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.

Thank you to all of the customers, colleagues, and IBMers who joined The Fillmore Group on April 11, 2013 at Cinghiale in Baltimore, USA to discuss IBM’s Data Strategy – which we call “DB2 101”.  As it happens, many DB2 customers don’t realize the strength and depth of the IBM Information Management portfolio.  And many non-DB2 customers don’t know about the governance and management tooling available in InfoSphere and Optim (e.g. Guardium) which IBM provides for Oracle, SQL Server, Teradata, and other-vendor database servers.

Prominently featured were the highlights of IBM’s April 3rd announcement held at Almaden Lab which my colleague, Kim May, and I attended.

• PureData System for Hadoop
• DB2 for LUW V10.5 with BLU Acceleration

Also of note is the bundling of functionality in DB2 Advanced Enterprise Server Edition (AESE).

1. pureScale – shared-disk clustering
2. Data Partitioning Feature (DPF) – shared-nothing hash partitioning
3. DB2 for LUW v10.5 columnar compression database

The presentation is available at DB2 101 – IBM Information Management Software Portfolio Overview 2013-04  The audio-video recorded delivery can be viewed here.

Join IBM DB2 Competitive Sales Specialist Bill Kincaid and me for The Mid-Atlantic Information Management Virtual Users Group webinar on February 28th.  The Mid-Atlantic Information Management Virtual Users Group is focused on delivering information and education to DB2 users in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Given the topic and the terrific speaker lined up, and since the session will be delivered via webinar, anyone interested in IBM database solutions is welcome to join us.
 
In the session current DB2 customers will learn how IBM has enhanced DB2 administrative tool functionality, added new features, and is offering new product bundles that deliver better value at a lower cost.  Customers considering DB2 will learn how IBM is providing better assessment tools and easier migration processes to simplify the transition to DB2. 
 
Is DB2 the best?  Is moving to DB2 a no-brainer?  Join us, ask questions, and learn more about today’s DB2. 
 
Date:  Thursday, February 28, 2013
Time:  11am – 12:00pm Eastern
Registration is required.  Please register here. 
 
Bill Kincaid
Bill Kincaid is the IBM DB2 Competitive Sales Specialist for the Mid-Atlantic Region.  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 – Charlotte and his MBA from the University of Georgia.  He lives in Charlotte and works with IBM customers in the Eastern US.
 
I hope you will join us.

The Fillmore Group – and a special guest to-be-announced soon, will be be participating in the IBM Big Data, Integration and Governance Forum at the Sheraton Hotel in Reston, VA on March 5th.  The forum begins at 8am with a complimentary breakfast and sessions end at 1:15pm, followed by lunch provided by IBM.   There is no charge to attend the forum.

Great speakers are lined up to explain how best to leverage innovative techniques and gain a rock-solid understanding of how to:

• Enhance the quality, availability and integrity of your data
• Gain real-time insight into performance
• Optimize and improve critical decision making
• Reduce data management cost and complexity issues
• Enforce data quality standards and stewardship policies
• Effectively manage regulatory compliance demands
• Leverage support for master data management (MDM) programs

Read More…

As promised, the replay of the “Introducing [InfoSphere Optim] Query Capture and Replay” (QCR) webinar delivered on October 16, 2012 is on ChannelDB2.  The presentation materials for the webinar are here: Query Capture and Replay Webinar 2012-10-16.

For assistance implementing QCR: Infosphere Optim Query Capture and Replay

Next week marks the beginning of the final calendar quarter for IBM Information Management sales.  Along with Q4 push comes discounts and special deals to help save money – and encourage you to buy now!
 
As an IBM reseller The Fillmore Group wants you to be a smart shopper and to make sure you compare software quotes before buying during this hectic selling season.  This keeps your vendors honest and may help you avoid overlooking a critical component needed to make the solution a success, like implementation services and training.
 
And, of course, we would love to earn your business.
 
And as an extra incentive to customers looking to purchase IBM Information Management solutions between now and year end, The Fillmore Group will give a $50 iTunes gift card for any competitive Information Management software quotes we prepare for your organization.

Contact me at either 410-465-6335 or via email at kim.may@thefillmoregroup.com if you would like a TFG software quote. 

The fine print:  This offer is valid for IBM DB2, Informix, Optim and InfoSphere products purchased through the IBM Passport Advantage program only.  You must provide your organization’s Passport Advantage Account number to receive a quote.

IBM’s recently announced InfoSphere Optim Query Capture Replay (QCR) captures production workloads and replays them in nonproduction environments to reproduce realistic activity complete with change impact reports.  Join DB2 Gold Consultant Frank C. Fillmore, Jr. for this introduction to QCR and learn how your organization can use QCR to assess the impact of application and infrastructure changes in advance by providing the ability to test with actual production workloads.  QCR produces change impact reports that find problems before production deployment.

QCR can be used to efficiently manage lifecycle events such as changes in hardware, workloads, databases or applications without production impact.  QCR can be used to test SQL performance, and compliments your existing regression, functional and performance testing methods with a deeper analysis of impacts to the data layer.  

Date:  Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Time:  11am-12pm ET

Register HERE

Presenter: Frank Fillmore, President, The Fillmore Group
Frank Fillmore is a DB2 Gold Consultant and IBM Information Champion.   Frank has worked with DB2 customers for over 25 years to optimize their DB2 data assets, through his consulting practice and as an IBM Authorized Training instructor.  A popular blogger (www.thefillmoregroup.com/blog) and award winning presenter, Frank manages a team of 25 expert consultants at The Fillmore Group.  Frank participated in the QCR beta program and is excited to work with another new IBM technology that allows DB2 customers to outshine the competition.

The recording of April 5, 2012 webinar “IBM 2012 Information Management Product Strategy and Portfolio Overview” is located here.

The presentation materials: DB2 101 – IBM Information Management Software Portfolio Overview

Frank delivered a terrific summary of the products in the Information Management portfolio at a lunch event at Baltimore’s Cinghiale restaurant earlier this month.  Unfortunately, we can’t offer everyone lunch (sorry!) but we will offer a repeat presentation via webinar on April 5th.  The invitation and registration information are below and the complete session abstract and Frank’s bio can be accessed by clicking ” Read More”.  Please share this event with anyone who may be interested in learning more about what IBM has to offer – it’s packed with great information.

Thursday, April 5, 2012, 3:00pm – 4:00pm EDT    Register here.  Read More…

In 2011, Information Management was IBM’s largest software product family, based on worldwide sales.  What does IBM have that you should know about?  Join us in the beautiful Patrizio dining room at Baltimore’s award winning Cinghiale Italian restaurant on March 8th to find out.

DB2 Gold Consultant and IBM Champion Frank Fillmore will deliver a presentation on IBM’s 2012 Information Management product portfolio, including background on IBM’s recent acquisitions and information integration and data governance strategies.  Learn how IBM has accumulated and integrated data solutions to position themselves as the thought leader in information management.

Whether you already use IBM data products or are interested in finding out what IBM has to offer, the presentation will provide a dose of nutritious food for thought.

To register, click here.   We will send you a confirmation with directions to Cinghiale.  Valet parking will be provided.  We look forward to seeing you there!