Dave Jacob at Lotusphere 2012

 by Dave Jacob 

After most of a week of listening to the push for how social media and mobile applications will affect your life, I started looking for examples that mean something to me. It didn’t take long.

The first instance occurred at the conference. One of the sessions on security was cancelled by IBM legal 30 minutes before the session. Of course, those interested started tweeting and a small cancellation turned into a cause – #occupypelican - the room for the session. Social in action. I was in already in another session so I couldn’t go see what happened first hand but I bet the session was held and the room was probably full of those interested in the topic but also those who wanted to see how IBM handled the push back. If you were one of the tweeters or attended, post your impressions on the blog. I’m curious as to what really happened.

The next instance is an observation as the Super Bowl approaches and the ad campaigns gear up in earnest. Ads are now being pre-posted on YouTube and other media sites and are being spread by interested parties (like me) and are changing the way ads are sold. There is the initial development of the ad and eventual playing of the ad at the Super Bowl, but the real value comes later in the after market. Couple this with comments, blogs and other electronic distribution and you begin to see the potential power of social.Of course, these ads are also meant to be seen on your smart phone, iPhone and lots of other devices. Google “Old Spice super bowl ads” and look for the athlete who loses his mind (or wait for the super bowl ads).

This viral marketing approach is changing how we all do business and presents incredible opportunities for those of us who try and figure out how to bring these systems to market.

In case you’re buried beneath a rock, ignoring all forms of social media including twitter hashtags, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn updates, and technology based new outlets, Lotusphere this year is pushing Social Business. It’s on signs, badges, videos, and napkins, allowing very few to ignore the statement at the annual Lotus event much to the chagrin of technical based developers and admins hoping to see the latest in the Lotus brand but great for LOB decision makers.

Day one started with Business Development Day (BDD) a full day of sessions, jumpstarts, and discussions for the IBM Business Partner community. Of course, we wanted to jump in and see what the brand has in store for various product bases but most important for us, IBM Web Experience Factory (formerly Portlet Factory). While it didn’t make much discussion during the BDD it did come up as part of the Web Experience Suite and the Intranet Suite discussion at the Opening General Session (OGS).

Speaking of the OGS, what were the big suprises? It started with the viral rock band OK Go, playing live with their fun and low-budget music videos, followed by a special and inspirational special guest, Michael J. Fox discussing how social networking effected how he was able to learn, update, and build a community around Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The last surprises were based on content, in fact for most of the conference, this long standing technical based event has slowly morphed into a joint technical and business conference. This year you could feel it more then ever, as the first hour of the OGS didn’t contain any mention of “Lotus”, “Notes”, or “Domino,” replaced instead by terminology like “social”, “mobile”, and “marketing.”

OK GO at ls12 OGS

MIchael J Fox at ls12 OGS

Notes/Domino Next

I will leave it to my technical Davalen peers to update you on what is happening in the tech-world of the brand as they are much better suited to do such, but I will provide some of my favorite shots from the event thus far, including new shots of my wonderful team: Len Barker, Managing Partner, Dave Jacob, Managing Partner, and my fellow female co-worker, Deborah Corcoran, Resource Deployment Manager.

Len Barker

 by Len Barker

Once upon a time thousands of people from around the world descended upon Disney World to learn about the latest Domino release and the cool features that they could brag about to their user base when they got back home.  The winds are blowing in a different direction now and Domino has been relegated to a supporting role.  Notes and Domino wasn’t even mentioned in the opening session until an hour and a half into it.  And if you were looking to spend your Lotusphere attending technical tracks on Domino, you would have been disappointed.  This year’s event was all about making business social and Lotus Connections plays the starring role.

IBM is doing everything it can to help organizations take the first step to becoming a social business.  With Domino 8.5.3, Lotus Connections profiles and files are included as a free entitlement.  Once organizations get hooked on Lotus Connections, they will want to spend most of their business life on those social pages.  To help make that a reality, IBM demonstrated a completely redesigned interface for Domino email that is completely integrated with Connections.  This should be available in the next release of Domino.  Oh, and the Notes client won’t be necessary any more, even for Notes client only applications.  Notes client functionality will be available via a browser plugin in future releases of Domino.  As usual, IBM has seen the future before the rest of us and I think it makes a lot of sense.  In case I haven’t made it clear, the future is Facebook for business, aka Lotus Connection.  You will live in it and love it.

The warm Florida winds have blown a new sheriff into town and forever change our beloved Lotusphere.  Expect an even bigger social message next year and maybe some big changes to Domino.

David Wilkerson

Davalen, CTO, David Wilkerson took some time out to put together a very informative and amazing article about how to install WebSphere Portal 8 Beta 2 on a Windows machine. 

I had a few minutes the other day and decided to check out using the IBM Installation Manager to install the beta for IBM WebSphere Portal 8. Here is my own flavor of the install guide:

To install WebSphere Portal Express and IBM Content Manager Beta on a Windows 32 bit operating system you will need the following files: WAS8-1.zip, WAS8-2.zip, WP8-1.zip, and WP8-2.zip. For other platforms consider the following table:

File size	File name	Description
1.1 Gb	W AS8-1.zip	IBM WebSphere Application Sever Network Deployment Trial v8.0.0.1 Part 1
1.7 Gb	W AS8-2.zip	IBM WebSphere Application Sever Network Deployment Trial v8.0.0.1 Part 2
1.4 Gb	WP8-1.zip	IBM WebSphere Portal Beta v8 Core Repository files + IBM Installation Manager
500 Mb	WP8-2.zip	IBM DB2 v9.7 on Windows 32bit
868 Mb	WP8-3.zip	IBM DB2 v9.7 on Linux x86 32bit
597 Mb	WP8-4.zip	IBM DB2 v9.7 on Windows 64bit
927 Mb	WP8-5.zip	IBM DB2 v9.7 on Linux x86 64bit

At the time this document was composed the files could be obtained from a download link at:https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/earlyprograms/lotus/portalopenbeta/download.shtml Note that the download site also includes files for a VMWare instance.

To read the article in its entirety you can view the article directly on Davids blog, Taking Notez. 

Yes, this year at Lotusphere I am actively recruiting independent consultants who want to jump start their career in 2012 by working on cutting edge IBM projects! I will be looking for WEF Developers, WebSphere Portal Administrators, Architects and Developers, plus DB2 folks, and Domino gurus!

As Dave Jacob blogged previously…“what a difference a year makes….The  growth of contracting opportunities in the WEF space and other IBM software technoligies,  has enabled us to become a Tier 1 provider directly to IBM/ISSL”…

So, be sure to stop by the Davalen booth # 312,  I look forward to discussing the opportunities with you, hearing about your skills sets, and your availability to make a great career move in 2012.

Don’t forget, Davalen  authored the WEF Top Gun training materials for IBM, so we will also train you in the technology and keep your career moving forward.

Len Barker

by Len Barker

This year’s Lotusphere will focus on Business made Social and I know that it will be impossible to walk away from the event without the burning desire to inject more social into your business once you get home.

Turning this desire into reality will require both social engineering and software engineering.  The whole purpose of a making your business social is to involve everyone so your effort to make this happen will be very visible.  Involving Davalen from the start will help ensure success.

I am looking forward to sharing Davalen’s RapidValue approach for creating a social business built on IBM software:

1. Create excitement
2. Plan on a series of social victories
3. Lay down reliable and capable software components
4. Execute

Each of these simple steps are made successful by a team that understands the many small details behind them.

Stop by and visit with Davalen at Lotusphere 2012 and speak with the experts in making social business happen.

Dave Jacob

by Dave Jacob

What a difference a year makes. Last year at Lotusphere 2011, Davalen was touting the career path move for Domino developers to Web Experience Factory (WEF) and now that move has taken over our business!

We doubled our development staff in this space and continue to train and contract with former Domino developers. We have seen major adoption of WEF by major corporations in the US and abroad and continue to win new engagements and add staff. With IBM’s move to adopt WEF as one of the preferred portal and web application development tools, we see continued major growth this year. This growth has enabled us to become a Tier 1 provider directly to IBM /ISSL and insure additional penetration in this market.

Stop by our booth #312 in the Showcase to discuss how this may be a good career move for you to become a Davalen employee or contractor. Yes, we are hiring and we authored the WEF Top Gun training materials for IBM, so we will also train you in the technology and keep your career moving forward.

Information on where to find us can be find on our Lotusphere 2012 event page.

Well, of course, you’re more then welcome to ask one of the lovely Davalen staff members but maybe you’re in a rush to get to the next session and are dreading the walk between the Dolphin and Swan again because you forgot your comfy shoes. Have no fear… my Lotusphere Marketing Mashup is here!

Infrastructure for Social Development

Social business software and services help you become a social business and Davalen provides support infrastructure for social development with market leading technology, extensive expertise, and a lengthy track record for solving challenging problems. Davalen provides the latest solutions that offer an integrated, extensible set of capabilities utilizing IBM Connections, IBM Sametime®, and IBM Lotus Quickr®.

Connections is a social software designed for business, while Sametime® provides an integrated, real-time communications services. To round it out, Quickr® provides team collaboration and content management software.

Extend User Access to Mobile

Davalen understands everyone is on the go and therefore can extend user access to mobile devices for IBM Lotus Notes®, IBM Sametime®, and IBM Connections so your employees can access their information wherever they might end up.

Mobile access to existing web applications is accomplished using IBM Web Experience Factory. Davalen mobile design patterns allow a single code base to be used to serve up an application to web browsers or mobile devices.

IBM/ISS Tier I Staffing Support

Davalen provides subject matter expert (SME) resources nationally across all of the IBM Software Services (ISS) portfolios. And, our clients utilize and rely on those very same Davalen technologists for help with their projects. Our IBM certified technologists specialize in the latest IBM software products and solutions, from cradle to grave; including environment assessments and recommendations for a higher return on your IBM software investment (ROI). We provide our clients with experienced technologists who truly understand IBM software, from architecture, design, administration and implementation, to custom development.

So, those are my three bullet points explained and while, of course, we still have our large focus on collaborative software solutions for the enterprise in other ways (Lotus Domino, WebSphere Portal, Retail & Enterprise Search and Web Content Management) we’d love to chat with you about all of these services, software, trends, and more!

Come visit us at Booth #312 at Lotusphere 2012 this year. We’ll have recent projects showcased at our booth so you can see what we’ve been working on this past year and we invite you to share what you have been working on with us. See you there!

BOSTON, MA, January 10, 2012 –  In the last twelve months, Davalen, LLC, a respected technical IBM business partner, has witnessed a new movement taking place with enterprise customers. Insurance, banking and manufacturing enterprises have adopted the IBM Web Experience Factory development paradigm as a successful way to reduce cost and increase productivity for portal development. As the achievement and quality of the projects surface, the demand grew and as such, Davalen has found a major shift and transformation away from traditional portal development technologies.

To extend support to these new enterprise customers, Davalen is pleased to announce the hiring of two senior level IBM Web Experience Factory developers. Investing in new resources due to high demand, as well as a new designation as a core provider to IBM’s Software Services, Davalen has firmly sealed the leading spot in a growing competitive area.

“We have doubled in size over the past year because our enterprise customers have seen us deliver on their most challenging projects, time and time again” said Len Barker, co-founder and managing partner of Davalen. “In the past couple of years IBM Web Experience Factory has become the preferred tool to the enterprise because of its high rate of efficiency in portal development. Because of this demand Davalen’s expertise is accelerating as we acquire top industry talent to support this emerging market.”

Adam Kewley has ten years of IBM Web Experience Factory experience, including five years as a software engineer with IBM, where he provided high-level support to the IBM Web Experience Factory (formerly Portlet Factory) group. His strengths are in release engineering, product development and maintenance with a focus on Java technologies. Prior to IBM he worked at Bowstreet, which was acquired by IBM in 2005.

Kevin Wilmeth is a seasoned technologist, as well as an author of numerous technical curricula and courses on IBM Web Experience Factory and IBM Lotus Notes/Domino. Like Adam, Kevin is a Bowstreet alumnus where his responsibilities included developing both enterprise customer solutions and technical training. Once at IBM, he provided technical instruction, course development, mentoring, and consulting while enabling internal consultants to become certified IBM instructors.

“I’m excited that after several years of dedicated effort, Davalen has grown in size and expertise to be recognized by IBM as a core provider for IBM Software Services,” said Dave Jacob, also co-founder and managing partner of Davalen. “We offer a compelling and attractive package for our clients which include interacting with the most qualified individuals available in the market – in both Adam and Kevin, Davalen has again added the highest quality staff to support IBM and our own technical portfolio.”

Kevin and Adam have been assigned as technical leads on portal development projects for direct customers and will also be supporting Davalen’s growing participation and investment in the IBM Software Services for Lotus relationship.

Contact Davalen today to learn how we can help your business understand its technology.

Email: info@davalen.com
Phone: 800.827.8451
Web: http://www.davalen.com
Blog: http://blog.davalen.com

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About Davalen, LLC
Davalen has been a trusted partner in collaborative software consulting solutions for the enterprise since 1993, and is owned and operated by United States veterans. An IBM Premier Business Partner, Davalen provides RapidValue Services for IBM Web Experience Factory, IBM WebSphere Portal, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, Retail & Enterprise Search, Web Content Management, and Resource Deployment. The RapidValue Services are designed to ensure clients receive the most value from their investment in IBM software through senior-level staffing and expertise and provides an elegant blend of system architecture, mentoring and agile implementation assistance.

Give your career and skills a shot of excitement!
Davalen is currently looking to hire corp-corp (1099) consultants with the following IBM software skill expertise:

• IBM WebSphere Architects, Administrators and Developers
•  IBM Web Experience Factory Developers (Formerly known as IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory)
• Senior level IBM Lotus Domino Architect, Administrators, and Developers specializing in Lotus Notes Connections, Quickr and QuickrJ, and Lotus Notes Mobile applications

Do you want to start working on cutting edge engagements with high profile nationally known companies? Then here’s your chance to make an exciting change to Davalen, LLC, a, a Premier core Business Partner to IBM Software Services.

Come to Booth #312 at Lotusphere 2012 to learn more about exciting career opportunities with Davalen. If you are not attending Lotusphere this year, please send your resume to: dcorcoran@davalen.com.