In-Depth

July Industry News

• 07/01/1999

You might think malfunctioning machines or "acts of God" are the most common sources of lost data. Think again. A recent survey of 50 Windows NT network managers and system administrators identified simple human error as the number one cause of lost data on corporate databases, PCs and e-mail servers. The survey, conducted by Broadcasters Network International (Los Angeles), a marketing research firm, also noted that files accidentally deleted by end users was the most common human error leading to data loss. "We found this to be especially prevalent on NT networks because end users get lulled into a false sense of security by the Recycle Bin," said Phil Proffit, spokesperson for BNI. "Unfortunately, the Recycle Bin doesn’t handle network deletions or deletions from applications."

Baan Company N.V.’s BaanERP, the most recent version of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, is now available on OS/390. The solution delivers to users in all industries the expanded functionality of Baan Company’s newest ERP software, combined with the availability and scalability of the IBM S/390 platform.

"The availability of BaanERP on the OS/390 platform, coupled with our continuing support for other versions of our… ERP applications on OS/390 are testimony to Baan Company’s goal to reduce the complexity of business software," says Andrew Dailey, Senior Vice President of Product Marketing for Baan Company.

In October of 1998, Baan Company announced the delivery of earlier versions of Baan ERP products for OS/390. As announced in March, Aerostructures Corporation, a manufacturer of complex aircraft components and assemblies, has gone live with its implementation of Baan ERP on their IBM S/390 Parallel Enterprise Servers. In addition, Lawson Products, an international distributor of specialized parts and components, is in the process of implementing Baan ERP on OS/390 within its operations.

"The availability of Baan Company’s ERP software on the S/390 platform offers even the largest customers more of the best solutions to help meet their business needs," says Ross Mauri, Vice President, IBM S/390 Solutions and Strategy. "The delivery of both Baan Company’s flagship ERP software and Baan Implementation Factory for OS/390 helps support the mission-critical needs of our customers."

Visit Baan Company’s Web site at www.baan.com.

Data Interface Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of ICOM Informatique, has adopted the trade name ICOM Informatics. Concurrent with the name change, the company has announced the immediate availability of e-Business Suite, the company’s new comprehensive mainframe connectivity package that offers secure access to mission-critical business systems regardless of the platform or network environment. This Suite includes the new Winpass TNserver, a high-performance gateway capable of connecting thousands of Windows users to IBM mainframes.

"Our new name better reflects the worldwide strength upon which we can now draw," said Albert C. Lowenstein, General Manager of ICOM Informatics (and founder of Data Interface in 1977). "The LAN-to-host technologies we developed as Data Interface blend nicely with those of ICOM Informatique." For more information on ICOM Informatics, visit www.icominfo.com.

SAP AG and IBM Corp. announced plans to deliver SAP’s R/3 Application Server functions on IBM’s S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, in addition to the existing database server solution, to meet the needs of large enterprise customers. Initial delivery will begin in the fourth quarter of 1999. Based on market demand, SAP and IBM have optimized this solution to provide customers with the architectural flexibility to maximize the platform efficiencies of the full range of all application servers for the OS/390 Database Server solution. This flexibility enables customers to choose the most suitable platform to achieve high performance and a low total cost of ownership while benefiting from the S/390’s system management capabilities.

"Since the availability of the S/390 as a database server for SAP solutions, an increasing number of customers have demanded the flexibility to also deploy application server services on the S/390 platform," said Karl-Heinz Hess of the SAP Extended Executive Board, System Technology Development.

Typical SAP R/3 workloads that will benefit either from the traditional strengths of S/390 or from the proximity to the database server are data-base-intensive applications which create heavy traffic to the database server, batch processes and the message/enqueue services. Others are R/3 applications that require tight integration with the customer’s existing S/390 application portfolio.

"While no one can predict the future, given the rapid expansion of global markets and the accelerating rate of technological change, this announcement helps to ensure that large enterprise SAP R/3 customers will be able to further exploit e-business opportunities by leveraging S/390’s tradition of high availability for mission-critical applications," said David Carlucci, General Manager, IBM S/390 Division.