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IBM Blue Business Platform morphs into IBM Smart Business

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:11:40 +0000

IBM Smart Business — After two years of work, I and hundreds of other IBM employees finally see the fruits of our labor. Here’s a press announcement about the general launch of the IBM Smart Business platform to the public.

IBM Launches Smart Business (Nov 18, 2008)

Some background into IBM Smart Business… The premise was simple. There was a tremendous need to make IT less complex for small and medium businesses. To address this, three things were created.

Smart Market: a Web-enabled, one-stop SMB marketplace clients can use to browse, rate and buy solutions or collaborate with other clients, industry experts and vendors from around the world.
Smart Cube: a secure, turn-key computer designed to deliver integrated solutions directly to the client. Smart Cubes install and connect users to Smart Market within minutes.
Smart Desk: a Web-enabled dashboard that clients can use as a single-point-of-contact for Smart Business maintenance, from updating applications automatically or subscribing to an on-demand service.

The model we tried to emulate in the project codenamed BBP was to think just like the Apple iPod model — the iTunes Store (Smart Market), iPod (Smart Cube), and the iTunes desktop application (Smart Desk).

I can only speak for the Smart Desk side of things, as I played a hand in its initial phases, parts of the GUI, and the build automation/testing of the Smart Desk.

UPDATE: I needed to retract some parts of this posting. Sorry about that.

Blue Business Platform. Moving on.

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:10:14 +0000

Some of you may not know, but for the past 1 year and a half, I’ve had the privilege of working on IBM’s Smart Business Platform (BBP) as a GUI developer. Now I get to focus on other assignments (i.e. Rochester International Association’s website redesign work). CTG the contracting company that helps me find work is looking for future job opportunities. Since I’m really interested in webdev and mobile, it seems logical that I’d be targeting mobile webdev positions/contracts. I do have leads, and I am currently evaluating my options. Stay tuned.

IBM Blue Business Platform and Google?

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:39:44 +0000

Here’s some press about the Blue Business Platform (a project that I was involved with for the past year and a half). To summarize:

IBM said the marketplace will offer pre-integrated products and services from IBM and independent software developers. Customers will be able to use the software they buy on premises or in the cloud.

IBM is working with Google to build a worldwide network of connected servers, an architecture sometimes referred to as a computing cloud, from which it plans to deliver software and services.

The online store will be organized geographically and also by industry. Customers will be able to purchase software or services in just four clicks, IBM said. The company plans to pilot the marketplace throughout 2008

Read more about this from various sources online:

IBM To Launch Web-Based Application Market – InformationWeek
Google, IBM Join Forces To Dominate Cloud Computing – InformationWeek
IBM to Build Apps Marketplace for SMBs – PCWorld
IBM launching a platform for SMB opportunity – IT Business

Blue Business Platform and iPhone

admin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:01:07 +0000

I can finally speak about the project that has completely taken over my life for the past year. Project Bluehouse or Blue Business Platform is the official codename in the press release. Essentially, “IBM Lotus Foundations is a new family of software servers currently planned to provide the essential software that companies with five to 500 employees need to run their business.”

Things are still being worked out, but I have already pitched the idea of integrating this server management piece with the iPhone (now that the iPhone SDK is officially out there). Unfortunately, things at IBM go at a glacial pace, and I have yet to hear much about my idea coming to fruition. Well, here’s hoping they seriously consider it.

Google Calendar secret integration with Lotus Notes 8

admin — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:57:16 +0000

Sorry… its been a while since my last post. Tons of stuff keeping me busy. I just recently stumbled upon an interesting feature in Lotus Notes 8, which I had not been aware of until now. If anyone has ever used Google Calendar to invite their friends/colleagues to meetings, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see that invitees that use Lotus Notes will be able to accept meetings in Lotus Notes and have it update their Lotus Notes Calendar as well as the sender’s Google Calendar. If anyone has tried this out, please let me know how it worked for you.

Free! Mozilla Sunbird syncs with gCal

admin — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:08:03 +0000

I just downloaded and installed the Mozilla Sunbird desktop calendar application and tried out the Google Calendar add-on. It appears to be working. It allows you to read, write, and delete calendar events both locally and when you are online with Google Calendar. Pretty neat. Until now, there have been paid-for solutions to sync your desktop calendars with gCal. Now, we have a free alternative. If only we could write one for Lotus Notes. Hmmm. Not a bad idea.

IBM Lotus Social Networking Craze

admin — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:51:18 +0000

It appears that one thing is clear after LotusSphere 2007. IBM is serious about Web 2.0 for the enterprise. It took a while for IBM to get into the game, and now it seems that social networking and user generated content is not just for the general populace. The new tool called Lotus Connections is comprised of Activities, Communities, DogEar, Profiles, and Blogs.

Internally at IBM, I’ve been using DogEar for social bookmarking for the past year now. I have to admit it is a wonderful tool, much in the same vein as del.icio.us, and Digg. The ability to use tags in describing and organizing your bookmarks is definitely different from the folder hierarchy that we’re all used to. If you can imagine the frustrations before of how to categorize a certain bookmark that could potentially belong to several categories/folders, then you know how useful tagging can be. Tagging allows a bookmark to belong to more than one category. Like all the other social bookmarking tools, DogEar generates RSS feeds for each tag that may interest you. Feeds allow you to keep up with the latest content that others may be tagging. Even Google’s Gmail has built their email system entirely on the tagging or labelling system instead of the traditional folders that most email systems and clients employ. I have to admit, after using this tagging method to organize emails, it is very difficult to go back to the traditional way of organizing emails. The only thing I’d like to see now is for Lotus Notes to incorporate tags/labels as an alternative to folders.

I’ve also played around with the other tools (Activities, Profiles, and Blogs) in the Connections suite. I find myself using the Profiles tool extensively to tag different users within IBM. You can instantly see how everyone you tag is related to you. You can make connections with people you may not have even knew had similar interests or background. The integration of the other tools with Profiles is also worth mentioning. When you search for users, you not only get their contact information, but also any blog entries, and DogEar bookmarks that they may have posted, Very cool. I have yet to use the Activities tool in any meaningful manner. You basically setup an activity name and begin to post related content to that activity thread. This content can be pretty much anything — emails, Sametime chats, images, documents, etc. The Activities tool will be highly integrated into the new upcoming Lotus Notes 8 Hannover release, which I’ve been beta testing for several months now. I do not know all of the specifics on Activities, but it is definitely a new way to collaborate than just simply passing around emails, and posting documents on team room forums. Finally, I have not played around with the Communities tool, but it seems like it is similar to the way wikis work. It’ll be quite interesting to see how Microsoft will retaliate, because IBM just raised the bar in enterprise collaboration.

IBM blogging community

admin — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:06:00 +0000

So it is finally here. IBM has totally embraced blogging as evidenced by this IBM webpage titled “Blogs Go to Work“. From the Lotus Notes 7.0.2 features website, they describe “True to the Lotus Notes software heritage of out-of-the-box collaboration tools, Lotus Notes 7.0.2 software includes a prepackaged application that lets business users quickly create a Web log (blog).” I decided to give it a try, by installing Notes 7.0.2. on my Thinkpad at work, and immediately created a new database based on the advanced template “IBM blog”. Here’s a screenshot of the IBM blog template after I created my first post.

IBM Lotus Notes Insecure Default Directory Permissions

admin — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 13:02:00 +0000

Yet another reason to upgrade to Lotus Notes version 7.0.2. According to Secunia, Lotus Notes sets insecure default permissions (grants “Everyone” group “Full Control”) on the “notes” directory and all child objects. This can be exploited to remove, manipulate, and replace any of the application’s files. Head over to the Secunia website for a full list of all known security bulletins for Lotus Notes 6.x vulnerabilities and Lotus Notes 7.x vulnerabilities. Just in case you are an administrator, you can opt in for alerts via email or SMS.

IBM moves entire division to China

admin — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:08:17 +0000

According to New York Times, IBM has moved its global procurement headquarters to southern China from the suburbs of New York City to “capitalize on emerging market opportunities.” Read More

Hmmm, I wonder what is next? Maybe, we should start thinking about moving to China someday. Just a thought.

U.S. Army to use Lotus Sametime

admin — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:01:00 +0000

Here’s an interesting piece of news for the IBM Lotus home team and Mr. Ed Brill. Looks like Lotus Sametime is the preferred IM solution for the U.S. DOD.

Eventually, all DOD users will be migrated over to IBM’s Lotus Sametime suite of collaboration tools, which can be accessed through the Defense Information Systems Agency Web portal. Read more

From Geek to Manager

admin — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 13:24:48 +0000

Here’s something I found while reading an article on Java Developers Journal at my local Barne’s and Noble bookstore. Interesting to see an old colleague getting published in a magazine.

How to Go from Geek to Manager
— You’re six-feet, 190 pounds and can type System.out.println faster than most people can say AJAX. You’re a person who dreams about the Milwaukee Brewers winning the World Series and the correct data structure to be used when talking about a baseball player. You’ve spent five years of your life writing Java code and leading Java development teams. You consider yourself an expert in Swing, Struts, XML, and XSL-FO and feel comfortable talking about any other buzzword in the Java world such as JSF, Portal, and AJAX. You’ve had experience as development lead on a team with anywhere from three to seven people where Java applications were rolled into production well within the scheduled deadline. Now you have received a management position on an internal Java development team. Where do you start? What things do you look at from day one? What’s your role going to be as a manager? What would you like to see happen within your team? Do you want to keep your technical skills? How do you rate your employees at the end of the year?

Check out new podcast series from IBM

admin — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 00:07:44 +0000

As part of IBM’s new direction, podcasts are becoming an important avenue for publicity and connecting with their customers. Today, IBM announced a podcast series called ShortCuts. Go check it out. Web | RSS feed

IBM quarterly cuts – I’m a survivor

admin — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:55:20 +0000

I must be doing something right. Looks like I am a survivor in the latest round of quarterly cuts and promotions spree at IBM Rochester. It seems that as part of IBM’s ingrained culture, this is quite a normal process. People are little bit nervous during these past few weeks, as we do not know whether the proverbial axe will fall or the management directed promotion will land. As of yesterday, I know of several people who have gotten the pink slip.

As I am currently a contractor at IBM, it is a little bit more nerve-wracking. It is usually these trying times that makes me wonder if I should be my own boss or get a more permanent position as a regular at IBM.

IBM first week

admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:32:25 +0000

The first week on a regular gig at IBM has gone by. It was not quite as I expected it. No big hoopla surrounding my introduction to the team. The office was small and dark. It felt a little cramped especially since I had to share the office with another person. The big blue buildings had this coldness about it that I couldn’t quite explain. It’s probably because I was stuck in my office all week in the middle of a maze. Luckily, they have a garden courtyard that people can go into and work wirelessly with their laptops. I had requested a Thinkpad T41 with wi-fi so I could get out of that dungeon of an office. We’ll see if that gets approved next week or not. I won’t be a happy camper if the request gets rejected. That’s all I can divulge for now. I’ve been kept busy with this gig as well as attending online classes for my Masters degree. I’ve even drafted a pretty good design for my upcoming project called PERPETUO.US. Looking forward to getting that all ready for the beta phase.

Back to work, people!

admin — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 14:36:18 +0000

It’s been a while since my last post. Since then, I’ve taken a vacation to California. I visited old friends, ate plenty of good food, and took lots of pictures. However, it’s time to get back to work.

Speaking of getting back to work, the National Hockey League is finally back after an entire season lost to a lockout. I really did miss hockey, and now that its back, I’m going to be cheering on my Calgary Flames. There are lots of coverage on the news websites, so I’m not going to bore you with my viewpoints.

On my end, I’m also getting back to work (full-time, that is) with a consulting company called CTG (Computer Task Group). I’ll be getting a steady income working at my previous location (IBM Rochester). I’ll be blogging about my gig at IBM Rochester, so if you want some insight into what its like working at IBM, stay tuned. Of course, I’ll have to adhere to their new blogging policies (PDF file). Hey, at least they have one!

The hard part about being a freelance consultant is that work is sporadic. You also have to work hard at being a sales person, project manager, and web designer/programmer (all at the same time!). One of my gigs was not great at paying up, and that’s also another thing I didn’t like (being an accountant). However, I did enjoy my other gigs. I learned a lot of new skills, and expanded my current skillsets. I also got started on a couple of neat project ideas. One of them didn’t pan out, but I turned it into my own consulting company called CityBlogz Design Studio. I registered a couple of domain names for the other project ideas (UNITYISBETTER.COM and PERPETUO.US). More on those in another post.

Newsworthy: JHymn, and Apprentice’s IT contestants

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:02:32 +0000

I usually go through the better part of the morning checking out my RSS subcriptions on bloglines.com. Here’s a few stories that I found interesting:

JHymn Goes Behind Atoms and Apple To Bring DRM-Free Music
by Howard Wen describes the newest successor to Hymn that allows iTunes purchased songs to be freed from their shackles of DRM.

Microsoft worker wants to be Trump’s ‘Apprentice’
describes how TV’s Apprentice contestant Verna Felton is going for the title of Trump’s apprentice. She even has her own following at Microsoft and her own website.

Besides having a Microsoft representation in the show, Apprentice contestant Stephanie Myers works at IBM. Since, I work at IBM also (as a contractor), I was interested in seeing if I could locate her in the Intranet directory. Hmmm… looks like she still works at IBM, but her telephone number is not publicly made available. For legality reasons, I blurred out her email and building location.

LotusScript Tip: limiting object references

admin — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:21:00 +0000

I had heard of a similar tip for the Domino Java APIs, but this is a new one for me. As far as I know, LotusScript objects do not suffer from memory leaks as its Java counterpart, but the following tip does seem to make sense. Read it here at Lotus Advisor.

Unbiased report: WebSphere and Lotus together

admin — Sun, 07 Nov 2004 15:10:48 +0000

Finally… here is an unbiased article called “The Architecture of WebSphere and Lotus Collaboration Together” that details how companies can leverage the strengths of both Lotus collaboration and IBM Websphere technologies in a combined solution. I recommend sending this article out to all the WebSphere bigots out there. I guess I’d send this out to all the Lotus bigots too.

Some WebSphere professionals, on the other hand, have a resistance not to the portal technology itself, necessarily, but to the collaborative features provided by the Lotus technologies. WebSphere pros need to recognize that collaboration, both on a group level and on an organizational level, has been the Lotus business since the company came into being. It makes sense for us to take advantage of their expertise in the collaborative arena and use the components included with WebSphere Portal.

Mayo Clinic and IBM newsworthy

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 14:53:03 +0000

This one hits close to home. A recent headline from Computer Weekly, titled “IBM offers to cure US clinic’s IT ills” tells us that IBM and Mayo Clinic have been teaming up with each other in a project called “Blue Gene“. I just thought it was interesting that this project is garnering some publicity for the city of Rochester MN.

Websphere vs. Domino

admin — Thu, 06 May 2004 22:18:00 +0000

I never got around to finishing up on the other WebSphere XML article, but here’s an interim article which I think is quite eye-opening. If you are an IT web applications architect making the decision between Domino and WebSphere or both, you need to know how well the product aligns with the task it is being asked to perform. For example, we all should know that Domino is an excellent choice for collaborative tasks and WebSphere is great at transactional based tasks. More.

Lotus Workplace shows the value of rich clients

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2004 14:42:23 +0000

Here’s one for the Lotus propaganda file: “A year ago Lotus finally came off the fence and articulated a clear vision for the future of the company, its existing software and, most importantly, a new set of products. The biggest concern at the time was the ability of Lotus to deliver on the promise of that vision quickly and effectively. A year on, Lotus has delivered on its promises. Lotus Workplace has been set firmly at the centre of the Lotus strategy. The challenge now is to complete the initial product set (and so maintain momentum) and then develop the wider vision for Workplace.” More…

Security Advisories for Notes/Domino

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 04:13:48 +0000

For those of you who are interested in the latest security vulnerabilities in a variety
of computing platforms including Lotus Notes/Domino, here are a couple of good sites to bookmark.

SecurityFocus Vulnerabilities Listing By Vendor If you are interested in Notes/Domino security vulnerabilities, just select “Lotus” in the vendor dropdown list and hit the Submit button.
CERT Advisories CERT does have a good listing of advisories, but it is not as up-to-date as SecurityFocus. SecurityFocus does list a couple of vulnerabilities for the HTTP WebAdmin.nsf database.