System iNetwork

April 2008

April 30, 2008 8:24 AM

Another Power Pro: Less Pressure

In recent years, some System i shops bit the dust after being acquired by another company and/or merged with the IT strategies of another business unit that didn't particularly understand the System i and what it delivered. Not only could it be viewed as a foreign operating system, it came on a special box with special nomenclature. The new consolidation of Power hardware, however, removes one potential stumbling block: the unknown.

Sure, in the event of a merger, for example, IBM i might be just as foreign as i5/OS, but at least the hardware won't be. With PowerVM and an increased understanding of virtualization capabilities on the Power lineup, I think there'll be a better opportunity for some of these i workloads to live a longer life -- even in situations where the system is virtually unknown.

If a business process works, if it's easy to maintain, if it resides on a box that is readily understood by the market and with reasonable pricing, I would hope the opportunity for inclusion rather than exclusion is much better than it was before Power and i.

Plus, in a merger situation, there remains a sliver of opportunity -- where i provides better solutions with less hassle than others that sit next to it. IBM i has a chance to gain positive attention in situations where it may have previously been ignored.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 30, 2008 at 8:24 AM | Comments (9)

April 28, 2008 10:08 AM

The Surprising Power and i Pro: Marketing

The bane of the System i and AS/400 world has been marketing. If only IBM would have promoted the System i . . . Well, forget about it because those days are gone. However, Power and i brings up a surprising new positive factor for the i world -- marketing. Now that the i and p are officially merged, it gives IBM a bit more leeway in how it can promote the Power lineup. Granted, most of IBM's constraints were self-imposed, but in understanding the nature of the beast, there's one less way IBM can mortify itself and business partners by favoring one sibling over another.

The Power of 'Power'

IBM has a great name for its new Power ecosystem, and that's what it has become, an ecosystem. Power is based on the POWER6 processors, which are wicked fast, and as IBM plays king of the Unix hill with HP and Sun, Power shines from the top. The odds that potential i customers will see Power on top and come to recognize that Power Systems and POWER6 processor represent top-notch technology, the more meaning it will have when an IBM Business Partner tries to sell an i-based solution.

So when the issues of operating systems and hardware come up -- and they might even come up at different times -- the point that IBM i runs on IBM's most versatile and powerful Power servers can only help.

Power Is Extensible

The Power brand is also something IBM can utilize for more than just hardware. The company has already got a great name for its virtualization layer -- PowerVM -- and it's using it for other solutions such as PowerHA. Plus, we're seeing it in purely marketing and sales efforts such as Power Rewards, which is designed to pull customers off HP and Sun. Although this last program isn't i-specific, at least it's promoting the Power brand and getting non-IBM customers a little closer to IBM i land -- well, at least within sight of it.

As for the Power Equation marketing . . . that's not a bad idea, really. It's engaging and gives sellers potential talking points and customers reasons to run on Power. One IBM Power Systems product page lists some key equations:

• Power = performance + scalability
• Power = modularity + flexibility
• Power = compute + cool
• Power = choice + flexibility

I must admit that visually in logo form "i for Business" doesn't look that bad -- and I was previously caustic about using "i for Business," particularly if anyone had to actually say it in a sentence when speaking out loud. So, yeah, I'm softening a bit on i for Business but only because a better spoken-out-loud option is still available: IBM i.

Overall, the System i's strength was that it was so different -- and ultimately that was its Achilles' heel, too. In IBM's new Power world, IBM i running on a hardware system that is sure to gain both mind and market share is a good thing.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 28, 2008 at 10:08 AM | Comments (5)

April 21, 2008 9:10 AM

VIP Doing Well, IBM Expanding, Seeding the Next Season of i?

Like most technology firms, IBM wants a bigger piece of the $50 billion systems and storage SMB marketplace, and one of IBM's most ambitious -- and perhaps successful -- programs is the company's Vertical Industry Program (VIP). The effort is a strategy that identifies business niches where customers need quality IT solutions but don't typically have big budgets for IT staff. With VIP, IBM identifies the niches and connects software solution providers with IBM hardware-selling partners.

Launched as a test pilot for the IBM System i in 2007, the VIP program has exceeded all expectations, IBM says. In 14 months the program generated nearly $500 million and attracted more than 750 specialized business partners who are delivering business solutions for 120-plus sub-industries across 20 countries, IBM says.

Expansion on the Way

Because of VIP's success and increased market demand, IBM says it's expanding the program to support a broader range of industries and platforms including IBM Power Systems, BladeCenter, System Storage, and System x servers. This move is not unexpected. First, although we heard mostly about the System i-focused VIP program, IBM had parallel efforts working with System p.

In addition, once the concept was proven, who wouldn't expect IBM to look to expand it with its other hardware? If IBM could identify a niche and an application solution provider who could fill that niche, it would try to become the preferred hardware provider to take over that niche.

Now, the VIP program includes more than 160 sub-industries spanning 40 countries.

For small SMB-selling IBM Business Partners, the VIP program can be a huge boon -- they get IBM co-marketing activities, sales support, and stronger connections with other IBM Partners who specialize in the same industry. Through the program, customers see complementary solutions and locally based skills -- which hopefully will help i on Power flourish because it may make an unfamiliar operating system seem less risky to customers with limited IT staff members in the first place.

Great i VIP Examples

As part of the System i-focused VIP program, IBM has released three examples of partners and customers put together through the VIP program:

• Australian Business Partner, SEMD Business Solutions, enhanced its business pipeline more than 80 percent by integrating its Dealerpac software with IBM platforms and co-marketing into specialized industry segments such as automotive and farm machinery sales and chemical distribution, IBM reports.

  "Over the course of two decades, we haven't seen a single compelling reason to use any other platform than IBM Systems," notes Stephen Gough, managing director of SEMD. With the introduction of VIP, SEMD has grown its business across those sub-industries beyond expectations and has helped to grow its customers' businesses, as well. For example, Harley City -- a Harley Davidson dealership in Melbourne, Australia -- has tripled its growth with SEMD and VIP while keeping administration costs to exactly the same level.

  "Harley City has been able to maintain a competitive edge against the larger motorcycle chains in the local area. Without VIP and without reliable, simple, cost-effective systems to maintain, we would not have been able to keep that edge," notes David Reidie, CEO of Harley City.

• Sanmarco Informatica Spa is an Italian VIP partner that has achieved more than 2,000 customer installations working with IBM and is now growing globally. The company's Galileo Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions are designed for the manufacturing, wine, food, building, fashion, furnishing, wood flooring, and commercial sectors, IBM reports. Through VIP, Sanmarco has implemented an improved marketing strategy and delivered customers a simplified, centralized solution on IBM Systems.

  "Last year, working with IBM and VIP, we doubled our business," notes Michele Romano, marketing manager for Sanmarco Informatica. "Our applications' high level of security combined with the industry-leading features of IBM Systems make an ideal solution for automating processes and services, especially in manufacturing companies with international operations."

  Sanmarco customer Zonin wine makers runs 11 wine estates covering more than 3,700 acres in northern Italy. "Working with IBM and Sanmarco through VIP, we have been able to analyze the sale of every single bottle of wine to determine how best to optimize our sales and marketing strategy as we move forward. This has given us a considerable advantage in the competitive wine market and has helped us run a successful business from the vineyard to the glass," reports Francisco Zonin, vice president of Zonin.
  
  

• Xperia Solutions is an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based enterprise apparel solutions provider and IBM VIP partner, offering solutions and services that help customers plan and manage their production and sourcing operations, supply chain activities, and customer-service business practices. Through VIP, Xperia has been able to offer integrated solutions that propel its customers' businesses forward, IBM reports.

  "Xperia's apparel-specific industry solutions focus and the integrated nature of VIP allow us to address key critical business challenges facing companies in today's apparel marketplace," notes Gene Bonett, president and CEO of Xperia.

  One of Xperia's customers, Modern Shoe Company, an importer and wholesaler of women's fashion footwear, has enjoyed a phenomenal growth curve since its inception in early 2006. Without adding a single employee to its cast of nine, Modern Shoe's business has increased more than 250 percent in the past year to become a $50 million-plus business, IBM says.

  "With IBM Systems and services from Xperia, we've been able to streamline our business processes and utilize applications designed specifically for the apparel industry," reports Roger Monks, COO of Modern Shoe. "We've grown our business to unprecedented levels, and the combination of Xperia and IBM provides us with a stable platform to support and continue this growth in the coming months and years."
  

Next Generation of i Pros?

These smaller companies that are investing in i-based solutions now may form the backbone for the next set of i-focused jobs. They'll obviously need to become bigger businesses that require customization or integration, of course, and only time will tell.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 21, 2008 at 9:10 AM | Comments (3)

April 15, 2008 11:07 PM

Another Power and i Pro: No Hardware Penalties for i

Another reason to like IBM's new Power initiative is that it seems to be leading to more favorable cost-to-value ratios for the i world. You can argue that even at higher cost-of-entry prices, the total cost of ownership of running on a System i is still less expensive than running on a System p with AIX, but cost of acquisition is what's troublesome to so many IT buyers.

By sharing the same hardware as System p -- the Power brand of servers -- i-focused customers can rest assured that nobody is getting a better deal on basically the same box shipping off the assembly line just because he or she is going to run AIX on it.

Of course, the key reason System p prices have been more favorable is because of stiff competition in the Unix market, which will no doubt continue to help hold Power pricing down -- definitely good for the i.

"Now in the new Power Systems world, we have one hardware product line with one set of prices, with one set of terms and conditions, with one set of maintenance," Mark Shearer, IBM's vice president of marketing and offerings for the IBM Business Systems group, told the System iNEWS team at COMMON Nashville, noting that i-clients won't pay a "penalty" for the cost of disk or memory.

Better Pricing on Blades, Too

In addition to price parity on Power Systems, i customers, both new and existing, can get into a BladeCenter S environment for the same cost as a comparably set up Power 520 i edition system. So in some ways this becomes a choice of scaling up or scaling out but sticking to the cost factor, "From a financial point of view, it will be as attractive to purchase i edition blades as it is to purchase an i edition Power System, and we're doing that to make it easier and more compelling to simplify and integrate the Windows infrastructure with the i infrastructure [in client organizations]," Shearer said. Clearly this is part of a broader play from IBM, but since most i customers have Windows servers running, too, a BladeCenter package might enable a System i shop to upgrade where it might otherwise have been stuck waiting for a more favorable budget.

To put the "power" of IBM's 1-, 2-, and 4-way POWER6-based blades in context, "something like 90 percent of most of our clients' workloads can easily fit on a single Power blade," Shearer noted.

Blades are another positive, of course, worthy of their own dedicated post. But back to the money -- the cost of running an i is more favorable now than it has been in years, and customers have more options than ever in deciding how to spend their i money.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 15, 2008 at 11:07 PM | Comments (3)

April 14, 2008 8:49 AM

The Pros of Power and i: Number One -- IBM Had No Choice

IBM's switcheroo from an AS/400-selling midrange powerhouse to something altogether different has hardly been fast, surprising, or pleasant for those who understood -- and built their careers around -- IBM's 400 and its ecosystem. IBM has changed, though, and so has the industry at large . . . and this is the first premise that results in a check in the "pro" column in favor of IBM's new Power and i direction.

There are cons, of course, such as naming an entire operating system, not to mention the solution-centered industry built on top of it, with a lowercase i. Sure, there are some trademark issues that crop up with i OS and its variations, but still, "i for Business" is so freakin' stupid that I can't imagine hearing anyone in a meeting where adults wear button-up shirts uttering the phrase as in, "You know, what we really need to be running is i for Business. It's a mainstream operating system."

Imagine the dumbfounded looks, until one person pipes up:

"i for Business? That is its name? Yeah, OK, Jack. But let's continue running AIX for Play, Linux for Messing Around, and Windows for Kicks and Giggles, too. We need to cover our bases."

So Mr. i for Business gets a little red-faced, and the funny guy says, "Sorry, Jack, couldn't resist. What's your point about i for Business, anyway?"

So Yeah, I Could Slam Power and i All Day

Many of us could. However, I don't find that particularly helpful to our world, to our careers, or to our personal health. Frustration with something almost completely out of our control is like a festering wound, and I'm not a fan of festering, so I'm going to post some "pros" each day about IBM's Power and i announcement until I run out. There are positives here -- some pretty compelling positives, I might add -- and I'm excited to share them.

The first, of course, starts off with the cold hard truth: IBM is incapable, unwilling, and disinterested in creating a single awesome platform and fostering an ecosystem to support it.

IBM Has a Fractured Identity

IBM is a services company, a software company, a manufacturer, a research organization, and above all, a public company. Its primary goal is to maximize profit and do it in the safest way possible. So back when the AS/400 was still strong and Windows servers started multiplying like lemmings, IBM saw a fast path to growth if it could build more reliable hardware for Windows. Windows servers were a particularly profitable -- despite the competition -- method for selling because really, no company of any size just buys one. It buys several, and then a few months later buys some more. Pretty soon the company is in a cycle where it needs more, and if IBM were a drug dealer, IBM would peddle the System x all day long, all around the world, and when the addicts realized there had to be a better way, IBM could produce the BladeCenter, with supporting products.

What's even more important is that these companies needed help! By giving customers what they wanted in iterations just a little bit better than the competition, IBM won. Then when it all got unruly, IBM won again by selling services or upselling an easy-to-sell alternative, which would be AIX, which has competitors and solution providers already out in the wild who are also busy promoting Unix-based solutions.

The point is, if I'm a hamburger vendor and I see customers who are interested in hot dogs, I'm going to add hot dogs to the menu. There are other hot dog vendors out there on the street, and they're innovating, and I'm seeing that, so I'm going to have to innovate, too. I'm adding chili dogs to the menu and sausage and sauerkraut -- and what the heck -- shaved ice in funky cone-shaped paper cups? Gotta offer that, too.

But Where's the Beef?

Sure, the argument is, if I would have focused on making the best hamburgers in the world, I would have maintained market share and convinced most customers to stick with hamburgers. I would have had a kick-butt identity as being the best hamburger place on the planet. My business partners who sell ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions would all be eternally happy.

The point is, there's no way that IBM could have ignored the market trends going on around it, even at the height of the AS/400, and particularly as a public company with shareholders who want to see the fastest growth curves and the most sales possible on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Seriously, a machine that never goes down, that's so reliable that Global Services barely knows it exists, is not a growth machine.

In any event, in chasing after hot dogs, IBM let the AS/400 falter, and once it started slipping, there was no stopping it. With anything on a grand scale, such as OS/2, IBM learned that it couldn't convince the world that something different -- and better -- was the way to go. It sure as heck wasn't going to throw a lot of money into the AS/400 and System i in an effort to build up the platform.

Used All Over the World

The AS/400, System i, and Power and i is a niche system. It brings in a fraction of IBM's revenue each year, and although it's found in a majority of major companies in the world, it's most often found next to many other platforms. IBM's most successful sales came in niche situations where specific solutions found a perfect type of company and thrived -- like any of the manufacturing, ERP-related solutions, of which, J.D. Edwards springs to mind, which happened to sell a lot of boxes for IBM.

So IBM gained success with the AS/400 and System i largely through its Business Partner network, which is basically a management effort -- not a leadership effort. Turning a platform into a mind-share and market-share winner requires leadership -- serious day-in-day-out leadership. Think Bill Gates, who was able to turn Windows into a household name. Think Steve Jobs, who was able to create an iPhone that spanked the wireless telecommunications industry while ushering the Mac into a resurgence.

Who's leading IBM? Maybe the better question is, what is IBM's leading product?

The point is, IBM is fundamentally incapable of pushing a solution into the market and winning over the world on its vision. In this kind of IBM, the System i could not possibly have had a future.

The move to Power and i aligns the i world more closely to the rest of IBM. Instead of the System i being a neighbor kid who's usually welcome at the dinner table, the new Power and i combination is at least a sibling now, guaranteed a plate every night.

In the new IBM, i will be more recognizable, more acceptable, and mainstreamed in how IBM treats it. In some ways, i is now just another operating system, but in how I see IBM, that's the only way i could possibly survive, and that's why this is a "pro" . . . albeit the most difficult one to swallow.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 14, 2008 at 8:49 AM | Comments (4)

April 8, 2008 9:34 PM

Clips From COMMON: i and Power Hardware Announced

If you haven't checked out IBM's "The new Power equation" site, it's worth a look. It's basically a marketing page, but it also links to the new Power Systems pages that provide detail -- like the BladeCenter JS12 Express blade pages. For those who missed the Town Hall event at COMMON, there's a five minute video that distills IBM's key messages in clips from the event. It also includes a handful of quick attendee reaction interviews at the end.

Oh, and I haven't been ignoring the negative comments about Power and i . . . I'm a bit more bullish on the consolidated unified hardware than most, but I'm coming at it from the stark realities of how I see IBM's world and what I think may be the only realistic shot at i-focused growth. More on this soon, of course!

Posted by cmaxcer on April 8, 2008 at 9:34 PM | Comments (5)

April 7, 2008 1:28 AM

Rest In Peace Al Barsa

The System i world has lost a true champion. Al Barsa, Jr., died while attending the COMMON conference in Nashville last week. Early reports indicate that Al passed away in his hotel room.

Several websites are publishing funeral arrangements as well as "Al" stories from friends and colleagues. Here are some of those links:

• Al Barsa - Mr. 400:
  http://www.mr400.com/Al.html
• Mr. 400 on Flickr:
  http://www.flickr.com/groups/mr400
• The Long Island Users Group, of which Al was a very active member, has posted information about the funeral arrangements:
  http://www.lisug.org/
• Barsa Consulting:
  http://www.barsaconsulting.com/

In addition, many people have been posting messages to the Midrange-L mailing list.

The COMMON Education Foundation is setting up a scholarship fund in Al's memory. We don't have details yet, but we'll publish them as soon as we do.

Rest in peace, Al. You will be missed.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 7, 2008 at 1:28 AM | Comments (28)

April 2, 2008 7:52 AM

System i Morphs Into Power and 'i'

In a bold consolidation move, IBM has removed and replaced the identity of the System i by turning it into an "i" operating system that runs on IBM's hottest POWER6-based hardware. Gone is the old identity of the integrated system, and along with it, presumably, the associations of a legacy system. The company has replaced System i and System p with a new line of unified servers with simplified pricing. The line is now officially IBM Power Systems, known as the IBM Power platform, with hardware server models branded with Power, as in, the Power 520, which will run AIX, Linux, or i5/OS. And i5/OS, by the way, really is simply "i." IBM is essentially shedding the old, keeping the best, and embracing the new.

The plan to mainstream i5/OS is well under way.

Groundbreaking News

Mark Shearer, IBM's vice president of marketing and offerings for the IBM Business Systems group, along with Ross Mauri, general manager of the IBM Power Systems group, jointly unveiled the massive change at a special town hall meeting today at the COMMON user group conference in Nashville. Due to a personal scheduling issue, I wasn't able to be at the town hall meeting, but I -- and several of my colleagues -- were pre-briefed at COMMON by Shearer and Ian Jarman, who is now the manager of Power Systems Software. Look for additional coverage of the town hall meeting itself here tomorrow.

OK, let's get this out: WOW! This is big news. Sure, the idea of combining the System i and System p on a single platform has been banging around Rochester and bouncing out into the world for years, but ideas and preparation are a far cry from an actual product launch. Some clarification is in order -- the consolidation, the unity, the shifts in naming . . . aren't particularly astounding. The ramifications are astounding. The trickle effects of this announcement and launch will work their way throughout the business partner and ISV world and down into organizations of all sizes, including those organizations and professionals that still, perhaps defiantly, call System i AS/400.

As Shearer let on during the opening session at COMMON, he is clearly amped by the changes, which he said were on par with the launch of the AS/400 twenty years ago. At first glance, his words seem more hyperbole than reality, but upon closer inspection, today's news has the potential to reach deep into System i-loving organizations and give them the ability to remain sheltered in tradition -- or step out in a brave new world with a surprising range of benefits.

The Basics

Along side the announcement of the consolidation and naming, IBM introduced two new Power servers and the JS12 blade. If you're wondering about IBM's naming conventions, here's the clarification: If you're referring to the POWER6 processor, "POWER" is capitalized. If you're referring to the servers, it's just "Power."

The new IBM Power 520 Express server is a 1-, 2-, or 4-core 4.2 GHz POWER6 processor-based entry server. The 520 with IBM i installed starts at under $9,000 and will be available April 18. IBM also expects that its most popular configuration of the i Edition for Power 520 will be under $12,000.

IBM also introduced the Power 550 Express server, which is a 2-to-8 core server that uses 3.5 or 4.2 GHz processors. It will be available May 23, but pricing isn't yet available.

The blade is the IBM BladeCenter JS12 Express Blade, which is a 2-core 3.8 GHz POWER6 processor blade that slides into the already industry-popular, SMB-sized BladeCenter S chassis. It will be available May 30, and the JS12 Blade itself is under $5,000 -- and get this -- the JS12 Blade, when placed in a BladeCenter S chassis, will be priced virtually identically to the popular configuration of the i Edition of the Power 520.

Shearer said the goal with this aggressive pricing model is to ensure that price is not a factor for smaller organizations considering their upgrade options. If a company is interested in the value proposition of consolidating Windows, AIX, or Linux on a BladeCenter, alongside their IBM i operating system, they won't be priced out of the decision.

This BladeCenter pricing, strategy, and opportunity for System i shops . . . all on its own . . . is big news, and I'll be covering it more in the coming weeks.

Oh Yeah, No More V6R1

Here's another interesting tidbit . . . as part of the effort to mainstream the System i and i5/OS, IBM is shedding the archaic -- or iconic, depending on your level of loyalty -- V6R1 nomenclature. Now, V6R1 will be simply 6.1, and could be referred to as 6.1, i 6.1, or even IBM i 6.1.

Shearer Is Amped (And So Is i)

Obviously, there's a lot to cover and explore surrounding today's announcements -- look for additional Town Hall coverage and audience reactions tomorrow on Maxed Out, as well as reader comments, which I certainly expect to be lively over the coming weeks -- and which also have the power to ferret out unexpected details, problems, and insights.

For example, I haven't even touched on the benefits this move will bring to business partners and ISVs, not to mention the Vertical Industry Program; nor does it cover IBM's Rational RDi and RDi SOA software development strategies in light of a mainstreamed Power server and i operating system world -- though IBM hasn't announced any changes here.

Then there's PowerVM, which is being well received across the industry and will not only increase complexity for some System i shops, but also provide the power to simplify so much.

The i Editions

Even though this is a radical change, System i shops can mitigate the change by buying i Editions, which will be packaged very similarly to existing System i servers. As for the high-end Power systems with the new consolidated naming scheme, etc., IBM plans to roll those out soon.

One Last Note

On Sunday at COMMON, Shearer said,

"IBM's objective this week is to have you return to your companies at the end of the week from Nashville thinking that this has been the best week for our i clients since the launch of the AS/400 twenty years ago.

"So that's the standard you can measure me against . . . and I know you will. . . . We're looking to deliver the future of the System i, and I hope you like it as much as I do."

So what do you think? I think it's a bit of hyperbole at first glance . . . but the ramifications . . . oh boy oh boy.

Posted by cmaxcer on April 2, 2008 at 7:52 AM | Comments (77)

April 1, 2008 5:11 PM

Guest Blog: Checking in with Sharon Hoffman

I've had the pleasure of spending time with Sharon at this conference. We've chatted with IBMers and vendors on the expo floor and visited with many other folks. Sharon knows a lot of people here, so it's been great for me to hang out with her. We sat down on a bench outside the Expo on Tuesday, and I asked her for a quick take on her impressions of COMMON thus far. Here's what she said:

There's a lot of energy here. Two topics that have caught my attention as raising a lot of interest are:

• The new packaging of the dev tools: RDi and RDi SOA vs. WDSc
• PHP: My impression, when comparing this year's COMMON to last year's, is that we're moving beyond the experimentation stage to the implementation stage.

— Linda Harty, web strategic editor

Posted by rsanders on April 1, 2008 at 5:11 PM | Comments (0)

Guest Blog: COMMON RiPs Brainstorm Ways to Volunteer

At one unusual 2008 COMMON session in Nashville, the participants had more in common than their interest in the System i -- they also shared an abundance of gray hair. The gathering of the geezers -- Retired i5/OS Professionals (RiPs) -- turned out to be a lively discussion of ways that long-time i experts at the end of their careers can stay involved by volunteering to help others.

Organized by retired IBMers Larry Youngren and Dori Allen, RiPs aims to encourage "OiPs" -- old System i professionals -- to join the Volunteer Excellence Team to serve on COMMON committees, mentor new speakers, teach their own sessions, help with registration, or sign up for the TLC crew. "The idea is to keep these folks and their enthusiasm and intelligence on board," Youngren noted.

Aside from the feel-good rewards that such volunteerism fosters, RiPs members can also earn credits toward COMMON membership, conference tuition, and other expenses involved with attending the annual meeting.

Youngren said the monetary incentives from COMMON indicate that the organization believes "This [RiPs] has value to us."

Volunteers could also assist with labs or work as subject-matter experts to help develop the curriculum for COMMON's educational offerings.

Attendees at the RiPs meeting even discussed the possibility of teaching i5/OS classes at colleges, training returning soldiers for careers involving the System i, and helping IT retirees find part-time, short-term jobs.

Youngren said he and Allen got a list of new COMMON speakers and went on a "fishing expedition" to find out if any of them wanted a mentor to sit in on their sessions and offer helpful comments afterward. "I wondered how many times I would have to drop my line to find any takers," he said. Just once, as it turned out. Everyone he and Allen contacted jumped at the opportunity.

So whether you're a RiP or an OiP (or just "RiPE" as one attendee joked), COMMON needs you. To get involved, write to VolunteerExcellence@common.org.

— Vicki Hamende, senior editor

Posted by cmaxcer on April 1, 2008 at 4:17 PM | Comments (0)

Guest Blog: A Quick Chat with Scott Klement

One of my favorite things about COMMON is being able to see our tech editors in person. Because they live all over the country — and some even live in other countries — most of my interaction with them is via e-mail. So it's great to see some of them face to face here at COMMON. I ran into Scott (who, by the way, is a speaker in nine sessions at this conference!) and asked him to give me his impressions of this year's COMMON so I could share it with you in this blog. Here's what Scott had to say:

My overall impression of this year's annual conference has been very positive. First of all, I just love this hotel. It has several huge atriums full of plants, fountains, restaurants, and shops. The biggest atrium has a river running through it, and they give boat tours on the river. How many hotels do you know of that have boat tours inside the hotel? I'm loving every minute of it.

I've also noticed quite a lot of "first-time attendee" ribbons on people's badges. I'm really thrilled to see so many people coming for the first time, and I find it very encouraging.

In fact, I've been getting a very positive vibe from this conference. The first timers are excited, but so are the experienced folks. The attendees at the talks I've given seem very excited about learning new things, and that carries over to the speakers, who feel excited to teach those things. What a great feeling!

I've also asked several vendors how their businesses are faring in today's market, and the majority of them told me that business is good and that they're experiencing growth. That's wonderful to hear! Quite honestly, it was not what I expected. I thought I'd hear gripes (as I did last year) about how hard it is to find people interested in buying more stuff, but I really haven't heard that this year.

It almost feels like the community has been revitalized. I can't really put my finger on why they feel this way, but I have to tell you, it makes me feel good just to be here in the midst of it.

— Linda Harty, web strategic editor

Posted by rsanders on April 1, 2008 at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

Guest Blog: It's Like Drinking Nyquil and Watching 'Gone With the Wind'

As soon as I left the check-in desk at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, I was instantly and irreversibly lost. Less a hotel than a climate-controlled, densely foliated M.C. Escher painting, the site of this year's COMMON is a maze of arched bridges, bubbling fountains, and curved staircases, all gilt in pseudo-antebellum décor. If you want to replicate the experience, drink half a bottle of Nyquil and watch Gone With the Wind (colorized).

I'm exaggerating a bit. There is a certain charm to the place, once you've resigned yourself to the long aimless strolls between the convention center and your hotel room. And COMMON has a definite energy this year — V6R1 is fresh out of the oven, IBM is making a major announcement at the town hall meeting on Wednesday, and the expo hall is buzzing. However, as fun as it is to speculate, there's a lot to do before Wednesday — for now, it's business as usual, with plenty of informative sessions for attendees of all experience levels, and a packed expo hall full of vendors with new products to show off.

The crowd is younger than usual this year. The familiar faces are still here, manning the booths and leading workshops and sessions, but "First-Time Attendee" ribbons are abundant, and the under-35 demographic made a strong showing. COMMON calls them Young i5/OS Professionals (YiPs), and has a special meeting for them at each convention. Last year, about 10 showed up for the meeting, but I saw at least twice that in the first hour on the Expo floor. (There's also a Retired i5/OS Professionals (RiPs) group for those who enjoy a little gallows humor with their cutesy acronyms).

It's going to be fun to watch the week unfold. I've never personally witnessed a major IBM announcement or its aftermath — will the crowd throw flowers or tomatoes? I don't know yet whether it's simply the afterglow from the V6R1 release, the surreal, terrarium-like venue, or the plethora of open bars on the Expo floor last night, but there's a definite energy in the air. Will the town hall meeting live up to expectations? Will I even be able to find it? I'll let you know Thursday.

— Derek Maness, associate editor

Posted by rsanders on April 1, 2008 at 9:54 AM | Comments (2)