Monthly Archives: January 2011

Lotusphere #13

Posted on January 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

Yes, Lotusphere 2011 will be my thirteenth Lotusphere.  And to be honest, I’m looking forward to it more than any other.  Mostly because Lotusphere is now a big “family reunion” for me as much as it is a great technical conference.  It’s an opportunity to visit with many friends I only see once or twice a year.  Session highlights for me include Nerd Girl events and LotusLive sessions.  And you know I plan on asking questions about my favorite topics - IMAP as well as IBM’s solutions for universities at the Meet the Product Managers session.

I’m also presenting again this year.  Drop by for the following sessions:

  • BP301: Cloud Chasing 101:  Planning and preparing for your move to Cloud Collaboration.  Wednesday 8:30-9:30 am Swan 1-2.
  • SHOW105:  Assemble ‘n Go:  Integrate Data & Directories with Tivoli Directory Integrator. Wednesday 10:30-12:15pm Swan Osprey  (with Tom Duff)
  • BOF 402: From Idea to Print: How to get Started with Technical Writing. Wednesday 5:45-645pm Swan Toucan 2. (with Tom Duff)

I can’t wait to for that first glimpse of palm trees and the Florida sun, after a colder than usual Virginia winter!  See you soon!

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Posted in Lotusphere 2011

Got Sametime? Got Users? Get the book at Lotusphere!

Posted on January 27, 2011 | 3 Comments

Going to Lotusphere 2011? Got Sametime? Got users? Well then, you’ve got a perfect opportunity to pick up the IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User’s Guide book!  Not only can you buy it at a 20 percent discount in the Lotusphere bookstore (along with other great titles),  but also get it signed by the authors!  That’s right, Tom Duff and I will be signing copies of the book on Wednesday, February 2nd, beginning at 2:30 PM.  So stop by on Wednesday, get your copy, and visit with the authors!  See you there! :)

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Posted in Sametime Book

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The Early Bird catches the Cloud?

Posted on January 21, 2011 | 16 Comments

The Cloud. A lot of the technical discussion these days is about THE CLOUD. And I’m even presenting at Lotusphere 2011 this year about the Cloud — BP301 – Cloud Chasing 101: Planning and Preparing for your Move to Cloud Collaboration (Wednesday SW 1-2, 8:30-9:30 am).

While preparing for the session, I came across some interesting research that said that early adopters of cloud e-mail and collaboration technologies include higher education institutions (universities). (Gartner: “The Cloud E-Mail and Collaboration Services Market” ID G00205184). Now this is only one article. But given the numbers of universities that are not only moving their students, but faculty and staff to either Google or Microsoft cloud collaboration systems, it seems to hold some credence. Where is IBM?

In 1996, the university here had an amazing relationship with IBM. We had some opportunities to work on a digital library project, and a campus wide collaboration project (which resulted in our move to Lotus Notes/Domino). But that was fifteen years ago. Granted there has been a trickle of opportunity to participate in beta programs. But where are LotusLive iNotes and LotusLive Notes and the other LotusLive products? Has anyone from IBM knocked on the doors of universities to ask them what they need and how they can work WITH THEM to take advantage of that “early adoption.” Large universities often have more email accounts than corporate customers. Why not take advantage of that scale and have university computing science departments participate as active testers through more internships and beta programs?

I know that myself and others have brought this up numerous times. And I will be asking this at the “Ask the Product Managers” session. What is the plan for universities? Other than bringing students to Lotusphere? How are you going to engage universities in your Lotus product set? And if you have existing Lotus customers, how are you going to keep them? Or do you even care?

Marketing to the smarter planet, what about marketing to smarter customers?

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Posted in Cloud Computing