tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16138400009932077302021-12-01T18:05:41.666+00:00Poking around the middle while staying close to the edge.<p> Much has changed since IBM first shipped midrange business systems in the 1970’s. Today some 250,000+ organisations still depend on these servers. But this cosy world of Big Blue has been attacked by the Wizards of Redmond and the Warlocks of Linux. So what can IBM and Microsoft do to defend their turf and grow their market share? And what effect are the big enterprise players like SAP and Oracle having as they move down market?</p>Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-87313517174904001092010-07-22T16:09:00.002+01:002010-08-19T15:51:05.505+01:00

You may have noticed, in recent months, that my blogging cadence has plummeted further and faster than BP's share price. This largesse was caused by spending whatever spare time I've had on helping to get the new LANSA blog off the ground. This has proven to be an exciting project and we are proud of the result: iOpener - Pushing the limits of IBM i and Microsoft technology This is not a

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-50445746373277138422010-01-07T17:05:00.003+00:002010-01-07T17:12:04.045+00:00

The time has come for someone else to be the standard-bearer for iManifest EMEA. When I first issued the Call for Participation in July '09 I offered to kick-start such an initiative in EMEA by helping to construct the board and committing some seed funding. We have received pledges for more than half of the original funding total and the level of awareness is high. My commitment to the cause is

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-18404053888611936052009-12-09T15:08:00.006+00:002009-12-09T15:30:42.297+00:00

How often do people really tell you what they think when you ask them a direct question? If they know that you already hold strong beliefs or opinions on the topic then you run the risk of hearing what people think you want to hear, rather than what they would say behind your back. Or I am just being too paranoid? I really want to know what other people think about our iManifest initiative. The

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-16677434763994162882009-11-25T14:11:00.002+00:002009-11-25T14:13:15.105+00:00

Pressure of work has progressively reduced my blogging cadence to one post per month - the minimum, you would think. Well now I've reach a new low and not managed a single intelligent post since mid-October (or ever, depending on your view point). The only defence I can offer is that since being promoted to the COO position at LANSA on Oct 1 my workload has gone off the chart. It's all good stuff

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-24841803263222692572009-10-19T11:46:00.010+01:002009-10-19T12:07:10.878+01:00

Today's news is the most significant thus far in the evolution of iManifest EMEA. Although not by design, we now have nice symmetry to the group; Avnet representing the Tier 1 distribution channel, Infor representing the biggest homogenous group of IBM i business applications and LANSA as the largest independent vendor of IBM i development tools and enabling software. A month ago I opined that

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-22956387614657644062009-09-15T10:54:00.002+01:002009-09-15T11:18:42.832+01:00

I really need to broaden my horizon and starting blogging on other topics again, but the level of buzz around our iManifest initiative makes it an irresistible topic of conversation. The vast majority of the dialogue I've had about iManifest, both on- and off-line, has been positive and new members are joining every week. But two issues have started to come-up with more frequency so I need to set

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-30484671158696197272009-08-13T11:14:00.008+01:002009-08-13T12:50:58.952+01:00

The IBM i server has an image problem, which is why going on a public relations offensive is the fundamental goal of our iManifest initiative.I am often asked to comment on IBM's decision to unify the System i (AS/400, iSeries) and System P (Unix) server lines - what we now know as Power Systems. My view is that the resulting engineering efficiencies and economies of scale must bode well for the

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-79853459234710038942009-07-23T17:27:00.004+01:002009-09-01T15:11:48.902+01:00

As The Stranglers once asked; whatever happened to all the heroes? You know, those characters with the boldness to act and sufficient fortitude to accept the consequences without regard for self-interest. I'm asking the question because, while the response to my call for participation of iManifest EMEA has resonated loud and far, support has come predominately from small players in the IBM i

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-29478658666107730092009-07-07T10:27:00.009+01:002009-07-07T10:59:33.243+01:00

When your image is in the toilet, and you need an urgent public makeover, then you call Max Clifford Associates. But a modem is no longer bundled with an IBM i server so it can’t dial Max for help! One might also turn to a parent for support in times of need but … well, say no more. So we, the IBM partner community, must band together to correct some misconceptions and promote longevity of the

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-51760838430579141522009-05-29T14:56:00.011+01:002009-06-23T15:03:11.829+01:00

Before the nationalists among you cry out in protest, I should explain that I am not advocating a widening of our trade gap. Instead, a colleague in our Asia Pacific subsidiary has just told me about an uprising by the IBM partner community in Japan. It sounds like another innovation from the East that could well be heading West.A group of over 70 IBM partners and Independent Software Vendors (

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-14533788308932095372009-04-30T11:13:00.006+01:002009-04-30T11:36:09.005+01:00

Late last year I wrote a post entitled ‘Java may slay everything in its path - including Sun’ and asked the question: If Java is so universally good - it has been trying to prove itself for 13 years - then who enjoys and makes money working with it?It appears that the only vendors who made any real money from Java are Oracle, BEA Systems (now Oracle) and IBM. As I've been tardy about posting to

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-851936949705763642009-03-20T17:57:00.008+00:002009-03-20T18:15:53.736+00:00

I read survey after survey that results in ‘modernisation’ projects coming top of the list of priorities for IBM i shops to undertake that year. It’s the same result year after year, so there must be no more old legacy systems out there! But you and I both know that’s not true, so wassup? We’ve commissioned a few of these survey ourselves so I know that the data hasn’t been messed with to suit

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-25153162426448964662009-02-27T09:13:00.004+00:002009-02-27T15:51:24.613+00:00

Like a dance craze that seems to burst onto the scene from nowhere, the concept of mashing-up business applications is suddenly the talk of the town. Mashups have the potential to deliver rich user experiences that cut across silos of applications to better support the way end-users actually work. These new composite applications are proven to increase user productivity, lower processing costs

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-75416634011399418662009-01-30T16:08:00.013+00:002009-02-09T15:35:36.005+00:00

No long winded pre-amble for you this time. Just the facts:93% of ERP implementations take longer than expectedOnly 35% of ERP projects are completed on or under budgetOnly 21% realise at least half of the business benefits they expectedOnly 13% of those interviewed are very satisfied with the results57% of systems suffered operational stoppages after implementationSource: Panorama Consulting

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-25102660497790727392009-01-15T12:50:00.014+00:002009-01-18T18:51:08.523+00:00

Yes I’m talking to you sonny-jim, the CIO making plans for 2009 when the only certainty is that the pressure on you to deliver is relentless and funding for new projects is evaporating faster than spit on a hot griddle.A dilemma for sure, so where to turn for inspiration and support? It struck me that - after hearing pundit after pundit comment that this economic melt-down is the worst since the

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-45733132844937206032008-12-30T10:36:00.007+00:002008-12-30T10:56:48.379+00:00

The Chinese symbol of the zodiac for this coming year is the Ox. The Ox is a sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Expecting this year to be one of prosperity seems ambitious, bordering on ludicrous, given the deteriorating economic situation. But displays of fortitude and hard work have always brought prosperity through good times and bad. I am reminded of a favourite adage: the

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-65396007523337559102008-12-21T20:00:00.003+00:002008-12-21T20:10:39.732+00:00

A quest for dominance in the technology to enable Rich Internet Applications (RIA) is causing a veritable feeding frenzy in vendor land.The RIA space was, until last year, a relatively obscure and over-looked segment of the enterprise software market. The granddaddy is undoubtedly Adobe Systems (née Macromedia) who took the popular Flash rendering engine and evolved the design-time environment

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-10524944326734657222008-12-12T14:02:00.015+00:002008-12-12T15:31:48.273+00:00

If you have an internet connection and any sensory perceptors then you can't have missed the recent cacophony surrounding so-called Cloud Computing.It's my natural inclination to ridicule this kind of hyperbole, particularly when the Cloud is so obviously just a remake of 'B movies' like the Application Service Provider (ASP) and Software as a Service (SaaS). In my metaphor the 'B' stands for '

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-7628262042465184602008-12-07T10:56:00.007+00:002008-12-08T09:56:06.597+00:00

I may get 'berned at the steak' by Swiss federalists for spouting hearsay but I've just heard some stories that I must share.Those clever Swiss folks learned long ago that being 'neutral' can have considerable political and economic benefits. Why choose sides when you can carve out a profitable niche in the middle? This lesson can be equally well learned and applied to making I.T decisions. I

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-49543045202860275692008-12-04T10:30:00.013+00:002008-12-04T11:42:01.823+00:00

I wrote my first proper computer program - an educational video game - in 1984 and proudly published it as Shareware on the Micronet800 (Prestel) service using my shiny new Hayes Smartmodem 1200. I've had a love affair with great software ever since.My career has taken me via electrical engineering, hardware, networking & data comms and IT services but I came back to focus exclusively on software

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-63787457239613840672008-11-30T08:48:00.007+00:002008-12-02T09:26:08.586+00:00

The cause of Sun’s current woes is a much-debated subject and will certainly become a classic business school case study; if it hasn’t already. Reading this eWeek article - Sun Microsystems: The Innovator's Dilemma – is what made me ponder this subject for the umpteenth time.I have frequently wondered about the usefulness of the Java language ever since the first scrolling news applet caused my

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-48326496013935334382008-11-25T11:25:00.008+00:002008-11-25T12:28:15.576+00:00

Just when you thought that IBM's tool bundles for System i couldn't get any more arcane - prepare to be amazed and confounded in equal measure.It wasn't Rita Skeeter who drew this news to my attention but the even more incisive and pithy writings of TPM at IT Jungle: As Rumored, IBM Tweaks i Development Tool Bundle.I have followed IBM's tools strategy, bundling, licensing and pricing decisions

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-86317548240375081872008-11-20T16:49:00.012+00:002008-12-01T17:31:46.943+00:00

I read about the announcement of the retirement of the "father of the System i" with mixed emotions.There is no doubt that Dr. Frank Soltis is an accomplished orator and, as we would say in my part of the world, a scholar and a gentlemen. I've had the opportunity to listen to Frank speak on several occasions and once shared a stage and subsequent expert panel session with him.Hanging out at S&A

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-15097408562301828752008-11-13T18:09:00.004+00:002008-11-25T12:11:43.129+00:00

Ever wondered what happens when you search the iTunes store for something esoteric like IBM midrange? Well now I can reveal that you get to listen to me and a bunch of my cronies sounding-off on a medley of topics that will be of real interest to IBM i shops.In fact, in all honesty, it's not really my first podcast - I just do the intro and Paul Conte does all the hard work. But it's a start for

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1613840000993207730.post-81810259009096406162008-11-11T11:52:00.007+00:002008-11-13T18:42:06.081+00:00

... nothing for a while and then along come three System i oriented events in the same week! To kick-off Halloween week we had the Scoring with Power event in Manchester, England on 28th Oct. This was the first independent event in the UK for a decade and was put together by our friends at iNEWSWire UK, NiSUG and Penton Media. The event was only announced the month before but still over 100

Martin Finchamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03232455757632581144noreply@blogger.com0