Extending appreciation to all who participated in the IBM Db2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) v7.1 webinar on August 28, 2019.  If you weren’t able to join us, here is the webcast recording.  In a fast-paced 90 minutes we covered:

1. A review of capabilities included in recent IDAA v7.1.x code drops
2. The return of the High Performance Storage Saver (HPSS)
3. Integrated Synchronization
4. The closer-to-real Hybrid Transaction Analytic Processing (HTAP) capability
5. Disaster Recovery and High Availability considerations

The Fillmore Group’s exclusive IDAA Buyer’s Guide compares these IDAA form factors and deployment options:

• IBM Integrated Analytics Systems (IIAS)
• Docker container running on System z
• Docker container running on LinuxONE

And this is the handout: IDAA Webinar 2019-08

Please note: if you would like the exclusive IDAA Buyer’s Guide referenced in the webinar, contact my colleague, Kim May (kim.may@thefillmoregroup.com).

The buildup and push for the Think Conference was manic. The “EXCITEMENT!!” seemed to come from a small group of IBM marketing folks and the focus on attendance numbers (tough to confirm or deny) was odd.

Customers and Business Partners focused on the data management component of the Analytics portfolio, and with a limited budget to attend conferences, seem to have shifted from the IOD/Insight/Think Conference to the International Db2 Users Group (IDUG) conferences. IDUG North America is held in the Spring, this year in Charlotte, South Carolina, from June 2 – 6. The conference focus is education for IBM database technologies solutions.  Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning aren’t the dominating topics, and session selections and content are managed by IDUG volunteers.  IDUG NA 2019 costs $2165 to attend, with a $300 early bird discount available until April 22nd.

Having IDUG to counterbalance Think makes sense to me.  Also, the IDUG community is very user friendly.  There are several discount options to make attendance affordable, and as has been the case at most technical conferences, presenters receive a free pass.

Now – the wild card.  IBM, through their marketing collaboration with IDG, has scheduled another conference, this one called IBM Data and AI Forum, for Miami, Florida, from October 21 – 24.   This event is the former IBM Analytics University, which I believe evolved from the Db2 Technical Conference.

It seems to be IBM’s attempt to cross pollinate Db2 users with AI, not necessarily a logical partnership in my opinion, as the potential benefits of AI and Machine Learning seem to be in the conceptual sales stage, being pitched to senior management, while the technical teams running data centers aren’t setting the analytics vision.  The conference pass cost is far lower than IDUG or Think, at $1295 for a full price pass and $1095 with the early bird discount through July 31.

The call for speakers is open and I understand selected speakers will be compensated for presenting.

It will be interesting to see how the community responds to all these conference offerings.  Hmmm…

Thanks to my colleague, Kim May, for another wonderful job leading customers and IBMers through the rewards and challenges of converting Oracle databases to DB2. The recording of the latest webinar is found here.  The presentation materials: Oracle Customers Consider DB2 5.16.17

Finally, The Fillmore Group’s White Paper on Oracle to DB2 migrations: SmarterQuestions White Paper – Oracle to DB2 Migration Lessons Learned – Final

Please reach out to Kim or me if you have any questions.

Excuse the corny wordplay – please!

IBM will again host the annual Break Free Forum (BFF) at the upcoming Insight Conference in Las Vegas (previously known as the Information on Demand Conference).  In addition to many terrific conference sessions, speakers and entertainment, the Break Free Forum is a 2-hour session dedicated to customers considering, and hopefully moving to, DB2.

Frank has been invited to participate on the panel at the Break Free Forum, which is quite an honor.  And, as Frank and I have had the pleasure to work with many of the talented IBM teams that support customers moving to DB2, we will be there with several BFF’s – including Amit Patel, Bill Kincaid and this year’s Break Free Forum host Paul Zikopoulos.

If you are planning to attend the Insight Conference and are interested in joining us at the Break Free Forum, please let me know.  I believe the session is invitation-only, but I am sure coordinator Angie Payton would be happy to send you an invitiation.

Date:  Thursday, September 25, 2014

Time:  12:00pm – 1:00pm EDT

Register:  HERE

Every organization – current DB2 users and others – is under fire to deliver a flexible, reliable database solution to support business requirements.  In sixty minutes you will learn why DB2 10.5 for LUW is the best choice to support critical data management needs.  When someone asks, “Why DB2?” you will have 3 answers!

We will cover:

1. Functionality: high availability with pureScale, maximum data compression, and query acceleration with DB2 BLU
2. Success:  learn how current customers are leveraging DB2 to meet their objectives
3. Pricing:  find the right fit with simplified purchasing options

Whether you are currently using DB2 and looking to better understand its features, or considering a move to DB2, please join us.

The webinar will be presented by IBM DB2 Competitive Sales Specialist Bill Kincaid and IBM Champion Kim May.

About the presenters:

Bill Kincaid is an IBM DB2 Competitive Sales Specialist.  Bill has worked for IBM, Microsoft and Oracle, as well as data virtualization solution developer xkoto.  Bill’s specialty is helping database users – customers currently using DB2 and customers considering migrating to DB2 – to fully understand the value of DB2.  Bill earned his BA at the University of North Carolina and his MBA from the University of Georgia.  He lives in Charlotte and works with IBM customers in the Eastern US.

Kim May is the Vice President of Business Development for The Fillmore Group and an IBM Champion for Information Management.  Kim coordinates The Fillmore Group’s software sales and consulting efforts, including migration support for customers moving workloads to DB2.  Kim’s experience includes several years supporting technical education, and she currently serves on the board of the Baltimore/Washington DB2 Users Group.

From November 9 – 14 I will be visiting one of the most charming cities on the planet when I attend the International DB2 Users Group (IDUG) conference in Prague, CZ.  I will present “IBM Data Retrieval Technologies : RDBMS, BLU, IBM Netezza and Hadoop”.  It will be session E7 on Tuesday, November 11 from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m.  Please consider attending IDUG Europe and joining me at this session.

Abstract:  IBM offers four distinct data retrieval technologies: the traditional RDBMS, which primarily relies on indexes to speed access; the new BLU Acceleration columnar compression database; IBM PureData System for Analytics (IBM Netezza), which deploys racks of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) processors to parse the data; and IBM InfoSphere BigInsights, which is the IBM distribution of Hadoop. Choices are good to have, but how do you choose which technology to apply to a particular business use case? In this session, you learn how these techniques differ, including their relative strengths and weaknesses, to help you make an informed choice.

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.

IBM has scheduled a second presentation of the 2014 zEnterprise Technology Summit due to the snowstorm that hit in January when the event ran originally.  If you are in the area and have time to attend, please do!  Information on the event is below; register on the IBM site here.  There are several other events scheduled across the US in 2014 – view them on the IBM site here.

IBM zEnterprise Technology Summit Tuesday, May 6, Washington, DC

New technology is stretching IT budgets in many directions, forcing IT to find better ways of meeting business demands in increasingly complex data centers. Read More…

DB2-L had some interesting and (always!) entertaining discussion recently about the process of performance tuning for DB2 for LUW vs. DB2 for z/OS.  After a bit of spirited debate Leon Katsnelson posted an analogy explaining the evolution of DB2 BLU.  It’s perfect.  Enjoy it below.

Leon Katsnelson DB2-L Post 3/17/14:

At some point in time, not too long ago the only way to get a well fitting suit was to go to a tailor. Tailor would measure you up and after a few fittings you would get a suit that was, well, tailor made for you. Nobody, and especially not me, would argue that this is the best way to get a great fitting suit. However, most of us could not afford a tailor made suit. But most of us can go to a mall and pick up a great Boss suit for, say $600, off the rack. What the fashion industry has done is deliver high fashion to everyone. Some designers argued that it could not be done as did many custom tailors. Now, high end designers have not disappeared and I get calls and emails from custom tailors who still make the best fitting suits … for a price.

BLU Acceleration for Cloud is high end data warehousing for everyone the same way a $600 Boss suit is a high end suit for everyone. Many have told us it can’t be done. Well, we did it. The cloud allowed us to take the cost of the hardware off the table. It also allowed us to create configurations which just like suit sizes fit most people. BLU Acceleration technology removed indexes, reorgs etc., and does not even give one a choice to disable compression and other features.  It removed the need and in some cases even ability to decide on some aspects of the system. Fewer decisions make it much easier to run. For many, BLU Acceleration is as close to the load-and-go system as you can get. BLU Acceleration for Cloud went even further by integrating BI tools (Cognos BI), pre-engineered schemas and reports (3 Warehouse Packs) and we are working hard on making sure that getting data in to the warehouse is brain dead simple. Can you create a better performing data warehouse by hand tuning DB2? Yes you can. But can you make one available to your end-user to run themselves in less than an hour and for less than $1/hr? That is what BLU Acceleration for Cloud does. We are betting that there are lots of people who could use data warehouse capability if it was easy and affordable. We intend to help these people, regardless of their skill or budget, get value from the IT technologies that for too long have been out of reach. For these people, cloud is the only path and technologies like BLU is the only future.

I spent some time this past week reviewing our 2013 performance, which was terrific, and planning for 2014.  It was a good exercise in looking at what seems to be working for The Fillmore Group, as well as the trends that seem to be changing the way we are engaged and supporting Information Management users.

In terms of trends I am surprised, and quite honestly a bit reassured by, the number of consulting engagements we’ve been authorized to work remotely.  The expense and wear and tear from travel that is frequently associated with working onsite at a client’s location cannot be overestimated.  However, up until about two years ago, we did almost 100% of our billable work at customer locations.  I was shocked at how much this has changed.  I hope this is an indication of more confidence in our consultants, who perform work at a high level regardless of where they sit, but also I understand this also reflects more confidence in the tools and technologies that enable us to work and communicate effectively when we work remotely.  Kudos to all the consultants making their way to the airport tonight, but also many thanks to the customers who trust in our professionalism and communication skills and are allowing many members of our team to sleep in their own beds tonight.

The second trend surprising me is the silence from the DB2 community around the IBM Global Skills Initiative.  By outsourcing training IBM has essentially unraveled the lifeline that keeps technical skills current and enables customers to make use of the wonderful solutions available.  This troubles me – I am not sure if this is an indication of the aging IT workforce (“I learned the basics years ago; nothing has really changed”) or the constriction of education funding available to support skills.  I expected a revolt!  Instead, while I see IDUG flourishing and third party training options increasing (both of which are great for the overall DB2 ecosystem in my opinion), I fear the decline in training will parallel a decline in new product adoption.  I hope, as the Global Training Providers get a better handle on how to deliver IBM education, that offerings and options – and enrollment – will increase.  We view lifelong education as one of the requirements – and pleasures – of life in the world of technology; I hope it isn’t stifled or relegated to slide decks and 30 minute presentations on concepts.

Finally, a trend that I intend to address as best I can in 2014 is Procurement and E-cig Twigg’s popular e-juice guide.  Why, in the world of cost cutting and expecting people to do more with less is the ability to engage with customer organizations becoming so terribly difficult?  We’ve been an IBM Business Partner for decades and have established our organization in many ways.  In the past year we have run into multiple situations where technical managers who are trusted with million dollar budgets are bound by Procurement teams whose job seems to be to make it nearly impossible to engage reasonably priced resources to support business critical projects.  When our consultants are only able to engage as a subcontractor to a subcontractor (this is the case with several of our current customers) and the rate the customer ultimately pays is excessively high, no one wins.  I am not sure how I will overcome this, but I plan to attack it in 2014!

A healthy and prosperous 2014 to everyone in the DB2 community!