System iNetwork

March 2009

March 27, 2009 11:37 AM

IBM Layoffs Continue While Company Creates New Jobs Overseas

No surprise here: IBM is coming under fire again for removing job positions from the United States and North America in favor of increased hiring in India. The global company has clearly been consistently increasing its available positions in India and in other parts of the world while slowly draining its U.S.-based pool of talent.

The point isn't so much that IBM is having layoffs--what tech company isn't?--the point is that it sure as heck seems as if IBM is intentionally shifting away from presumably more expensive American employees in favor of cheaper labor. It seems a bit un-American, right? Especially while we're in the middle of a recession.

In a CNN report, Lee Conrad, national coordinator for Alliance@IBM, which is a pro-union group that has been fighting IBM's outsourcing for years, is quoted as saying, "We're outraged that jobs cuts are happening in the U.S. and the work is being shifted offshore. This comes at the same time IBM has its hand out for stimulus money. This to us is totally unacceptable."

There's a lot more stories on this subject, by the way, that are worth reading. Here's a handful:

• IBM to Cut 5,000 Jobs; D.C. Area Largely Not Affected
• IBM Layoffs Include Wide Ranging U.S. Job Cuts
• Labor slams IBM for job cuts while seeking stimulus
• IBM layoffs raise ire in N.Y. State Assembly
• IBM Canada spokesman says company cutting jobs across the country
• IBM Layoffs Continue, Could Spur Union Effort
• Is IBM Doomed?
• IBM layoffs incite backlash

Posted by cmaxcer on March 27, 2009 at 11:37 AM | Comments (13)

March 25, 2009 10:07 AM

COMMON Hosts Sunday Morning Charity Run in Reno

To kick off next month's COMMON conference in Reno, COMMON is hosting a 5K run/walk event to benefit United Blood Services. The charity event is part of the COMMON Cares initiative, which is tasked with providing service and outreach to local and global communities, giving COMMON members a chance to do some good. The walk will start at 8:30 a.m. on April 26 at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, which is the site of the COMMON 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

"COMMON is very excited to visit Reno with our 2009 Annual Meeting," notes COMMON President Randy Dufault. "It is very important to us as an organization that we have a positive impact on the community while we are there and that is part of what our members are trying to accomplish with COMMON Cares."

It's Just 3.1 Miles

To learn more and preregister, go to the run/walk site online. The fee for participating is $35.

"I am so psyched that COMMON Cares is bringing a 5K race and blood drive to Reno/Sparks in conjunction with the COMMON Annual Meeting," says Matt Booher, president of the local Reno-Sparks Midrange Users Group (RSMUG).

"This is a great opportunity for IBM IT professionals to mix with locals and give back to the host community, in addition to having some fun! Everyone wins--the local Reno/Sparks Community, those who need blood, runners and walkers from the area and COMMON members, and United Blood Services. Thank you COMMON for caring to make Reno/Sparks a better place!" Booher adds.

Meanwhile, COMMON's early bird deadline is approaching--you'll need to register by April 2 to save $200. Oh, one more thing: the room rates at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino are lower than they have been at any other COMMON conference in recent memory, so you might be able to slip into town on Saturday, giving you plenty of time to prep for the 5K run and blood drive. Think about it!

Posted by cmaxcer on March 25, 2009 at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2009 10:19 AM

MBA Students Learn Power Systems in Second Life

Three Midwest universities have teamed together to use the online virtual world Second Life to teach more than 100 MBA students core concepts exemplified by IBM's Power Systems and IBM i. Second Life is a three-dimensional environment that lets its inhabitants buy, build, learn, and interact online.

The program is a collaborative effort between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Iowa State University, and Wright State University. While most IBM i-focused training aims to teach the next generation of programmers or administrators, the Second Life project focuses on the higher rungs of the corporate ladder.

"We're working to expose business managers and executives to Power Systems," says Dr. Keng Siau, E. J. Faulkner Professor of MIS for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Most of the MBA students are business managers and executives by day who take graduate classes in the evenings and weekends to complete their MBA degrees.

Power Concepts

To kick off the project, the students were presented with 34 key computing concepts that were, of course, exemplified by IBM Power Systems. Some examples include virtualization, server consolidation, green computing, disaster recovery, and capacity on demand. They then researched the relevant IBM solutions and concepts on their own, with a deeper dive into IBM i, AIX, Linux, BladeCenter, RPG, WebSphere, and the like.

In the Second Life phase of the project, the MBA students worked in groups of two to discuss the IBM Power Systems solutions and concepts, and then selected a topic to present in a Second Life-based virtual design/presentation. The teams worked together for five weeks to complete their designs.

On the Island

Just like real estate in our own world, virtual land in Second Life is valuable, too. Companies like IBM have used real dollars to purchase their own islands in Second Life in order to maintain a virtual presence. For the MBA projects, the universities have their own island, the Power Academic Island, which provides a playground for the students to showcase their work.

They used primitive elements to build 3-D interactive representations of their chosen concepts, and the results are similar to what you might find in a museum exhibit.

"The process of doing the project is more important than the output," Siau says.

"By going through these phases of understanding, researching on the web, and discussing with their partners . . . I bet that after five weeks, they'll remember this for the rest of their lives--it's not just another guest lecture for three hours," he notes.

What's particularly cool about the Second Life project is that now more than 100 middle and higher level managers and executives--the MBA students in Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio--are now aware and informed about IBM Power Systems. Siau says the students averaged 3-5 hours a week on the hands-on Second Life project, which has created a deep impression of IBM Power Systems that should not only stay with the MBA students, but let them use that knowledge in their own companies.

Better yet, the project is ongoing.

"We'll be having another batch of MBA students in April," Siau says.

Nice.

Posted by cmaxcer on March 23, 2009 at 10:19 AM | Comments (5)

March 16, 2009 9:56 AM

IBM Targets Forgotten i Boxes

IBM has launched a new incentive program designed to up sell new hardware to hibernating AS/400, iSeries, or System i customers. Under IBM's iLoyalty program, customers can move to select i Editions of the Power 520, Power 550, and IBM BladeCenter with a no-charge IBM i processor license. Plus, customers can acquire IBM i user licenses at a 50 percent discount.

While the iLoyalty program is generally inclusive of any IBM i-focused customer, the target customers tend to be those who have installed their systems but haven't upgraded recently -- those who leave their boxes running quietly in the corner and just forget they exist.

"This is an effort to reach out and deliver a compelling value proposition to these customers, many of which have not been touched [by IBM] for quite a while," explains Todd Morris, director of worldwide sales for IBM Power Systems.

"The sweet spot is for customers who bought an i box 3, 4, 5, 6 years ago," he notes.

Saving Hundreds or Thousands

"In many cases these customers can instantly save hundreds of dollars a month by going to a new Power 520 or BladeCenter," Morris says. "They'll save in software and hardware maintenance, and at the same time benefit from a pretty nice hardware update."

"This is designed to save cash from month one -- assuming they lease," Morris notes.

Of course, for customers who are not on software or hardware maintenance, the savings aren't quite as compelling. Still, the processor entitlement equates from $15,000 to $44,000 in value, depending on what a customer is upgrading from and moving to.

In addition, customers can also often reduce their system's power consumption.

In Europe and some international markets, IBM has similar programs in place with slightly different names, such as iCare. "They are not identical, but the core value proposition is pretty much the same," Morris says.

Playing with Blades

IBM, of course, is hoping that some of these customers might become reinvigorated through the adoption of a BladeCenter that will let them consolidate their i and Windows workloads in the blade form factor. In addition, a BladeCenter can help customers establish a more manageable Storage Area Network setup, as well as give them room to add Linux or Unix workloads with additional blades.

"This is very much a Partner-led play," Morris says, noting that IBM's Business Partners will be reaching out to customers targeted under its iLoyalty program.

To learn more about the program, IBM has created an iLoyalty site with handy resources like a tool for calculating your likely cost savings.

The iLoyalty offers are slated to end June 19.

Posted by cmaxcer on March 16, 2009 at 9:56 AM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2009 9:24 AM

Cops and Robbers in the COMMON Keynote

The Opening Session for the COMMON 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Reno, Nevada, is coming together -- it's set for Sunday, April 26, and will include Ross Mauri, general manager of IBM Power Systems, as well as a presentation by IBM Distinguished Engineer and Chief Scientist for IBM Entity Analytics, Jeff Jonas. His presentation is teasingly titled, "Cops and Robbers Las Vegas Style."

But first, COMMON President Randy Dufault will outline the latest action at COMMON and hand out the COMMON/IBM Power Systems Innovation Awards, along with Mauri, who will then have something additional to say, most likely something about IBM's Power Systems strategy, though neither IBM nor COMMON have provided details.

As for Jonas, here's an abstract:

Opportunists consider Las Vegas an excellent target - not only because of the vast amounts of cash that changes hands, but also the ability to get lost in the 40 million people who visit annually. There are single scams that can cost a casino $250,000 in 15 minutes. Other activities, such as unknowingly transacting with an "excluded person", can cost an organization its gaming license. The gaming industry has evolved its policies, processes and systems to respond to these threats. These defensive moves have greatly collapsed the window of time between detection and preemption.

Jeff Jonas, a Las Vegas resident who has architected and built numerous casino systems, will take you behind the scenes of the casino business and describe "trip-wires" that now make it possible to detect the unwanted -- in some cases even before the opportunist arrives at the casino.

Sounds interesting!

Posted by cmaxcer on March 11, 2009 at 9:24 AM | Comments (1)

March 9, 2009 10:12 AM

Bank Group Runs IBM i on Power 550 Express

At various times over the last couple of years, IBM has noted solid, if not strong international interest in Power Systems and IBM i, and I ran across a recent example.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, EON Bank Group has implemented an IBM Power 550 Express running IBM i to accelerate the bank's transaction process and improve its back-end system. The $5.5 million investment upgraded the group's core banking applications and disaster recovery site, IBM says. More specifically, the 550 is running V5R4.

"We are proud to be the first financial institution in Malaysia to acquire this new system, which will improve business responsiveness and customer service efficiency," notes EON Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Albert Lau Yiong.

The bank group is working to increase customer satisfaction.

"In order to serve our customers better and become the customers' bank of choice, it is critical that we continuously improve our performance and service level. We have tested the IBM Power 550 Express and found it to be stable, scalable and flexible, which are the three necessary criteria to support EON Bank Group's projected business growth in the next 5 years," Lau says, adding, "This system upgrade establishes new benchmarks for innovations and responsiveness that others in the local banking sector will be challenged to match."

The IBM Power 550 Express lets the bank group run more applications on fewer servers, which helps reduce the infrastructure cost. Plus, IBM says, the system reduces management, maintenance and licensing costs, and can be easily scaled to suit EON Bank's expansion plans.

"This system makes it possible for EON Bank Group's applications to run faster and be more responsive, which can result in added business advantages and higher client satisfaction. The near-continuous application availability also enables EON Bank to improve the efficiency and ensure business continuity," says Ou Shian Waei, managing director of IBM Malaysia. "IBM is committed to helping EON Bank Group grow and transform their business through our most advanced, proven solutions and rich industrial experience."

The system was scheduled to go live yesterday, and it's being implemented by EON Bank Group jointly with Silverlake Group, which provides the Silverlake Axis Integrated Core Banking Solution.

Posted by cmaxcer on March 9, 2009 at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

March 3, 2009 3:06 AM

A 5250 Mashup Leads to Big Gains

My Midrange Meddle blogger Martin Fincham, who also happens to be the general manager of LANSA's EMEA operations, wrote a great post last week about business mashups. You've probably heard the term thrown around a bit, and basically, an application mashup usually refers to a Web app that combines data and application functions from multiple sources so it looks and feels like a single integrated app. So how does this relate to IBM i?

Enter Martin

In addition to covering the basics of these new composite applications, Martin explains how mashups can fit in the IBM i world:

Business Mashups are particularly useful as a new technique for modernizing legacy applications. The useful parts of a green screen (5250) application can be isolated, wrapped and then snapped inside the Mashup framework. This means that all navigation is handled behind the scenes and the user enjoys a simple point-and-click interface. The real beauty of this approach is that old and new application functionality can sit right alongside each other in the same user interface - no more ALT-TAB acrobatics between multiple windows. New logic can be added to the Mashup so that manual, repetitive tasks are automated and errors are handled before they ever reach the back-end systems.

Even more interestingly, Martin highlights some results that arose from a recent project with the world's largest manufacturer of automotive locks and keys. In one result, the manufacturer "reduced the average backorder reallocation process from 162 minutes down to 24 minutes" by using a targeted mashup.

Wow. What used to take a human nearly three hours can now be done in 24 minutes? That's an impressive gain.

If you think the concept of mashups might be worth a bit more investigation, Martin's post on the subject is a good place to start.

Posted by cmaxcer on March 3, 2009 at 3:06 AM | Comments (27)