I was on a call this morning with an IBM technical team to discuss our progress filling the seats in one of our upcoming free IDAA classes.  Not surprising, given the number of people on the call (and who they were!) we went a bit off topic and ended up chatting about services and what appears to be – to IBM customers and sellers at least – a shortage of skilled consultants available to help with the “tions” – replication, implementations, migrations and federation.

The Fillmore Group has skilled consultants available to support these efforts, at rates that are typically about half of those being charged by “the competition”.

If your team has a project pending, or one in process, where a skilled consultant, at a reasonable hourly rate, can get things back on track, please contact me.  We are ready to work!  A list of our IBM Information Management capabilities is attached here.

As much as I dislike the relentless repetition that’s part of the nature of the world of blogs and twitter and listserves and email blasts, here I go with a shameless pitch for a TFG special services offering I emailed to several DB2 users earlier today.  I am doing this because, at the end of the day, the rate disparity in today’s DB2 services market baffles me.  Are the ridiculously high rates being charged eroding product adoption?  I am afraid so, which is why we are offering a summer services special. 

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I can finally announce it – it’s finalized – Chris Eaton will be here September 9th for the Baltimore/Washington DB2 Users Group meeting.  For me, this is a big, big deal.  The turnout for the June meeting was disappointing and the board agrees that the LUW and z/OS track folks really need to be meeting together to encourage networking and all the social aspects of the users group.  So we are doing both tracks together September 9th in Columbia, with the hotel offering us an extra room and the attendees all getting a sit-down lunch – together, in one dining room. 

The LUW agenda is below.  Joining Chris presenting are *two* DB2 Gold Consultants – Frank Fillmore (on DB2 Connect) and Dave Beulke (on Java tuning and Data Studio).  Registration and the z/OS agenda are on the website at www.bwdb2ug.org.  If you are in town, please join us – this is like getting best of IOD in one day!

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In conjunction with the Data Studio team Frank Fillmore just tentatively set the date for a webcast to review the functionality of the *free* Data Studio Administration Console (DSAC) features to monitor and support Q-Replication, as well as to give a preview of the new features in the upcoming V9.7 release due out late this summer.

The date: July 30th. We will do some marketing and also advertise the webcast by way of IDUG. If you are interested in attending, check back in mid-July when I should have the date and time confirmed.

The IBM team made another announcement and juggled product names again. Oh no! Except…this time it’s all beginning to make sense. The rationale behind the products developed and acquired by IBM is coming into focus and the picture that’s formed defines the IBM Information Management strategy.

Holly Hayes is the Program Director, Optim Solutions, at IBM, and she has a new article on Developerworks that really pulls it all together. The first paragraph is below; for the entire article go to:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0807hayes/

From Holly: “With the June 2009 announcements, IBM is consolidating many of its Data Studio offerings under the Optim name. The Optim portfolio will focus on realizing integrated data management with innovative delivery of application-aware solutions for managing data and data-driven applications across the lifecycle, from requirements to retirement. This overview article explains both the vision and reality of Integrated Data Management and how you — whether a data architect, developer or tester, DBA, or data steward — can use IBM solutions today to respond quickly to emerging opportunities, improve quality of service, mitigate risk, and reduce costs.”

The next scheduled Baltimore/Washington DB2 for LUW Track meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 19th at the IBM Technical Exploration Center in McLean, Virginia. Coming in from IBM’s Silicon Valley Lab to present on Data Studio are George Lapis and Anjul Bhambhri. If you will be in town, please join us. The meeting will run from 10am – 2pm; please email kim.may@thefillmoregroup.com to register.

Session 1: Integrated Data Management
This presentation will cover each of the components of Data Studio and how each fits into IBM’s data lifecycle management vision. The presentation includes an overview of the functionality included in Data Studio to support Web Services, Stored Procedures, InfoSphere Data Architect, Data Studio Administrator, Performance Expert, end-to-end monitoring, pureQuery for new and existing applications, and administration capabilities, as well as introduces some new features in the upcoming 2.2 Data Studio release.

Session 2: A Demo of the Data Studio Portfolio
This demo will cover all areas of Data Studio Portfolio which are applicable to DB2 on LUW. The presenter will use Infosphere Data Architect to reverse engineer a database, create logical and physical models, demonstrate SQL Editor and Stored Procedure debugging, will create and deploy a Web Service, create Java Beans from Data Objects, and explore DBA functionality. Attendees will be shown how they can monitor performance with Performance Expert and how the Extended Insight feature helps with end-to-end problem determination.

Presenting will be George Lapis, a technical manager at IBM’s Silicon Valley Lab. He has worked in database software for more than 30 years. For the past several years George led the compiler development team at IBM’s Silicon Valley Lab, working on SQL, XML, and XQuery for DB2, as his primary expertise is in compiler technology and implementation. Currently he is working as an architect with the Data Studio enablement team. George was a member of the R* and Starburst research projects at IBM’s Almaden Research Center.

Co-presenting with George is Anjul Bhambhri, Director of Development for Database Tools at IBM. Anjul is a 20-year veteran of the database industry. Anjul spearheaded the development of XML capabilities in IBM’s database offerings. Prior to her role at IBM, she held various engineering and management positions at Sybase and Informix. Anjul holds a degree in Electrical Engineering.

2009 Integrated Data Management

We were honored to have Curt Cotner join us in Baltimore for a customer luncheon in early April. Curt presented on IBM’s 2009 strategy and impressed everyone in the room. Curt generously sent me a copy of the presentation the next day, and I’ve been back and forth with our hosting company trying to figure out how to enable sharing a file of this size. It’s working now, so I want to share it.

It’s not only a big file – there are some huge ideas and concepts. Please review it when you get a chance – I hope you get the same “wow!” we got during the live presentation back in April.

The Data Studio team suggested a review of a new article on developerWorks, and it’s great!

Performance monitoring and tuning are critical tasks for a database administrator (DBA). DB2® Performance Expert helps DBAs tackle immediate performance problems, as well as avoid problems in the future. This article is the first of two in a series that describes the top 6 things you can do to get the most out of DB2 Performance Expert.

The top 6 tips for a successful DB2 Performance Expert deployment for DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows, Part 1: Modifying settings, setting up alerts, and using System Health data views

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/techarticle/dm-0904db2performanceexpert1/index.html

When the next article is published I will post the link. Please let me know if you find this helpful.

We mentioned a few weeks back that Bryan Smith, from the IBM Data Studio team, is working with a group of developers and marketing folks on IBM’s Data Studio go-to-market strategy.  Based on the quality of feedback Bryan received from the user community after his last request, he’s back for more.  If you can spare them time, please help.

Here is what he has posted on this blog:

“I need your help again. Read More…

I just emailed our website designer and asked her to revise the consulting page so that I can add some services offerings to the site. Three of these offerings I have developed while working with IBM’s Ron Reuben, as he is trying to create an ecosystem of services to surround and better enable Data Studio. The first one we’ve put together, based in part on our experience and appreciation of Q-Replication, is for a Data Studio Administrative Console “Quickstart” to install DSAC, set up monitoring for Q-Rep, and mentor onsite staff. This is MY favorite, as DSAC is currently available from IBM for **FREE**. Here goes, text-style. If you want to really experience the full impact of the marketing slick, check it out on the website in color next week!

The Fillmore Group Services for
Data Studio Administration Console Quickstart

Highlights
• The Data Studio Administration Console (DSAC) is a free download.
• The DSAC provides real-time monitoring for Q-Replication.
• Thin client, browser-based interface replaces the Java Q-Replication dashboard.
• Easy to learn, deploy, and use. Read More…