The 10 Best Sessions for IBM i Open Source At COMMON Fall 2016

COMMON’s fall conference and Expo in Ohio is set to be a brilliant event.

As COMMON is one of the largest worldwide associations of IBM users, the fall conference and expo is always a great opportunity to expand your existing knowledge of PHP on IBM i, learn about the new developments in the field of programming, and network with IBM i experts. Boasting over 100 educational sessions, this years’ event is no exception. Even though we can’t attend this year, we’ve chosen our pick of the best sessions for PHP on IBM i developers.

The top ten sessions at COMMON 2016 fall conference and expo:

Strategic modernisation with PHP

Alan Seidn, 25^th October 2016, 17:00
In this session, Alan gives real-world creative examples of IBM i modernisation that both controlled risk and provided a strong return on investment. Alan teaches you how to pick the modernisation projects which will provide the greatest ROI and how to complete them well. The session looks at two approaches, both of which can be used to satisfy business needs:

1. RPG programmers learning PHP
2. New PHP developers being integrated into an existing IT department

PHP and RPG integration examples

Clank Everetts, 26^th October 2016, 09:30
Clark’s session shows you how to leverage existing IBM i assets in PHP web applications. Find out how quick and easy it can be to call RPG programs and stored procedures, access recordsets, data structures, CL commands, data queues, data areas, spool files, and more. Clark gets you started with an overview and walkthrough code examples to give you an additional modernisation tool.

What’s new in 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 security?

Jeff Uehling, 25^th October 2016, 08:00
In this presentation, you’ll be introduced to all the security enhancements added in IBM’s 7.1, 7.2 and upcoming 7.3 operating system releases. Jeff’s session will take an in-depth look at 7.2 enhancement Row and Column Access Control, as well as discuss the recently announced changes in 7.3, like Authority Collection – a major security enhancement – and new support for Audit Network Communication sessions in and out of your IBM i server.

“Breaking Bad” IBM i habits!

Jim Knight, 25^th October 2016, 11:00
Jim’s session focusses on the IBM i best practices that help you to meet IBM system compliance to achieve optimal results. The session examines backups, system configuration, security management and disaster recovery by looking at assumptions, technical gaps, blunders and recommendations based on real-world examples and lessons learned, to help you stop making classic IBM i mistakes.

The world of Node.js on IBM i

Scott Klement and David Russo, 25^th October 2016, 11:00
It’s an exciting time to be getting started with the Node.js language – it may even represent the future of application development on IBM i. Scott and David’s session looks at how Node.js works, how to write simple applications and the power that the Node Package Manager brings to the Node.js environment.

Application developer modernisation jumpstart

Charles Guarino, 25^th October 2016, 09:30
Modernisation is essential in today’s IBM i landscape. This session covers the tools and technologies needed to modernise and goes over the knowledge that all modern application developers should have in their arsenal.

UI modernisation challenge: Fresche Legacy

Greg Patterson, 24^th October 2016, 15:30
In this challenge, modernisation vendors go head-to-head to prove that they are the best solution for your business by approaching the same set of tables with their solutions, with 75 minutes each to present their results. Who will offer the best solution? You decide. With X-Analysis, for application analysis and modernisation, Fresche Legacy, now Fresche Solutions, offer a quick and efficient solution.

UI modernisation challenge: BCD Software

Greg Patterson, 25^th October 2016, 11:00
In this challenge, modernisation vendors go head-to-head to prove that they are the best solution for your business by approaching the same set of tables with their solutions, with 75 minutes each to present their results. Who will offer the best solution? You decide. We think BCD Software (now Fresche Solutions) is a great contender, offering Presto, a powerful green screen modernisation system providing modern web-based GUIs – with no changes to RPG, COBOL or DDS code.

The business case for IBM i green screen modernisation

Greg Patterson, 26^th October 2016, 11:00
If you’re relying on IBM i to run ERPs, inventory management, order fulfilment and other business-critical applications, you’ll know that, though IBM i is a reliable, modern enterprise platform, productivity can be somewhat limited by antiquated green-screen interfaces. Greg, of BCD Software, teaches you in this session how modernising those green screens to a modern web GUI can maximise your IBM i investment, including approaches to green screen modernisation, reducing training costs and improving user productivity with web applications, and support for mobile devices.

Native mobile app development with PhoneGap

Alex Roytman, 24^th October 2016, 14:00
Alex shows us how PhoneGap can be used to build and deploy IBM i mobile applications supported by any device. It’s easy to see why this free, open-source framework is a popular solution for building mobile apps with standard web technologies like JavaScript and HTML5: developers can now write one set of code, that will run on multiple device types, eliminating the need to learn device-specific languages like Objective-C and Java.

We can’t wait to get all the latest IBM i developer news from COMMON’s fall conference and Expo. Get in touchto speak to us about your IBM i modernisation projects.