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IBM

Natalie Gagliordi

Until 2021, Natalie Gagliordi was a senior writer for Red Ventures based in Louisville, Kentucky, covering business technology for ZDNET.

Latest Posts

eWeek: Exchange 12 has competitors, execs insist

eWeek: Exchange 12 has competitors, execs insist

Reaction among some competitors to Exchange12 beta 1 announcement...TimBray, a Sun Web technologistand the co-inventor of XML, told eWEEK that while some of Microsoft's softwarewas excellent, "I cannot say that Exchange falls into that category,"whether from a technical engineering or feature-set perspective.whoa.;) Several comments about Microsoft's long-forgotten plan to port Exchangeto SQL, circa 2003, with a new spin:"A lot of theoriginal advantages that we were going to get from going to a SQL-typestore we already have in Exchange now. While this was very attractive fiveyears ago, the bar has been set higher today, as we will have 64-bit inExchange 12, we will have better failover and disaster recovery and wehave a Web services API," he said. Huh?  I'msure I can find a few quotes about the benefits Exchange expected froma SQL base.  Also, why did SharePoint move away from the Exchangestore architecture so quickly?  Julie Farris of Scalix offers herperspective:The Exchange message store, based on theJet database, is prone to corruptions and is difficult to manage and maintain,she said, adding, "This is a long-standing, known problem, and plansto replace the Exchange message store have been iteratively postponed."At the same time, Exchange upgrades have come to mean a perpetual rearchitectureof customers' e-mail environments, she said.Link: eWeek:Exchange 12 has competitors, execs insist> (via PeterO'Kelly)

December 19, 2005 by in Microsoft

TiVo gets the best of me

TiVo gets the best of me

I haven't blogged about TiVo in a longtime, though I continue to be very happy with the service.  Recently,though, the power supply died in my six-month-old TiVo Series 2 unit.  Whilecovered under warranty, this required Humax to send me out a new unit,as the power supply can't be replaced separately.  So, a new (well,refurbished) unit arrived on Friday.  It's date of manufacture, inMexico -- December 9, 2005.  Interesting supply chain metric there.Anyway, knowing that it was just the power supply that was out on my oldTiVo unit, I planned to swap the hard drives between old and new upon thenew unit's arrival.  I wanted to get at all those saved episodes ofDora the Explorer for my daughter, of course.  So, I opened up bothunits, saw that the contents were entirely the same, and proceeded to switchthe hard drives.  Once complete, I connected the new TiVo, and gotnothing but a blinking green light.  Oops. I figured I was busted on the hard drive swap, so I switched them back. Plugged it in, and same blinking light.  Weird...could TiVohave shipped me a broken replacement? A couple of hours later, I thought I'd take another look inside and seewhat might be wrong.  There are very few moving parts on the TiVo,so there wasn't much to go wrong.  I discovered, though, that I hadin fact screwed up one of the few things that could go wrong.  I hadconnected the ribbon cable to the hard drive upside down.  Notoften that an interface connector will go in two different ways, but thisone apparently does.  Once I righted this, the unit booted up justfine.  Note: I suppose this means I will have to give back my geekmerit badge. Now I had a new problem -- the old hard drive was causing an error in thenew TiVo box, and I couldn't even so much as watch the existing recordedprograms until the hardware problem was resolved.  It appeared I wasindeed busted on the hard drive swap.  Bummer.  Sadly, I putthe new HD back in the new unit and was off and running.The last challenge was when the new unit asked me to activate.  Goingto Tivo.com/activate and following the steps provided me with the opportunityto sign up for TiVo monthly service again.  Already being $300 intothe last unit for lifetime service, I was concerned that the new unit didn'tmap up to me as a subscriber.  So, I went the old fashioned way andpicked up the phone.  There I was reassured that my lifetime servicewas indeed transferable to the new unit, and they took care of this forme. I just spent ten minutes putting all my "season passes" on thenew TiVo.  In the meantime, I've missed about three weeks of Law &Order/Law&Order CI and am going through withdrawl.  Anyone happento TiVo the last few weeks?

December 19, 2005 by in Hardware

Scalability

Scalability

I've been thinking about scalability alot today.  The thought process actually kicked off with the Typepadoutage from last week...even thoughin the end scalabilitywasn't exactly the problem there. Yet it seems that "growing pains" is a common compliantabout many Internet social software tools -- everything from Technoratito Orkut have been criticized for straining under increased load.I've never really been a coder, butI've watched lots of different systems have to adjust -- or rearchitect-- due to scale challenges.  Back in 1990, I worked for FTD when theywanted to get into an early version of e-commerce.  Their approachwas to develop an in-house system which used an ASCII text colon-delimitedflat file for product records...which was fine for fifty items but notfor 5000.  Needless to say, that system didn't last very long (thoughthere were hundreds of additional reasons for that, which would make aninteresting case study one of these days).In my world, cc:Mail was definitelya system which eventually burst at the seams under scale issues.  Asa cc:Mail administrator back in 1992, I only had solid performance whenmy post offices were each about 200 MB.  Now that's 1/3 the size ofmy own mailbox.  cc:Mail had great hardcoded limits like 200 userson a mailing list, or 20 attachments per message.  Obviously, Hubertand company designed an incredible system for its day, but its file-sharearchitecture eventually hit the wall for modern-day messaging requirements.Given all of that context, it's somewhatamazing that Notes has been able to evolve from 75 users per server overNETBIOS in Notes R3 to 150,000 user scalability with Domino 7, all withouta fundamental rearchitecture.  It may not be sexy work, but the plumbingdone in Domino 7 to get 40-400% scalability improvements on existing hardwareis especially impressive when viewed this historical context.  

December 19, 2005 by in Hardware

Last Microsoft-related post for ´05, I promise

Last Microsoft-related post for ´05, I promise

I've received several comments this week,directly or indirectly, that I've let the Lotus vs. Microsoft theme gettoo out of control, too petty, too whatever.  That edbrill.com readerswould like to see me spend more time on my own turf, discuss other generalthemes in the industry, get more into my (daughter's) new Mac, talk about2006 plans, etc.  I get it, really I do.  I'm going to explainbriefly what the last few months have been like from this perspective,and move on for now.There's no subtlety in a company's businessplan when their CEOstands on a stage and says, "Wehave Lotus Notes opportunities coming out the yin-yang. I've never seen[such] a customer base waiting to be plucked."  In 2005,Microsoft has put significant human and financial resource into their "NotesCompete" program.  I've seen the presentations, read the informationon bounties and bundles, seen screenshots of MS intranet pages with thequote above highlighted.  I've talked to business partners who havebeen flown to Microsoft meetings at MS's expense.  I know about Microsoft'squantifiable goals in this area.  So let's be crystal clear aboutit -- regardless of recent comments by various Microsoft employees andsupporters, Microsoft wants to beat Notes during their FY06.  There'sno other objective in their business plan.All this talk about doing what's bestfor our mutual customers is nothing but a smokescreen.  And I, andmy colleagues, are especially disappointed when that guise is adopted byour publicly-visible former coworkers, none of whom left Lotus directlyfor Microsoft.  It's hard not to take it personally when "IBM"is attacked, ten years after IBM acquired Lotus.  Or when Lotusphereis criticized, as it continues to be one of the premier IT conferencesanywhere.  Or when those who speakabout migration from Notes to the Microsoft platform publicly pretend thattheir message is instead about peace, love, and integration.Do I want to do what's right for youas customers and partners?  Absolutely.  That's why the Lotusphereagenda featuresseveralspeakerstalkingaboutLotus and Microsoft integration,a topic I myself used to cover in Orlando.  In many cases, these speakersare actual architects and developers who have implemented these solutionsin the field, not just technical marketing people like myself.  Forwhat it's worth, we've taken the same approach with other 3rd party technologies,such as SAP and VMWare, with great speakers discussing real-world scenarios. (You can thank Rockyfor advocating for more of these types of sessions)Going beyond the Lotusphere-relateddiscussion, the big picture is that Microsoft is aiming a lot of weaponryat my product's customers.  One thing that's very interesting is thatthis firepower is needed at all.  If it was obvious on its face thatMicrosoft had a technically superior solution, they wouldn't have to investmillions of dollars and an army of people to go after Notes.  Butall this effort has preciouslittle to show for it, becausein most cases, sound business analysis and decision-making wins the day. And that's why Lotus is winningnew customers from Microsoft asmuch as the installed base of Notes customers continues forward with theproduct.  The last four fiscal quarters show the results -- despitethe latest attack, the Lotus and Notes revenue bases are growing.  PerhapsI should thank Microsoft for putting all this effort in -- since so manyof the situations where I end up on defense actually result in net-newinvestment in IBM, Lotus, and Notes.  The thanks for that arenot simply with my salesforce, but ultimately with the engineers, productmanagers, architects, and everyone else who have made Notes/Domino 7 animpressive, valuable, and useful release, and for those who are alreadyworking nights and weekends to make "Hannover"the best rich client experience ever.In the next few weeks, I promise thatthese areas will be my focus.  We've got a lot of great stuff ahead,starting with Lotusphere(and Software University before that, for those IBMers and partners attending). I'm actively working on my year-in-review/3-year-blogoversary stuff,and we're going to focus (refocus?) on all the good in the world of LotusNotes, now and into the future.

December 19, 2005 by in Microsoft

Survey reveals extensive server disasters and data loss among enterprises

Survey reveals extensive server disasters and data loss among enterprises

A VERY interestingpress release from Lucid8:Arecent survey provides clear evidence that a large number of organizationsare experiencing disastrous Exchange Server failures. The survey was conductedby Lucid8, a provider of automated disaster prevention, optimization andrecovery software for Microsoft Exchange Server and was directed at organizationsthat rely heavily on e-mail as a driving force in communications. Morethan 360 IT managers, messaging and Exchange specialists participated inthe study, providing a highly representative base of respondents.Seemslike a pretty good sample size and solid methodology...let's take a lookat the results.- Nearly three quarters of the respondentshad suffered from an Exchange disaster. 70 percent of these firms statedthat their Exchange Server was down for at least eight hours, and 45 percentsaid it was down for more than 24 hours per incident. - Almost half of the respondents statedthe cost of lost opportunity was more than $5,000 per incident, and 23percent reported that they had experienced permanent data loss from serverdisasters. 70% of firms have had at least eight hoursdowntime per incident, and almost half have had more than oneday downtime per incident.  One quarter have experiencedpermanent data loss.It almost would be too easy to talkabout Domino's multiplatform characteristics, single mailbox per user deployments,and shared-nothing clustering at this point.  The survey results wouldbe substantially different for IBM Lotus Domino customers.  Hmmm...

December 14, 2005 by in Servers

Tom Duff´s not buying it

Tom Duff´s not buying it

TomDuff wonders why Microsoft seems surprised to not be exhibiting at Lotusphere...Isaw that Microsoft was not granted a booth for Lotusphere this year, andto that I say...  way to go, IBM!  I have a hard time with thefact that Microsoft wants to have a booth with the stated purpose to helpNotes developers integrate Notes and .Net technology.  I don't havea problem with integrating those things, but I have a significant issuewhen it's Microsoft that's doing it.The discussion thathas ensued is almost more interesting than the original thought.  I'veleft a few comments there, but let me summarize:Microsoft's not exhibiting at Lotusphere. However, as has been true for many years, they will have severalattendees at the event.  And no, we won't be putting red badges onthem as we did a few years ago :)Lotus and Microsoft integration = good. That's why people like John Head are speaking about it during theconference.  That's why vendors are exhibiting their integration tools.Windows is indeed a prevailing platformfor Domino servers (and of course Notes clients).  That's not whatthe discussion is about.This isn't personal, really, but I doresent characterizations that IBM is doing something evil.  As BobBalaban commented on Tom's site, business is business.  I happen toknow who made the decision around Microsoft exhibiting at Lotusphere, andthink the process by which this decision was made was a very solid one.

December 14, 2005 by in Microsoft

Lotusphere 2006 and partner attendance

Lotusphere 2006 and partner attendance

Lotusphere 2006 attendance is shaping up....I can't disclose registration numbers, but there has been a 50% uptickin the last few weeks and more coming in by the day.  A whole lotof you have not yet joined the Lotusphere2006 frappr -- please be sureto add yourself to the map.My rant today, though, is about peoplewho are not yet registered to attend Lotusphere.  Specifically, Imean partners who make part or all of their living building/deploying Lotussoftware-related solutions.  A few days ago, I had an e-mail discussionwith a consultant who is not registered for Lotusphere.  They saidthat they might yet do so, they are waiting to see how some of their projectcommitments for 2006 shape up.  I expressed disappointment, becauseI believe that partners who make a living with Lotus software shouldbe at Lotusphere, period.  Now, I understand for those of youin Europe/Asia/Africa/Australia, the travel costs to Orlando might be prohibitive. But for US/Canada and environs, the travel costs this year are solow, they can't really be your barrier.  So what is?Why do I think partners who work withLotus software should be at Lotusphere2006?  Because there is nobetter place to find out how to grow and enhance your business for 2006and beyond.  There's no better place to meet prospective customers,and keep up relations with existing customers.  There's no betterplace to talk with IBM executives, management, and product development,to get your voice heard about current and future products.  There'sno better place to network with other partners who you can work with onjoint projects and proposals.  There's no better place to learn aboutnew products and solutions that can help with your projects.From my perspective, after 11+ yearsin the Lotus marketplace, the partners I meet at Lotusphere and other similarevents are the ones I turn to for a sense of what's going on in the market,bounce ideas off of for what IBM could be doing differently or better,and consider when asked for referrals or contacts.  If you're notat Lotusphere (or a similar event such as DNUG), you're not on my (or otherLoti) radar.  Sure, I get that face-to-face is hardly the only wayto build business relationships in 2006.  But the investment of timeand money to be at Lotusphere speaks of commitment in a fairly uniqueand (to me) important way.It's 40 days away.  Be there orbe square.

December 13, 2005 by in CXO

Gartner: Focus on Business Issues, Not Emotions, When Considering IBM Lotus Domino

Gartner: Focus on Business Issues, Not Emotions, When Considering IBM Lotus Domino

Gartner has published its fourth reportthis year addressing their perspective on the Notes/Domino market.  Thefirst, in January, was "IBM'sWorkplace Strategy Gains Credibility at Lotusphere".Thesecond, in March, was "IsIBM's Lotus Notes/Domino a Safe Investment Platform?" The third, in September, was "IBMat the Pivot Point with Domino 7",which recommends upgrades to Notes/Domino 7 for existing customers andconsideration by non-Domino customers.Now, the newest report is "Focuson Business Issues, Not Emotions, When Considering IBM Lotus Domino". Per thisdiscussion from the weekend, theredoesn't seem to be a consensus on how to blog about an analyst report. I can quote the first line of the report, which is displayed on Gartner'ssummary page [emphasis mine]:Many Domino-related inquiriesthat Gartner receives come from longtime Domino customers actively consideringa migration to Microsoft products, although few have actually made themove.This is a very interesting report. It coversone of the key points I've emphasized over the years, which is that IBMLotus customers who consider migrating from Notes/Domino typically do sowithout a solid business case.  They are responding in manycases to hype and FUD from Microsoft, which admittedly in the past (12+months ago) was aided by confusion over the IBM product strategy.  The new Gartner report dissects thehype and reality.  Gartner cautions that the full costs of a migrationbe considered, especially concerning Notes/Domino applications.  Microsofttries very hard to convince customers/partners to separate the e-mail discussionfrom the applications discussion.  This frankenstein approach makesno sense for customers who have hundreds (or thousands)of Notes apps.  I've seen reports of customers spending US$500 ormore per user to attempt to migrate Notes apps to the Microsoft platform,with limitedsuccess.  It's good thatmore and more data is getting out in the market about the realities ofthe technical advantages of Notes/Domino and why those apps are best-suitedto staying on Notes/Domino.Gartner also recommends that customersconsider all the aspects of the two vendor strategies and platforms, includingthe lack of maturity in a number of the Microsoft collaboration offerings,and also in some of the IBM Workplace offerings.I don't agree with everything in thisGartner report -- it has a market share guesstimate based on seats, whichI thought we had all agreed wasn't a realistic market measurement, andthey don't give IBM enough credit for the double-digit revenue growth forNotes in the last four fiscal quarters.  But overall, this reportis an excellent discussion, and Gartner concludes it with useful recommendationsto IBM for maintaining and growing market share.Last night, I e-mailed the IBM Lotusmessaging sales force about this report.  I told them that the messageI would use with customers from this report is -- "You're consideringa migration from Notes?  Are you really the kind of organization thatmakes decisions based on emotion and politics?"  I think whatwill be most interesting is that, in some geographies, we'll actually hear"yes" as an answer to that.

December 13, 2005 by in CXO