Entries by Alan Seiden

PHP 7 and Free Basic Zend Server Edition for IBM i

July 10, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

PHP 7 is creating excitement among PHP aficionados for its speed and additional language techniques. As the official runtime for enterprise PHP, Zend Server has always offered a free basic edition to IBM i customers. Recently, a change occurred on the Zend Server download page that has caused some confusion. At the time of this writing, the Zend Server download was labeled as a “30-day trial” even though, as an IBM i customer, you are still entitled to a free basic edition license. Of course, you can also opt for paid editions. IBM i users can request a download of Zend Server for  IBM…

Where to find DB2 for IBM i documentation

June 23, 2017 /4 Comments/in , /by

It’s not always easy to locate the official documentation for all features of DB2 for IBM i. Using Google Search is hit or miss, with full-text searches often bringing irrelevant results from other varieties of DB2 or from older versions. Many people don’t know that complete reference manuals are available for almost every aspect of DB2 on i.

CIOs Unite

May 1, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

CIO-level view at the CIO Summit in Manhattan Most people know Seiden Group as PHP specialists who help IBM i teams develop and tune PHP applications running on IBM i. But we also work with CIOs to help them solve the unique challenges they face. We’ve found that for many IBM i CIOs, it’s lonely at the top. CIOs would love to have a community of peers who fully understood the nature of the decisions they must make. Whereas developers can discuss technical issues with team members or through online forums, CIOs often lack such support and sharing because of…

Let’s Meet Up at COMMON, May 6-10, 2017

April 24, 2017 /0 Comments/in , , /by

The Seiden Group team is headed to Orlando May 6-10 to participate in COMMON 2017. In addition to teaching sessions and workshops on best practices for using PHP and other open source technologies on IBM i, we’re looking forward to meeting up with our clients and friends. One of our favorite opportunities at COMMON is to meet professionals at all levels of the IT organization. Understanding the challenges faced by each member of the IT team — from admin to CIO — strengthens our ability to build effective solutions that are easy to use, easy to extend, easy to maintain.

RPG & DB2 Summit: March 21-23, 2017, in Orlando

March 6, 2017 /0 Comments/in , , , /by

In just two weeks I’ll have the pleasure of joining some of the top IBM i development experts in Orlando for the RPG & DB2 Summit. Run by Susan Gantner, Jon Paris and Paul Tuohy, this conference is full of big personalities who create a warm, friendly environment that’s perfect for learning. I enjoy the community feeling and how excited everyone is to solve development problems and share tips and techniques. The RPG & DB2 Summit is one of the few training events that focuses exclusively on topics of interest to IBM i developers. That includes PHP and SQL, of…

WMCPA 2017: A Glimpse into the Future of IBM i

February 13, 2017 /0 Comments/in , , /by

Every year I look forward to WMPCA’s Spring Technical Conference. And it’s not just because this active IBM i user group does a great job of bringing experts to beautiful Wisconsin (in March!) to teach a broad range of IBM i topics. I also love meeting the next generation of IBM i talent, always represented by Jim Buck’s RPG students at Gateway Technical College. And, of course, there are many PHP and open source sessions to choose from, including these from me: Make Your IBM i Sizzle with WordPress Apache Web Server Magic on IBM i Using DB2 and SQL…

Steph Rabbani and Liam Allan are Fresh Faces of IBM i

December 16, 2016 /0 Comments/in , /by

I was thrilled yesterday to see the familiar face of Seiden Group’s own Stephanie Rabbani smiling up at me from IBM i’s Home page, next to our friend and Club Seiden colleague Liam Allan. Both are currently featured by IBM as “Fresh Faces of IBM i” along with Kody Robinson of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation — just a few of the outstanding young professionals on our platform. This honor calls attention to what I know of Stephanie first-hand from working side-by-side with her on Seiden Group consulting projects. With 14 years experience on the IBM i, she is versatile, resourceful,…

Seiden Group is here

October 11, 2016 /2 Comments/in /by

We are pleased to announce the start of a re-branding from Alan Seiden Consulting to “Seiden Group,” reflecting our evolution from a one-person consultancy to a team of experts. We still specialize in PHP and open source on IBM i, but now we’ve gained the ability to manage and develop large projects, all while mentoring our clients so that they can become self-sufficient if they so choose. Our range of skills has also broadened to include many complementary areas including RPG, User Experience testing, Git workflow and code review services, and WebSmart (a fine BCD product), which all go nicely…