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Customers Are Going to Great Lengths to Get to the SPC
Read Synergy/DE VP William Mooney’s latest blog post to hear what customers are doing to get to the conference.
Want to be notified each time Bill adds to his blog? Go to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/WilliamMooneysBlog and subscribe to his blog with the news reader of your choice.
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Are you?
The Boston SPC is less than 2 weeks away. Make sure you are registered! No matter what role you play in your organization, the SPC will benefit you — whether it be by providing a firsthand look at how easily you can advance your applications with today’s Synergy/DE, by helping you to hone your development skills, or by showing you the new features your development team should be taking advantage of.
Developers, managers, marketers, and executives: Learn what the SPC can do for you.
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Do You Dare to Take on the Code Phantom?
The gauntlet has been thrown
Whether you’re programming on OpenVMS, Unix, or Windows, the gauntlet has been thrown. Do you have what it takes to pick it up?
Take on the Code Phantom at the SPC, and you’ll experience the excitement of working with objects, learn first-hand how they can take your productivity to a whole new level, and see just how fun they are to use.
Click here to learn more. |
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Leading Midwestern Retailer Migrates Synergy/DE-based ERP from Version 6 to Version 9 on OpenVMS Integrity in Just 2 Months
With over 34 retail locations across the Midwestern United States, Blain Supply uses a Synergy/DE-based merchandising system to handle inventory management, order processing, and financials. Late last year they began looking for a cost-effective way to refresh and provide longevity to this 15-year-old ERP system without having to replace it completely. “The core business logic built into the application still fit our needs perfectly, but the hardware it ran on and development methods it required were clearly outclassed by current technology,” states Jeff Beaster, Director of MIS at Blain Supply. “We were really happy with our existing application but wanted to take advantage of new technologies such as OO programming, SQL integration, and support for current hardware platforms without having to replace the application and adapt our organization to a new solution.”
Synergex Professional Services Group (PSG) came on site and recommended Blain upgrade to Synergy/DE 9 on the Integrity server. Doing so would give them access to efficient development methods and the latest technologies while still enabling them to utilize their proven existing business logic. “Blain needed to upgrade their system in order to move to the Integrity server,” explains Steve Ives, Senior PSG Consultant. “In addition, the current version of Synergy/DE enables them to take advantage of new OO development tools and to improve data flow between the RMS files supporting their Synergy application and other SQL databases they developed in-house.” Beaster adds, “This option allowed us to maximize our strengths and expertise without encumbering our business with enormous expense or interruption.”
On the hardware side, Blain initially considered just upgrading to new Alpha servers, but soon rejected that solution because it didn’t provide the long-term assurance they were looking for. They also found the price and performance value of the Integrity servers to be exceptional.
Synergex PSG returned to Blain to kick-start the migration. They orchestrated a mass compile of Blain’s application to Synergy/DE 9 and worked with their development team to implement any necessary code changes. PSG remained onsite for one week, during which they completed the migration to Synergy/DE version 9. Over the next few weeks, Blain completed extensive testing and QA and went live in March. “We were surprised by how quick and relatively painless the migration process was,” states Beaster. “The process was certainly a serious undertaking, and there was a measure of risk, but due in large part to the knowledge that PSG brought and had available, we were able to clear every hurdle we faced.” He adds, “I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend PSG to other customers, and look forward to future engagements with them.”
Blain is very pleased with their upgraded application and operating system. They replaced their two clustered Alpha ES40s with a single Integrity rx3600 and have seen a significant improvement in performance. “The biggest thing we gained was assurance for our application’s future,” explains Beaster. “Being at the latest level opens the door for efficient development and improved integration.”
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Support Tech Tip
xfServerPlus and the hidden cost of confusing speed with performance
Question:
We’ve noticed that our xfServerPlus processes seem to be taking up a lot more space than they used to in years past. Is there some sort of memory leak involved?
Answer:
As network speeds continue to improve, it’s sometimes tempting to design xfServerPlus methods that return larger amounts of data than previously acceptable. The prevailing thought usually has something to do with the “User Experience,” in which it takes less time to access information because the client can cache larger result sets for later (possible) use.
And while a programmer may consider the cost on the network of returning larger amounts of data, there’s an often overlooked tax on the server.
Let’s pretend that system memory is an ocean and that each xfServerPlus process is its own little island. These islands start off very small, with barely enough real estate to even make them noticeable. But every time a user requests more data than the island can accommodate, a bit of land is reclaimed from the ocean to support the request. What’s critical to remember is that the land is never allowed to slip back into the sea; the little island grows and grows, but it will never shrink again.
Suddenly, what started the day as an ocean filled with hundreds (perhaps thousands) of tiny islands has, by nightfall, become a few sparse lakes scattered across a continent. Unfortunately, the new supercontinent is composed of hundreds (or thousands) of little nation-states with Expansionist philosophies.
There are several ways for a programmer to avoid all-out war. One is to utterly destroy any island that starts to get too big and then let it rebuild itself from scratch. It’s messy and it’s costly, but it will work. Another method is to create a bigger ocean (if possible) and hope the islands never get so big that they merge.
The best solution, however, is probably to ensure the islands never expand too much in the first place. Summarizing return data sets and using tailored (even single-use) data structures, coupled with a UI design that allows users to “drill down” to the detail only when they need it, may be all that’s required. Most programmers find they can still provide an excellent “User Experience” — without threatening the peace and harmony of their systems at the same time! |
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Protecting the Spread of Security Infections in Places You Might Not Think About
By Roger Andrews, Synergex CTO
Several weeks ago we had a new Ikon color printer installed. It has a separate Kodak PC running the printer drivers and color matching software. I noticed that it was Internet connected and that software updates were not being applied.
When we contacted the manufacturer, we were told the PC was an embedded XP device and did not need the XP SP3 nor the security patches. We immediately disabled the Internet connection (embedded XP devices are susceptible to viruses too)—but that’s not really good enough. To date the manufacturer still has not authorized XP SP3 nor the regular monthly security patches, yet all printed documents go through this machine and users can go to the console and copy documents from a USB drive or internal network locations. Once infected with a virus or worm — or even a botnet — we’re SOL, because the manufacturer of the device doesn’t support installing anti-virus software, and any such changes would require an engineer to reload the system from scratch.
Click here to read the entire blog. |
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Quiz
Synergy/DE pros, see if you can answer this question!
What does the following program do?
main
.define bill
proc
kill bill
end
a. It does not compile
b. It just stops
c. It prints “The lioness has rejoined her cub and all is right in the jungle.”
d. It deprives the world of its greatest champion for Synergy/DE
Click here for the answer and explanation. |
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Platform News
Read a selection of recent articles
All platforms
Adobe schedules update for new vulnerability
May 1, 2009
Windows
Conficker worm found in hospital equipment
May 1, 2009
Office 2007 Service Pack 2 released
April 29, 2009
Information about Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and for Windows Server 2008
April 28, 2009
Engineering Windows 7 graphics performance
April 25, 2009
Security intelligence report volume 6
April 8, 2009
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 release notes
March 26, 2009
Unix
Getting the lead out of Linux
April 29, 2009
OpenVMS
OpenVMS seminars at TNMOC
April 21, 2009
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Synergex Events and Education
SPC 2009 Boston
May 19-21
Learn more and register
SPC 2009 London
June 9-11
Learn more and register
On-Demand Seminars (view at your desk)
MDU Enhancements in Synergy/DE 9
6 minutes
From UI Toolkit to .NET: Updating a Legacy Application (A Customer's Perspective)
75 minutes
Synergy/DE 9.1 Highlights
70 minutes
UI Toolkit Composite Windows
30 minutes
Synergy Objects Parts 1
65 minutes
Synergy Objects Parts 2
25 minutes
Synergy Objects Parts 3
30 minutes
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Synergex Holiday Reminder
We will be closed on Monday, May 25, in recognition of Memorial Day
If you anticipate needing our assistance on this day, please email synergy@synergex.com to make arrangements. |
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Trademarks: Synergex, Synergy, Synergy Development Environment, Synergy/DE, Jodah Veloper, Manny Jurr, Mark Etting, Bigbah Smann, and all other Synergy/DE product names are trademarks of Synergex. All other product and company names in this newsletter are trademarks of their respective holders.
Copyright © 2009 Synergex International Corporation. All rights reserved.
Synergy-e-News 20090507 |
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