Given the name of the tiny Island Nation, you might expect Iceland to be barren, cold and, yes, icy. You'd be mistaken, however.

And given Iceland's remote location, you might not expect the country to be home to a devoted band of iSeries enthusiasts.

Again though, you'd be mistaken. Iceland is a country of surprising facts, not the least of which being that its standard of living is among the world's highest (its per capita income, in U.S. dollars, was $30,575 in 2000). And, despite its misleading name, this island nation jutting forth from the North Atlantic features a wide array of geography and climate, with an average yearly temperature ranging from 32 to 76 degrees Fahrenheit.

Another surprising fact is that Iceland has harbored its own midrange user group since the days of the System/38. These days, the Icelandic iSeries and AS/400 Club boasts between 50 and 70 active members that, according to Bjorn Hilmarsson, user group chairman, are employed by companies that own roughly 300 iSeries and AS/400 machine nationwide.

"It's a pretty small market when compared to the number of users worldwide," he says. "But we've been around a long time."

In addition to his chairman duties, Hilmarsson is a computer scientist for Ferli ehf, an Iceland-based software company that works and programs within iSeries and Windows* environments. A certified distributor and reseller for ASNA and ADVANCED BusinessLink (ABL), Ferli also uses both companies' solutions internally: ASNA's Visual RPG serves as a tool for Windows and Web development, while ABL's Strategi Internet Server runs on Ferli's AS/400 Model 170.

In addition, the Model 170, which runs OS/400* V4R5, hosts the Iceland user group Web site (www.ferli.is/as400klubbur) and user mailing list. Through the mailing list, user group members are kept up-to-date on upcoming meetings as well as the latest midrange industry news.

"In that way, it is really easy to be in contact with the whole group," he says. "Users keep in touch about what systems they're using and what solutions they're using. Mostly, it is technical people that visit and attend our meetings. Software houses also use it to promote their products and that's a tremendous help."

Beyond serving as an information exchange and a venue by which companies can promote iSeries goods and services, the user group-much like any other iSeries user group-serves as a forum in which users can voice support and concerns regarding the iSeries. And, according to Hilmarsson, there's a healthy mix of both.

"Yeah, it's stable and secure and all that," he says. "But, it also has a few drawbacks, and we hear about those, too."

Hilmarsson says the most common complaint regarding the iSeries, at least in Iceland, is that the green-screen interface isn't popular and that most users there want to work within a Windows environment. It's not surprising then that Ferli specializes in importing solutions to the iSeries to make the server more GUI-based. For example, all Ferli software is now written with Visual RPG from ASNA.

One of Hilmarsson's other concerns is a conspicuous lack of iSeries experts graduating and entering the Icelandic workforce.

Ferli is addressing iSeries education needs by providing its own classes. Although classes are small, rarely filling the company's three student capacity, it helps ensure additional server expertise in the small Icelandic iSeries community.

"What we have been doing here is that we have a really good classroom. And when we have three, it's full," says Hilmarsson.

By most standards, three students is very small, but such small numbers should be weighed against the country's overall population. For example, if you were to factor in Iceland's population of 278,000 (one-tenth that of the Untied States), you would have a class of 30 students by U.S. standards. But, who's counting?

More importantly, participants in the Ferli classes contribute to the Iceland iSeries user group, making for a community of users who are very familiar with one another.

"We gather up 50 to 70 people every meeting," Hilmarsson says. "That's not too large, but we know it exactly because it's such a small community here."

Ryan Rhodes is news editor of e-server Magazine. He covers product-related news and other topics. He can be reached at rhodesr@us.ibm.com.

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