Developer and HATS for 5250 Applications. It will also include an overview of RPG V6R1 enhancements.

The Latest in RPG V6R1 and Beyond
Do you want to know if IBM is investing in RPG? This session will take you through some of the history of RPG IV and IBM’s investment in it as well as cover the new functions recently introduced in the RPG IV compiler in V6R1. Time will be allocated at the end to allow customers to voice their requirements and any other Q&A on RPG.

Register today to save $100.