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Cloud & Service Management blog
Infosecurity Europe 2012 - Final Days Thoughts
Rebecca Swindell 270003U1MK firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  infosec ibm pulse xforce robert_freeman 2,472 Visits
New Ways of Working Scotland & IBMs Smarter Building Message
Rebecca Swindell 270003U1MK email@example.com Tags:  colin_proctor pulse mark_baker smarter_buildings iibm john_mcclelland trirgia public_sector_connect claire_penny derek_mackay colin_mair 5,032 Visits
On Tuesday IBM were Sponsors at the New Ways of Working, Scotland event, at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow- http://newwaysscot2012.publicsectorconnect.org/.
The conference aimed to help those working in the public sector, specifically addressing the problem of improving "services whilst managing with reduced budgets". The sessions looked into how the need for a greater flexibility of work styles, has created "new ways of working" that mean work can be carried out "anytime and anywhere".
Having previously attended the fantastic Government Property event run by the same company (Public Sector Connect) I was sceptical about whether this event could live up to the high standard they had set. I needn't have worried! The sessions were highly educational and enlightening. This blog will cover what I thought were the key learning's from the day – so I hope you find it interesting.
The plenary session was opened by Colin Mair, Chief Exec of Improvement Services, who discussed the theme of why we need "New Ways of Working" and what it means. He spoke about the need to manage resource constraints, decrease overheads, increase flexibility and optimise capacity through sharing services, all the while meeting the public's expectations, and increasing the value of the public pound in Scotland.
Next up was Derek MacKay – the minister for local government & planning, who wanted the audience to remember that the current budget costs should not be seen as restrictive but instead should be viewed as an impetus for change. He continued that if we continued to do what we have always done, we will get what we have always got. He emphasised the need for joint, collaborative working. Derek talked about the four pillars of Public Sector reform – prevention, closer integration and partnership, improved performance and a workforce focus. There is a new for "radical change", alongside job security. He spoke about how successful reform is dependent upon managing the culture within and between organisations, which is part of the mantra of "working smarter". Other things that would come under this umbrella include flexibility, new technology, new office designs, and co-location, all being implemented with an open mind. He concluded by saying there were "big challenges ahead, but immense opportunities too".
The next plenary speaker was John McClelland CBE - Scottish Further & Higher Funding Council, who talked about how these new ways of working must be citizen driven, but unfortunately this is not always the case. These changes should be "pull and not push", and the public sector has the opportunity to reset the bar. John talked about the need for online services, and how it is growing exponentially, and these services have to be seamless. He spoke about how, from an adoption of new technologies point of view, a lot more could be done, for instance in Cloud Computing. The deployment of ICT, with the exception of the health service, has been disappointing, with very little sharing of services and deployment. John thought there needs to be a paradigm shift in doing things differently. ICT should be seen as a productivity tool to save more and work more efficiently.
John was followed by Colin Proctor, director of Scottish Futures Trust, continued discussing the theme of new ways of working, stating that we now have a window of opportunity to push the boundaries, and it is a time for accountability. Property should be a major consideration; we should be aiming to do more – with less property. He believed that a 25% reduction in property is readably achievable, especially if the public sector can leverage investment in buildings from the private sector. Colin talked about the 3 Cs – Corporate, Collaborative and Commercial, which he mixed with another C – Commonsense! He talked about thinking about the long term game, and the need to act strategically. He urged the audience to think about a move to open working and efficient space planning by eliminating duplicate desks and space hungry and inflexible systems (incidentally all of which IBM can help you with, by using the Tririga platform!!) . He concluded by talking about the need for employees to be able to work anytime, anyplace and anywhere, which means a wider home and mobile working team. He suggested 10 desks to 8 people ratio as a starting point. This will save costs in business miles savings, time spending commuting and reduce carbon emissions.
Dr Claire Penny ran the IBM work session to a packed room. She wanted to address the question of whether
ICT is a "help of hindrance". Claire
began by looking at the iGov survey, which looked at real estate management
challenges and pain points, in which 54% of central government respondents did
NOT see ICT as an inhibitor to realising property savings. She took the
audience through IBMs' real estate history – especially looking at the acquisitions
we have made such as Tririga and MRO. Claire continued by looking at how IBM has
approached its own real estate transformation, working towards common systems
and process and minimal vacancy. She gave the recent West London strategic rationalisation
project as an example of where IBM have identified 12, 500 m² of office space
that could be vacated.
Claire finished the session by looking at the capabilities of IBMs latest Smarter Buildings acquisition – Tririga. This product is split into modules of – Real Estate Portfolio Mgmt, Space & Facilities Mgmt, Operations & Maintenance Mgmt, Capital Project Mgmt and Energy & Environmental Sustainability. These modules can be implemented separately, or part of a complete IWMS. Claire concluded the session by discussing what some of IBMs clients are using Tririga for – the main points being – improving the utilisation of their portfolio, operate in an environmentally sustainable way, simplify & improve user experience, simplify processes, & align their portfolio rapidly to meet changing business needs. She gave the example of GE, who reportedly save $925M in the first four years of using the product!
The final session was a panel debate – which included IBM's Dr Claire Penny, Mark Baker – Aberdeenshire Council, Harjinder Gharyal & John Dawson – Glasgow City Council, and was led by Simon Haston, Change Champion: Improvement Service. Lots of interesting questions were asked by the audience, all around the theme of new ways of working. Claire specifically spoke about how IBM approaches flexible working, whilst still maintaining important security standards for our mobile devices. The question was posed, what are the critical success factors for new ways of working? Many interesting opinions given, with our expert explaining she thought leadership and a clear strategy were key.
If you did not attend the event, but keen to speak to IBM about their sessions, then please visit – www.ibm.com/smarterbuildings or email me at firstname.lastname@example.com .
If you are interested in learning more why not come to Pulse Comes To You on 30th May at The Grange, Tower Hill – where our customers & prospects can learn more about the entire Tivoli portfolio. Please register here - http://ibm.co/JgmnZD.
Infosecurity Europe 2012 - A week to go!
Rebecca Swindell 270003U1MK email@example.com Tags:  pulse john_paul_ballerini gpj tweetwally xforce vijay_dheap touchscope marc_van_zadlehoff infosecurity pcty 4,747 Visits
It's now just one week until the biggest security event of the year – Infosec!! Once again IBM will be attending, this year we will be giving NINE speaking sessions.
Our Key Note Session -
Presentation Title: 2011 was the year of the
Security Breach...what are the security & risk trends for 2012?
Workshops over the three days:
Workshop Title: The Advanced Persistent Threat in 2012
Speaker - Robert Freeman, Manager, X-Force Advanced Research Strategy, IBM
Synopsis - In years past, there was a common misperception that Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) was just a problem for governments and government contractors. In 2011, there were many high-profile security breaches that were influential in affecting this misperception. Organizations of different sizes and focus areas face the threat of operationally sophisticated, targeted attacks to their computer networks. These attacks are amongst the greatest challenges facing network security professionals and researchers alike. To meet this challenge, IBM X-Force thinks it is important to consider new perspective and approaches to network hardening, breach detection and incident response. One needs to think beyond thinking like an attacker and see it as the game that it is. We have been on the forefront of understanding these threats and this talk will provide updated information from IBM X-Force on this threat and the mindset required to meet the APT challenge.
Workshop Title: Providing Your Business, Total Security Intelligence
Speaker: Steve Durkin, EMEA Channels Director at Q1 Labs, an IBM Company
Synopsis: As the world becoming more digitised and interconnected, more doors are being opened to emerging threats and leaks. Security is needed to be made a top concern, from the boardroom down. A report published by Verizon on Business Data Breaches in 2011, found that 48% of total data breaches were caused by insiders and 48% of breaches involved a misuse of an insider's privileges. All organisations, no matter the size or industry, need to put security first, allowing for the analysis of people, data, applications and infrastructure to be carried out easily and intelligently and providing instant information and visibility into business risks.
Workshop Title: Securing Mobile Devices in the Enterprise
Speaker: Vijay Dheap, Security Systems Product Manager - IBM Mobile Security Solutions
Synopsis: Enterprises want to fully capitalise on the business value of mobility but still have significant concerns about the security implications. To address these challenges, mobile security needs to be viewed and understood holistically from securing the device and the data on the device to secure access to enterprise systems and application security. In this session we will highlight the spectrum of requirements that Mobile Security covers, describe how some organisations have gotten started and introduce the concept of mobile security intelligence. Given the innate dynamic nature of mobility, an intelligent, adaptable mobile security solution is required to provide an enterprise with the necessary visibility, and control in managing threats and risks without degrading user experience.
Workshop Title - Infrastructure Protection - Towards an Optimised Security Position
Speaker - Simon Smith, CISSP - Client Technical Professional, IBM Security Systems
Synopsis - As the nature of the threat to business
changes it is important that companies review their position with regard to
security and particularly how mature their detection and prevention
capabilities are. This session looks at
some of the technology that can be used for Infrastructure protection and how
this might be integrated with other systems and data sources to provide a more
optimised solution. We will discuss the
way that a company can move from a basic security position, through proficient
and finally to optimised, giving the capability to be pre-emptive with
protection and use Security Intelligence and Analytics to provide better
protection and thus stay ahead of the threat.
Workshop Title: Application Security Hacking 101
Speaker: John Smith - IBM Application Security Specialist
Synopsis: Despite a decreased share of the vulnerability disclosures in 2011 (X-Force
Trends and Risks report, 2011) Web Application vulnerabilities still represent the single largest category of issues. This session will examine some of the common types of attacks and show how they work and how to defend against them.
Workshop Title: Integrated, Intelligent Security Analytics for the Enterprise
Speaker(s): Rob Ford - Architect - IBM Security Services, Global OM&D
Jef Gielkens - Managed Security Services Executive, Europe IBM Security Services
Synopsis: In a hyper-connected era can we ever achieve strong security? The answer is yes, but it requires some fundamental changes on how information and events are aggregated from the enterprise. The very strengths of these interconnected networks — their speed and openness, the easy access anywhere on the globe — also create a myriad of vulnerabilities. This session focuses on how you can enhance the levels of security intelligence and visibility provided by your existing security infrastructure, by leveraging the benefits of Security focused Cloud Based Data Analytics and protection technologies, in an efficient manner.
We will also have a smoothie bar on the stand (F40), so if you are attending, why not come along to the stand at grab a FREE refreshing fruit drink! You will also get the chance to talk one on one with our many experts – perhaps getting a demo of our latest products/solutions, use our Touchscope technology to browse key IBM Security pieces of collateral, or check out our Tweetwally, which will show all the twitter conversations during the day.
To join in our Twitter activity on the day – please use #infosec12 with #IBM. You can follow me @RSwindell, or our main security account @IBMSecurity.
Several of our security experts are on Twitter – John Paul Ballerini - @jpballerini, Bharat Bhusan - @_bharat_, Tom Mellow - @vintage1951, Glenn Ambler - @gambler2073, Marc Van Zadelhoff - @mvzadel and Nick Coleman - @teamsecurity. Darren Argyle - @D_Argyle
One of the experts – Vijay Dheap (@dheap) - recently shared his views with me, on what he saw the main topics of conversation at the event being. With many organisations needing to for address the speed of mobile adoption in the workplace, what their options are and how to get started. He added that the most mature organizations have one or more solutions deployed and trying to be more proactive in designing their security posture – of course all of which our IBM experts at the event would be able to help with.
Vijay also has a blog that I am sure you would find interesting - http://ow.ly/aj7Z9
If you are not attending the event, but keen to speak to IBM about their sessions, then please visit –email me at firstname.lastname@example.com and I will be happy to send the decks to you, and put you in touch with one of our experts!
We also have Pulse Comes To You on 30th May at The Grange, Tower Hill – where our customers & prospects can learn more about the entire Security Systems and Tivoli division. Registration is now open at - http://ow.ly/aiP1C
Video: IBM Pulse 2012: Cloud Service Management Simulator Workshop
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse cloud service-management pulse-2012 simulator ibmcloud 3,120 Visits
As you know, the team held a Cloud Service Management Simulator Workshop at Pulse 2012 and I was in the room for a portion of the session (look for me in the background at 1:03) and I know that the attendees had their eyes opened.
The team cut together a pretty cool trailer to give you an idea of what goes on at one of these simulator sessions.
If it looks like chaos, that's because there is a good bit of chaos in the process of role-playing the real-world interaction between IT and business when they are not aligned properly.
The goal is to keep the company profitable. That lasts for about 3 minutes...
But here's the thing. As the workshop progresses, the transformation occurs and balance is achieved (and money starts to be made).
Every service management practitioner should bring their co-workers to this workshop. It is an experience that will help drive your company towards innovation.
Watch the video to see what I mean, and for more information on the simulator, send an email to tivmktg [at] us [dot] ibm [dot] com.
Pulse 2012: Day 3 General Sessions Recap
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  pulse service-management keynote pulse2012 watson woz smarter-computing booch 4,798 Visits
After a pretty rockin' concert from Maroon 5 (who are better than Maroon 4!), it was time for the last day of general session keynotes.
As a reminder, all the general session keynotes (and a ton more) can be found on the Livestream site.
Another one of my livestream videos has been posted. This video is me talking with CTO of Industrial Sector Dr Naguib Attia about service management and Industrial sector.
I should also mention that Dave Barlett (VP of Industry Solutions and @davebart on Twitter) wrote another one of his fantastic blogs about Smarter Buildings over on the Smarter Planet blog.
I will also point you to the IBM Pulse 2012 press kit that has some great client success stories and exciting new announcements.
Now, onto the general sessions.
The intro video from IBM Research (@IBMResearch).
The video, which you really need to watch on the Livestream, showcases our "5 in 5" (five technology innovations that will occur in the next five years).
Today's keynote are about the future of innovation (and BTW, Visibility. Control. Automation (VCA)™ provides that innovation).
First to the stage was Erich Clementi (Sr. Vice President, IBM Global Technology Services) to talk about service aggregation.
Smarter Computing is offering new opportunities that will impact the infrastructure due to the unprecedented scale in everything and the way consumability (everything everywhere every time) is changing how IT needs to respond and react.
The boundaries of IT are changing, the infrastructure is changing. Anywhere. Anytime and any device is the new reality.
Erich remarked that the industrializatin of IT supported services (think Ford assembly line) will open up new options in sourcing services. This will reinvent all sorts of services born on the cloud to be more complex and with richer options.
The hybrid cloud will be critical because customers are going to run workloads where it meets the best fit. So these hybrid clouds need to be interconnected, integrated, seamless, secure, auditable and dependable.
This is changing the role of the CIO.
There was an interesting comment Erich made that James Governor (@monkchips) and I were talking about on Twitter. "We are confronted by the infrastructures our clients have, not the ones we wish they have." James responded (and I tend to agree), "make them change. the status quo is not acceptable."
Erich showed how CAPEX utilization is actually a minor benefit of going to the cloud whereas things like the standardization from being on the cloud provide the greater value to customers and it's in OPEX where the bigger savings come in.
There is an existing world that will need to be re-factored and re-thought out to get to the cloud.
Erich left the audience with three interesting thoughts:
Helene Armitage (GM of IBM System Software and Systems Growth) was next to present on innovations and Smarter Computing.
(I worked with Helene when she was in charge of AIX development it was her leadership with AIX, in my opinion, that helped get us back in the game in the early 00's with pSeries).
Helene did a very nice transition from Erich's keynote to talk about how these are the systems that are powering the things Erich discussed previously.
Consumer behavior is what is driving what happens in the IT data center and influencing hardware design. Consumers are creating data that is being captured and driven and running in the back-end systems in these data centers.
We need to evolve what is there today, but the rate and pace of change will continue to grow and the requirements for hardware will be driven by consumers. Where the consumers go, the IT department has to follow.
Smarter Computing systems are designed for data, delivered in the cloud and tuned to task. Helene used a good healthcare example. The data explosion in general, let alone healthcare (which Manoj will discuss), is phenomenal.
Everything is instrumented and capturing data. Data growth will be at 50x by 2020. An estimated 80% of the world's population will have a mobile device in the coming years.
The social implications of this data explosion will affect how hardware requirements are written. Enterprise systems with performance, scalability, reliability and availability will be critical.
Flexible systems to manage the data and remain secure will be important (and Helene gave a mention of RAS in this instance).
Helene also left the audience with three things (it's a day for lists):
Helene handed the stage to Manoj Saxena (GM of IBM Watson, @manojsaxena).
(I call IBM Watson "he," though I was corrected on Twitter and IBM Watson could very well be "she")
Jeopardy was not the end, it was just the beginning of putting IBM Watson to work.
IBM Watson is currently focused on Healthcare (and now) Financial Services Sector jobs and is a key enabler for Smarter Planet and the new problem of data explosion.
Consider that 90% of data was generated over the past 2 years. 80% is unstructured and only 20% of it is used by traditional systems.
Those companies that can effectively use this "Big Data" are more successful.
Manoj is breaking down how IBM Watson does its magic. It not only reads Big Data, it understands it. IBM Watson is a filter, that's what makes it so good
Healthcare is a great place to start with IBM Watson because of the data explosion. Doctors can not keep up with this explosion and as a result, 1 in 5 diagnosis in the US are incorrect.
Between 44,000 - 98,000 people die every year because of being misdiagnosised, so it is crucial to get this right. (another sobering thought about how what we do impacts lives).
1 in 4 people will die of cancer and 20-44% of errors occure in the first diagnosis. So better diagnosis and treatment is far more complex than Jeopardy answers, but IBM Watson is learning about what it needs to do.
IBM Watson is going after cancer as a medical assistant. It's being packaged with "adviser cartridges" for different areas of different industries and will be in the cloud (public, private or hybrid - whatever works for the customer).
IBM Watson is about selling business outcomes.
The keynote sessions concluded with Grady Booch (IBM Fellow) interviewing The Woz.
Better than Frost/Nixon if you ask me! Here are some of the highlights (and it's all on the Livestream).
FYI, Todd Watson (aka @TurboTodd) will have an interview on his blog that is not to miss.
That wraps up another year of Pulse! Can't wait to see y'all next year in 2013!
Additional Related Links:
Pulse 2012: Day 2 General Sessions Recap
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse service-management pulse2012 keynotes 2,655 Visits
* this is the third day of Pulse, but the second day of general sessions.
As a reminder, all of the general sessions (as well as a bunch of other programming) can be found on the Livestream site, including myself and Derek Botti talking about Smarter Hospitals in Healthcare.
Today's general session keynotes started with an excellent video with our Business Partners. Business Partners are one of the biggest value that IBM has as a vendor in the market. They are what make IBM who we are (them, and our customers).
Scott made mention, and this is pretty cool, that we have co-founded cloud-council.org/, a cloud open standards customer council.
Steve Mills (Senior Vice President for Group Exec for SW IBM Software & Systems) started with some excellent discussion about how Smarter Planet solutions are increasing demands on IT, but IT budgets are growing less than .8% per year.
The rate and pace of change and complexity is increasing, not decreasing. The stats Steve showed on his chart were mind boggling.
Steve then made a very interesting move and used a chart from last year that shows IT operating costs are greater than the asset costs themselves. So much of that money goes into labor and physical infrastructure.
Sprawl is driving cost and IBM is actually at the forefront of doing massive consolidations for our own data centers.
We're still on the journey, which consists of virtualiztion, consolidation, service management (W00T!) and of course cloud.
Some of the numbers that Steve showed: 5,700+ servers consolidated. 15,000 applications reduced to 4,500. IBM has 110 pedabytes of operational data and 92% of our servers are now virtualized in strategic hosting environments.
Much of this was accomplished with System z and Linux (mainframe, ftw!).
The IBM Integrated Service Management Program used by our team led us to better VCA in our own data centers (hint, hint).
To quote Steve, "Linux runs like a 'scalded dog' on the IBM mainframe."
IBM uses Tivoli for our own data center consolidation and it's working quite well. Linking back to some of the thoughts yesterday, cloud is about better economics and that's achieved through sharing.
Steve is a fan of Business Analytics - one version of the truth and finding the problem quicker and information-centric decision making (360 degree view of our clients) thru master data management (System z plays a key role here). System z - tuned to task, designed for data and managed with cloud tech! Cost reduction, new service delivery with hybrid cloud.
He also posted quite a few client references. Like Nationwide Insurance who consolidated and run 680 Linux system images with $15M cost savings over 3 years with 85-9% server utilization.
It's worth checking out the Livestream to see some of these amazing client references (like how 75% of data stored is duplicative and how HealthNow is saving $5M per year by eliminating duplicate/incorrect mailings).
Next up, Bob Picciano (General Manager, Software Sales for IBM Software Group) and he was joined with some of our customers for a round table discussion. With him were:
For Rogers, cloud meant accelerating time to market to get services to their customers (which is important since they try to be the first to market with new services). It has also increased productivity and has made the QA process more efficient with standardization playing a key role.
Key risks as they moved to the cloud were the unknown effect of migration. What changes would need to be made once they migrated? How would legacy environments be taken into account. Also, the "hype curve" and the negativity associated with cloud (with security in particular) was something that they had to work through. But as much of a challenge as the cultural shift was, at the end of the day it's about results from the people and processes. Not the technology used to get there (like Steve Mills talked about).
With GE, they're trying to consolidate and optimize their office campuses and the challenge there is keeping up with the business units.
At GE - if you're not with me, you gotta catch up.
The team that works on their smarter physical infrastructure needs to make sur that they're in-line with the business needs but they're also managing the risk. Financial risk, environmental risk as well as ensuring that they can accommodate growth.
At Erie 1 BOCES, endpoint management with "bring your own device" (BYOD) has turned their job into the wild wild west. Even worse, with the economic crisis in education, there are changes that are being forced that haven't happened before in their industry.
Sharing, for example (which Steve talked about) has become the norm. Because they share, they now have a more robust network and are trying to consolidate to use the resources to collectively find solutions.
Jill and her team are trying to manage the endpoints consistently and effectively and keep the teachers in the classrooms (which was an extremely sobering point).
Not to be outdone, Tony from Equifax started with a very real fact. "We have everyone in this room's data."
So, security is pretty important to them since their business about all the data that they have (and bringing greater analytics to this data).
Security is a race. Nobody can do everything first. So the key is having a plan. IBM has been a key partner for Equifax in putting this plan together.
Tony talked about what David discussed; bringing the business into the conversation early. Asking them first - what do you want from your security?
As the transformational journey of security occurs, it's important to know what to expect: that there will be a massive increase in security getting worse.
Greater visibility means that you start to see everything (which is ultimately a good thing).
For 2012, Equifax is looking for real-time proactive intelligence with security. Security Intelligence facts Tony gave: past breaches are usually found 60% found months, years after they occurred. 86% of breaches are not found by the company. In the case of 100% of breaches the information about the attack vector was in the logs.
IBM Security is helping Equifax get the real-time/gamechanging security intelligence they need and the Security Intelligence that understands and changes baselines.
Then Bob asked about what next year's key topics might be. Here were some of what was mentioned:
(our customers are awesome!)
Jamie Thomas (VP of Strategy and Development, IBM Tivoli) was the third speaker.
Some of the content contained in Jamie's keynote can also be found in the announcement roundup blog post.
Jamie reiterated what a number of the keynotes talked about with regard to the market transformations happening around IT. Cloud. Smarter Physical Infrastructure. Mobile. Security.
IBM SmartCloud Foundation, which is our portfolio for cloud, has the levels of Visibility. Control. Automation™ (TM). to create "clouds done right."
Jamie started to talk about the product portfolio and the new announcements specifically:
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk which is reducing the complexities around end-to-end processes for service desk and providing a holistic view to the complexities of service desk and smarter physical infrastructures (bringing together the front-office with the back-office).
IBM SmartCloud Provisioning and IBM SmartCloud Monitoring have both been key offerings for our cloud portfolio and they are working together (see "Service Health for IBM SmartCloud Provisioning" on the ISM Library) to effectively manage the complexities of virtualization.
The bringing together of development and operations is also an important part of the portfolio and the plans to provide a beta of the IBM SmartCloud Continuous Delivery (and some useful workload patterns) and given emphasis with this thought - Infrastructure as code.
One of the announcements that is sure to be important for storage managers is the IBM SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center. It integrates with TSM and is a crucial part of making storage more cost effective.
The hybrid cloud support that we talked about at Pulse 2012 is now part of our portfolio as well as the IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices.
Q1 Labs, and the recent QRadar integration with our security portfolio was discussed and it is sure to help address some of the issues brought up during the customer roundtable.
A plug was given to the 3 million interactions happening on Service Management Connect and it is becoming the place to stay updated on the latest development plans.
Jamie focused on our IBM Smarter Buildings solutions and the power of the Maximo and TRIRIGA portfolioS (which was also reinforced during so many of the sessions discussing smarter physical infrastructure).
Finally, Jamie gave an update on the cows in Brazil (from last year's general session keynote). 2 million more cows are being tracked with Maximo, though there might have been a bit of turnover...
While it was not a part of the general session keynotes, IBM released a new study surrounding cloud computing. "The Power of the Cloud: Driving business model innovation" is live and available for download.
Additional Related Links:
The Annual Pulse Announcements Wrap-Up
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse service-management smartcloud announcements pulse2012 6,220 Visits
IBMers are hyper-aware of our clients and the issues that they address when they're on the job. So much so, that I've said in past blogs that the majority of conversations I have with my colleagues start with, "How does [blank] beneift our customers?"
To that end, everything we do revolves around questions like - how can we give our customers what they need to get their job done and stay innovative in their industry?
Questions like that get answered at conferences like Pulse 2012. It's where we continue to deliver value to our customers.
And, as mentioned in yesterday's blog about the general session keynotes from Danny Sabbah, not technology just for technology's sake. Providing real business value.
This year, we had a number of exciting announcements, many of them were collected in Announcement Letter on February 28.*
This particular blog is going to focus on the specific announcements we made around cloud, starting with SmartCloud Foundation.
IBM SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center
Storage is "the next big line item" for IT, which is why the idea of improving storage efficiency has always been a hot topic.
Storage virtualization brings the promise of not only improving efficiency, but also providing levels of data mobility that are crucial to delivering modern services to customers.
The ideal solution for storage virtualization should be able to do both the virtualization/provisioning as well as the actual management.
And IBM SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center does both and it's one of the most impressive things being shown on the Expo Center floor here at Pulse 2012. Not to worry though, the team has information on the website and the team talks about this as well as all storage information on our @ibmstorage Twitter account and the Storage blog.
IBM SmartCloud Monitoring and IBM SmartCloud Provisioning
If you were following our SmartCloud announcements last year, you saw these two solutions make a big splash in the market and we're continuing to add value to both of these solutions.
Today. As in right this second, you can go to the ISM Library and download the "Service Health for IBM SmartCloud Provisioning" that will integrate provisioning and monitoring so that you easily monitor what you've provisioned and be able to identify and react to issues in your environment.
To help further simplify how you provision, we've released a statement of direction for SmartCloud Provisioning that may provide enhancements with image lifecycle management.
New features that may provide the ability to control image sprawl, an Image Construction and Composition Tool as well as highly automated self-service deployment of virtual machines.
All of which translate into spending less time wrestling your virtualization and cloud environments to ground and more time working on innovation.
IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices (New)
Yesterday's general session keynote emphasized mobile.
Between "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) and organizations embracing using their own mobile devices for their employees, mobile is the new platform of choice. (which means it's probably time to ditch my IBM 5100)
As you know, our IBM Endpoint Manager solution is built on BigFix technology and it's been invaluable to our overall service management strategy for Visibility. Control. Automation.(TM) (VCA)
Today, we've taken the beta for mobile device management and released it as a product (Announcement Letter 212-065).
The best part about this mobile device manager is that it works with the existing Endpoint Manager solution. Meaning that you're managing all of yoru endpoints from the same place.
IBM Security Identity and Access Assurance 1.2
Last week, IBM Cloud Security Solutions was the award winner of SC Magazine's "Best Cloud Computing Security."
On January 31, we announced an update to one of the key pieces of this portfolio; IBM Security Identity and Access Assurance 1.2.
Security was one of the three areas of focus with regard to increasing complexity and new features deliver improved identity and access governance with open authentication standards, role modeling and lifecycle management, and a virtual appliance delivery method all simplify deployment and provides faster time to value for security while reducing risk.
IBM SmartCloud Continuous Delivery
Continuous Delivery is a topic that we have discussed quite a bit on this blog (it has also been known as "collaborative development and operations" or "DevOps").
The challenge of getting services to users is balanced by ensuring that speed does not come at the expense of governance and increased risk.
The strategy to bring development and operations teams together is often stalled when the tools each team are using don't work well together.
Per the announcement letter, "IBM plans to provide an extensible architecture for delivering and managing the entire application lifecycle, creating an environment that brings development and operation teams together with collaboration, automation, and analysis."
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
With IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, IBM plans to deliver a solution for service catalog, service desk, and IT Infrastructure Library™ (ITIL™) V3 based processes for incident, problem, change, configuration, release, and IT asset management.
This service desk offering will assist customers in process control center for managing change & configuration, assets, incidents/problems, service requests, SW licenses and more.
Software As A Service (SaaS) - IBM SmartCloud Solutions
The innovations happening with Smarter Planet, are quite simply staggering. One of the most interesting, and most visible, areas is in the Intelligent City solutions.
You've seen these solutions in market and in any number of places in the past, but now Intelligent Operations, Intelligent Transportation and Intelligent Water also have SaaS offerings that allow customers to quickly get started, since there is no hardware to procure or installation services to contract.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - IBM SmartCloud Enterprise - Object Storage
Last quarter, we announced SmartCloud Enterprise, and this quarter we have added a very compelling new feature; object storage.
Object storage enables you to upload and share files of any size from anywhere in the world; supporting millions of users, billions of objects, and exabytes of data.
It's a nice bookend to the SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center in that it gives customers options on how to solve their storage issues.
Back To Visibility. Control. Automation.™ (VCA)
This is a lot of "stuff" with regard to features and functions. But what does it mean for you, as a customer?
I keep going back to the Danny Sabbah general session keynote because it really hit home the message so well.
"Providing information on all platforms is table stakes these days."
Cloud done right is about mobile + cloud. The infrastructure must deliver value back to the business. We must simplify, standardize and automate.
Cloud done right is about delivering VCA:
Cloud computing and VCA means less time (and resources and money) working on your infrastructure issues and more time being innovative.
To find out more about any of these solutions, contact your IBM sales rep contact your IBM sales rep or one of our Business Partners using the Business Partner Locator website.
* some of the new announcements are statements of direction and they are noted as such here and in the announcement letter. (and see the announcement letter and the bottom of this blog as the standard disclaimers apply).
Additional Related Links:
Pulse 2012: Day 1 General Sessions Recap
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse2012 service-management pulse keynotes 2 Comments 4,199 Visits
As a reminder, all of the general session keynotes (and more!) can be found on the Livestream site.
This morning was kicked off with the band Naturally 7, who were amazing. During one of the speaker changes, they did "In The Air Tonight" and rocked the drum solo.
The opening video (which was pretty awesome) started with the fact that we have 8,000 attendees from 79 countries and then talked about how one of the things that is affecting all of us is that lower cost technologies are literally changing the planet we live on.
This is leading to a Smarter Planet where infrastructure is everywhere.
Our first customer speaker from WellPoint echoed this sentiment and both he and Scott Hebner (VP of Marketing for IBM Tivoli Software) how Visibility. Control. Automation™. (VCA) is critical to turning this "infrastructure is everywhere" reality into a successful future of innovation
Robert LeBlanc (Senior Vice President, IBM Software Middleware Group) continued this conversation about VCA.
He had a great line from one of our customers, "If you can't get excited about the change and challenges of this industry, I don't know what you're doing here."
The three things driving business imperatives are dexterity, reinventing customer relationships and uncovering new profit opportunities. Analytics followed by mobility, virtualization, cloud and then security are keys to driving these technology shifts.
Achieving desired business outcomes is about VCA.
One thing that you'll hear a lot about at Pulse is that cloud is about more than virtualization. You'll hear that message a lot, because it's true.
Technology for technology's sake doesn't work. It has to impact the business. Cloud computing has the potential to add that value. As does mobile.
Mobile + Cloud (which Danny Sabbah talked in detail about) will have the biggest impact on our customers. Two statistics that Robert gave were the fact that data has surpassed voice and that last year more smartphones shipped than PCs.
How do you manage and secure all of those devices? VCA. Specific to security, it's about security and compliance; people, data, applications and infrastructure.
And, of course, assets and facilities (smarter physical infrastructures) will play a critical role as everything becomes interconnected, intelligent and instrumented.
Robert closed out with an interesting comment - data for data's sake isn't important. It's what you do with it. It's ensuring Visibility. Control. Automation.
Applying analytics is one of the ways IBM does this across VCA:
Applying IT analytics to improve business outcomes. Taking an Open/integrated approach to service management and leveraging the cloud to unify the service value chain.
Next up was Dr. Danny Sabbah (General Manager, IBM Tivoli Software) and he put cloud and mobile into context.
Danny hit the ground running, talking about the three dominant transformations happening in technology; Smarter Physical Infrastructure. Mobility. Security.
The intersection of these three has caused a lot of complexity (and confusion) for our clients.
The way to tame that complexity is Visibility. Control. Automation.
The lines of business are doing what they need to so they can compete which means that our clients must simplify, standardize and automate to get this to work efficiently and add value back to the business.
It's about going beyond virtualization. It's about Mobile + Cloud. Together.
Tennis Australia built a smarter physical infrastructure capturing and using the data in real-time. This helped build out the relationship with their customers (in this case, tennis fans).
The video (included in the Livestream) with Tennis Australia is great and the nice thing about them is that what they did is applicable to any industry. In fact, the best comment they made in the video was that, "Providing information on all platforms is table stakes these days."
Danny let that sit for a minute. Table stakes. Meaning that you need to go beyond just offering up the data and provide value at levels that won't happen with just virtualization.
It's about mobile + cloud. The infrastructure must deliver value back to the business.
CIOs are the key to driving this innovation. Technology is about real outcomes and not just playing with the latest toys.
We must simplify, standardize and automate.
Danny mentioned the over 3,000 customers we have helped with this type of transformation and one of the best examples was helping an infrastructure delivery that used to take 40 days reduce to just 20 minutes.
Our customers (you) need to be resilient to velocity of change. Have security intelligence. Be able to have the choice/flexibility (mobile, hybrid) to be workload aware and utlitize analytics.
It's cloud done right. It's IBM SmartCloud Foundation.
Danny took the time to talk about the Worklight acquisition and more specifically the big announcements we made with the integration of Q1 Labs and QRadar into our security portfolio (see the press release from Feb 22).
He concluded with discussion around OSLC as a specifcation to simplify integrations and increase agility. Development and Operations (Dev/Ops) continuing to be an important aspect of how we turn isolation into integration! He also mentioned the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk (mentioned in the announcement letter from Feb 28).
Danny concluded by saying that if you wanted hype and marketing. Go somewhere else. This is about cloud done right.
And with that. We're off to the stream kickoffs and a full say of sessions.
Stay tuned for a wrap-up of tomorrow's general session keynotes, right here on the blog.
In the meantime, use the links below to stay connected to everything happening at Pulse.
Additional Related Links:
Cloud Service Management Simulator Workshop At Pulse 2012 (Saturday and Sunday)
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  workshop simulator service-management cloud pulse service-management-simula... 2,509 Visits
David has written about the Cloud Service Management Simulator Workshop in a previous blog and things are heating up as we get closer to Pulse.
In addition to the Sunday workshop we have a few extra seats left on Saturday for business partners and customers who wish to attend. If you are interested, please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Both workshops (Saturday and Sunday) are from 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm.
And for more information, watch developerWorks' Scott Laningham interview Ivor MacFarlane on what to expect in the room.
encrypting and decrypting your ideas - aka talking to people
ivor macfarlane 2700022KPS firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  service-management itil abc pulse itsm ivor 1 Comment 4,279 Visits
Just about my very first experience in IT – brought onto a project as a customer 'expert' – was listening to the IT guys debating how to make use of the data we already had on the old system. In my naivety at the time I had thought computers used 'computer language'. Quickly I realised they were more like people than I had suspected – that there were lots of computer languages, and each computer spoke only one of them, and could make no sense of the others.
Now, in the interceding years (some 27 of them L) great progress has been made – we expect computers to talk to each other. This almost universal technological communication ability sometimes blinds IT people to the fact that human communication has not evolved similarly.
Until we perfect direct thought transference, all the communication we do, whether written or spoken, texted, tweeted or painted on the walls, relies on a two stage process. First you put your ideas into words (usually words and sometimes also gestures or pictures – or a combination of all three). Then someone else has to take those words etc and turn them into thoughts inside their head. There is always an 'encrypt/decrypt' section to human communication.
Now that can get messy, confusing and create all sorts of mistakes in delivering the message. You probably wouldn't design it that way. In fact in a pure IT context we would be looking at ways to deliver direct communication in a standard format from one system to the other. But people don't work that way; it is what we have and we need to work with it.
Communication isn't just about being accurate; I think it is better measured by whether it is useful. In IT, people still manage to get the communication spectacularly wrong by not thinking about the whether the customer (or client or user) is equipped to decrypt the message. As one example, here is an error message I got on my screen the other day, apparently intended to inform me why the software couldn't do what I had asked it to do: "Unable to contact the target back-end forwarding host (proxy target)". I presume that made perfect sense to the person who set the software up to deliver that. They were maybe a great programmer, but evidently not a human communications specialist.
It's easy enough just to dismiss this as one more version of 'Computer says no', but why is it no surprise? Maybe it's because we still seem to think it OK to throw our jargon at others who don't share it. Or maybe we forget they don't know what we do. Actually, to be fair this is not only an IT thing – ask anyone who has been caught on a French train having failed to quite understand the printed message exhorting them "composter votre billet". (And if you don't already know but intend to travel on a French train, trust me, you need to find out what it means, but it isn't a French word that they usually teach you in basic language classes. A classic case of encrypt/decrypt failure in a service management situation that has nothing to do with IT.)
The technologists amongst us love the challenge of integration, communication across platforms etc. but there is recognition that this is expensive and should be unnecessary – an area where standards and commonality help everyone. Why do we forget our most common encrypt/decrypt situation – getting a message from one mind to another.
I hope that the irresistible tide of universal cloud adoption and pervasive social media communication will solve all these troubles – and allow us to concentrate on the people issues more. But so far the social media snowball doesn't seemed to have reduced jargon – quite the opposite. Those of at a certain age are now totally incapable of understanding what are children are saying, even when they give us access to their on-line worlds.
Actually, this is fresh in my mind now because it forms a little game we will play during my talk at Monday 5th March at Pulse – our big SM event in Vegas next month. I plan to have people encrypting and decrypting during that session. I am interested to see how they get on, and hopefully to make them realise there are some simple tools we can use to make things better. Nothing magic, and the same techniques we demonstrate in the simulator. Mostly they rely on establishing common ground – establishing communication channels and learning what will work, by finding shared understandings, and by relying on more than words alone when it makes a difference.
The best part about all that is that from the outside it might look like gossip and drinking at the bar – but we realise it is building business critical communicating platforms and channels. The message that things can be both fun and relevant at the same time is also part of the session.
So, if you are at Pulse maybe you will be able to come along at 6pm on Monday. If not I hope to get the chance to encrypt/decrypt with you at another event this year. And thank you for your efforts in decrypting this message, I hope it wasn't too difficult – and I hope it has some resemblance inside your head to the one that was in mine.
Watson Has a Finger on the "Pulse" of Analytics
David Ojalvo 060001CNQC firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  watson 2012 pulse 2,104 Visits
Guess who's going to be making a guest special appearance at the Solution Expo at Pulse?
No, not Maroon 5. (though they will be performing at Pulse on the Tuesday night in the Grand Garden Arena)
The answer is Watson!
The Watson Experience is a demonstration that illustrates how managing big data and applying analytics can help businesses gain meaningful insights. Watson shows how we can confidently make decisions through ranking answers, and handle structured and unstructured data by running hundreds of different kinds of analytical queries across all different kinds of information.
And then on Day 3, Manoj Saxena, General Manager of IBM Watson Solutions, will provide a glimpse into the innovations of the future with a talk on how IBM and leading clients are "Putting IBM Watson to Work." This keynote will offer insight into how the advanced analytics used in Watson are being put to work in businesses around the world to solve some of the industries biggest challenges, leveraging Cloud Computing. Manoj will highlight IBM's strategy to commercialize the Watson technology with embedded industry content and how it complements an optimized, integrated cloud-based IT environment.
So be sure to pay an up close and personal visit with IBM's most famous game show contestant, and learn how it can help businesses prosper!
There is still time to register for Pulse.
We look forward to seeing you there!
seeing ourselves as others see us - and vice versa
ivor macfarlane 2700022KPS email@example.com Tags:  pulse itil service-management ivor itsm 5,176 Visits
Perception is the only truth you believe
That's a paraphrase of many quotes – but whichever famous quote peddler you choose, it is surely a mantra of sorts for successful service management. To me it neatly addresses two key points:
I had some first-hand instruction on this recently that helped my understanding. Both were a little funny at the time but maybe with some serious messages.
Firstly two different perceptions of what must have looked very similar situations to a detached observer – driving last year down a fast dual-carriageway[1] road. Both times I was on my way to my father.
So – good guy or bad guy? Depends on what you know, and that depends on what you are and what has happened somewhere else.
The other one, I feel the need to share all hinges around those daily gifts we get form our dogs. Each day I take our dog for a walk in the field behind the house. The field is just the other side of the fence and hedge around the back garden, but to get there you have to go out the front, down the road through the alley and back – about 300 metres or so. Now dogs, being dogs, use the daily walk for relieving themselves and people, being only people, are left to pick it up in plastic bags and carry it. But since our walk takes us back down the other side of that garden fence, rather than carry the little bags round the field, I toss them over the fence and into our garden, to pick up and dispose of when I get back. So, I am doing this when I realise I am being watched, by another man out walking his dog. Thinking about it afterwards he just sees someone flinging doggy doo over a fence into someone's garden. He did not speak, but did manage a look that clearly had me well below pond-scum in any kind of social acceptability league table.
OK, so some examples of skewed judgement based on incomplete knowledge, we all have lots of them – and please feel free to send in any good ones that have happened to you.
Very few of these matter in everyday life – we shrug and move on and usually never see the misunderstanding or misunderstood person again. But when it matters we need to establish communication to get some idea of the events that drive perceptions of those who we will interact with long term. This is why we know things about those we live with and care about – their favourite colours, the foods they like and dislike, which football teams they support and lots more. That is worth doing because these people matter to us, and because this makes both their life and ours more pleasant.
So apply this to work, how much more
pleasant – and easier – will your life be if your customers are happy with you,
if they understand what you are doing and you understand what they care about.
That simple idea is at the core of a lot of my work these days – in the
simulation games and the presentation at events. It certainly underpins the
talks I am slated to do at IBM's Pulse and itSMF
If I go back to the first set of two bullets I wrote at the start of this piece, they are trying to say that you need to know how your customers – and maybe other stakeholders – are feeling today. This will drive how you address things. So customer perceptions influence prioritisation – standard best practice stuff. What I was trying to point out in my driving example was that those perceptions and attitudes are anything but fixed. Just because you know what mattered yesterday, doesn't mean you know what will matter today or tomorrow. There are clues and signs you can look for – find out what things affect your customers attitude and monitor those yourself. Again that is something we can do fine at home – we are aware of some of the influences that change attitudes and perceptions on our loved ones – be that exams the next day, football on the TV tonight, or a fight with a friend.
Maybe what we need is more formalised gossip at work – because it is often the conversations that don't seem to be about work that tell us most about how our customers will react – and more importantly how they want us to react. One thing the 21st century has brought us – big time – is new ways to gossip, or should that be freely and rapidly exchange more information than we ever dreamed was possible. So, maybe this is just one more business benefit of social media, one that delivers its success by not being so obvious?
Actually, I don't care how you gather more understanding of your customers concerns and perception influencers use every means you can. You could do worse than simply going to visit them, talking and listening. Set yourself a target perhaps – name one thing that would change your customer's priorities, and then ask them if you are right.
[1] = 'divided highway' in American.
GAME ON! Attend the Cloud Service Management Simulator Workshop at Pulse 2012
David Ojalvo 060001CNQC email@example.com Tags:  service pulse cloud simulator management 2,311 Visits
This year at Pulse, we will be running another Cloud Service Management Simulator Workshop.
Conference time: Real, virtual, both or Vegas
ivor macfarlane 2700022KPS firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  itil ibm ivor pulse service-management itsm 2,613 Visits
I Call It "WTI: What The Innovator" (Live At Pulse 2012)
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  woz pulse gradybooch service-management pulse2012 innovation 2,244 Visits
If you have spent five minutes with me, you have probably heard me rave about the "WTF" podcast from Marc Maron.
It is the first topic of discussion when I talk to a friend of mine (second being Doctor Who).
The reason WTF works is that you have a veteren comedian (Maron) who knows the questions to ask. Who understands the journey. Who can have the types of discussions that lead to places you and I wouldn't think to go.
Maron is on the short-list of great interviewers. His podcast is one of the few times where the word "fascinating" really applies.
I tell you that, to tell you this.
Pulse 2012. It's right around the corner.
There are a number of reasons to attend (and if you read the Pulse Blog or follow #ibmpulse, they're too numerous to list here).
We announced that Woz is one of our keynote speakers.
Well, the format for this keynote is going to be a little different. He is going to be interviewed by none other than IBM's very own; Grady Booch (@grady_booch).
Grady is an innovator in the same vein as Woz. He was one of three individuals who invented UML.
As someone who worked for a company that relied heavily on UML (which I'm sure is the same for many readers), it's like "Memphis" Raines meeting Henry Ford. He's pretty much the reason a number of us are where we are in this industry.
UML. The Apple computer.
Grady and Woz were not only on the ground floor of technology revolutions, but they both built most of the foundations.
Between the two of them, they personify the type of innovation that we promote at Pulse 2012.
I can not stress this enough: innovation is the differentiator. It's what puts our clients in the leadership position in their industry. It's the thing that organizations playing "catch up" are trying to chase down.
Pulse is about not only helping you find the solutions to drive your innovation, but it's also about mindset. It's about thinking like an innovator.
Thinking like Woz and Grady. Getting you there.
And a keynote like this, with a real in-depth discussion between two of the best in the business. It's gonna be fascinating and you need to be there.
fashions and progress - but the basics stay the same
ivor macfarlane 2700022KPS email@example.com Tags:  tivoli ibm pulse itsmf service-management ivor itil 2 Comments 4,457 Visits
Well, we are well into 2012 now and we have just about got though the 'my predictions for 2012' phase and in to ordinary routines again. Whatever the predictions, like with most years I predict that 2012 will look a lot like an older version of 2011.
More On Pulse - The RedMonk Podcast
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  ibmpulse podcast ism pulse pulse2011 1,597 Visits
On Sunday, I met with RedMonk* analyst Michael Coté at the historic Driskill Hotel during SXSW Interactive to talk about Pulse and Integrated Service Management.
It's a good bookend to the conversation that I had with Scott Laningham at Pulse on the Livestream (Live Expo interview).
And this makes my second plug for Rudy's BBQ (for which, I am not getting paid, I just dig them). I clearly always have food on my brain...
* note that IBM is one of RedMonk's clients.
Taking my Pulse in Slots Vegas
David Ojalvo 060001CNQC firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  simulator service tivoli management pulse ism 2 Comments 3,020 Visits
Last week, I attended my first IBM Pulse conference. I really enjoyed the sights and sounds of Vegas, and met many of my Tivoli colleagues for the first time. I also probably walked the equivalent of 15 miles over the five days within the mammoth MGM facility. But what I found most valuable over the five days were my interactions with our customers and business partners.
On Day 1 of the conference, my focus was the ISM Simulator workshop that I helped coordinate. Given that the workshop was:
a) taking place prior to any other Pulse activities,
b) located in the bowels of the MGM hotel, and
c) three hours in duration...
...I was a bit apprehensive that all the customers and business partners who had RSVP'd would actually show up. But when people started rolling in 30 minutes before the start time, I was confident that this workshop was going to be a success.
When we got started, we had 21 participants sitting around four tables, which is all but ideal for this role playing workshop. Like other simulator workshops that I have attended, it started out a bit chaotic, as participants tried to process the firehose of information that was being thrust upon them. By the end of the three hours, they had come full circle, and were effectively working together to the tune of a $5 million profit for their hypothetical shipping company.
As I chatted with some of them after the session, and listened in on some of their video testimonials, the words I heard most often were "eye-opening", "outstanding" and "insightful".
On Monday and Tuesday, I worked on the expo floor and showed off our cool new ISM Simulator video game. The game allowed users to experience various issues affecting service management and corporate profitability in a simulated organization. At the ped, I got great feedback from customers and partners, who, by virtue of playing the game, were able to get a better grasp of the sometimes abstract concepts of service management.
You can play the IBM Service Management Mission game here.
All in all, it was a great conference, and stay tuned for the video from the workshop!
Pulse 2011 Recap From Scott Hebner
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse2011 ibmpulse keynote pulse 1,800 Visits
I had the opportunity to catch up with Scott Hebner, VP of Marketing for Integrated Service Management and Tivoli Software, in the hallway during Pulse.
See the video below, Scott fills us in on the core messages of Pulse and some of the highlights from the Keynotes (which, as he points out, can be found on the Livestream).
Pulse Is Over, But There's More To Come
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  pulse pulse2011 1,587 Visits
Pulse 2011 is over, but as Belushi said in Animal House, "Nothing is over until we decide it is!"
We'll continue to be blogging about Pulse and all Integrated Service Management topics here on the blog and on our Twitter accounts (@ibmpulse, @ibmtivoli and of course @servicemgmt).
I'll be posting a bunch of interviews I did next week on the blog, and we'll also have more wrap-up coverage.
And don't forget, we'll see you next year at Pulse 2012 (dates announced: March 04 - 07, 2012).
Pulse 2011: Tuesday Wrap Up
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  cloud smarter-buildings pulse2011 pulse rtal smarter-rail ibmpulse 1 Comment 3,998 Visits
Today was a long, but fulfilling, day.
A bit different from yesterday, I spent the morning helping our customers register for industry round tables and then followed that up with showing customers the new Integrated Service Management Simulator Game in the Expo Center.
Tuesday, as you know, is when IBM makes product announcements and this Tuesday was no different.
Jamie Thomas talked about a number of announcements (including the ones below) in her portion of the general session (which can be found on the Livestream)
I would call your attention to the following two Announcement Letters that were released today:
This information is covered in the press release, "IBM Advances Cloud Computing with New Software" (which includes information on the beta for the advanced virtual deployment software.
The adoption of cloud and virtualization technologies by the market is increasing.
For these technologies to be meaningful to our customers, it is on us to ensure that we can provide the levels of Visibility, Control and Automation (TM) they require to match their Integrated Service Management best practice. (and that's just what we're doing)
Press Release Round Up
The press team put out some great articles that I'd also like to call your attention to:
Some great coverage of the successful client relationships we've built with our industry solutions. They are worth a read (especially the Cities one).
I'd also point you to the excellent blog post Christina wrote about Intelligent Metering Network Management
Speaking of Coverage
As a sequel to yesterday's general session visual note-taking adventure, I present to you my notes from day 2 (Flickr link:
What's Next For Noah?
Tomorrow, I'll be talking to Scott Laningham on the Livestream at 12:40pm PST about Integrated Service Management and then closing out the conference and staffing the Simulator Game in the Expo Center.
If you want, stop by and say hello. I'll show you the demo and can also talk to you about anything Integrated Service Management -related.
Or Simpsons trivia. I can do my pitch as Professor Frink if you like.
Either way :-P
Additional Related Links:
Visual Note-Taking: Pulse Day 01 General Session
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  ibm-pulse pulse-2011 visual-note-taking pulse keynote 1,688 Visits
Last year at SXSW, I had a life changing experience when I attended Visual Note-Taking 101 presented by Dave Gray, Austin Kleon, Mike Rohde and Sunni Brown (see my personal blog for more details).
Sunni Brown talks about the "Doodle Revolution," (TEDTalk) and it certainly is a revolution.
You don't need to be an artist to do visual note taking (clearly I am not), but the process itself helps with cataloging ideas.
So, to that end, I decided to do visual note taking for today's general session. See below for the photo set of my notebook and you can always click on them to see the images full-size(direct Flickr link).
Live...from Las Vegas...it's Pulse 2011!
Kimberlee Kemble 120000GMAV email@example.com Tags:  integrated-service-manage... service-management smarter-computing ibm pulse pulse-2011 2,092 Visits
Dateline: Boca Raton, Florida - February 28, 2011 - 11:00 am
Whew! What a great way to start! I encourage you to watch the Day One General Session in its entirety at your convenience - and to tune into the Day Two General Session tomorrow morning. My experience with Livestream is that that the technology was practically flawless (I only had one minor audio glitch when Dean Kamen was showing the Stephen Colbert video). Otherwise, the livestreaming went along perfectly. And it will well be worth your while to watch the whole session. It will get your mind thinking, and it will inspire you at the same time. Plus, it's like having a front-row seat!
You can view the full Pulse Livestream agenda on the Pulse web site. Take advantage and enjoy!
Smarter Than The Average Building
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  pulse-2011 pulse ibm-pulse smarter-buildings eam 1,699 Visits
I hadn't seen this yesterday, otherwise I would have linked to it in my post yesterday ("Pulse 2011 Trailer: IBM Smarter Buildings Solutions").
Dave Bartlett, Vice President of Industry Solutions (IBM Software Group), wrote an article for Forbes titled, "Our Office Buildings Are Talking To Us; Time To Start Listening."
Dave not only gets to the heart of why this matters, (Buildings are a significant line item on any company's expense sheet. In fact, for many, they are second-largest expense, after payroll. On average, buildings consume 42% of all electricity worldwide.") but also how to start solving the problem.
Here's a hint: it rhymes with - Intstrumented, Intelligent and Interconnected. (but we call it Smarter Buildings).
At Pulse, Smarter Buildings is a subtrack of Enterprise Asset Management (Stream 2) and there is a ped in the Expo Center (16) specific to Smarter Buildings as well as a ped for IBM Maximo Spatial Asset Management (42) (both in Enterprise Asset Management).
Also, here's a good rollup of some previous press releases IBM has done on Smarter Buildings and here's the link to the Smarter Planet page.
Pulse 2011 Trailer: IBM Smarter Buildings Solutions
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  trailer simpsons pulse-2011 pulse smarter-buildings ibm-pulse 1,515 Visits
In the Simpsons episode, "Homerpalooza"*, there's a great scene where Peter Frampton is playing and Jimbo is standing in awe as he says, "Man, that guy's guitar is talking."
This isn't exactly that, but it's still pretty awesome.
Hey building. Do you feel like I do?
* no relation to Pulse Palooza
Pulse 2011 Trailer: Smart Deployment for Tivoli Service Automation Manager
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  pulse tsam pulse-2011 trailer ibm-pulse 1,427 Visits
As someone who has crashed a number of solution installs*, I always smile when I see all those "Success" results in the rows on the screenshot.
* to be fair, at my last company I helped with QA testing, and I was asked to crash them. As good as I was, the developers were a lot better!
A Few Links And Tips For Your Pulse Planning
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  pulse-2011 social-media pulse ibm-pulse 1,730 Visits
The funny thing about growing up in South Florida is that one minute it's bright as day. Not a cloud in the sky. Then the next minute it's pouring rain for about 15 minutes. Then it's back to sunny.
That is how I would describe attending any conference. Quiet. Busy busy busy. Then back to normal.
To help you with your prep, I wanted to call out a few items of interest (including some good social media tips).
You Are Here: Industry Session Roadmaps
If you follow the Pulse blog, you'll know that I posted about these last Thursday.
They are awesome. Pick your industry and we have a list of the sessions that might interest you.
We also have a QR code for these roadmaps that will be displayed in a few places should you want to point your mobile phone to them.
All Clients, All The Time
Rebecca Wissinger and her team have a ton of cool things going on for our clients at Pulse.
She posted on the Pulse blog about them last week.
I think my favorite thing here is the Client Connections where we can help match you with other clients who have done what you're looking to do.
Virtual Simulator: Experience It And Then See The Game
David Ojalvo posted about the simulator workshop on Sunday, the Integrated Service Management Simulator Overview breakout sessions and the ISM Virtual Simulator ped in the Best Practices Zone.
David, along with a number of folks on the team (myself included) will be at the ped to answer questions and show off the game.
Business Partners
Our team will also have a table in the Business Partner Cafe, specifically to talk about Integrated Service Management for Industries. I'll be there, along with a number of other members of the team.
See It, Read It And Hear It Now!
The Pulse Conversations is your single view into all the exciting social media conversations happening in and around the conference.
Great for those attending (and especially great for those not attending) to follow the action and find out about what's happening.
Be sure to go to the site and register. We'll have links to Flickr, blogs, rolling Twitter feeds on our hash tags. Livestream. This thing is awesome!
Oh, and I should mention that I'm loading up a number of tweets on time delay with suggestions on things to see at designated times. So if you're at Pulse, keep an eye on Twitter...
I Stream, You Stream, We All Stream For Live Stream!
Like other IBM conferences, we'll have a lot going on in the Livestream channel (Pulse folder). Special thanks go to Tiffany Winman and Jennifer Dennis who worked on a lot of the planning for this.
What's The Hashtag, Kenneth?
The following is a list of hash tags that we're using for the Pulse conference.
Our core accounts for the conference are @IBMPulse, @IBMTivoli and @servicemgmt.
Oh, and if you see me running around the conference (I'll be the one in the IBM Pulse staff shirt, easy to spot!), be sure to say hello and let me know what you think about the blog and how we can work to improve it for ya'.
Pulse 2011 Trailer: Application Security Solutions
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ email@example.com Tags:  ibm-security pulse pulse-2011 trailer ibm-security-solutions security ibm-pulse 1,859 Visits
We're still counting down to Pulse with a few more trailers for the Expo Center demos.
Today, we feature something pretty neat on Application Security Solutions. (YouTube link)
Taking My "Pulse" in Las Vegas
David Ojalvo 060001CNQC firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  ism management itil pulse service macfarlane ivor 2,014 Visits
Next week, I'll be attending my first Pulse conference, and I have a full slate of activities planned:
In the News: As if you needed another reason to attend Pulse 2011, here's two...
Kimberlee Kemble 120000GMAV email@example.com Tags:  pulse proven-practice-workshops integrated-service-manage... special-inteersts service-management ibm pulse-2011 ibm-pulse 1,797 Visits
Proven Practice Workshops
And just what are Proven Practice Workshops? First of all, they're new to Pulse 2011 - reason enough to check them out. Second, in these workshops, you'll hear from leading Tivoli Services experts about their proven implementation best practices and guidance. Tivoli Services will lead 5 of these dynamic workshops:
Pulse 2011 will deliver more information, in more ways, on more relevant subjects, than ever before. With such a rich array of information to choose from, some of you may be wondering: "How can I zero in on exactly the right sessions for me?"
Your friendly roving Integrated Service Management reporter
In the News: What happens in Vegas doesn't always have to stay in Vegas
Kimberlee Kemble 120000GMAV firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse-2011 pulse service-management-simula... integrated-service-manage... itil workshop ibm 2 Comments 3,945 Visits
The secret's out...there's something coming to Vegas on Sunday, February 27th that you just don't want to miss!
Your friendly roving Integrated Service Management reporter
Is drowning in information a step forward from drowning in data?
ivor macfarlane 2700022KPS email@example.com Tags:  service-management itil ivor itsmf pulse 1,733 Visits
I recently booked my travel for a business trip to the
If there is
anyone out there actually reading this stuff, and is in Vegas for Pulse, or at
the LIG is
But – not
unusually – I have distracted myself a little from where I thought I was going
when I started writing this. So … I booked some flights: from
Let me divert again a little bit and remind you – because you are all experts and know this stuff – about a basic knowledge management concept; the spectrum that runs data->information->knowledge->wisdom. At the beginning data is extensive but not too helpful. If it ever reaches wisdom[1] it actually helps you survive and thrive.
But back to that
travel information I was getting. Remember I had booked a flight in late
February to the
I interpret it –this may be grossly unfair of me, but I am the customer and customer perception is what matters – like this: travel advice is being planned and delivered by someone who goes to the same desk in the same office everyday, and rarely puts foot on an airplane. Of course the real culprit behind this is ease of programming – data is cheap and plentiful, applying some basic ideas to turn that into information is quite fun, sounds good and means you can despatch all sorts of travel notice updates to people who will be travelling sometime in the future. But it is – sorry but it really is – just using data because you have it. Maybe they bill on the number of messages? Maybe they really think I want to know? The real consequence is that I delete these emails unread now – so if they were by some miracle to send me something useful, I would miss it altogether.
Another example,
last year this system showed the kind of silo thinking that comes from not
knowing the customer's environment – the kind you often see in service
management reporting. I spoke for itSMF
Now of course
I suppose if somebody were to ask me what I want notifications about, I would be happy to work with them, and set up delivering something that goes beyond information, starts delivering knowledge and gets me the wisdom I need to make the right decisions.
But if that is actually ever to happen then those of us receiving all this useless information need to realise it is – mostly – our fault. I could have responded offering to help them improve, I could proactively tell them what I need – I could offer some of my time as an investment in my own future knowledge and wisdom deliverables. But It is easier (and more fun?) to carp and whinge – so maybe my New Year's resolution should have been around practising what I preach – doing what I talked about in my itSMF conference presentations last year – and to start being a good, committed constructive customer because it won't get better otherwise.
OK – I'm off to find the 'help us improve our service' button on the web site. See you at Pulse?
And a final reminder – For simulation information go to our landing page- for info on LIG presentations go to http://www.itsmfusa.org/local-interest-groups
[1] Best explanation of the step from knowledge to wisdom is one I stole from my daughter, Rosie and it goes 'Knowledge tells you a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable; wisdom is knowing that but also knowing not to put it in a fruit salad'.
In the News: Pulse 2011 Demos - A Visual Tour of Service Management
Kimberlee Kemble 120000GMAV email@example.com Tags:  industry ibm service-management ibm-pulse pulse integrated-service-manage... industries pulse-2011 1,903 Visits
It probably goes without saying, but service management means different things in different industries: Service management can help banks improve customer service, drive business model efficiency and manage operational risk. Service management can help government agencies reduce complexity and waste and deliver services more effectively to the citizens who rely on them. And communications service providers need innovative service management solutions to address the limits of the backbone, a highly competitive environment and customer loyalty.
The list goes on, but in all cases, rendering better service management in any given industry means weighing and balancing different complexities—as well as the leading solutions and strategies best suited to address them.
Your friendly roving Integrated Service Management reporter
Are You Ready For Some Pulse 2011?
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  integrated-service-manage... pulse-2011 service-management pulse 1,549 Visits
This is a quick blog to let you know about a great video that was done by Al Zollar (General Manager of Tivoli and my boss) on the exciting activities we're planning for Pulse 2011.
Watch the video. Save the date. Come to Pulse.
End of Line. (had to throw that in, I'm very excited to see Tron: Legacy this weekend!)
In the News: If variety is the spice of life, Pulse 2011 is HOT!!!
Kimberlee Kemble 120000GMAV email@example.com Tags:  pulse-2011 service-management ibm pulse integrated-service-manage... 3 Comments 4,279 Visits
Unless you've been hiding under a rock the last couple of months, you know that Pulse 2011 is coming to Las Vegas February 27-March 2, 2011. And you know that the Premier Service Management Event will bring together 6000 attendees, focusing on the best practices, solutions and expertise needed to help organizations design, deliver and manage new, innovative business services.
Your friendly roving Integrated Service Management reporter
The Power Of Networking
Shradha Pradhan 270003G608 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  lotus-connections pulse pulse-2011 social-networking lotus 4 Comments 2,615 Visits
The concept of Web 2.0 has brought in a great revolution in the way the world works today. Over the years, socializing and networking has evolved from personal gatherings to official gatherings that incorporate our jobs and our business. Today, social-networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. need no introduction to employees in their day-to-day work.
It was in this background that the 3rd week
of October turned out to be a 'networking' week for me, attending a
social-networking workshop and an interactive evening gathering with my fellow IBMers.
The workshop was about social-networking through IBM Lotus® Connections, a
robust collaboration software that empowers people to connect, collaborate, and
innovate while optimizing the way they work. It was a great learning experience
and I did install some cool and faster tools which I've been happily using
since then :-)
Now, the icing on the cake! The networking part! Yes, networking is very important in any job role/any business. The workshop not only gave me the opportunity to network with my peers from various departments but also raise the visibility of my work. Hence, with the week, just passed, I'm feeling richer by a network of contacts which I'm sure will be a great help in performing my job role :-)
A note for you; You can attend Pulse 2011 and network with your peers from
across your industry.
**Read fellow blogger Kimberlee Kemble's "In the News: Don't be shy - step up the microphone at Pulse 2011!" to know more about Pulse 2011.
In the News: Don't be shy - step up the microphone at Pulse 2011!
Kimberlee Kemble 120000GMAV email@example.com Tags:  service-management ibm integrated-service-manage... pulse pulse-2011 1,908 Visits
Pulse will return to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas February 27 through March 2, 2011, and over 300 client presentations will demonstrate how Integrated Service Management helped their organizations gain an end-to-end view of business services across boundaries to effectively manage risk and compliance, change the economics of delivering service and achieve common business objectives.
- Al Zollar, Tivoli General Manager
Learn more by reading the article Get Into the Spotlight at Pulse 2011. And join us for a webcast on October 18th to learn more about Pulse 2011 and what you should know before you submit your proposal to present at Pulse. Note that proposals are due by November 9th, so don't wait - submit your proposal today!
Your friendly roving Integrated Service Management reporter
Friday Afternoon Is A Great Time To Work On Your Pulse Proposal
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse service-management 1,238 Visits
When did my calendar start looking like a game of Jenga?
Ugh. The good news is tomorrow is Friday. Things tend to taper off on Fridays and Friday afternoons are the perfect time to "disappear" and block out some time to work on miscellaneous projects.
So here's what I was thinking.
Tomorrow afternoon: go and get a nice lunch and think about a proposal for Pulse 2011.
The call for papers opens on September 22nd, so now is the perfect time to get ready.
We are looking for speakers, like you, to talk about your experiences in implementing service management.
Jennifer Dennis wrote an excellent post with all the details ("Pulse 2011 Call for Speakers - Opens 9/22 @ ibm.com/pulse!") on the Pulse blog.
The best part is that if you are selected to speak, you get a full conference pass ($1,995 value) not to mention the recognition of your peers (whom you'll be interacting with at the event) as well as a great resume builder.
What do you think? Not a bad way to spend a Friday afternoon!
I speak for everyone on the team when I say that we look forward to what you put together.
PS Obviously, you're not just limited to doing this on Friday. Every day is a good day to work on your abstract :-)
Cyber Thugs Use Trojan Horses of JavaScript and PDF to Get Away With Your Stuff
Jennifer Dennis 110000CSRM email@example.com Tags:  tivoli pulse innovate ibm javascript tom cyber cross pdf x-force security crime 2,677 Visits
When I saw Tom Cross give a talk at Innovate 2010 in June, I was first struck with the nonchalance with which he spoke of the black market business of Internet data. I could not have been more intrigued if I were watching a movie adapted from a John Grisham novel. He seemed to have some emotional distance from what creeps most of us out about our mail. And I'm not even talking about email. I mean the good old-fashioned USPS mail. I KNOW I am not the only one who has worn out a few paper shredders thanks to Citibank, Chase, and the like.
The second thing that hijacked my thought train for more than a few moments was how network vulnerabilities are created for the explicit purpose of learning cyber criminal behavior. Like signing up for as much spam as you can. Sure it makes sense to me now. But I am still vaguely uncomfortable talking publicly about threat and attacks. It seems akin to Batman and the Joker building websites to promote their plans to outsmart the other. What was I not getting? By now I was considering slipping quietly out of the room to silence the voice in my head saying I had been foolish, very, very foolish in my confidence as a clever and vigilant consumer of Internet Things.
Realizing that I had some mental catching up to do, I stayed for the lasting impression that could keep me awake at night: just how easy it is to steal digital data. As I struggled with the impartial irony of how enormous yet simple a cat and mouse game Web App security is, visions of Tom and Jerry danced in my boggled brain.
Is there a way to shred 1s and 0s? Because these little buggers are just as likely to create woe as the untended credit card offers in your dumpster. In any case, you'd be better off reading the IBM X Force Mid-year Trend & Risk Report, which reveals the new trends of using JavaScript and PDF files to steal your data.
Master Service Lifecycle Management at Innovate 2010
Jennifer Dennis 110000CSRM email@example.com Tags:  pulse software deployment process test scott jamie virutalization development bala service products cost john services risk smarter thomas control lifecycle rsdc tivoli integrated hebner rajaraman rational cloud innovate management wiegand 3,776 Visits
Learn all about the latest strategies and smarter software for design and development innovation through next generation service delivery from the Integrated Service Management track at Innovate 2010, June 6-10. The Integrated Service Management track at Innovate is a continuation of the discussion and training of the Software Delivery Lifecycle Management stream at Pulse 2010, which showcased how clients, IBM and IBM Business Partners use software delivery lifecycle management solutions to help realize greater value from software investments and optimize business outcomes at reduced cost and risk.
The Integrated Service Management track kickoff will be hosted by Jamie Thomas, Vice President of Tivoli Strategy and Development, formerly of worldwide development, client support and product management for the Rational software brand. Jamie will be joined by Bala Rajaraman, Distinguished Engineer, IBM Software, Tivoli and John Wiegand, Distinguished Engineer, Rational Analysis, Design and Construction.
At Innovate 2010, IBM clients and partners will learn innovative approaches to optimizing the service lifecycle, driving better efficiencies and lowering their TCO. Attendees of the Integrated Service Management track will also learn how to leverage the existing tight integrations with Rational solutions. Specifically, clients can find out how to:
Register now for Innovate 2010 and sign up for sessions in the Service Lifecycle Management track!
Juniper And IBM Partnership Announced At Pulse
Noah Kuttler 110000SVNJ firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  integrated-service-manage... juniper netcool partners pulse service-management 1,983 Visits
The good folks at El Reg have the article, "IBM plugs Netcool into Juniper's Space"
Our partners are one of the most valued assets IBM has, both to the company itself and more importantly to our customers. Our partners carry the value of our integrated service management solutions to our customers and I am pleased that Juniper is now a part of our valued partner ecosystem.
For the official word on this partnership, you can check out the Juniper press release or the IBM press release.
If you are at Pulse, stop by the Juniper booth and check out their stuff.
Integrated Service Management in Action
Kathleen Holm 2700009BHX firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  ibmpulse integrated-service-manage... pulse2010 pulse service-management 1 Comment 2,387 Visits
In his keynote address yesterday, Al Zollar talked about how customers are leveraging Integrated Service Management. Capital Region of Denmark in Copenhagen, is in the process of leveraging Integrated Service Management to track missing assets, improve maintenance schedules and get their company back on track.
Capital Region of Denmark is a conglomerate of hospitals with data distributed across three different storage tiers and four sites, with an online disk capacity of 500 Terabytes and backup and archive data exceeding 1.5 Petabytes.
They have solved their storage complexity issues with Integrated Service Management and are managing their entire storage infrastructure with only four people.
He also talked about how the U.S. Air Force is leveraging Integrated Service Management. The U.S. Air Force defense and intelligence network manages the operations of nine major commands, nearly 100 bases, and 700,000 active military personnel around the world. They are leveraging Integrated Service Management solutions to design and deliver a cloud infrastructure with unprecedented levels of security and resiliency.
It's not just a vision for the future--it's happening now. Integrated Service Management can help your company get past the complexity and risk you deal with on a daily basis.
Al Zollar Launched Integrated Service Management in Compelling Keynote at Pulse 2010
Kathleen Holm 2700009BHX firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  pulse ibmpulse pulse2010 service-management smarter-planet integrated-service-manage... 2,103 Visits
In his keynote today, Al Zollar described the opportunities and challenges presented by a more instrumented, interconnected and intelligent world. The proliferation of smart devices presents new opportunities to deliver new innovative services- services that wouldn't have been dreamed of just 10 years ago. These new smart devices also add new levels of complexity that is growing due to the number of new devices and connections added each day, and skyrocketing numbers of security threats and compliance regulations.
Al Zollar outlined examples of increased complexity in a number of industries i.e. an electric company dealing with smarter meters, regular old school meters, transmission insulators, servers, and turbine buckets; a conglomerate of hospitals in Copenhagen managing data distributed across three different storage tiers and four sites with online disk capacity of 500 Terabytes and backup and archive data exceeding 1.5 Petabytes; and the U.S. Air Force managing the operations of nine major commands, nearly 100 bases and 700,000 active military personnel around the world.
He then posed the questions, How do you overcome all of this complexity? How can you possibly see everything? How can you manage and secure everything? How can you increase speed while reducing cost?
The answer—Integrated Service Management that provides the software, best practices and expertise needed to manage infrastructure, people and processes—across the service delivery chain—in the data center, across design and delivery, and tailored for specific industry requirements.
He then went on to explain how Integrated Service Management contains service architectures tailored by industry like the smart grid for energy, or electronic medical record systems for healthcare.
It has lifecycle management bridging workflow across line of business, enterprise architecture, development and testing, and IT and business operations to speed delivery of products and services and ensure continual improvement.
Integrated Service Management also includes service dashboards that allow all audiences—from executives and business operations to IT managers—to see the service and gain insight into service health.
He closed by someone needs to be the thought leader in your organization...and that someone is you! Integrated Service Management can help you achieve that goal.
Re: Travel tips for Pulse 2010
Kathleen Holm 2700009BHX firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  software pulse ibm tips pulse2010 travel smarter-systems rational ibmpulse service-management tivoli 1,999 Visits
In response to: Travel tips for Pulse 2010Thanks for the travel tips, Tiffany! I packed my umbrella and am looking forward to seeing you at Pulse tomorrow.
Attend Pulse for a New Take on Service Management
Kathleen Holm 2700009BHX firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  ibmpulse service-management pulse pulse-2010 2,258 Visits
There are many great reasons to attend Pulse 2010- you can see real-world demonstrations of the newest service management solutions, you can hear about strategies and product roadmaps that can help you chart your roadmap for success, and you can get free-certifications and hands-on instruction in on-site labs. These are all great reasons to attend Pulse 2010, but I would like to focus one that often gets overlooked--networking with people not like you.
Pulse gives you the opportunity to attend tracks tailored to your specific area of focus and network with people doing work like you do. While there is a great deal of value in networking and sharing ideas with people whose roles are similar to yours, there may be even more value in talking with people who don't do what you do.
What would happen if CEOs, service providers, IT professionals, plant managers, facilities managers, VPs of Operations, security administrators, and storage managers talked with each other? What kinds of solutions and ideas would emerge?
For true innovative thinking to occur, reframing challenges and understanding different points of view is key. While it's easier to stay in your comfort zone and talk with people who speak your language, the opportunity to talk with people from other industries or from your industry but with roles different than yours may be one of the one of the best ways to gain new insights, reframe the challenges you are facing, and think outside the box.
Pulse 2010 gives you the opportunity to do just that. It offers you the chance to network with industry leaders and a broad audience of users and partners who may have different takes on service management—ones that can help you solve existing problems more efficiently, develop new services, or find new ways to accelerate growth and gain competitive edge.
Re: The "Big" Questions at Pulse: Building a Smarter Planet
Kathleen Holm 2700009BHX email@example.com Tags:  conference discussion linkedin service-management pulse2010 event systems sustainability management questions green infrastructure gore environment ibmpulse dynamic-infrastructure tivoli smarter-planet social-media pulse rational 2,239 Visits
In response to: The "Big" Questions at Pulse: Building a Smarter PlanetGreat blog. I share your desire to engage in conversations about the 'big questions' in order to find common ground and ways we can work together to improve the quality of life for future generations.
Great opportunity to present a Hot Topic at Pulse 2010
Kathleen Holm 2700009BHX email@example.com Tags:  pulse service_management 2 Comments 2,816 Visits
Take advantage of this great opportunity to share your experiences with your peers, get feedback from the most influential industry experts and promote your organization by submitting an abstract to speak at Pulse 2010.
Accepted client speakers will have high profile exposure to over 5,000 industry experts, press and analysts. Approved client submissions will receive a full conference pass ($1,995 value) and admission to our on-site VIP client lounge. In addition, to your paper may be published in the Pulse 2010 proceedings.
I talked with Pete Marshall, the lead for the Pulse 2010 Hot Topics track, and he offered the following insights and suggestions on how to submit a winning proposal.
One definition of a hot topic, is something not covered at last years conference and something that might not be covered next year. We're looking for breaking trends—a snapshot of the industry and challenges service management professionals are facing right now. Themes like cloud computing, or serving the real-time web are good examples. Security is a perennial issue that always presents new challenges: it's a hot topic every year, but every year there's something different at the forefront. Things in our industry keep evolving and in the Hot Topics track, we want to look at and share information and experiences about what is really happening in the bleeding edge of service management. Some possible topics include:
The Hot Topics track is aimed at business leaders, decision makers and strategists puzzling over things like how to integrate physical and digital assets, what process models to use, and what are the best approaches to managing in a rapidly changing business and IT environment. Pete said he would encourage anyone working to solve emerging challenges—industry experts who may have a wider purview across the industry and very specialized customers who have done these projects themselves--to submit an abstract so together, we can share best practices, insights and create effective solutions as we move into uncharted territory.
Pete described two key aspects of a winning proposal—relevance and real life experience.
Is the topic relevant to where the industry is today? Is it something new and ground breaking? If the answer to these questions is yes, your abstract is a good candidate for the Hot Topics track. Going back to the security example, an overview of security might not qualify as a hot topic, but some current trend or challenge in the security landscape most certainly would.
While there is always a place for theorizing, in the Hot Topic track, we are looking for people who have been there and done that. We want presenters to share how they have solved or are working to solve a challenge.
The benefits of participating as a speaker are huge. Speaking is a very different dynamic than just listening. Not only will you have the opportunity to share your experience and get feedback from your peers, you will receive a full conference pass and get to experience the conference in a deeper, more involved way.
Please visit the Pulse 2010 call for papers site and submit your proposal today.
Re: Will the real Seamus McManus please stand up?
wendy whalen 0600014P1G email@example.com Tags:  webcast mcmanus ibm cloudburst cloud management seamus tivoli pulse cloud-computing service 2,030 Visits
In response to: Will the real Seamus McManus please stand up?FYI, the recent IBM Service Management Jam on Cloud Computing, "Cloud Computing: Innovation that drives IT and operations efficiencies" is the #1 most popular of the 41 Jams aired to date. Cloud Computing Jam link: http://bit.ly/9mt8N Jams page link: http://bit.ly/ultmC
Need Smart People for Smarter Cities, Dynamic Infrastructure, and Service Management
Tiffany Winman 12000065XB email@example.com Tags:  service-management ibm maximo dynamic-infrastructure informatio pulse design asset-management smarter-planet operations software infrastructure automation consolidation politics data-center tivoli storage compliance theory security risk itil ethics urban 3,858 Visits
Recent IBM news on "Smarter Cities" is invoking fond memories of one of my favorite courses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Politics of design taught by Professor Langdon Winner. Some of my favorite discussions during this course focused on urban theory and planning and environmentally and ethically responsible innovations. A few of my favorite personal readings included:
The concrete connection between
While innovations and technologies always fascinate me, personally I'm most interested in the political, socio-cultural aspects of Palmisano's statement below:
"All the ways in which the world works come together in our cities. They are the proverbial melting pot -- not only for immigrants, but for systems, blending them together to engender new forms of commerce, of culture, of science, of life and of society. Which is why cities -- more than states, provinces or even nations -- are likely to be the crucible for human progress and evolution in the coming century."
Smart cities require smart people and deliberate thinking. How will
IBM kicks Dynamic Infrastructure into Action!
Tiffany Winman 12000065XB email@example.com Tags:  service-management cloud risk access application infras management governance asset-management monitoring green software pci security automation information-infrastructur... storage identity pulse itil it compliance dynamic-infrastructure 3 Comments 6,513 Visits
When IBM first kicked off the Dynamic Infrastructure announcement at Pulse 2009 conference, we heard some rumblings on whether Dynamic Infrastructure was just another executive buzzword or if there was real meat behind "the concept."
IBM made the Top 50 social brands with forbidden cities, spring fever, Pulse and more
Tiffany Winman 12000065XB firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  discounts rsc2009 forum pulse events dynamic-infrastructure cognos service-management ibmvfc twitter smarter-planet japan rsa conference social-media india rational soa security 3,015 Visits
It's Good Friday, and it not only has been a good, but a GREAT week. Did you hear? IBM made the list of Top 50 social brands for March 2009: "The Social Radar Top 50 measures the most social brands by the number of unique topics of conversation. These brands are top of mind for consumers and bloggers today."
If you haven't noticed by now. IBM's presence is growing more and more in the social media arena. Below are some of the hot topics lighting up this space this month.
Pulse comes to Japan and India
The IBM Service Management global conference--Pulse 2009--that was in Vegas this year is hitting the road and starting off in Tokyo, Japan on April 15 and then India on April 24-26. Many more locations are yet to come. To learn more, check out the Pulse blog on adding more Pulse to your life .
RSA conference
IBM is a platinum sponsor of RSA 2009—the conference where the world talks security—and has a host of activities demonstrating how IBM is "Securing the Smarter Planet through a Dynamic Infrastructure." We've launched new IBM Security social networking venues on Twitter and LinkedIn in honor of the conference and are hosting a pre-conference online jam on April 14. You can also learn more from an RSA podcast with Brian Truskowski, General Manager of IBM Internet Security Systems.
Virtual Forbidden City
Ewwww, that almost sounds as decadent as eating chocolate. If you're into networking with SOA strategists and architects, learning about real-life examples and benefits of SOA in action, then this event is for you. Dressed in character as an Imperial Servant, an IBM virtual guide will lead a tour of Virtual Worlds and share how SOA can solve architectural challenges, adding immediate value and business flexibility.
You can register for the April 28 or 29 event, but you have to do so by April 17. And hurry, they only have a select number of seats!
IBM Cognos Forum
Some good news if you were planning on attending the IBM Cognos Forum from May 12-15. Early conference registration was extended to
RSC 2009 has Spring Fever
If you plan on going to the 2009 Rational Software Conference from May 31-June 4, you can get a $300 discount off registration during the month of April by using the code APRIL.
If I've missed something, please feel free to comment and add to the list!
Register by April 30th to take $300 off registration
Learn more!
What Service Management Hot Topics would you like to hear more about from your peers?
Tiffany Winman 12000065XB firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  storage cloud soa pulse tivoli virtualization service-management security green 3,380 Visits
Going to Pulse? Here's your chance to ensure you get the information you want and need!
IBM is hosting a one hour panel, "Tales from the Cutting Edge of Service Management," with IBM customer panelists at Pulse. Tell us which of the questions below would you like us to ask the panel the most? Are there any topics we missed?
· What are you doing to have a more energy efficient data center?
· How have you determined your energy usage and what your energy management goals should be?
Virtualization / Cloud
· How are you managing the different business services and IT environments across a virtualized environment?
· How do you monitor all the different business services and IT components across a virtualized environment?
· How do you think Cloud Computing will affect your business?
Service-oriented architecture (SOA)
· How have you set up a SOA environment?
· Sixty-three percent of clients expect SOA application to impact their service management investment.
· What is your company doing to extend into that environment?
· How have you set up a SOA environment?
· Sixty-three percent of clients expect SOA application to impact their service management investment.
· What is your company doing to extend into that environment?
· How have you set up a SOA environment?
· Sixty-three percent of clients expect SOA application to impact their service management investment.
· What is your company doing to extend into that environment?
· What benefits have you experienced in applying the ITIL framework in your organization?
· What steps are you taking to manage and store the proliferation of data?
· How do you ensure that the data your business runs on is where you need it and properly archived for accessibility and compliance?
· What steps are you taking to manage and store the proliferation of data?
· How do you ensure that the data your business runs on is where you need it and properly archived for accessibility and compliance?
· How are you managing access control and security of your business critical systems?
· What are you doing to address data security?
Implementation of Service Management
· What has been your company's key challenge in implementing Service Management and how did you overcome it?
· Once I'm ready to make that leap and say, okay, let's start down the path to Service Management, what should I plan to spend to do that?
· Do you see more value for implementing Service Management in any specific area of the business or is it consistent across the board?
· How did you develop your implementation strategy for Service Management?
· How was your implementation of Service Management particular to your industry?
· Could you talk about why a company might be inclined to start a Service Management initiative now rather than later?
Future of Service Management
· What changes do you see ahead for Service Management? If so, how?
· What are the top key performance indicators against which you measure IT Operations success? for example: service uptime, improvement in MTTR, reduction in customer calls/incidents, SLAs with lines of business, internal SLAs, customer experience, etc
· What Service Level Management Metrics help to enable corporate governance?
Business Value of IT
· Do do you track IT costs per service? Is this information used for service planning/justification and/or chargeback of related costs to the lines of business?
· How does Service Management help your company to minimize the functional processes of technology and instead focus on how IT contributes to your core business?
· How do you ensure that your IT and business objectives are aligned?
· Do do you track IT costs per service? Is this information used for service planning/justification and/or chargeback of related costs to the lines of business?
Asset Management
· Have you seen an increase in asset up time as a result of your asset management implementation?
· What measures have you taken to ensure that your company's physical and IT assets are managed optimally, in a way that reflects business goals and strategies?
Benefits of Service Management
· How does Service management help your company achieve and maintain significant distinction in an ultra-competitive marketplace?
· How does Service Management help you to attract new customers, measure and increase the satisfaction level of customers you have?
· What benefits have you seen from using Service Management?
· How does Service management help your company achieve and maintain significant distinction in an ultra-competitive marketplace?
· How does Service Management help you to attract new customers, measure and increase the satisfaction level of customers you have?
· What benefits have you seen from using Service Management?
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