System iNetwork

May 28, 2008

COMMON Belgium Tips to Power, Is COMMON Next?

Now that IBM's System i group is part of the IBM Power Systems group, COMMON Belgium has wasted little time shifting its focus to be more inclusive of the latest related IBM technologies. The user group posted a letter on its website a few weeks ago noting, "We are pleased to announce that COMMON Belgium, the users association that used to profile itself strongly as a System i-user group, has decided to become the users association of medium-sized and small enterprises that are or want to become clients of IBM."

This means that the user group will cover different server types, storage, management, middleware, and applications whether or not they run on IBM i. So with COMMON Belgium shifting focus, are COMMON and COMMON Europe next?

To find out, I queried COMMON President Randy Dufault, asking if the topic had come up for discussion either formally or informally at COMMON, if COMMON was considering any sort of name change, and, moreover, what he -- as president -- was thinking on the matter.

"Any time IBM restructures itself or its products there certainly is an impact on the user community, and most certainly, an impact on the organized user group community. Over the course of the 48 years COMMON has been serving users of IBM midrange computing products, things have changed a bunch of times, and despite those changes, COMMON's core mission of providing advocacy, education and community for its members is as relevant today as it was nearly half a century ago. There hasn't been any discussion or consideration for changing the name," he noted.

"That said, the key question is, 'What defines a user of IBM midrange computing products?' It could easily be argued that the umbrella of Power Systems now encompasses much, if not most, of that community. IBM i is a huge part of the community and will continue to be. However, it seems right now that the other parts of the Power Systems community are not well represented by independent user groups, and I think COMMON has a lot to offer to them," he added.

Dufault noted that the COMMON Board of Directors is constantly looking at how it can best serve the COMMON membership.

"Though final plans are not in place, benefits and services that will address the needs of the broader Power Systems community -- benefits and services across all three pillars of COMMON -- will likely be a part of the organization's very near future. There should be little or no impact to COMMON's members who concentrate primarily on IBM i, just more opportunities if and when they have other needs beyond i in their Power Systems environment," he explained.

From my perspective, the idea that COMMON would naturally expand with IBM's shift isn't particularly surprising -- how it will play out in terms of education, identity, advocacy, and membership growth is certainly up in the air. Instead of juggling a few different kinds of balls, think of a guy trying to juggle a handful of COMMON attendee badges. It's gonna be a tough job.

Dufault also said that the IBM reorganization generated quite a bit of discussion during the recent COMMON Europe board meeting and that he expects that the individual user groups in countries in Europe will likely develop their own strategies -- like COMMON Belgium did.

"Ultimately I suspect all of COMMON's sister organizations around the world will look to serve the broader Power Systems community," he said. "The next few years should be great fun as we learn from each other what the best ways are to serve our members."

Posted by cmaxcer at May 28, 2008 9:26 PM