RIM BlackBerry released an update to its PlayBook OS software earlier today. I had been using the beta with good success over the past few weeks. The biggest new feature is a native email client which I configured to access to Gmail as well as access to my corporate Lotus Domino email. Note that IBM doesn't formally support Traveler for PlayBook at this time. With the prior 1.0 release of PlayBook it was necessary to pair with BlackBerry smartphone and use the bridge software to access enterprise mail. With the new 2.0 release, a BlackBerry smartphone is no longer needed and it can connect directly to the new BlackBerry Device Service which can in term connect to Domino or Exchange via Traveler or ActiveSync respectively. Unfortunately, PlayBook can't connect to an existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Enterprise BlackBerry customers wanting to support PlayBook will need to deploy new infrastructure. This is also true of new Universal Device Service which allows the management of iOS and Android device (i.e. the Ubitexx MDM acquisition RIM made last year) and the new BlackBerry 10 devices that are due out later this year.
RIM's enterprise customers have some important decisions to make in the coming months with fierce competition from the upcoming iPad 3, Android tablets including a new Nook Tablet which matches the Kindle and PlayBook's $199 price and ARM-based Windows 8 tablets later this year. While enterprises are likely to continue to adopt multiple mobile platform strategies, it remains to be seen if the enhancements RIM has planned will prove competitive - particularly in the US market.
IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit 2013 Nashville - Preview
Mon, May 13th 2013 9:22a Christopher Pepin The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit kicks off next week in Nashville. From the conference
website:
"At Smarter Commerce Global Summit 2013 in Nashville, you’ll see how leading organizations are using IBM Smarter Commerce to meet the demands of empowered customers. Join this unique event to get expert insights that will help you synchronize the supply chain, optimize inventory, personalize promotions, micro-target marketing, increase relevance and exceed customer expectations across e [read] Keywords: ibm
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2013 IBM Impact conference summary
Sun, May 5th 2013 7:25p Christopher Pepin I attended the IBM Impact conference last week in Las Vegas. I blogged a conference preview earlier in the week and the following are the key highlights:
IBM press release: "IBM Unveils New Technology to Connect a Smarter Planet New Appliance, Software and Services Extend the IBM MobileFirst Strategy."
IBM press release: "IBM Drives Enterprise Adoption of Big Data, Cloud, Mobile and Social Business Technologies WestJet Improves Traveler Experience with Real-Time Interactions."
The Internet [read] Keywords: ibm
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The Internet of Things: Connected Car
Mon, Apr 29th 2013 3:31p Christopher Pepin IBM's Impact conference kicked off today in Las Vegas and the first guest up on stage was Vijay Sankaran,
director of application development for Ford along with a 2013 Ford Focus up on stage. While smartphones and tablets get most of the attention, there are over 9.6 billion devices to connected to the Internet, including connected cars like the Ford Focus. Over 20 billion are expected by 2029.
Wikipedia defines the connected car as: "A connected car is a car that is equipped with in [read] Keywords: ibm
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IBM brings ROI to BYOD: new report from Forrester
Fri, Apr 26th 2013 2:22p Christopher Pepin IBM recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine the total economic impact and potential return on investment that companies realized by engaging IBM to implement a “Bring Your Own Device” or BYOD program. it's a great report and available for free from IBM. From the study:
"Interviews with two existing IBM customers yielded a compelling 108% return on investment and payback in less than one month."
In addition to the report, IBM has released two new infographics with the [read] Keywords: ibm
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Take your child to work day 2013
Thu, Apr 25th 2013 11:05a Christopher Pepin Today, Thursday April 25, is take your child to work day. I had the privilege of participating at an IBM event in Southbury, CT. Roughly 40 students, ages 8-16, participated in a full morning of activities and talks including:
IBM Apprentice: two teams of owners and sellers had to stratagize on how to improve sales of a fictional company through the use of mobile technology
What do you know about mobile phones?
Green Data Center tour
Are we secure?
While this was the first take your chi [read] Keywords: ibm
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IBM Impact conference 2013 preview
Mon, Apr 22nd 2013 5:28p Christopher Pepin I'll be attending the IBM Impact conference next week in Las Vegas. From the conference website:
"Impact 2013 is designed for IT and business leaders who understand that to lead in today's economy, outperforming organizations are especially focused on combining technology with the business to drive innovation and growth. They understand that to succeed - they have to leverage Mobile, Social, Cloud and Big Data and re-imagine their operations, their processes, and their technology."
He [read] Keywords: ibm
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Microsoft Windows XP Extended Support Ends in One Year - Are you Ready?
Sun, Apr 7th 2013 7:25p Christopher Pepin Extended support for Microsoft XP ends in one year, on 8 April 2014. Windows XP was released on October 25, 2001 - 11 years ago.
The end of extended support means the end of security updates as well as technical support from Microsoft. Clients have a few options:
Migrate to a newer version of Windows: Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8. Many clients are choosing to upgrade to Windows 7. Personally, I prefer Windows 8 which offers fast boot times on par with smartphones and tablets, [read] Keywords: apple
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Business value of mobile enterprise
Mon, Apr 1st 2013 7:08p Christopher Pepin Yankee Group has released a new study focusing on increased enterprise adoption of mobile. Specifically:
50% of companies will be increasing their budgets this year for mobile applications
34% of all companies are planning to develop 10 or more applications
51% of companies will be increasing their in-house development, 31% their outsourced development
56% are allowing employees to access apps through public app stores, 43% are centrally distributing them directly to employees’ devices, and [read] Keywords: apple
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IBM Torque Conference Australia: Summary
Fri, Mar 22nd 2013 12:25p Christopher Pepin I returned home to Connecticut after a successful business trip to Australia for the IBM Torque conference. Highlights:
The focus of the external conference was cloud, mobile and security and took place over the course of a week in three Australian cities: Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. There were over 100 participants for the three sessions.
I led a panel discussion on mobile at each of the three events. Key observations: Few enterprises have a mobile enterprise strategy in place. [read] Keywords: ibm
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IBM Torque conference: Australia
Tue, Mar 12th 2013 7:05p Christopher Pepin I'm in Australia for the IBM Torque conference. From the conference website:
IBM have designed an industry roundtable where your thought leadership and that of your peers will be shared and you will have the opportunity to see how you measure and lead against the pack. You will be able to discuss cloud, mobility and security with a group of like minded IT professionals and ask for the opinions of IBM experts in attendance.
This is my first time attending IBM Torque as well as my first t [read] Keywords: ibm
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