Software Soapbox

Google vs. Microsoft: What You Need to Know

Extensive and good analysis of the current battle between MS and Google on  Wired.com. 

And an Important point:

......Google wants you to search and travel around the web, hitting web pages that run Google-served ads and Google tracking cookies. You might think that Google is a really cool company to give away all this free technology, while never thinking about the persistent and silent data collection Google is undertaking to profile you in order to deliver you to advertisers for a premium.

I'm one of the IBM layoffs

A hard post to write.....My position as EAS WW Principal Consultant at IBM has been eliminated.  Apparently I'm one of about 15,000 IBM staff let go this and next week.  Too bad, I had a great 3 years at IBM.  Hard work, but worked with some great people, learned a lot and had some great adventures.  The news was definitely a shock - my position was going very well, I was extremely busy, and I am not really ready to leave.  Oh well, turn the page....

I have until February 23 to find another position at IBM, so if any one knows of an opportunity inside IBM that I would be a good fit for, please let me know.  Otherwise, I'm open to opportunities outside of IBM as well.  My personal Web Site has HTML, Word Doc, and PDF versions of my CV. 

Here's a summary of my qualifications:

-More than 20 years experience with Information Technology (IT).
-Owned an operated an IT Service and Training Business/IBM Business Partnership for 10 years
-Estimated, sold, managed, delivered and supported dozens of mission-critical IT solutions
-Experienced with multicultural and multilingual environments and long-term overseas assignments
-3 years at IBM selling and delivering Master Data Management (MDM) and Entity Analytic (EAS) solutions
-15 years selling and delivering Lotus Notes, Domino and related solutions, recognized subject-matter expert.
-Developed and delivered IT training and seminars for IBM, The View, Idealliance, and others at worldwide events
-Author of the XML Programming Bible (John Wiley & Sons, Sept 2003)
-Co-Author of the Notes and Domino 6 Programming Bible (John Wiley & Sons, Apr 2003)
-Co-Author of the IBM Redbook “XML: Powered by Domino” (IBM, Nov 2000)
-Author of dozens of articles in IT industry publications
-Thousands of IT professionals have used my published techniques and advice in mission-critical solutions
-Certified IBM Instructor, IBM e-business solutions architect and solutions advisor
-Certified IBM Lotus Notes and Domino principal developer (PCLP), and an administrator (CLP)

And here's my contact info:
Email brianbenz@brianbenz.com
Office                +1702.953.0613       
Cell                +1702.306.7529
Skype brianabenz

LinkedIn - A LinkedIn endorsement would be much appreciated as well. 
FaceBook
FriendFeed
Twitter

Forbidden City Revealed

Forbidden City Revealed.

View the mysterious world of China's Forbidden City as IBM and the Chinese government unveils an exact replica of Beijing's Forbidden City in a fully immersive, totally interactive, web-accessible, virtual world. Visitors will be able to explore, in minute and photo-accurate detail, one of the greatest royal palaces the world has ever known. Discover a fascinating blend of history, technology and human drama.

NYPD and IBM

I can't take any credit for this project, but it does provide a good idea of the work I do, and it's an entertaining video...Enjoy!

Scripting News talks about CEP

Interesting - We use CEP (Complex Event Processing) in the work I do.  Apparently it has some Web 2.0 applications too.....

But I don't see how it could speed up twitter.  Seems more like a bandwidth and processing problem.

IBM contributes to open-source identity initiative

This is the kind of stuff that will solve the online identity issues I described here.  It's also why it's so great to work for IBM - in a 329,000 person company, there's bound to be someone already working on your problem....

Link: IBM Takes On InfoCard with 'Higgins'.

"Our aim is to construct an open and widely accessible software framework that puts the individual at the center of the identity management universe," Berkman Center senior fellow John Clippinger said. "For in the end, security is not just technological, but social."

Higgins would let the computer user choose where to make parts of their identity visible. This is done by breaking the data into "services," or small bits of data. The rules for how this data is shared is set by the consumer, or by a third-party provider who would act on their behalf. Web sites could then build support for Higgins into their own services.

http://www.eclipse.org/higgins/

Master Data Management – Where IBM and VRM Meet

I’ve been interested and tangentially involved in Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) discussions since the idea was floated and the VRM wiki was started a while ago.  Interestingly (to me , anyway) is the way that big corporations and consumers are both realizing current marketplace challenges and dealing with them with the tools they have at hand.

On the customer side, we have individuals trying to (re)gain control of their own data and decide who to share it with.  This has given rise and support to the concept of VRM. 

Right now this is discussed mostly in a commercial and transactional context, but the concept really has applications reaching in to every aspect of our daily lives.

On the corporate side, there are issues too.  Large customers are watching their data stores grow, and seeing big bills for storage and management of that large and growing mass of information.  They are asking questions like how can we more efficiently (and cheaply) manage growth and storage of this data, and what exactly is in there anyway? 

Many large corporations are not liking the answers they are getting to these questions and are turning to my group at IBM to help them understand and implement tools that help them clean up and organize truly massive amounts of data in a responsible, reliable and efficient way.  That’s where Master Data Management comes in.  We have tools that can tell them who is who and who knows who, also who is a good customer and who is a bad customer, and even who knows a good or bad customer. 

As with VRM, there are all kinds of applications for this kind of technology.  Personally, I see both working hand in hand nicely, and I like the developments I see on both sides in terms of privacy and security of personal data. 

I’ll talk more about this later….in the meantime I declare 2008 the year of VRM…and MDM.  I hope to have some lively discussions about this next week at CES!

Where I am this week

Making great contacts and learning a lot at the IBM Information On Demand 2007 Conference here in Vegas.  Just finished watching the opening session with Dana Carvey as "Master of Ceremonies".  Funnier than I thought he'd be....Good info as well from Ambuj Goyal, despite him taking some good-natured heat from Steve Mills....

If you're here and want to meet up, drop me a line!

IBM 1401 Mainframe, the Musical

Link: IBM 1401 Mainframe, the Musical.

The performance comes amid a flurry of nostalgia for the IBM 1401, which was decommissioned in 1971 and is now the subject of a major restoration project at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

IBM's new Stream Computing System

via The International Herald Tribune.

Stream computing tries to cope with two issues: the need for faster data-handling and analysis in business and science; and the flood of information in digital form, including Web sites, blogs, e-mail, video and news clips, telephone conversations, transaction data and electronic sensors.