IBM Information Champion Nadir Doctor successfully passed the IBM Netezza technical certification exam on his first try, without attending the bootcamp or any formal training, one handed.  OK, maybe not one handed.

Congratulations Nadir.  As one of the first IBM Business Partners to become a Netezza reseller, and one of the first to close a Netezza sale, The Fillmore Group is excited to have a team of consultants willing to independently prepare to support Netezza implementations.  Nadir is a fine example of our consulting team’s resources.  He has over ten years of DB2 database/data warehouse and tools experience including InfoSphere Federation Server and Optim Performance Manager and Query Tuner.  If your organization is in need of consulting assistance, please contact The Fillmore Group – we would be proud to introduce Nadir.

The Mid-Atlantic IBM Information Management technical support team has announced the date and location of the first Washington Area DB2 Users Group.  This group is being coordinated by IBM’s Warren Heising and Prem Rangwani to provide education and networking to local Information Management users.  Please contact Warren Heising at IBM if you would like to attend (heising@us.ibm.com).  Details below.

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The Fillmore Group and IBM are hosting a second session of “DB2 101” – our Information Management portfolio overview lunch and learn, on Friday, April 15th, from 11am – 2pm, at the fabulous Iron Bridge Wine Company in Columbia, Maryland, mid-way between Baltimore and Washington.  We felt local database users would benefit from gaining a better understanding of the IBM data management strategy and developed this informative presentation, which will be presented by DB2 Gold Consultant Frank Fillmore, along with Netezza’s Mickey James.  To join us, register here.

Many thanks to Frank Fillmore for delivering the DB2 Advanced Enterprise Server Edition – aka AESE – presentation on Wednesday.  We had over 70 people join us for the presentation and appreciate the positive feedback.   The link to the presentation file is here; if you have any questions on AESE or the presentation content please feel free to contact me at kim.may@thefillmoregroup.com.

One final note:  Frank is tracking down answers to the questions posed in the Q&A at the end of the session.  Look for them here – soon!

The Fillmore Group will be hosting three sessions of what we are calling, “DB2 101” – sessions that provide an executive overview of the IBM Information Management product portfolio, one each month, in February, March and April.  We have selected three restaurants close to our Baltimore headquarters – 2 in Baltimore and 1 in Columbia, Maryland (about halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC).  The purpose of each session is to bring attendees up to date on IBM’s Information Management product portfolio (an expanding target), and strategy. Read More…

Frank Fillmore will deliver a one hour presentation to explain the new DB2 for LUW Advanced Enterprise Server Edition (AESE) packaging – what’s included, how AESE differs from DB2 Enterprise Server Edition and most importantly, why anyone running DB2 for LUW should give AESE serious consideration.  

Date:  Thursday, November 18, 2010, Time:  12pm-1pm Eastern

With AESE, IBM is bundling Optim and InfoSphere tools that have been available as for-fee add-on features in the past.  Come learn how to upgrade DB2 and get: 

• DB2 Storage Optimization Feature
• DB2 Performance Optimization Feature
• Optim Performance Manager
• InfoSphere Federation Server
• InfoSphere Replication Server (Q Replication)
• Optim Development Studio
• DB2 Advanced Access Control Feature

To register, click here.  If you have a problem registering or have questions, email Blaire Crowley (blaire.crowley@thefillmoregroup.com).

IBM’s Norma Mullin is presenting a webcast next week titled, “Using What’s New in InfoSphere Data Architect to Accelerate Design for Data Warehouse and BI”.  Norma, whose official IBM title is Consulting IT Specialist/Client Technical Specialist, has worked extensively with customers implementing IDA and authored a whitepaper on migrating from ERWIN to IDA.  The webcast is scheduled to run from 1:00pm to 2:00pm Eastern time this coming Thursday, October 14th.  To register, go to:  http://bit.ly/bq4U1J

Norma’s presentation abstract is below:

InfoSphere Data Architect is a data design solution to model, relate, and develop data assets. New features will help accelerate the design of data warehouses, automatically discover and create data warehouse schema, and enable the use of standardized logical models to centralize data definitions across the enterprise.

What you will learn: • Classify dimensions, create dimensional objects and analyze dimensional models in InfoSphere Data Architect • Work with dimensional physical models • How InfoSphere Data Architect integrates with Cognos and InfoSphere Warehouse

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…

Kimberly Madia’s IBM/Optim team is hosting a Virtual Tech Briefing this Thursday:

DB2 Connect for DBAs: A Primer and Look Ahead

Whether you are a DB2 for LUW DBA who would like to access enterprise information or a z/OS DBA wondering how all those Java and .NET programmers are getting to your data, DB2 Connect is the solution.   Frank Fillmore, A DB2 Gold Consultant with an extensive history in training and consulting, will step you through a DB2 Connect primer from end-to-end, including platform architecture, DB2 Connect configuration parameters, and more. Case studies from large scale DB2 Connect health checks will be included.   IBM’s Kevin Foster, who manages the development of the product, will be on hand to discuss licensing, new packaging options such as the DB2 Connect Advanced Edition, which provides pureQuery acceleration in the box, and upcoming changes to the product.

Date: 19 August 2010
Time:  10:00-11:00AM Pacific, 1:00-2:00PM Eastern
Register here: http://ow.ly/2iAlr

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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