On July 23 and 24, 2018 The Fillmore Group delivered a hands-on IBM Db2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) v7 Workshop to 12 students across 5 different enterprises at the IBM Dublin, Ohio (USA) Technical Education Center.  This was the first IDAA v7 hands-on Workshop delivered to customers anywhere.  Many thanks to Atlee, Bill, Bob, Dom, Emmi, Larry, Marshall, Mohammed, Naga, Ruth, Shawn, and Toby for all of the great questions.  Kudos to the IBM Poughkeepsie Benchmark Center for standing up the IDAA v7 environment in record time with just-released functionality like Incremental Update.  And thanks to IBMers Rich Gast, Mike Hood, Sandro Ramirez (aka “Nicky’s Dad”), Julie Efthymiou, and Rudy Benvenuto for all of their support.

Finally – and most importantly – the Workshop’s flawless execution from scheduling, invitations and outreach to customers, to welcome packets for travelers, to food service, and overall logistics was the direct result of many months of hard work on the part of my colleague, Kim May.  I really appreciate it!

The presentation materials are here:IDAA Workshop 2018-07

Since IDAA v7 is so radically different from it’s predecessors, the Workshop generated lots of questions which will be incorporated into future sessions.  Watch this space.

DB2 Gold Consultant and IBM Champion Frank C. Fillmore, Jr. will deliver a *free*, hands-on IDAA training class in Baltimore on Monday and Tuesday, February 27th and 28th.  IBM System z customers considering a 2017 IDAA purchase are invited to attend.

Frank has delivered similar classes in the past and looks forward to delivering this updated class featuring the recently announced IDAA V6.1.  This class will combine material explaining why you should have an IDAA and how to use it (query acceleration, High Performance Storage Saver, loading non-DB2 data using the Rocket Loader tool), along with new material introducing new ways to extend your System z’s processing capabilities to the cloud and into the new world of HTAP – Hybrid Transaction Analytic Processing – with the latest IDAA release.

Class is free, however attendees are responsible for their travel and lodging expenses.  IBM reps are invited to join us along with their customers.  The Fillmore Group will provide a continental breakfast and lunch each day, and dinner Monday evening for attendees interested in joining us.  Registration is required – please follow the link below to register.

Dates (2 days):    Monday and Tuesday, February 27th and 28th, 2017
Class Times:        9:00am – 4:00pm ( breakfast served at 8:30am)
Cost:                    Class is free; attendees are responsible for their T&L
Instructor:            Frank Fillmore
Location:              The Radisson Cross Keys, 5100 Falls Rd, Baltimore, MD 21210

REGISTER HERE

Topics:
• New in IDAA v6.1 – the architecture, cloud option, R functions support and dashDB
• Assessment tools to support acquisition:  Workload Assessment, Client Value Engagement, PoC
• Positioning IDAA within your organization with the most valuable use case

Lab 1: Basic IDAA Activities
• Data Studio / IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator Studio GUI
• Table acceleration
• Query processing and analysis

Enhancing Value to the IDAA with the IBM Tools Ecosystem
• Assessment: What is the workload that would benefit from being accelerated?
• Optimization: How do I monitor and optimize a workload to take advantage of the Accelerator?
• Administration: Can I manage the Accelerator more effectively?

Lab 2: Advanced IDAA Exploitation
• Incremental Update: keeping accelerated data in sync with DB2 for z/OS OLTP
• High Performance Storage Saver (HPSS): store archival data only on IDAA
• Accelerating Static SQL workloads

The Fillmore Group 2H 2015 Class Schedule

With all the challenges IBM’s move to the Global Skills Initiative (aka outsourcing education) has created for DB2 users, please remember IBM classes do still exist and are available for the patient and persistent.  Fear not!  If you need training, we are prepared to help.

After seeing public training nosedive over the past two years we are now seeing a bit of a resurgence.  Are classes really running?  Well, in all honesty, not often.  However, we are seeing a few run here and there, and when they don’t, with our relationship with Arrow ECS (one of the five Global Training Partners) intact, we are learning to “collect” students interested in training, and either gather them together for classes, or provide private training at affordable rates.

I’ve just submitted our second half of 2015 public training class schedule to Arrow (see the attachment above) and expect to see the classes posted on the IBM training site (IBM.com/training) within the next couple weeks.  I welcome anyone looking for a class – whether it’s on my schedule or not – to contact me at kim.may@thefillmoregroup.com so that I can work some coordination magic for you.

Just announced!

DB2 Gold Consultant Frank Fillmore will deliver a free, hands-on IDAA class at the historic Publick House in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on April 27th and 28th.  The complete course outline and registration information are HERE.   The Welcome Packet with travel and lodging recommendations is HERE.

Class is free, however students are responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses.

The IDAA is a high-performance appliance that integrates IBM Netezza and zEnterprise technologies. The solution delivers extremely fast results for complex and data-intensive DB2 queries on data warehousing, business intelligence and analytic workloads.  You can:

– Query data at high speeds-to significantly improve response times for unpredictable, complex and long-running query workloads.

– Extend the capabilities of DB2 for z/OS-to support a cost-effective analytics solution for data warehousing, business intelligence and predictive analytics.

– Lower operating costs-by reducing System z disk requirements and offloading query workloads to a high-performance platform.

Please note:  this class is being offered exclusively to IBM z Systems customers considering an IDAA purchase.  Registration is required.

I hope you will join us and learn about the IDAA!

Thanks to Kim May and Saghi Amirsoleymani of IBM for the successful two-day IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) Workshop with hands-on lab exercises.  Five large financial services enterprises sent attendees.  Thanks as well to Al, Allan, Dave, Ed, Jim, Lori, Warren, and Steve for the lively discuss and deep technical questions.

The presentation is attached here: IDAA Workshop 2015-02

DB2 Gold Consultant Frank Fillmore will deliver a 2-day, hands-on IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) class at the Radisson Cross Keys in Baltimore, Maryland, on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 24th and 25th.  IBM z Systems customers considering an IDAA acquisition are invited to attend free of charge.

The class will be provide an overview of the System z + Netezza IDAA hybrid technology, along with an introduction to the many (and ever expanding) array of deployment options being used to leverage this unique, powerful, and cost-saving technology.  Originally introduced as a means to accelerate analytic queries on System z, the IDAA is now being used to address a variety of challenges, including archiving data with the option for fast retrieval, via the High Performance Storage Saver (HPSS).

With 2015’s introduction of V5, and the integration of the recently upgraded Netezza Mako line of appliances, the IDAA is a “must see” for all System z customers.

If you are interested in joining us, please review the course outline and registration.  Registration is limited to 20 students, on a first-come-first-served basis.

Please note:  Seats are reserved for current IBM z Systems customers considering an IDAA acquisition.  Attendees are responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses; The Fillmore Group’s Welcome Packet with travel recommendations will provide assistance.

I hope we will see you in Baltimore next month!

We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with IBM Global Training Partner Arrow ECS is 2015.  Our schedule is up on the IBM training website, with the specific Arrow/The Fillmore Group classes listed and available for registration at:  https://ecsedu.arrow.com/ibm/us/index.html.

If you plan on taking a class early next year, I hope you will consider attending one of our classes, delivered in Towson, Maryland, just north of Baltimore.  We have great instructors, a comfortable classroom, and Baltimore offers some the best seafood in the world.

The complete list of classes is here.  I hope to see you in 2015!

Based on feedback received from System z customers implementing the IDAA, DB2 Gold Consultant Frank C. Fillmore, Jr., will deliver a new course, IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) Administration, beginning Tuesday, September 16, 2014, in our classroom in Towson, Maryland, just north of Baltimore.  This 3-day, hands-on course will provide an overview of the IDAA along with instruction and examples of best practices for IDAA administration.  This course is intended for System z users supporting the IDAA in production environments and covers query processing, loading data, distribution and clustering within the accelerator, and the IDAA tools ecosystem.  Click HERE for the complete course outline.

The cost of the course is $2100 per student.  Reserve a seat by contacting me, Kim May, to make payment arrangements.  Information on travel to Baltimore is available in our class Welcome Packet.  If you are a baseball fan, let me know if you would like to attend the Baltimore Orioles vs. the Toronto Blue Jays game either Tuesday the 16th or Wednesday the 17th – the O’s are hot!

Frank, joined by Mike Hood and Saghi Amirsoleymani, is delivering hands-on IDAA training for a group of customers in Columbus today and tomorrow.  Again, amazingly, almost every “student” registered to attend class posted for class, interested in learning about how an IDAA may help support their mainframe workloads.  The photo above is Frank in the classroom this morning in the IBM Advanced Analytics Briefing Center in Columbus.

After delivering three similar IDAA hands-on training classes we have been able to expose and teach over 35 z/technical influencers about the IDAA.  We have also become aware of the need for implementation and post-implementation training and services, as we have learned there are many z/customers who need help getting the IDAA they’ve purchased into production.  Unfortunately there currently aren’t any IBM authorized classes or IDAA classroom training; there seems to be a pre-purchase perception that the IDAA is a “plug and play” device, which it is not.

We hope to be able to help some of the customers we’ve introduced to the IDAA with additional training and services once they purchase the IDAA.  Please check back here for the outline of our new class, “IDAA Implementation and Administration”, and an overview of two new services offerings:  IDAA Implementation Quickstart and IDAA Healthcheck.  Check back here for updates – I am working on the collateral for these offerings.  In the meantime, if you are looking for similar help, please feel free to contact me.

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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.