In the Press

Read all the latest articles of BCD in the press

In The Press

WebSmart Flattens the PHP Learning Curve

May 21st, 2013 - IT Jungle

The WebSmart PHP package from BCD [provides] a way to learn PHP in an environment that is both structured and productive.

BCD Refines Its Palette with Presto 4.7

May 7th, 2013 - IT Jungle

BCD has updated its Presto Web enablement tool to make it easier for customers to generate good-looking Web interfaces for their IBM i applications.

BCD Tackles Mobile App Development with WebSmart Mobile

April 9th, 2013 - IT Jungle

Business Computer Design Int'l. yesterday unveiled a beta version of WebSmart Mobile, a new component of its WebSmart development environment.

BCD Upgrades Green-Screen Modernization Tool

March 7th, 2013 - iPro Developer

BCD is offering a new version of Presto, a rapid green screen web enablement and modernization tool.

BCD Waves its Modernization Wand with Presto 4.5

March 5th, 2013 - IT Jungle

Creating custom Web interfaces from existing 5250 screens should be a little bit easier when using the latest release of [BCD's] Presto.

Avoiding Mistakes With PHP On IBM i Platforms

November 12th, 2012 - IT Jungle

Learning about mistakes is a good way to avoid mistakes. It's as true with PHP as it is with skydiving.

BCD Recognized for Partnership Spanning Three Decades

September 6th, 2012 - iPro Developer

iPro Developer asks BCD a few questions about their dedication to the IBM i market and how the industry has changed over the last three decades.

BCD And Zend Expand PHP Pact

August 15th, 2012 - IT Jungle

Business Computer Design Int'l. and Zend Technologies today unveiled a partnership to boost the visibility and usability of their respective PHP offerings for IBM i shops.

BCD, Zend Agree to Marketing Pact

August 15th, 2012 - iPro Developer

BCD and Zend have at least two things in common: PHP and IBM i, and they're using that common ground to create a marketing partnership.

BCD and Zend Forge PHP Market Alliance

August 31st, 2012 - MC Press Online

Business Computer Design International and Zend Technologies have formed a market partnership that aims to promote use of each others' PHP-related development tools for modernization of IBM i applications.

BCD Tweaks IBM i Development Tool

August 8th, 2012 - IT Jungle

The latest release of WebSmart ILE is version 9.2. Its list of enhancements is topped by a grid template that BCD literature describes as "a more modern way of displaying and editing data in a tabular layout."

New Grid Template and PDF Support Headline WebSmart ILE 9.2

July 30th, 2012 - MC Press Online

Business Computer Design (BCD Software) has just unveiled a new release of WebSmart ILE. WebSmart is a proven rapid web development tool for IBM i programmers to create RPG web applications.

PHP Enthusiasts Sign BCD Distribution Deal

June 11th, 2012 - iPro Developer

CSI and its associated firm Proximity Resourcing have signed an exclusive distribution deal for the UK and Ireland with application modernisation specialist BCD.

BCD Adds New Partners in the United Kingdom and Ireland

June 4th, 2012 - IT Jungle

[BCD] is expanding its business partner network in the United Kingdom and Ireland by teaming with IT services and solutions provider Proximity Resourcing and systems integrator CSI.

BCD Upgrades Modernization, Business Intelligence, and Web Dev Tools

May 15th, 2012 - iPro Developer

Business Computer Design, Int'l Inc, (BCD) offers a slew of updates to three of its products.

Modernization and Mobile Lead BCD Development Efforts

May 15th, 2012 - IT Jungle

BCD's application development products have long been used by IBM midrange shops. And for companies unfamiliar with BCD, here's a surprise--the company has a newly enhanced business intelligence tool as well.

WebSmart PHP Ranked Second in MCPress Online's Power i Forecast

April 2nd, 2012 - MCPress Online

The importance of tools to the IBM i community can't be underestimated, but they, like restaurants, come into and go out of favor depending on what clients need and what they are asking developers to do at the moment.

Extend Web-enabled Screens Beyond the 5250 Datastream with Presto

February 10th, 2012 - System iNetwork

IBM i developers and IT staff have been searching for the Holy Grail of application modernization for years now. Now, with the introduction of [Presto's] ExecuteSQL feature, you can have it all.

Dawn of the Dead: Portals' Revenge

January 23rd, 2012 - IT Jungle

Marcel Sarrasin, product manager at BCD says "Some iSeries shops that are new to the Web have a hard time picturing what a portal is since in the green screen world the login is built in and menus are very basic."

BCD Jazzes Up Presto Web Enablement Tool with Version 3.5

November 30, 2011 - IT Jungle

Over the years, [Presto] has evolved from a quick-fix tactical Web-enablement tool to include more advanced rich UI and Web 2.0 capabilities, delivered largely through the use of modern coding techniques like JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), all of which is accessed through a Web-based Visual Editor.

BCD Helps K3S Modernize User Interface for Multiple Devices, Cloud

September 1, 2011 - System iNetwork

K3 Solutions searched for the best way to modernize its inventory management software for eight years before choosing BCD's Presto solution. K3S wanted to give its software a new look that would satisfy existing green-screen users and new users. It also wanted the software to be accessible from multiple devices via the web and to offer a cloud solution for organizations that don't already own an IBM i box.

You Can Give Your Green-Screen Application New Functionality with Presto 3

May 13, 2011 - MCPress Online

The challenge of modernizing green-screen applications is larger than merely overcoming the limitations to the 5250 data stream; it is a question of how you add functionality, features, and information that the original architect never considered and how do you do it without starting over and redeveloping the entire application.

Customized Green Screens Key to BCD's Web Enablement

May 10, 2011 - ITJungle

If you're an application developer on a project that involves converting RPG and/or COBOL green-screen apps to Web pages, you hate being handcuffed with limited screen customization choices. When Business Computer Design (BCD) introduced its Presto software in October 2008, it realized a great many application modernization projects would sink or swim depending on the capabilities of its visual editor.

BCD Makes Web Enablement with Presto Even More Flexible in Third Major Release

May 9, 2011 - MCPress Online

Drop-down boxes and charts populated by DB2 data improve the end-user experience by making information easier to find or enter and they certainly add a visual appeal that isn't achievable in green screens. While it's always been possible to add these to your Presto Web-enabled screens, it just became a lot easier in V3.

BCD Focuses on LDAP and Cross-browser Support in Nexus Portal V4

May 9, 2011 - MCPress Online

The powerful user management features in Nexus play an important role in its ability to make enterprise information easier to access and to manage securely on the Web. V4 of Nexus now supports authenticating users against LDAP and Active Directory which makes it even easier for site administrators to manage users and improves the user experience.

1,000's of Green Screens & Three Solution Providers Journey to the Web

April 18 , 2011 - System iNetwork

Three IBM i solution providers who faced the challenges posed by large green screen modernization projects share their stories as they get close to going to market with new web versions of their proven RPG packages. One of the things they all have in common is they used BCD's Presto to achieve their goals.

Walton County Improves Accessibility of Permit System with BCD PHP and Portal Tools

November, 2010 - MCPress online

Business Computer Design today announced that the local governing body for the northern-most part of Florida's gulf coast in DeFuniak Springs recently acquired software licenses for WebSmart PHP and Nexus Portal. With these tools, it developed a Web-based permitting system on its IBM i server, a system that county employees now can access online. Even officers patrolling Walton County beaches can access it from their wireless laptops in police cruisers.

How to Get Buy-in to Make IBM i Web Applications Part of Your IT Strategy

October, 2010 - System iNetwork

To truly leverage the full power of the browser interface your strategy should include new web development efforts that employ true web programming techniques. Kevin Cronin describes which web applications your plan must include and how to prepare your web development team.

Document Management Cuts Paper and Saves Money at Top Ranked City

September 14, 2010 - ITJungle

While the virtues associated with living in an environmentally conscientious way are as abundant as wavy shafts of tan prairie grass in mid-summer, one motive that exerts considerable gravity in the heated conservation debate is that of money. Naperville, Illinois, a city with muscular environmental policies, is setting an example for other cities by further paring back the inefficient use of resources and lessening its impact on the environment while making better use of funds.

Why Web-Enabled Screens Need to Look and Function Like Standard Web Applications

September, 2010 - System iNetwork

To build a stronger business case, web-enabled screens need to make users more productive, reduce training costs, and provide new functionality. This means they need to look and function as much as possible like standard web applications.

The West Haven Police Department: The 2010 COMMON / IBM Innovation Award Awarded to a Police Department for the first time

August, 2010 - COMMON Connect Digital Magazine

The COMMON / IBM Innovation Award recognizes members of the Power Systems community who have demonstrated innovation, leadership and ongoing commitment to the community. A judging committee made up of COMMON Board Members and IBM members rate nominees on a number of criteria.

BCD Enhances Nexus Portal, Presto, WebSmart Family

June, 2010 - IBM Systems Magazine

IBM i modernization vendor Business Computer Design Int'l (BCD) has issued new versions of several products. The company has added several new features to Nexus Portal. Version 3.6 of the Web portal solution offers a Google search appliance portlet that lets users use Google searching and indexing on their own content. The product now fully supports Firefox users, and a major code revision has improved page load times by up to 40 percent, according to BCD.

IBM and COMMON Call the Cops

May 10, 2010 - Dan Burger, ITJungle.com

Sergeant Joseph Wynosky, one of two WHPD officers responsible for the department's IT operations, was most impressed with the new capabilities in the DCS mugshot system that allow officers to make positive identification much more easily. "They know for sure who they're dealing with," he says about increased officer safety. "Often individuals will give false or misleading information when questioned."

Proven Approaches to Give Your IBM i Applications a Rich Web Interface

May 18, 2010 - Duncan Kenzie, System iNetwork

There has been a lot hype recently about the new add-on product to RPG, Rational Open Access: RPG Edition (RPG OA), that provides 'open access' to your IBM i applications. The truth is, both RPG and the IBM i have been 'open' for many years. For example, the IBM i provides exactly the same APIs for writing to/reading from web browsers as Unix, Linux, AIX, or Windows systems.

BCD Invigorates Software for Application Development, Portal, and Query

May 18, 2010 - Dan Burger, ITJungle.com

BCD has produced software for IBM's midrange computers--including the AS/400, iSeries, System i, and now the Power Systems--for more than 30 years. It's one of only seven vendors that has lined up to support iManifest, an independent (read: non-IBM) initiative to promote the IBM i platform. Each year when the COMMON conference rolls around, you can count on BCD to have some product announcements. Here's what the Chicago-based company has done to enhance its product lineup.

BCD Tools Instrumental in Winning the COMMON / IBM Power Systems Innovation Award

May 5, 2010 - Chris Smith, MCPress Online

DCS, a privately-held corporation based in South Carolina that markets software solutions for public safety, detention centers and prisons in the United States and the Caribbean, won an IBM Innovation Award in the small and midsized award category, and the company credits BCD Software for providing the tools that made the accomplishment possible.

BCD Makes a Cluster of Product Announcements at COMMON

May 4, 2010 - Agrubb, SystemiNetwork.com

Business Computer Design (BCD), a provider of application modernization products for the IBM i, made a cluster of announcements in tandem with the COMMON 2010 conference this week. The announcements include: * upgrades to BCD's WebSmart family of products * a new version of Nexus Portal * a new release of Presto.

Reduce the PHP Learning Curve with WebSmart PHP

April 27, 2010 - Duncan Kenzie, System iNetwork

If you are like me, you probably come from an RPG background. You know green-screen subfile programming inside-out, how to organize and process any business data, and how to build complex business applications by calling programs from menus. But moving to the web can be daunting for anyone. There's a whole new programming paradigm to learn, not to mention different languages: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

Presto 2 Improves Screen Rendering and Design Flexibility

April 5, 2010 - Chris Smith , MCPress

I guess it's a guy thing, but we just love tools. It doesn't matter whether it's a cool new circular saw or a great computer development tool-it's a tool, we can get a lot accomplished with it, and that's what counts. Guys are expected to get a lot accomplished in little time. It means we're powerful, more potent. Well, a cool tool just got better, and you'll love how much you can get accomplished with it.

Old Code Meets New Ideas in Latest App Modernization Projects

March 2010 - Dan Burger, ITJungle

The heat is on. For all the talk about IT integration and innovation, words that get casually tossed around as if saying them was doing something, there is progress being made in the area of application modernization. The time for talk is turning into the time for action in the IBM AS/400 community, which IBM has renamed the iSeries, the System i, and now just IBM i. The lower case i, IBM used to be fond of saying, is for integration and innovation.

iManifest Gets Boost from BCD. Software vendor chides IBM for allowing a marketing vacuum to develop around the IBM i platform.

November 16, 2009 - Chris Smith, MCPress

The iManifest movement received a high-energy drink in one gulp last week as Business Computer Design (BCD) and its outspoken director of sales and marketing gave the organization a cash donation and committed to promoting the young organization's logo on all future marketing materials.

BCD gave iManifest its complete support in a move designed to counter what it perceives as a vacuum in leadership by IBM in marketing the IBM i platform. "I'm not down on IBM. I'm just disappointed," says Eric Figura, director of sales and marketing at BCD. "They have lost their marketing way with IBM i."

Figura says that ISVs and Business Partners with whom he keeps in regular contact all agree that IBM has failed to take advantage of the marketing opportunities for the IBM i platform and that IBM's emphasis solely on the converged Power Systems hardware platform has caused "a lot of angst and a lot of concern" in the marketplace.

iManifest U.S. Adds BCD to List of ISV Supporters

November 9, 2009 - Dan Burger, ITJungle

A good start is great, but it's follow through that buys the bacon. When Business Computer Design, better known simply as BCD, joined the iManifest U.S. membership last week, I asked Eric Figura, director of sales and marketing at BCD, how iManifest compares to programs IBM has attempted in the past.

BCD Joins iManifest

November 9, 2009 - Chris Maxcer

"I always knew we were going to do it," he says, noting that it's just a matter of getting everything lined up and together. For instance, BCD is currently working with its business partners in Europe in an effort to get them involved in iManifest EMEA. While BCD solutions are available around the world, it just makes sense to have the business partners who are working more directly with local customers to show support for iManifest EMEA, he notes.

Redesigned Reporting Infrastructure Pays Off in Inventory Reduction

September 22, 2009 - ITJungle

Ellis says his company has benefited in many ways. For one thing, information is presented to management in an easy to assimilate graphical format, and this allows them to save money though better control of raw materials inventory and other costs. It also helps to shorten the overall build cycle and allows Key City to better serve all of the furniture stores that sell their products nationwide. And from the perspective of an IT director, Ellis says they can do more with fewer resources.

COMMON interviews BCD's Eric Figura, Sales & Marketing Director

August 2009, COMMON Connect Magazine

COMMON recently caught up with Eric Figura, Director of Sales and Marketing at Business Computer Design Int'l, Inc., a long-time exhibitor, advertiser and sponsor of COMMON, to get their unique perspective on their involvement with COMMON and how it has benefited their company, and what they've done to maximize and retain customers in today's economy.

Companies Put PHP to Work With BCD's WebSmart

June 23, 2009 - ITJungle

The benefits of Web-based applications for purposes such as online shopping and order entry can reduce personnel costs and other bottlenecks when working with suppliers and customers. In IBM i shops, the interest in PHP has been surprisingly vigorous. Two companies that recently went live with IBM i PHP applications are Midwest Fuel Injection (MWFI) and American Foods Groups (AFG), both of which chose WebSmart PHP from Business Computer Design.

Query/400 Alternative from BCD Enhances BI Capabilities

May 12, 2009 - Dan Burger, ITJungle

Want to see your stock rise? Just design some real-time Web reports, queries, and executive dashboards. Delivering IBM i information to the people who want it--when they want it and in the format they want it--could be very profitable for your career.

Augmenting Browser-Based Development

October 1, 2006 - Don Rima, System i Network

You'll find that you'll be writing basic stuff within a day or two. As is with learning any new IDE and language (and there's a language involved here-see the Functionality section below), it will take a little time and effort but given all the helps, programming aids, etc., you should be good to go.

Migration: Are There Alternatives to RPG?

October 31, 2005 - Joe Pluta, MCPress Online

There are several vendors who Web-enable existing RPG applications, but there are few vendors who will convert RPG into code designed to run on the iSeries. BCD Software recently released a tool to convert existing applications to the PML language of its flagship WebSmart.

WebSmart 4.0 Is Cornerstone of BCD's Web Application Stack

February 17, 2004 - Alex Woodie, ITJungle

With WebSmart they're not overwhelmed. You put a programmer in front of the IDE with a template or two and watch his eyes light up," he says. "You can do much more sophisticated coding, with much less effort.

BCD Gears Up for WebSmart 4.0, Ships New Catapult Release

November 4, 2003 - Alex Woodie, ITJungle

When WebSmart 4.0 ships later this year or early next year, Business Computer Design Int'l says, users will find the integrated development toolset easier to use than that in previous versions.

WebSphere Is Not the Only Game in Town, and That's Good

October 28, 2002 - Dan Burger, ITJungle

"I can tell you of an $800 million electrical company that burned through $100,000 and were totally dismayed because they did not get what they wanted with WebSphere," says Eric Figura, manager of sales and marketing at BCD. "They didn't even come close. The company came to BCD and said, 'We'll pay you for 40 hours of consulting to show us how far you can go with the application that we want.'" After 38 hours of coding, using BCD's WebSmart, Figura says, the BCD programmers completed the company application.

BCD Releases Betas for Email and WebSmart

November 5, 2001 - Joe Hertvik, ITJungle

BCD has also announced the beta test release of WebSmart Site Management System. Built by using BCD's ProGen WebSmart development tool, Site Management System is an administrative tool that runs under the WebSmart Application Server. Site Management System allows users to implement systemwide security; change the look of a site by modifying front-end pages.