IdoNotes (and sleep)

Today a live Q&A was held on what to expect in IBM Connections Next from IBM and SocialBizUg. This event was definitely not what was expected. Here is why.
Continue Reading here" What to expect in IBM Connections Next" »

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On Thursday, May 22nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM has announced on the Collaborate or be Left Behind webcast the new IBM Mail Next Advisory Program, IBM Domino Applications on Cloud and IBM Software Services for Collaboration Managed Business Services.

Continue Reading here" IBM Makes Mail Next Advisory Program and Apps on Cloud announcements" »

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On Wednesday, May 21st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM has yet another survey, this time asking questions based on product documentation, installation, wizards, integration and more. This is from their quality group I think.
Continue Reading here" IBM Collaboration Solutions Quality survey" »

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On Tuesday, May 20th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Support has issued a request to submit questions you have on Lotus Notes and IBM Domino to help analyze natural language processing assistance to them.
They have provided two links for you to submit questions.  One for IBM Domino and one for IBM Lotus Notes    Continue Reading here" IBM Support investigates natural language processing help" »

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On Wednesday, May 14th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Redbooks are known as key technical books on deployment to development. IBM has launched a mobile app for IBM Redbooks.
The mobile app is available for both iOS and Android devices.   Continue Reading here" IBM Redbooks launches a mobile app" »

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On Tuesday, May 13th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM has announced they will be changing IP addresses for the IBM SmartCloud for Social Business on or before June 21 2014.
Continue Reading here" IBM SmartCloud for SocialBusiness changing IP address in June 2014" »

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On Monday, May 5th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Cloud Marketplace has launched to offer a single shopping experience for cloud services. Unfortunately they are running two sites. Let me show you.
Continue Reading here" IBM launches Cloud Marketplace - but which site is which" »

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On Friday, May 2nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM is enhancing SmartCloud for Social Business in May 2014 to include social and mobile, Docs, and Notes enhancements detailed below.

Continue Reading here" IBM SmartCloud for Social Business enhancements for May 2014" »

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On Thursday, May 1st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connections is still missing threaded blog discussions. I am unsure why, after four versions, this isn't there. Forums has the ability. Here is a screenshot from the article I linked yesterday.

Note that we can like a comment and even flag one as inappropriate.  But there is no way to actually respond to someone to keep a conversation going.  IBM can we get this? Is it planned?

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On Tuesday, April 29th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Mail Next was finally explained a bit better today. Here is what you need to know about IBM Mail Next function and architecture. Subject to change.

IBM Mail Next was formerly called Project Sequoia. Special Note: you apparently have to buy IBM SmartCloud Engage to get half of it to work. SocialBizUg also closed the side chat to submitting questions only. They could have provided both options of rolling chat and also submitting quesitons.

(I can say that much of this was already available in Domino through a business partner that made FewClix. See my posts on FewClix here.)
There will be a Design Advisory Program (I guess deprecating the Design Partner Program).
Now for the specs of IBM Mail Next:
Continue Reading here" IBM Mail Next explained - so far" »

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On Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announced it is buying Silverpop, an Atlanta based company, for it's behavioral marketing platform.

Silverpop's behavioral marketing platform enables marketers to take action on customer behaviors in real time, deepen brand loyalty and deliver the perfect customer experience.

Silverpop is a digital marketing software company focused on helping marketers transform the customer experience— increasing engagement and driving revenue. Silverpop makes this possible by using customer data and each individual’s behaviors to inform and drive every interaction in real time  

You can read more at the IBM press release or the Silverpop website.

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On Tuesday, April 15th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

In a recent blog posting from Kramer Reeves,  Director/Product Management for Messaging and Collaboration, he announced the extension of End of Life (EOL) for 8.5.x support until September 2016. This is good news to give companies even more time to plan upgrades.
Speaking of companies he goes on to say...   Continue Reading here" Kramer Reeves says new EOL for 8.5.x extended. And everyone wants cloud?" »

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On Thursday, April 10th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announced IBM Mail Next at IBM Connect 2014 this past January. I have tons more to write but this flyer hit my desk today.
According to the image, IBM Mail Next will be delivered from the cloud? Their cloud? Your private cloud at your enterprise?

Look for more info I still need to write that was discussed pub;icly and also an upcoming webcast from IBM.

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On Monday, March 31st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

I wrote Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again? about a week ago. While the discussion thread here was limited, LinkedIn took off. Here are some excerpts and links.

I made the same discussion thread inside of a couple LinkedIn groups and the feedback has been terrific. Some of the threads are generating some good conversation. Starting with the ICS Lotus Software Professionals group:             Continue Reading here" Follow up: Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again?" »

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On Thursday, March 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Thanks to IBM we have added some audio/video to the IBM Connect slides database. For the 2014 event we are up to 70 sessions (and the 2013 sessions are in there too). Keep in mind all of this is publicly posted content that is embedded. We have posted nothing (*cough* someone complained *cough) so that all content is owned and attributed to the person that posted it inside the  IBM Connect and Lotusphere slides database.

Continue Reading here" The IBM Connect 2014 slides database now with video and 70 sessions" »

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On Monday, March 24th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

At IBM Connect 2014 we watched, well tried to catch, the announcement from Jeff Schick that IBM was changing the IBM Sametime name to IBM Connections Chat and IBM Connections Meetings. Is this a repeat mistake from years ago?

First let me look at how fast the announcement was made. I barely had time to pic up my trusty camera to capture the moment. It was on the screen and gone so fast you can see the words changing


Here are my thoughts on why the IBM Sametime name change is a mistake (again)    Continue Reading here" Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again?" »

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On Wednesday, March 19th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

The Lync Conference 2014 was held in February 2014 and they had some case studies on stage. Tampa General Hospital sounds like they had bad admins

The second Lync deployment story session I attended was delivered by representatives of Tampa General Hospital. They opened by saying as recently as three years ago, the hospital was in the "IT Stone Age." This was defined as being dependent on a mainframe and using Lotus Notes, Sametime, WebEx and BlackBerrys. Three years ago, the hospital replaced Sametime with Microsoft OCS for IM and presence and moved to iPhones and iPads. Two years ago, they moved to Lync for not just IM and presence, but audio and video conferencing as well, decommissioning WebEx.

I mean they did have 3000 pagers still in use. I am not sure what Notes, Sametime and BlackBerry had to do with that Stone Age portion of their infrastructure.

Read more on the story here

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On Monday, March 17th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM is enhancing SmartCloud for Social Business in March 2014 to include Sametime with SAML support, IBM Docs enhancements, also web users and Notes user enhancements.
IBM Sametime chat with SAML support is coming

If your organization uses federated identity management handled by Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), you can now download and chat using a stand-alone Sametime Connect client and log in with your organization's authentication credentials

There there is SmartCloud Web user enhancements.        Continue Reading here" IBM SmartCloud for Social Business enhancements for March 2014" »

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On Wednesday, March 5th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announced an update to the entitlement program for IBM Sametime that version 9.0.1 is now supported.

The new IBM Sametime Limited Use Entitlement for IBM Notes and Domino V9.0.1 customers delivers a way to chat with coworkers in real time, view online presence status, availability status, customize status messages, view someone's geographic location, and location awareness. It contains the functional equivalent of the capabilities provided in previous releases of IBM Sametime to IBM Notes and Domino V9.0.1 customers and includes support for the following capabilities embedded in the IBM Notes rich desktop client, in IBM iNotes® for web client access, or via the Sametime Connect client:

If you have been waiting to move up from IBM Sametime 8.5.x now is the time.  Read more on this topic on my Sys Admin Tips article on SocialBizUG

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On Monday, February 24th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announced the IBM Messaging Roadmap at IBM Connect 2014 and here is what was included. Also, here is the major piece I noticed missing.


If we study the IBM Messaging Roadmap image above, updated January 26 2014, we see updates to the IBM Notes 9.0.1 client. More than one fixpack and release schedule actually taking place now, July and November 2014. With a maintenance release, to include the IBM Mail Next coming in early 2015.

We also see enhancements to the browser plug-in and IBM SmartCloud Notes. But there is one thing missing from this chart.
Continue Reading here" IBM messaging roadmap from IBM Connect 2014 - what's missing" »

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On Monday, February 3rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announced IBM Mail Next at IBM Connect 2014. This is a new proposed inbox interface  via the web for working with Domino based email that aims to helps prioritize and balance tasks.

This is a sample screenshot of IBM Mail Next shown around different sessions at IBM Connect. As you can see this is an entirely new interface to the look and feel of your email. A few key things to consider:

• Domino back end (not Websphere as some thought)
• HTML5
• Apache search engine
• New web interface (as suggested but not close to final)

Continue Reading here" IBM Mail Next announced at IBM Connect 2014 - what I know" »

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On Wednesday, January 29th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

At IBM Connect 2014 opening session minutes ago, we watched Jeff Schick announce the new IBM Connections Meetings and IBM Connections Chat. This ends an era of Sametime

This doesn't mean much to you about the current path of enhancements. What it does mean is that a long term and known name is being changed. They did this one before when they renamed Sametime to Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing. That failed and one year later it was back.

I do not see this name ever going back to IBM Sametime. The path of consolidating is clear. Welcome IBM Connections Chat and Meetings.

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On Monday, January 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM  will be announcing and launching IBMSocialytics cloud at IBM Connect 2014 in Orlando, FL possibly based on SIFT, the Social Insight and Fusion toolkit.



The IBMSocialystics web URL (registered in Jul 2013) shows the above image tonight but redirects to YourInterlnet (registered in Sep 2012 by Global Technology Solutions) which seems to be a Portal based product

A search on IBM Socialytics turned up this from the Sponsor Showcase at IBM Connect 2014

Socialytics = Social Business + Big Data + Advanced Social Analytics  
Booth # SB-2

Socialytics provides a broad range of enterprise social business services to transform your organization. It improves customer intimacy, competitive intelligence and real time operational insights. What’s your social business strategy

So I did some checking into where SIFT fit into the architecture. I found this blurb from 2013 and this presentation

The SIFT application is built on IBM cross brand software. It borrows the best technologies from IBM's SW Portfolio (ICS, ECM and WebSphere) to deliver new and innovative "Big Social Data Analytics" capabilities to our customers. The SIFT application provides four powerful enterprise social business services as one integrated solution. These services include: 1) Big Social Data Collection Services 2) Social Network Monitoring Services 3) Big Social Data Analytics Services (ICA) 4) Enterprise Social Networking Services. This web based, cloud application is the only solution on the market that delivers all four of these social business services in an integrated social business software platform. We trump the competition

So my thought is that this will be a cloud based offering by IBM for enterprises and mid-sized companies to try and read social data and provide analytics services.  Based on the components listed that are  involved, I do not think anyone would have the skills to run this in house anyway.

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On Saturday, January 25th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM has announced new features in IBM SmartCloud for Social Business going live around January 11 2014. Here is a summary of enhancements and changes

New meetings and chat changes:

• Download a new version of the Sametime Connect rich client
• Navigate the chat and meeting applications, and launch their communication tools more easily with new context sensitive icons and user flows that have been streamlined to minimize the number of clicks
• Share rich content immediately with file transfer* and screen-capture in web chat
• Launch a meeting directly from a shared document in Files
• See at a glance what's happening with the new Meeting Stream that shows the chat discussion, when people share files, join the meeting, interact with poll questions, etc.
• Use additional meeting tools located next to the Audio Conferencing controls (if purchased as an add-on)
• Use new Meetings and Audio Conferencing reports available to subscribers
• Use new mobile applications that allow users to not just attend, but take control, share content, collaborate, and manage their meetings
• Use Meetings effectively with Chrome
• Use Federated Identity Management (SAML) support for the Chat plugin embedded in Notes

New "social" capabilities for SmartCloud Docs

• Presentations supports AirPlay® Mirroring and dual-screen projection. While your audience sees the full-screen slide show, you can see the slide show, speaker notes, timer, and annotation tool on your iPad®.
• Import and export .xslx and .pptx files
• In spreadsheets, customize the look of new or existing charts, and edit chart data ranges without going back to the sheet

These new capabilities are available for SmartCloud Engage and SmartCloud Connections subscribers.

Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channels for both IdoNotes as we prepare for IBM Connect 2014 and to Spiked Studio for all the recent CES news.

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On Friday, January 10th, 2014   by Chris Miller