ISPM · Spool Print Modernizer · IBM i
From AS/400 spool files to modern PDF documents.
ISPM receives spool files from your IBM i, recognizes each report, extracts its data and generates PDFs designed with Typst, delivered via API, email or printer. Your existing reports stay exactly as they are.
The problem
IBM i reports deserve modern documents.
On IBM i (AS/400), many processes still produce reports as fixed-column spool files. Turning them into PDFs to send or archive often relies on outdated tools: tied to Windows, 32-bit, built on commercial libraries and no longer supported.
Fixed-column reports
Printouts designed for continuous forms: hard to read, forward and integrate.
Unsupported tools
32-bit Windows converters with commercial libraries, hard to maintain and to evolve.
Manual delivery
Without a dedicated engine, PDFs are sent, printed and archived by hand, one report at a time.
Before and after
From fixed-column report to designed document.
ISPM doesn’t take a snapshot of the printout: it extracts the fields and lays them out again in a Typst template, with your layout.
PDF generated with Typst
Invoice 0042
| Code | Description | Qty | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| A100 | Bearing 6204 | 10 | 45,00 € |
| B220 | Gasket | 4 | 8,40 € |
Total 53,40 €
Illustrative example with fictitious data.
How it works
A configurable pipeline, from the AS/400 to delivery.
Nothing about how a spool file is recognized, read or routed is hard-coded: everything is configured from the web interface.
Receive
Via standard LPD/LPR, with no proprietary software on the AS/400, or with the ISPM monitor over HTTPS, which also carries the spool attributes.
Decode
EBCDIC, fixed columns and code pages: the printout text becomes data.
Recognize
Configurable profiles and Rhai rules decide which report it is and how to handle it.
Extract
Fields and tables are extracted and validated.
PDF with Typst
The document is laid out again from a template, with your layout.
Deliver
Via API (HTTP endpoints, with the extracted fields), email or IPP printer.
Why ISPM
Built for those who can’t afford to lose a single printout.
No lost jobs
Every spool file is saved before its receipt is confirmed: a restart loses no jobs and creates no duplicates.
Mapping Designer
Fine-tune decoding and define fields on a real job, with a live PDF preview.
One document per recipient
A bulk print run, such as account statements, invoices or payslips, is split into one document for each recipient.
Existing reports, unchanged
The instructions already in your reports are mapped with configurable adapters: you change engines without rewriting your programs.
Everything reproducible
Within the retention period, any job can be run again with the current configuration.
AI assistant
An MCP server helps you configure profiles and templates from an AI assistant.
ISPM and AION
ISPM generates the document. AION manages the process.
ISPM is deliberately just the document engine: it receives, recognizes, extracts, generates and delivers. Everything that is a process, such as document archiving, approvals, signatures and tracked dispatches, is AION’s job.
For each profile, you can send the generated document, together with the extracted fields, straight to an AION workflow, which manages the rest of the process.
Installation
On-premises, even without Internet access.
One installation per company, on your own Linux server, with an interface in Italian and English.
Offline package
ISPM installs from a package that contains everything: it works even in environments isolated from the Internet.
Hands-off installation
The installer prepares everything and starts the service; HTTPS is then enabled from the settings.
Nothing to install on the AS/400
With LPR, a remote output queue is all you need. The optional ISPM monitor also lets you route documents based on spool attributes.
Nothing is lost if the license lapses
Without a valid license, ISPM keeps receiving and queuing spool files, and processes them as soon as the license is active.
- Rust
- Typst
- Rhai
- SQLite
- LPD/LPR
- IPP
- MCP
ISPM
Your IBM i, with modern documents.
Let’s start from one of your real reports: we’ll show you how it becomes a PDF ready to deliver.