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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

Silicon Valley Sleuth doesn´t want to know about my travel

Silicon Valley Sleuth doesn´t want to know about my travel

The unidentified author of today'sSilicon Valley Sleuth blog,perhaps with a bit of jealousy, says:In an age that everybodygets to be a vice president or Chief Makebelieve Officer, some folks seemto build their ego based on the number or frequent flier miles they collect.Let it be noted that I couldn't care less about where you travel. Or thatyou're tired. Or that you haven't posted in the past week because you justlogged anoter quazilion miles. But please tell me if you found out somethinginteresting while en route. Your a non-authority in the travel business- I read your blog because it provides insight into technology.AsI commented on their blog, feedback here has been positive about my occasionaltravel blogging (10% of the total entries).  I'm fortunate to be ina job that provides such a rich set of opportunities to explore the world.  When I started writing, I found that telling travel stories was a greatway to reach out to all readers -- customers, partners, press, analysts,colleagues, competitors, friends,and family.  As such, I plan to continue. It's a small way to give back -- tips and hints, experiences goodand bad, and ideas and dreams.

March 7, 2006 by in Hardware

-Now- we´re talking

-Now- we´re talking

I'm sitting at the front of the auditoriumat the Copenhagenedition of Lotusphere Comes to You. The event itself was relatively quiet yesterday in Ârhus, but today,the questions are coming.  And many of them are on a common theme-- the need for more Lotus marketing, fighting the "Notes is dead"message.The local team tell me that they'verun some Notes/Domino ads locally; they've done the press interviews; they'vegot the customer case studies.  We need to tell the story more.  Likethe customer I met with yesterday who have 8000 Notes databases (in additionto mail), including a Notes app they consider a competitive differentiator. Like the partner who just told me he's already built two applicationswhich use Web Services in Domino 7.  And lots more.The interest level in "Hannover"is quite high here.  As I said on the TakingNotes podcast last week, while"Hannover"'s eye candy is clearly going to be a headline grabber,it is the notion of compositeapplications that is going toexpand the value of Notes for the next ten+ years.  This is why I'mencouraged by signs that the "Hannover" development team willstart taking their work more public, soon .... everybody wants to knowwhat's next for Notes.

March 7, 2006 by in Developer

Paul Mooney takes on the released "red bull"

Paul Mooney takes on the released "red bull"

Now that Microsoft has released the ApplicationAnalyzer 2006 for Notes, Paul Mooney has reprised his examinationof the beta code, code-named "Red Bull". No longer can Microsoft claim that this is beta...so here are theresults of Paul's sought-aftertest drive. In part1, Paul examines the premise and documentation around the now-releasedAnalyzer.  Not much haschanged, but there is a new XML-based configuration file.  Some challenges:First, the tool stops analyzing if itfinds a template with a standard out-of-the-box name and filename.  Hopeyou haven't been modifying the standard templates...Second, "Theoretically I couldcustomise the XML file to say that even if the database is nothing likethe template and has lots of additional fields, class it as a Quad1 orQuad2. "  Which means that a practitioner in the field couldput their finger on the scale, so to speak, and and make a lot of applicationslook more simple than they are.  Of course, we're notexactly in the realm of airtight ethics,so let's watch out for configuration file hacking.Third, the tool can't be run on a Notes7 client, but does require the mysterious "Notes 5.16" or higher.Inpart2, Paul reports on the released Application Analyzer's results. He even has some fun faking out the tool -- taking the out-of-the-boxMS Office Document Library in Notes and adding a single field.  Allof a sudden, that application is in "quadrant 4" --"Furtheranalysis is required to identify possible solutions from the MS collaborationplatform".   In summary, Paul finds [The Microsoft Application Analyser]lists the majority of production databases as QUAD3 or QUAD4 (not easyto migrate) and once any QUAD1 or QUAD2 template based application straysoff the beaten track, MS knows that Sharepoint is in trouble and liststhe database as QUAD3/4.  That's because its not easy to migratethe apps.  We all know it.  On one box, the domino servercan easily provide services that multiple MS packages cannot.  Andthat is accepted by many people... For all its flaws, the tool is honest. There is no easy migration to MS products... if you read the reportsfrom this tool on your production databases, it tells you that.  Ofcourse, the FUD doesn't tell you that.  We should almost encourageour customers to run this tool.  It tells them a: Their easy RAD applications in Domino are considered complex in MS landb: When an MS sales guy comes in and says we can easily migrate your apps(and they do... I have seen it), show him the door. Soundslike a plan to me.  I wonder if that applies to the bounty-seekingpartners, too?

March 7, 2006 by in Microsoft

IBM Rapid FUD Responder blog: migration case study says very little

IBM Rapid FUD Responder blog: migration case study says very little

Gartnerrecently published a case studywhich examines the Notes to Exchange migration done by RSM McGladrey.  Microsoftalso has a versionof the case study posted.  It'svery enlightening to read them both, and see what a difference the independentview from Gartner is.While I never like to lose a customer,this one is a result of an acquisition.  There appear to have beensome business drivers as well, but those don't appear to have been consideredequally for both platforms.  Regardless, the decision was made togo to MS.As my colleague AntonySatyadas writes on the FUD responder blog,the Gartner analysis concludes very little in the way of firm businessresults.  Lots of expense -- US$214 per user for a cut-overe-mail migration... no coexistence, no application migration.  Lotsof "hopes" -- the Gartner writeup uses the word "hope"or "believe" thrice.  And the Notes applications are stillin place -- with an estimate of two years and another $200 per user tomigrate them (plus the two-year cost of running the Notes infrastructurein parallel to Exchange).  Interesting that they believe they'll spendless per-user to migrate applications than they did to migrate mail.I always encourage customers to applya critical eye to reference stories from any vendor.  I especiallyencourage customers to ask to talk to a customer being referenced, especiallythe big ones that are claimed as winbacks.  In many many cases, thestory from MS customers is the same as RSM McGladrey -- ok, we moved thecommodity e-mail.  Now what do we do?  And they end up runningboth infrastructures for a long time, because there's nothing quite likethe value of Lotus Notes and Domino.

March 7, 2006 by in Microsoft

On the Blackberry thing and questions to IBM

On the Blackberry thing and questions to IBM

I've received a few e-mails, directly andthrough IBMers, asking me what "IBM's recommendation" is on theBlackberry/RIM vs. NTP thing.  With the requisite caveat/reminderthat I am not necessarily representing the views, positions, strategiesor opinions of IBM Corporation or IBM management, I have to say that Idon't see why IBM should have a position on this at all.My logic is simple.  A large ecosystem has developed around mobileand wireless solutions for Notes/Domino.  Blackberry/RIMis a great partner, as are Nokia,Commontime,GoodTechnology, and others. IBM doesn't take formal positions on any one partner being betteror recommended in a particular market space.  And RIMhas formally committed to a workaroundin the event of an injunction.  Thus, what kind of useful answer couldIBM give to the question, anyway?   In my opinion, a suggestion to switch to other mobile/wireless solutionsseems extremely short-sighted.  RIM says (and I have no special insighton this) that they have solved the problem long-term and have a workaroundin place in the short term.  They are going to be as important a partnerfor Notes/Domino customers next week as they are this week.  I understand that contingency and "disaster" planning are allimportant parts of IT management.  But the vendor says they have multipleplans in place.  I'm certainly willing to trust them.  IT departmentsplaying "what if" are wise to consider the question, "whatif RIM's workaround doesn't work"...but even that would, I believe,be only a short-term question.  With more than four million users,RIM has their entire business at stake.  No matter how the cards aredealt, I have to believe they are ready for any hand to play out.

February 27, 2006 by in BlackBerry

Intranet Journal: Building an Intranet with Lotus Database Templates

Intranet Journal: Building an Intranet with Lotus Database Templates

Longtime blogger ChrisToohey has written a series ofarticles for Intranet Journal.  Today's article examines the threemain out-of-the-box templates in Domino -- discussion, document library,teamroom.  I know that tons of Notes applications have been createdwith or based on these templates, but I also feel that they are often overlookedfor their power.  Doclib, for example, has some great Microsoft Officeintegration, plus revision tracking (I remember all the early Notes appsI used seemed fixated on revision tracking).  The discussion templatehas subscription/newsletter options, so you don't have to keep checkingfor new content.    And Teamroom has some very slick projecttracking capabilites built right in,The out-of-the-box templates are a greatreminder of why Notes is a collaboration platform, not just a mail systemwith bolt-ons for workflow or other integration.  I'd hazard a guessthat these templates themselves are delivering a lot of the collaborationand knowledge value inside Notes organizations today.Link: IntranetJournal: Building an Intranet with Lotus database templates>

February 27, 2006 by in Enterprise Software

Bloggers - Please register on dominoblogs.com

Bloggers - Please register on dominoblogs.com

At Lotusphere 2006, one of the big discussionsat the birds-of-a-feather on blogging was, how do we best keep track ofNotes/Domino-related bloggers?  Well, a simple short-term solutionhas been set up at dominoblogs.com. LauretteRynne explains the site's inspiration:SinceLotusphere there has been much discussion in the blogosphere regardinghow to allow new Domino bloggers (or even non-bloggers) to find a voicewithin the community. It seems that everyone is struggling with how tokeep up with reading existing known blogs, let alone finding an acknowledgingnew bloggers.As a way to at least help people findnew blogs is now here. We have now launched the first implementation ofwww.dominoblogs.com. While I appreciate some of theother efforts to aggregate, this seems like a simple way to start, andwith a domain name that is  easy-to-remember (and promote).  So,blogging friends, please headon over to Dominoblogs.com and register your site.

February 27, 2006 by in Enterprise Software

Gregg Eldred writes of a customer loss

Gregg Eldred writes of a customer loss

Though it is not clear what size this organizationis, GreggEldred describes a customer's decisionto move away from Notes:On Thursday, in a fit of passion,they moved to . . . neither Notes nor Exchange. They opted to use theirfree webmail accounts with their web hosting company and now they are usingPOP/IMAP for their mail. Yeah, now they have HTML mail and a slick webmailinterface, but they aren't too sure of spam or anti-virus protection. Someoneelse is now responsible for their mail system, a company that has a lotof other customers to worry about. Will they get good support? Will theirmail be scanned and protected? Will those definitions be up to date? Idon't know and I don't know if they do, either. Any way, it's hard to help when they don't/can't keep up with the maintenance.Everything that they complained about was fixed/updated/improved in subsequentreleases. And yet, there they sat on R4.6.7. From a totally budgetary viewpoint,it is hard to compete against "free." And those POP/IMAP addressesare free, at least in terms of cold, hard cash and in relation to eitherNotes/Domino or Exchange. So, while we didn't lose to Exchange, we did lose a Notes customer.Ahyes, the pennywise-and-pound-foolish mentality.  Here we have a customerwho was still running software from 1996 and wondering why it didn't dowhat they wanted in 2006.  It's like buying a perfectly good car andbelieving that one never has to do oil changes, tuneups, or even take itthrough a car wash occasionally.  Oh, and no insurance either -- theyhadn't bought a maintenance agreement at any point in that time.Now they've moved to an environmentwhere their e-mail might not even have their own company name as theirFQDN.  Gregg identifies some of the risks, but how about some others-- is their mail being backed up?  What's the SLA if there is a needto get to that backup?  What archiving solution is in place?  Howis compliance being addressed?  What happens if their web hostingcompany is acquired?  What about directory services for their employees?I'm disappointed that Gregg wasn't ableto show this customer how an upgrade, even from 4.x, would protect theirexisting investments and be cost-effective.  Sometimes, though, the"wallet check" leads companies to make decisions based on rawcashflow, and they'll be able to say "at least we didn't spend $5000on new software" or whatever.  Good luck to them.

February 27, 2006 by in Microsoft

Lengthy Heathrow logistics

Lengthy Heathrow logistics

This morning I experienced what Londontravellers have been grappling with for two weeks -- changes in securityprocesses at Heathrow have resulted in lengthy queues for security.  Iwaited over 50 minutes to pass through security at T-2, along with manyother grumpy fliers.Two things struck me as quite odd aboutthe experience --1) Only half the available securityqueues were open for the "morning rush".  If this was a"one off" situation, perhaps it would have caught their staffingplan off-guard, but the clearly-overtaxed staffers acknowledged that thishas been the situation for two weeks running.2) As flights approached their finalboarding call, passengers still in security queue for said flight werecalled forward to a separate bypass queue.  In the case of my Malévflight this morning, the call forward came just as I got to the frontof the regular queue.  Thus, 45+ minutes completely wasted.  Instead,I could have gone and had a morning coffee and just waited for them tocall for my flight in the bypass queue.  It would have been much morecivilised.The staff were liberally handing outthe BAA Heathrow feedback forms.  I'll be sure to send one in.Regretably, this was not my only logisticalchallenge in the 36-hour UK stopover.  The SheratonHeathrow's website (and for thatmatter, the Heathrow airport website), advise use of the "HotelHoppa" service, indicatingthat "Coaches leave very 10-12 minutes from approximately 5:30am toapproximately 11:30pm. "  Only thing is, from 22:50 there isa 40+ minute gap until the next bus...not exactly every 10-12 minutes. The schedule is clearly posted at the bus stand, so why don't theSheraton and Heathrow websites say so?  I lost about 40 minutes Sundaynight because of this...would have booked a limo or something if I hadnot relied on the two websites that have every reason to be accurate.

February 21, 2006 by in Security

Nigel Fortlage´s Weblog: What´s the importance of an instance?

Nigel Fortlage´s Weblog: What´s the importance of an instance?

JamesGovernor alerted me to thiscase study of a customer migrating from using ICQ for business instantmessaging over to Lotus Sametime running on iSeries:Firstthing most users are saying the interface is very MSN Messenger Like sothey are adopting it without training or question. I am shocked...Best corporate win, further simplification of IT environment by leveragingexisting technologies to do 1 more thing, while adding corporate compliancewith an enterprise level, server side, IM offering...Ok it doesn't roll of the tongue... This is the very first time we have taken an application run off a Linuxmachine and move it to a commercial offering. I see this as an evolutionof a mature offering that made sense to play with and use in an open sourcespace, but in addressing our desire to simplify, we leveraged an existinginvestment in technology to move us forward.Link:Nigel Fortlage's Weblog: What's the importance of an instance?>

February 21, 2006 by in Social Enterprise