IBM i Access Client Solutions’ requirement for LAN console may finally force tension for change.

By Steve Pitcher

A few short years ago, IBM released Access Client Solutions (ACS): a lightweight, Java-based application for basic user necessities like 5250 emulation and spooled file management. It had a link to the web-based Navigator for i product, data transfer, plus the ability to do 5250 console and access a virtual control panel. It also provided a link to the Hardware Management Console (HMC) web interface…so technically two features were links. Check out one of the original how-to videos describing what it did. Very bare bones compared to what the product does now. But you have to start somewhere.

I’ve been asked this question many times recently. The short answer is yes…and no. Keep reading to get a grasp on these two very important concepts and get to the long answer.

By Rafael Victória-Pereira

As explained in previous articles (parts 1, 2, and 3), having a lot of data is not, by itself, very helpful. You need tools (like the Hadoop Framework I covered in the last couple of articles) and techniques to extract value from the data. Machine Learning (ML) techniques are a good place to start. However, things get a bit fuzzy when you start reading about this topic, because it’s often mixed up with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and some articles go as far as saying that ML and AI are one and the same. This is not entirely correct. Let me start by explaining what ML is and how you can put it to good use with minimal effort.

Rather than rewrite older business applications, consider using a method such as APIs, stored procedures, or UDFs to access legacy app functions

By Laura Ubelhor and Christian Hur

Editor’s note: This article is excerpted from chapter 7 of Developing Business Applications for the Web: With HTML, CSS, JSP, PHP, ASP.NET, and JavaScript, by Laura Ubelhor and Christian Hur.

Making the decision to include Web applications as part of your business systems doesn’t mean you have to scrap the applications already in use. It might make sense to leave some of these applications as they are, and only deploy select applications on the Web. Many organizations already have applications in which they have invested considerable resources, time, and money. Many of these applications are stable and still well suited to the business requirements. There is no reason to rewrite all your applications unless a business need requires a change.