Chris Pepin

I received the following e-mail this morning:

Thank you for your participation in the early “Bluehouse” betas. We appreciate your feedback. It has helped us refine and tune the services of “Bluehouse.”

Today, we are happy to announce the Open Beta of “Bluehouse.” Open Beta is an exciting time for us. There is a new look to the entire site, new videos and administration, group and meetings improvements.

You’ll notice a focus on the online meeting experience which is going to be one of our first offerings focused on the lifecycle of a meeting. The “Bluehouse” team is proud to show you the next evolution in our strategy for helping you collaborate quickly and efficiently with others outside or inside the firewall.

Periodic updates will continue to happen prior to our general availability in 2009. So, now, more than ever, we value your feedback! The best way to share is through the support forum that’s easily accessible from your Dashboard, prominently in the left navigator.

If you haven’t been back for a while, take another look at http://bluehouse.lotus.com. Remember that you used an email address to setup the account originally and you can reset your password as necessary.

If you’re a regular user, please let us know how you like the latest enhancements in the support forum.

Last week, I got an iPhone.  I've always been a fan of Apple and I've had a number of iPods over the years as well as an AppleTV.  I've never owned a Mac but used them extensively in college.  I consider myself a PC fan with both a HP laptop and a HP desktop (Voodo Blackbird) both running Windows Vista (yes, I am a Vista fan).  

I got my iPhone connected to the IBM corporate nfrastructure via Wi-Fi  (clientless VPN through Lotus Mobile Connect is in progress).   Setup was fast and easy.   iNotes is impressive on the Safari web browser.  Surfing the web, playing music and video and installing new applications are easy and intuitive   My biggest complaint, however, is the touch screen keyboard.  It's painful for me, someone with big fingers, to type.  I'm constantly "pressing" the wrong key and having to correct myself.   I was hopeful that after a week of constant use, I would become more adept.  Unfortunately, this hasn't happened.   However, I'm not giving up on the iPhone just yet.  I'll give it a few more weeks.  

As a longtime Blackberry user, I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the Blackberry Bold.  I'm a big fan of my latest Blackberry the Curve 8300, that I've had for a little over a year.  I'm also planing on testing the latest Nokia, Windows Mobile devices with Lotus Traveler as well as the upcoming  Google Android smartphone.  

There are a number of ways for customers and partners to exchange instant messages with IBM employees.   They include:

• Direct Sametime connectivity, via the Sametime SIP/SIMPLE gateway, with customers and partners that also Sametime.  IBM account representatives can access the sign-up form on IBM's intranet.  An upgrade to the service, migrating to the newer Sametime Gateway, is planned for 2009.
• Extranet Sametime service.  IBM has a Sametime community, extst.ibm.com, on the extranet connected to IBM's internal Sametime community via the Sametime SIP/SIMPLE gateway.   Customers and partners can access this service via the Sametime web client on the IBM.com "Collaboration" website or via a standalone Sametime Connect client or Notes client with integrated Sametime.   Clients that can be used at this time include standalone Sametime Connect 7.5 and 8.0 clients and Notes 8.0 and 8.0.1 with integrated Sametime.  An upgrade to the service is planned for 2009 with the goal of allowing any  Sametime client to be used.
• IBM employees are also allowed to use the public instant messaging networks (AIM, Yahoo, Google etc.) to communicate with customers and partners.   IBM has an internal pilot for this service which leverages the Sametime Gateway.  An upgrade to the service, making this capability available to more IBM employees, is planned for 2009.  At the present time, many IBM employees download and install a separate instant messaging client (e.g. AIM Pro).  Key advantages of leveraging the Sametime Gateway is that the Sametime Connect client is that additional client code is not required and the user has all their contacts, regardless of network, in a single list.

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce Andrew Trevor-Jones, the new Sametime solution owner for the IBM internal deployment.  Earlier this year, I assumed a new role with responsibility for end user computing strategy.    Andrew is located in Australia and his contact information can be found in the IBM Employee Directory.   Please join me in welcoming Andrew to the team.

On October 5-8, IBM will be hosting innovation jam 2008.   The jam is for everyone who wants to learn about new opportunities, share ideas and best practices and interact with leaders from around the world.  Employees of invited organizations need to register their e-mail addresses and create passwords to access the online event.



Source: IBM

1. Securing Information Systems
2. Integrating Technologies
3. Supporting Devices
4. Containing Costs
5. Controlling Personal Use
6. Training Users
7. Justifying Investments
8. Limiting Use

Inside IBM, we're facing all of these challenges.   Increasingly, we're eploring providing more mobility options to employees including the ability to use personally-owned devices.  A key cost driver is 99.999% availability and full end-to-end support for all devices.  To that end, we're exploring lower cost option with reduced service levels/support.

Source: CIO Insight

I got back Sunday night from my hike in New Hampshire's White mountains with five other current and former IBM employees.  The weather was fantastic - sunny and warm each day.  As in the past, we elected to stay in the AMC huts.   Here's our route:

Day 1 travel:
Drive to New Hampshire in two cars.  Drive north and leave Car 1 at Layfette Place Campground Parking area.   Continue north in Car 2 to end of Zealand Road. (30min, 21mi drive).  Map

Day 1 hike:
Zealand Trail from Zealand Road parking area to AMC Zealand Falls Hut (2700').  2.8mi,+650ft, 1.5hr

Day 2 hike:
Twinway from AMC Zealand Falls Hut to Mt Guyot (4580'). 4.2mi,+1700ft,3.5hr
Continue on Twinway from Mt Guyot to South Twin Mt (4902'). 2mi,+550,1.25hr
Mt Guyot: Bondcliff trail to summit of Mt Bond (4698'). Rnd trip to/from Mt Bond = 2.6mi,~+/-400ft,1.5hr
Continue from South Twin Mt to AMC Galehead Hut (4024'). 1.2mi,-1200ft,1hr

Day 3 hike:
Garfield Ridge Trail, up over Mt Garfield (4500'), to Mt Layfette (5260'). 6.6mi,3450ft,5hr
Greenleaf trail from summit of My Layfette down to AMC Greenleaf Hut (4200'). 1.1mi,-1050ft,.5hr

Day 4 hike:
Hike down/out to Layfette Place Campground from Greenleaf Hut via Old Bridle Path. 2.9mi,-2450ft,2.5hr

Day 4 travel:
Climb into car 1 and drive back around to pickup car 2 from Zealand Road parking area.
Drive back to Connecticut

Total hike = 23.4mi

I'm taking some personal time off from work to do some hiking in New Hampshire's White mountains with some IBM past-and-present colleagues.   Admittedly, I haven't done a good job of late posting to this blog.    My blogging efforts of late have been focused inside IBM focused on end user computing strategy and gathering feedback from our employees.   When I return from vacation I'll be sharing details on this blog.   Specifically, what IBM CIO is doing in the messaging, collaboration, social networking, smartphone, desktop/laptop and ultra mobile PC (UMPC) space.  Stay tuned!

Lotusphere 2009 registration is now open and will be held from January 18-22 at Walt Disney World, Florida.

Source: IBM

A new brochure from IBM demonstrates how to combine technology with cultural change to develop an information technology strategy that delivers measurable business results.  

Your business can implement all the latest technology, but it won’t make a difference if your employees don’t actually use it. To truly benefit from technology, you also need to create a culture of innovation. New employees in the workforce might readily embrace—and even expect—social networking tools on the job, but not everyone knows where to begin. Company leaders can set an example by embracing collaborative technology. It’s also important to solicit feedback from your employees on what tools are most effective for them. And training employees to use newer capabilities, such as blogs and wikis, can help them share information and contribute to the organization’s knowledge base.

Source: IBM - Build your collaboration strategy with IBM

I had the opportunity to attend the US Open tennis tournament currently underway in New York city over the long holiday weekend.  While admittedly not a huge tennis fan, I thoroughly enjoy attending the open.   I attended the event with my brother Jonathan, who also works for IBM.   As in the past, IBM is a major sponsor for the event and runs the USOpen.org website and other technology needs including the scoring, statistics and court side radar guns.  



As in the past, American Express continued its tradition of offering free electronics rentals for cardholders to add to the enjoyment of the game.   Several years ago, they offered FM Sony Walkman rentals to hear the play-by-play but for the past few years they offered disposable headoffer free FM headsets which weren't as nice.  This year, however, American Express really outdid themselves with portable video that allowed different views of the action, different matches, player bios and statistics as well as maps and information about the facility.   I couldn't tell what company made the video screen (it didn't have a logo) but I was very impressed and the price was right (free rental).   I'll be back again next year.

What will The Enterprise of the Future be like? What will your business look like in five years, or even ten? While we don't have a crystal ball to provide all the answers, The IBM Global CEO Study sheds light on what the future may hold.

Through interviews with 1,130 business and public sector leaders worldwide in 45 countries, the IBM Global CEO Study provides new and compelling perspectives on strategic issues such as global integration, new and changing customer groups, and business model innovation — facing organizations of all sizes.

Source: ibm.com Global CEO Study

Lotus Notes and Domino 8.0.2 is now shipping.    As is typical of maintenance releases, most of the changes are bug fixes.   However, there are some significant enhancements in this release as well:

• Reduced launch time of the Notes 8 client including an optimized startup sequence and a 20% reduction in the memory footprint of the Notes 8 client.   IBM technote with the details.
• iNotes Ultralite mode that supports Apple iPhone/iPod Touch Safari browser
• Microsoft Office 2007 file viewers now included in the Notes 8 client
• Domino performance enhancements on System i

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other social applications that allow for messaging and collaboration in the workplace should not be banned, argue two Gartner analysts. Though not quite ready for use in enterprise applications, Facebook, Twitter and the others can prove valuable in helping colleagues and customers connect, so long as businesses employ a trust model...
...Microsoft SharePoint and IBM Lotus Connections are examples of these tools tailored for the enterprise. But with 90 million-plus users leveraging Facebook, businesses are increasingly looking at the social network as a business networking tool, the way professionals leverage LinkedIn.

Inside IBM, use of these tools is not only allowed, but encouraged.  In IBM's view "emerging online collaboration platforms are fundamentally changing the way IBMers work and engage with each other, clients and partners."   IBM's social computing guidelines are published on ibm.com as are its business conduct guidelines.  
Source: eWeek

A new IBM webcast titled "IBM's Journey to Unified Communications and Collaboration Renders Client Value" is now available.   The webcast focuses on how IBM is using Unified Communication and Collaboration internally.   I participated in the webcast as well as a number of my IBM colleagues.

Source: IBM

I was out of the office, Monday and Tuesday in an IBM internal class on Aligning Business and IT Strategy in Palisades, NY.   The course was excellent, with a 6-8 hour of pre-work prior to the class which enabled me to hit the ground running on the first day of class.   A key benefit, in my opinion, of a physical, in person class is the interaction with other students to "connect" with individuals and learn from their experiences.   This course was delivered by the IBM Executive Business Institute  course is also available to external customers.   Much of the course focused on business, as opposed to specific IT technologies,  which was great since my core competency is as an IT architect and I was looking to broaden by business skills.  I recommend this course and it counts toward PMI certification.