James Allman | JA Technology Solutions LLC
IBM i and IT consulting for Guam and the Marianas
If you run an AS/400 or IBM i system in Guam and your support options have thinned out — the local people who knew it retired, and mainland vendors quote you a 15-hour time difference before they quote you a rate — that is the gap I fill. I have supported organizations in Guam since 1995 and lived on the island for several years.
Guam has a real IBM i installed base: retailers, distributors, and shipping and logistics operators that have run their core business on the platform for decades. What the island has less of is on-call RPG, DB2 for i, and CL expertise that also understands how operations actually work out here — the freight lead times, the connectivity, the distance from where most software vendors sit.
I work remotely and I work your hours when it matters. Being 15 hours ahead of US Central time is a scheduling fact, not a barrier — I take calls and run cutovers on Guam time when the work needs it.
Why on-island experience matters
Since 1995
I have supported organizations in Guam for nearly three decades, and lived on the island for several years.
IBM i / AS/400 depth
RPG, RPGLE, CL, DB2 for i, and SQL — the platform Guam's retailers and distributors actually run on.
Guam-hours support
Remote work scheduled on ChST (UTC+10), not forced into US business hours 15 time zones away.
Across the Marianas
Work in Saipan and the CNMI as well — the same Pacific region, the same realities.
What I help with
The work is what an IBM i shop needs when the in-house knowledge has thinned: RPG and DB2 for i development, custom reporting against data that currently only prints to a spool file, integration between the IBM i and newer systems, production troubleshooting, and a realistic modernization path that does not require betting the business on a rewrite.
Where the system is a packaged retail or distribution platform rather than custom RPG, I work with the surrounding environment — reporting, interfaces, POS and warehouse connections, and data movement — the same way I do for mainland grocery and retail operators.
- RPG / RPGLE / CL development and legacy enhancement
- DB2 for i and SQL reporting and queries
- System integration between IBM i and POS, warehouse, finance, and external systems
- Data movement, conversion, and ETL
- Production support and troubleshooting on Guam time
- Modernization planning that preserves the business logic you depend on
Industries on the island
Guam's IBM i base is concentrated where the platform has always been strongest. I bring directly relevant experience to each.
Retail and grocery: store and merchandising systems, POS item-file accuracy, pricing, and the reporting around them — see grocery merchandising support. Warehousing and distribution: inventory, receiving, and the handheld scanner applications that run the floor. Shipping and logistics: the freight, container, and customs paperwork that moving goods across an ocean depends on — several of the free pallet and shipping tools on this site came out of exactly that kind of work.
Working across the time difference
Guam runs on Chamorro Standard Time (UTC+10), 15 hours ahead of my home base in US Central time. In practice that means your afternoon is my late evening and your morning is my night before — which is fine, because production problems and cutovers rarely respect business hours anyway.
I schedule real-time work — calls, go-lives, urgent troubleshooting — on Guam hours, and handle the rest asynchronously so the time gap works for you instead of against you. To set up a first conversation at a time that fits your day, the contact options below reach me directly; mention you are in Guam or the CNMI and we will find a slot that works.
Beyond Guam — the wider Marianas
The same applies across the Northern Mariana Islands. I have done work in Saipan, and the realities are the same: a capable IBM i or packaged system, a small pool of local specialists, and a long way to the nearest mainland vendor. If you are running critical systems anywhere in the Marianas and want someone who already understands the region, that is a fit.