Continuing on the trend of looking forward to i5/OS V6R1, IBM Systems Magazine has an article on the new version of the System i operating system due out next year.

The article is about the upcoming features of V6R1, especially when it comes to ease in upgrading programs. The piece suggests reading hte IBM Redbook on the subject and a System i upgrade planning Web site:

With i5/OS V6R1, you’ll step up to a safer, faster, more flexible computing future.

Most people know that the System i and i5/OS are known for solid security features, but do you know what those features are?

I’m sure plenty of you do, but a new IBM Redbook details i5/OS’s native network security features, as well as envisioning some scenarios for network security, password elimination, i5/OS IP packet filtering, and more.

IBM has published a draft for a Redbook on getting ready for i5/OS V6R1, the next version of the System i operating system due out next year.

Much of the Redbook focuses on helping users convert their System i programs to i5/OS V6R1, which is required for the new version. Though this Redbook doesn’t look at the issue, it will also be interesting to see how System i applications and i5/OS run differently, if at all, when running on a blade server, which is also expected to happen next year.

The System i Network is hosting an interesting thread comparing DB2 native on the System i with SQL Server. Join the fun, or leave your comments here.

This week I spoke with the CEO of Resolution Software, a company that wants to make it easier for Data Description Specifications (DDS)-based System i databases to talk to SQL-based applications.

Resolution has been around for almost two decades, but it was just two years ago that it decided to delve into the System i. Starting in January, the company will start offering its Xcase software to users, an application that will allow DDS-based System i databases like DB2 to more easily communicate with SQL programs.

“We think that the System i market is a market where there is a lot to achieve,” Resolution CEO Elie Myal said. “Many shops today have not yet done the move to SQL, although they’re talking a lot about that. It is the time to do it, not 10 years ago, but now, when there is so much talk about modernization and so much talk about SQL.”

Resolution’s work is based largely on a 2005 IBM Redbook, “Modernizing IBM eServer iSeries Application Data Access,” which details a complex process on how to reverse engineer a DDS-based DB2 database and move toward SQL. IBM recommended the process because it said that SQL Data Definition Language (DDL) had surpassed DDS as the industry-standard way to define relational database management system (RDMS) databases like DB2.

Since that process is so long, Resolution has Xcase to basically automate it for you. At the same time, it doesn’t alter your original DDS-based databases, and thus doesn’t throw everything out of whack.

“The System i is a wonderful database machine because the database is built right into the operating system,” Muyal said. “It works much more smoothly and in a powerful way than when trying to combine hardware, OS and database technology from different vendors. But the database solutions are scarce.”

In addition to the software product, which you’ll be able to buy in January, Resolution is offering a modernization service on the System i right now.

There is only one week remaining in the i5 virus game, an interactive game developed by Bytware to raise awareness of System i security and using PHP on the platform.

The game, which The iSeries blog wrote about earlier this month, got its start at the Common Focus event in October. It starts out with a YouTube video and takes players to various Web sites, including Bytware, IBM, McAfee and php-security.org. The goal is to crack a System i security mystery involving an imaginary financial services firm. Solving the mystery could win you a Nintendo Wii and iTunes gift cards.