CNX was founded in 1996 with an emphasis on System i (then AS/400) support and related contract programming services. Originally, CNX’s customer base consisted of manufacturing and distribution companies running System i-based ERP systems such as PRMS and BPCS. With these customers, CNX developed numerous “bolt-on” enhancements to their respective ERP systems, creating integrated applications that improved operations such as inventory control and manufacturing planning.

In 1999, CNX consolidated the best of its collective RPG programs developed for these clients to create the ATOMIC Planning and Execution Suite. Since that time, ATOMIC (Automated Order Management and Inventory Control) has evolved into a feature-rich collection of modules that streamline numerous aspects of inventory and order flow throughout the shop floor. The latest release of ATOMIC, version 3.5, supports all versions of PRMS and select versions of BPCS “out of the box.” ATOMIC’s highly modularized design makes it easily retrofitted to work with just about any ERP system running on the System i.

In recent years, CNX began researching options to freshen up the “green screen” interface of its ATOMIC programs. The goal for the next major ATOMIC release (version 4.0) was to continue using the sound business logic of its time-tested RPG programs, yet leverage the best of Web 2.0 functionality available to vastly improve the user interface. After researching numerous methods to accomplish this task, the CNX programming staff concluded there was no single option available that was ideally suited for this purpose. So we did the next best thing: We invented one!

Released to the public in May of 2008, the Valence Web Application Framework is the culmination of many months of research and development by the CNX staff. Designed by RPG programmers for RPG programmers, Valence includes all the tools necessary to create dynamic Web 2.0 applications using RPG and included JavaScript components. Mindful of our RPG-centric audience, Valence also includes numerous sample programs and instructional videos to help ease programmers into the brave new world of browser interfaces.

As a committed IBM business partner for 13 years, we at CNX are steadfastly devoted to the System i and seeing it live well past its “green screen” legacy. We are thus pleased to offer Valence to the System i community at a very reasonable price to help achieve this objective. We are confident that our fellow RPG programmers, ready to take the Web 2.0 plunge, can quickly leverage the Valence toolkit to create dazzling and speedy user interfaces over their solid RPG business logic. Hammer home with your users that the System i is still, hands-down, the best business machine on the planet!