If you are in the Baltimore/Washington area I want to make you are aware of two upcoming DB2 events – the September Baltimore/Washington DB2 Users Group meeting with a special LUW track on September 15th, and a hands-on pureQuery Proof of Technology The Fillmore Group is hosting in our Towson headquarters the following day, September 16th. 

IBM Silicon Valley Lab’s Vijay Bommireddipalli is presenting at the users group meeting the 15th on .NET and Java tuning, then leading the pureQuery PoT the following day.  Read More…

While the IBM Optim teams are excited to see customers adopting InfoSphere Data Architect, everyone recognizes the journey from CA ERwin to IDA can be frustrating.   The Optim team has been working to develop more resource materials for ERwin users and recently emailed a new Tips & Tricks guide developed by Joe Cullen.  If you find this valuable please let us know, and we will let you know when the new materials are released.  Thanks to Joe Cullen for offering to share this with the community!

IDA Tips&Tricks by Joe Cullen

While there are many indications the “Great Recession” is over, the budget lag and fear of one last dip seems to be constraining IT project funding - EXCEPT - of all places, training.  While this seems perfectly logical (when there are fewer hands to do the work, making sure those hands are skilled is critical), historically, training budgets are the first to be cut when there’s a downturn.  Maybe organizations are wising up this time around…here at The Fillmore Group we are receiving more training requests than anytime in the past five years.  Read More…

I am happy to announce the return of distance learning to The Fillmore Group.  Our team developed and implemented a proprietary distance learning tool, built using a combination of WebSphere and DB2, with the free RealPlayer plug-in providing the ability to deliver streaming instructor audio and video, after the events of 9/11 made traveling for DB2 training a challenge.  Over the years we perfected the distance learning tool’s use and used it to deliver training to hundreds of people around the world - who would otherwise not have been able to attend classes.

A couple years ago IBM’s Information Management training group began evaluating distance learning technologies and limiting their use as they have been trying to find a methodology they can use consistently.   But progress hasn’t been as fast as anyone hoped, so the training team has given us the approval to again offer the public classes we deliver for IBM via distance learning.  Starting with the three classes below students can enroll in the IBM classes, use the same curriculum and lab exercise portal as the students in class, and “see and hear” the instructor lecture on the materials.  If you don’t have a travel budget, you can still join us for class!

Coming up soon are the following courses:

CE821, Using InfoSphere Data Architect, starting March 1

CF602, DB2 Connect for z/OS with DRDA, starting March 8

DW352, InfoSphere Warehouse Components, starting March 15

For course outlines and registration information go to www.ibm.com/training

I was finally able to confirm all the speakers for the LUW track at the December meeting and - wow! - here’s the lineup summary:  Curt Cotner and Paul Westfall from IBM, and the BWDB2UG board’s own Steve Rosenberger from FEPOC doing a user case study on their archiving implementation.  If you are in the area on Wednesday, December 9th, PLEASE join us - it should be great…the z/OS track includes Rick Weaver from BMC and Roger Miller.  Great presenters and great networking.  Hope to see you!  The full agenda is included after the jump and all the registration and PayPal access is through our (new) website at: www.bwdb2ug.org.

Read More…

It’s exciting to see business starting to heat up, particularly with the IOD Conference approaching.  One of my annual goals at the IOD Conference is to try to get more attention paid to the need for technical training in the DB2 world.  I am forever amazed at the excessive funding that goes into marketing faster/cooler/ better technologies and how little goes into teaching the DBAs expected to use them.  The “solution” everyone seems to be waiting for is some sort of e-learning that eliminates the need to travel and the need to “waste” any potentially productive business time learning…as if learning weren’t the best use of time to make one’s organization more productive. 

I finally decided to spend some time getting myself set-up to access the only IBM Information Management courses available through the free Learner Portal.  Read More…

DB2 Connect for DBA’s

We had a great meeting yesterday with both z/OS and LUW users in attendance, as well as a group of IBM’ers and our board members.  LUW sessions were delivered by Frank Fillmore, Dave Beulke and Chris Eaton (who flew in from Toronto for the day to present - many thanks!) 

Frank’s presentation on DB2 Connect was well attended.  The group selected the topic as most everyone in the group uses DB2 Connect, and few people know it well (although some have some very strong feelings about it!).  As Frank recently delivered both the Intro to DB2 Connect and the Tuning and Troubleshooting courses for IBM, he had ideas and suggestions gathered from the students that attended his classes on their most common issues.  If you use DB2 Connect, please take a few minutes and go through Frank’s presentation and see if it doesn’t give you an idea or two to improve DB2 Connect performance in your organization.

The Fillmore Group received approval to add five new IBM courses to our schedule for 2010.  The new classes we will deliver in our Towson, Maryland classroom are listed below.  These classes will enable our team of expert DB2 consultants and instructors to continue to share their field experience with DBAs and to help increase DBA skills in the market.  Thanks IBM!

DX447,  Information Server Administration, starting January 11, 2010
CL461,  DB2 9 for LUW Advanced Database Administration for Experts, starting February 8, 2010
IM401,  IBM DB2 Content Manager V8 Implementation and Administration, starting April 12, 2010
CF242,  DB2 9 for LUW Multiple Partition DBA Workshop, starting April 19, 2010
CF413,  DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Performance Tuning and Monitoring Workshop, starting June 14, 2010

I asked the 25+ people that attended the last Baltimore/Washington DB2 Users Group LUW track meeting if anyone had ever submitted a proposal to speak at either IDUG or IOD. The response? No one! Ever!

The call for presenters at IOD is out and proposals must be submitted by next Friday, May 29th. Please don’t say, ‘oh no, not me…’ - this is a great opportunity for anyone, at any organization using DB2, to be heard. Go for it!! It is worth it - see the note from Amit Patel below. By the way, Amit is the champion of Data Champions - something else everyone should consider becoming.

“…the call for speakers for the IOD Global Conference is open at the enclosed URL. The deadline to submit proposals is May 29. I have attached below the information on Speaker Entitlements for IBM Customers presenting at IOD. Thanks.

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/conf/speakers.html

Speaker Entitlements:

Customer Speakers
Customer speakers who are selected to deliver one or more Business Leadership or Technical Skill Building educational sessions will receive complimentary conference registration valued at USD $2,195. Conference registration entitles admission to all conference meals, education sessions, EXPO Solution Center, entertainment events and programs Sunday evening through Thursday. Customer speakers will also receive 3 nights (single room rate + tax) at an IBM-designated conference hotel if the customer is based in North America or up to 4 nights if the customer is based outside of North America. No other hotel or travel expense entitlements will be offered by the conference organizing committee. Only one customer speaker per session qualifies. The only exception is for a pre-approved customer panel, in which case prior written approval is required from Nancy Kreps, the conference education manager.

Customer speakers from government or public sector organizations must sign a document verifying that they are aware of IOD conference expense entitlements for customers and whether their organization allows them to accept. This documentation must be received by the conference team prior to IBM extending the conference fee or hotel night waiver.

Business Partner Speakers
IBM Business Partners who are invited or selected to speak are not entitled to registration, hotel or other expense entitlements offered by the conference organizing committee.”

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate my colleague, Kim May, on being named an IBM Data Champion.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/champion/profiles/may.html

Kim started with The Fillmore Group a little over four years ago with a background in Java application development services and Microsoft desktop and applications training. From a standing start, she has become an expert on the IBM Information Management software portfolio. Moreover, she has been a tireless evangelist for IBM IM training: she developed and promoted *free* webcasts delivered via the International DB2 Users Group and launched the Baltimore/Washington DB2 Users Group Linux, Unix, Windows track.

Kim has also established The Fillmore Group as an IBM Authorized Training Partner for in-depth for-fee classroom education.
IBM Authorized Training

Take a moment to give Kim a well-deserved shout out at kim.may@thefillmoregroup.com

For more information on the IBM Data Champions Program, go to
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/champion