System iNetwork

May 2009

May 27, 2009 10:42 AM

IBM Tackles SMBs with Smart Cubes, Smart Market, and a Bit of i

IBM has officially launched its Smart Market effort in the United States. In addition to the pilot in India, U.S. small business customers can now buy the appliance-like IBM Smart Cubes that run IBM i or Linux--but the operating system is the last thing IBM is promoting with its new Smart Market efforts.

In fact, it takes a bit of digging to even find the specs on IBM's Smart Market site, and for good reason: Smart Market is designed to take the technology issues out the business equation. IBM's goal is to vastly reduce the complexity of selecting, installing, and managing a small business suite of applications. Customers still get the hardware, of course, along with whatever tax benefits they can eek out of buying a box, along with some peace of mind that not everything is yet up in the clouds. But IBM, it turns out, is the one-stop solution provider that does all the preinstallation and configuration work, plus provides optional support levels, including backup and recovery services.

All-in-One

Customers start by exploring the available solutions on IBM's Smart Market site by Industry, Product Category, Business Department, or even by Number of Employees. If you really dig into the marketplace, you can narrow your solution choices by "integrated platform". This brings up two options: IBM Smart Business Software Pack for SUSE (that would be Linux, of course), and IBM Smart Business Software Pack for i.

There are two dozen software solutions available for the IBM i-based Smart Cube so far, including several solutions from RJS Software Systems, like Document Management for Healthcare or for Manufacturing, a VoIP solution from Nortel, and backup/recovery offerings from Vision Solutions. All Smart Cubes also come with built-in security and back-office functionality such as email, calendaring and backup and recovery, which are then combined with the business applications customers find on IBM's Smart Market site.

Obviously IBM plans to grow the number of offerings.

As for the hardware, the IBM i version comes in a single Power Core with 4 GB of memory, 2 cores with 8 GB memory, or 4 cores and 16 GB of memory. As you might guess, these aren't running the fastest POWER6 processors available, and IBM seems to be doing its best to keep it simple: it's darn hard to track down the actual components of each Smart Cube; presumably the folks IBM is targeting could not only care less, they might be overwhelmed by too much information.

Everything Is Smart

Of course, what's an all-in-one solution without a help desk? Except, IBM's services start at the Smart Desk, which is a Web-enabled dashboard. Clients can use Smart Desk as a single-point- of-contact for Smart Business maintenance, IBM says, which lets them choose to update applications automatically or subscribe to an on-demand service. Plus, they can elect to have IBM contact
them if something is wrong with their system.

They can also use the dashboard to add cloud-based services like managed security and hosted back-up and recovery.

Along with it, you get Smart Support, which is a single point of entry for all support of solutions, IBM says. Clients can use an
integrated wizard to try to auto-fix a problem or look at user forums and support wikis to fix the problem themselves. If additional support is needed, IBM has its IBM Smart Business Support team, which is there to assist with common usage issues, handle hardware and software defects, accept product or support improvement ideas, and act as a problem management focal point until the problem is resolved.

All in all, this is a particularly interesting initiative. The use of IBM i makes sense in this situation--if IBM is going to support small clients, why wouldn't they want to be running a low-maintenance system? Of course, they would. As for Linux, you've got a proven solution with little cost associated with it. Also a no-brainer.

IBM launched this program last week, leading with a Smart Cube running Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions financial management software pre-integrated (though it only runs on Linux). IBM's installation sheet is also astoundingly simple and to the point--it basically guides a customer through plugging in and connecting the system to the Web, followed by running a simple wizard. It seems as if it's designed to be as simple as opening up a consumer desktop system, minus any manuals or included CDs.

Definitely something to keep an eye on.

Posted by cmaxcer on May 27, 2009 at 10:42 AM | Comments (3)

May 20, 2009 9:27 AM

Take That, LUG!

So how do you think the Large User Group (LUG) rose to power, prominence, and uh, more power? By banding together and speaking with one strong voice so that IBM could hear what the LUG members needed. Right now, the LUG is made up of some of the largest IBM i customers, and they regularly meet with their members and IBM to discuss what innovations are coming, and more importantly, what they really need IBM to deliver. And IBM appreciates the LUG. What company wouldn't want a LUG? Dedicated customers telling you what they need and what they're willing to pay for. Gotta love that.

The problem is, the midrange and smaller customers sometimes get left out of the equation. COMMON and COMMON Europe step in to help, of course, but their ability to shout above the noise depends on members and IBM customers willing to help clarify the message.

Speak Up!

Our friends overseas with COMMON Europe dropped me a note this week noting that participation in the worldwide Top Concerns 2009 Survey has been underwhelming so far. If IBM customers don't participate in the survey, a lack of participation will undermine the survey's ability to influence IBM. Plus, COMMON Europe is looking at trends over the previous three years of survey data, and they need participants in order to make the data usable.

Five Minutes!

The fourth annual survey only takes five minutes to complete, and it relates to your needs in IT security, Application Development, Infrastructure consolidation, and migration issues. And for those interested in IBM's Academic Initiative, there's an option specially targeted Top Academic Concerns Survey.

Of course, what's a survey without a little electronic incentive? Survey respondents have an opportunity to win an iPod in each of the surveys.

The closing date is May 31 for the surveys, but click on over there now--did I mention this is a global survey? COMMON Europe plans to release preliminary results June 9 during the closing session of the COMMON Europe annual meeting in Krakow, Poland, along with more detailed results to follow.

"The more we are the stronger we will be. Your participation is highly appreciated," notes Ranga (Shrirang U.) Deshpande, Top Concerns project leader for COMMON Europe.

Get on it!

Posted by cmaxcer on May 20, 2009 at 9:27 AM | Comments (12)

May 18, 2009 11:10 AM

What? WebSphere Loves Windows, POWER6 Not So Much? Really?

Have you stumbled across the Microsoft ad campaign, "Who knew?", which is focused on WebSphere loving Windows vs. WebSphere hugging AIX? It's an in-your-face price/performance comparison of WebSphere running on IBM solutions vs. on an HP solution, then it tosses in a here's-what-the-application-would-do-when-it's-written-using-the-Microsoft-.NET-Framework-instead slap.

Microsoft created a special website, WebSphereLovesWindows.com, that launches with a series of assertions in a Silverlight-based presentation:

Furthermore, the .pdf of the study, which Microsoft calls "the ground-breaking benchmark study", prices out an IBM Power 570 with WebSphere 7 and AIX 5.3 at $260,000 vs. an HP BladeSystem C7000 with WebSphere 7 and Windows Server 2008 at $87,000, while the HP BladeSystem C7000 with .NET and Windows Server 2008 rolls in at $50,000.

After the stimulating presentation, Microsoft loaded the special site with case studies, videos, analyst reports, technical guidance, and, of course the aforementioned study.

Overall, I'm impressed--not with the funky comparison of running the single app on a 570 vs. an HP BladeCenter and the silly comparisons between the two. No, I'm impressed that Microsoft put on the gloves and decided to enter the ring. Sure, the company might be reduced to hitting below the belt and biting an ear here and there, but hey, they are stepping into the ring. It's like Microsoft is shouting, "Hey, it's not just about POWER6 destroying Sun and HP in the Unix space . . . we're here, too!"

IBM Swats the Pesky Fly

The funny thing here is, should IBM launch a salvo at Microsoft over this? Who knows. In the meantime, Elisabeth Stahl, IBM's chief technical strategist of Performance Marketing for the IBM Systems and Technology Group, made a blog post in response to the ads and the study:

. . . the number of cores, the middleware and network configurations, the scale, and even the trading applications used are not the same. The HP configuration had twice the number of cores and four times the amount of memory. It's like saying a granny smith is better than a clementine.

The entire presumption of the Microsoft study was absurd in that it created a nonsensical environment comparing a blade system to an enterprise class server. An enterprise server is designed for server consolidation, heavy transaction performance, superior availability, scalability and virtualization. This "benchmark" did not make mention of or leverage any of these functions. Note also that a higher performing replacement to the Power 570 model used in the study has been available for many months.

Oh, and by the way, these are "Microsoft-conducted tests." That's kind of like leaving my dog with a box of milkbones and telling him not to eat any.

Stahl doesn't bother to go into more detail, but I do have to leave you with two doses of irony:

Dose #1: The Fine Print

If you read the fine print in the study, the Microsoft document is especially beautiful:

"Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, this document should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented."

Just in case this statement isn't clear, it appears to say that because Microsoft has to respond to changing market conditions . . . Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented.

Am I only one laughing here?

Dose #2: Will Someone Please Slam IBM i on POWER6?

The last bit of irony here is, will someone go after IBM i running on POWER6? Because, after all, doesn't a big nasty marketing campaign at least signal a bit of serious validation?

Posted by cmaxcer on May 18, 2009 at 11:10 AM | Comments (7)

May 13, 2009 8:02 AM

COMMON Europe Wants Your Top Concerns

COMMON Europe is looking for your top issues with your business and IBM in its annual Top Concerns survey. The multilingual survey is for global participation. COMMON Europe shares the top concerns results with its members, and most importantly, with IBM.

The 2008 survey showed that "IT security", "Satisfy internal customers", "Fast application development, and Keep the skills current" were the global Top Concerns. Full results from last year's survey are available at the COMMON Europe web site at www.comeur.org.

The Top Concerns survey boasts participation from Europe, Americas, Australasia, and Japan. You can participate through the web or vote on the top concerns during the opening session of the annual COMMON Europe Congress (CEC) on June 7 in Krakow, Poland.

The survey includes concerns about security, server consolidation, application architectures, personal development, as well as open space for writing a golden concern. It also includes questions on current economic and migration issues. The preliminary results will be disclosed during the closing session of CEC on June 9.

New Academic Survey

A first for this year, COMMON Europe is launching a web and "on the spot" Top Academic Concerns Survey. It is based on a special set of concerns chosen by the students and staff of the Austrian and Polish Academic Initiative institutions. This year’s COMMON Europe annual Congress (CEC) will also be a Power Academy--it is jointly held with the AGH University of Science and Technology of Krakow, Poland. Here too, the student attendees will rate "their" concerns.

For more information on Top Concerns please contact Ranga (Shrirang U.) Deshpande at ranga.deshpande@bordet.be.

Posted by cmaxcer on May 13, 2009 at 8:02 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2009 10:48 AM

COMMON Catch Up News: New Certifications, New President, Updated Board

As always, COMMON's annual conference spawns a whole mess of news, and it takes us weeks to catch up. But hey, I'm not complaining; I'm just saying. The latest in my catch up bag is COMMON's new certification program, the organization's updated board of directors, and a bit of darkness looming on the horizon.

First up, COMMON is launching a new certification program that's designed to position COMMON as a "Hub for IT Talent".

COMMON's certification program consists of two levels, both of which--like all good certifications--have handy acronyms:

• COMMON Business Computing Associate (CBCA)
• COMMON Certified Business Computing Professional (CCBCP)

These certifications complement existing technical certification programs from IBM and others by ensuring individuals receiving the credential carry deep knowledge of all the computing aspects within a business, COMMON says.

Both levels require applicants to pass exams developed by COMMON.

The CBCA certification is designed for recent graduates or other entry level professionals.

"Professionals or students who have passed our qualifying exam will, in our opinion, have the skills necessary for success in their first IT jobs," notes Bill Hansen, COMMON's strategic education team manager. "We want to deliver IT professionals to the workplace that have proven their competence and can provide an immediate benefit to their employers."

COMMON plans to introduce the qualifying exam to become a CBCA at COMMON's 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando.

The CCBCP certification is designed to help businesses find and develop the best IT talent, COMMON says. It is geared towards advanced IT professionals who have significant work experience in a business IT environment. The certification will require candidates to pass three exams that are scheduled to debut at the 2011 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

New President, New Board

In Reno, the COMMON Board also voted in a new president, who is none other than Wayne Madden, who is a group publisher at Penton Media, which publishes System iNEWS magazine. Wayne was previously a COMMON board member. In terms of full disclosure, you might think that Wayne's involvement with System iNEWS might give me an open door peek into COMMON's internal activities . . . sorry. The guy is surprisingly mum and is careful to work through COMMON's established PR channels for official news.

In addition to a new president, Bruce "Hoss" Collins, Pete Massiello, and Trevor Perry were also voted to the COMMON Board.

Meanwhile, Trouble in Paradise?

COMMON, it turns out, is not bounding lightly through 2009--as reported in Reno, COMMON is projecting that it'll burn through about half of its $1.6 million cash reserve. That, of course, puts it on thin ice in the winter of 2010, as it preps for the 2010 conference in Orlando in May.

Consequently, COMMON has already implemented some cost-cutting plans, which it announced at the Meeting of Members session in Reno. Some of the cost-cutting areas include the possibility of reducing the conference's length by one day, reducing the number of booked session rooms, eliminating some social events, cutting out hard liquor unless a sponsor or the members pick up the tab, and cutting back on volunteer speaker benefits for travel-related costs.

Obviously, all of this means that as COMMON heads into its 50th anniversary year, it seems to be facing its most difficult challenge ever.

Posted by cmaxcer on May 11, 2009 at 10:48 AM | Comments (1)

May 5, 2009 10:29 PM

looksoftware to GUI-ize IBM i OS

Yes, you read the headline right, and even if "GUI-ize" is barely a real word, it's the first word that comes to mind. Basically, IBM's gotten consistent criticism over its lack of a native GUI interface for IBM i OS, a.k.a. i5/OS, a.k.a. OS/400. Just looking at all the 5250 screens screams "old school" . . . and not in a good way. At the same time--and even though third-party options abound for avoiding green screens--a good many IBM i-focused organizations have had a hard time figuring out how they should move forward with their modernization efforts. In some ways, they've been a bit stuck.

Now, it turns out, looksoftware is working on a new free solution--ilook--that turns IBM i OS screens into GUI web-based screens. All the same functionality is retained, of course, and because the different versions of IBM i operating systems are remarkably consistent, in addition to consistency in and amongst the OS itself, looksoftware can build ilook on a rules-based process that covers nearly every screen you need in IBM i OS.

looksoftware announced ilook at COMMON in Reno last week.

"ilook has been created in response to input from IBM i community leaders who believe many i customers need help getting started with application modernization," notes Marcus Dee, CEO of looksoftware. And by community leaders, Dee means pros like Jon Paris, Aaron Bartell, and Trevor Perry, among other well-known advocates of the IBM i path.

And Perry, it turns out, is working as an independent consultant on the ilook project, which is on-track for delivery sometime in June. Perry says that about 80 percent of the IBM i OS screens are already covered, with more on the way.

Based on looksoftware's smartclient technology, more specifically, ilook provides a cloud deployed plug-in that provides a rich user experience (UX) for IBM i OS and integrates tightly with the desktop and IBM's online reference library.

looksoftware will give every IBM i customer a free copy of ilook, while ISVs and other IBM business partners should contact looksoftware regarding the looksoftware partner program.

Of course, we'll bring you more in-depth coverage in June.

Posted by cmaxcer on May 5, 2009 at 10:29 PM | Comments (23)

May 4, 2009 7:20 AM

Tweaking Your Supply Chain for Big Gains

With the world's hiccuping economy reverberating in the background, I caught up with System iNEWS Tech Editor Nahid Jilovec for a quick supply chain Q&A. Nahid is set to deliver a new webcast, "Synchronizing the Supply Chain", on Wednesday. The supply chain is one of those key areas for manufacturers that usually needs tweaking--and a place where a company can unearth improvements that can help in the here and now in addition to the future once the world starts humming again.

Q. What's one of the top challenges facing manufacturers these days with their supply chains?

Nahid: With massive amounts of data available in supply chains, determining what metrics to focus on is a major challenge. One approach is to evaluate and select the KPIs (key performance indicators) on metrics that are most likely to impact the bottom line. Avoid information overload. In addition, the views on metrics may be different depending on various factors. For instance, you may need to apply different filters on your BI tool when looking at data from different areas of the world.

Q. Good point--it's kind of like offering lunch to a small child: anything more than three choices and they lock up in indecision. So besides supply chain costs, what are the top three metrics companies should focus on?

Nahid: Accuracy of demand-driven forecast, order management, and spend to collection cycle time.

Q. OK, let's talk data. If we're talking KPIs, metrics, and deman-driven forecasts, it all has to be based on squeaky clean data or a company might as well go back to making decisions based on gut feelings, right? So what are the real cost savings by using clean data in the supply chain?

Nahid: A 75 percent reduction in invoice deductions, a 30 percent improvement in quality of orders . . . and much more.

Q. Nice!

Posted by cmaxcer on May 4, 2009 at 7:20 AM | Comments (0)