1.
MindIQ delivers OpenVMS Training to a ‘Packed
House’ in Europe.
For
three consecutive months MindIQ has delivered a combination
of OpenVMS and HP-UX training to a European telecom
company with class sizes of 12-16 each! The students
were delighted to have the hands-on experience that
MindIQ provides and have course materials that will
serve as a reference guide after the class is complete.
Helen Georgoula says of MindIQ, “I
would like to thank you for your kind concern and
your assistance,
I am very glad for this successful co-operation from
the beginning to the end - I have to confess that
It was quite a risk I took to co-op with a company
abroad for such a long program, without knowing anyone
in person but all my worries lasted only for a few
days and I thank you personally for that.”
“Working with companies abroad can be tricky
as you have to take many factors into consideration
including language and culture,” says Nina
Buik, senior vice-president of MindIQ. “Our
instructors not only have years of experience teaching
IT courses, but also working with many cultures including
students from Egypt, Japan, Taiwan, South Africa,
Albania, Greece, Mexico, Netherlands, Colombia, Brazil,
Venezuela, Barbados, Jamaica to mention a few. It
is important to have a global perspective in our
business. Our global customers come back to us as
a result.”
2.
Celebrating 19 Years of Service!
Happy Birthday MindIQ! On June 1st, 1986, Louis
Bernstein a former employee of Digital Equipment
Corporation and EMC started a small training company
offering OpenVMS training and support services. Nearly
two decades later, MindIQ has expanded its IT
training to include all variants of UNIX, Oracle, XML, Java
and has added an eLearning division with its award-winning
eLearning toolset, Design-a-Course™ www.designacourse.com .
“In the very dynamic world of information
technology, you have to be nimble to offer the latest
in technical training. MindIQ has had many of the
same customers since 1986 which really says a lot
about our organization’s ability to meet our
customer’s needs,” says Louis Bernstein,
President and CEO. “eLearning will never completely
replace instructor-led training, but it is definitely
here to stay. With years of experience in employee
development, we understood what customers were asking
for in an eLearning toolset and Design-a-Course successfully
answered.”
Many happy and successful returns MindIQ!
3.
Why Shell Script Programming?
A working
knowledge of shell scripting is essential to anyone
wishing to become reasonably proficient at UNIX
system administration, even if they do not anticipate
ever having to actually write a script. Consider that as a Linux machine boots
up, it executes the shell scripts in /etc/rc.d to restore the system configuration
and set up services. A detailed understanding of these startup scripts is important
for analyzing the behavior of a system, and possibly modifying it.
Shell Scripting has become an increasingly popular training course for UNIX and
Linux users. No matter the which variant you are using our HP150 course http://www.mindiq.com/ilt/aix/hp150.php provides the skills needed to create and maintain shell programs used in managing
and enhancing the operation of user environments for UNIX systems.
Writing shell scripts is
not hard to learn, since the scripts can be built
in bite-sized sections. The syntax is simple and straightforward, and similar
to
invoking and connecting utilities at the command line, and there are only
a few "rules" to
learn. Most short scripts work right the first time, and debugging even the
longer ones is straightforward.
For more information on
shell scripting training as well as other UNIX and
Linux courses, contact sales@mindiq.com or call
800-511-5299 to speak with an educational
sales consultant.
|
4.
Maximizing your IT Training Dollars
It’s been a few years since the words ‘training’ and ‘budget’ have
been used together in the same sentence but now that
companies are investing in their IT staff development
again, they want to get the most out of their investment.
One way is to focus on job-oriented training customized
to a specific environment. On-site training tailored
can be the answer. “We’ve found that a
needs analysis is an effective means to helping our
clients get the most out of their training investment.
A specialist will evaluate individual needs and management
direction and put together a comprehensive plan which
limits time away from the job. We offer this service
at no charge to our valued customers,” says Paul
Manno, MindIQ Chief Technology Officer.
"Companies have also already been through a phase
when they tried to 'hire' skills," said Katherine
Jones of Aberdeen Group. "They found this didn't
always work because every company's IT environment
is unique — even if the companies are using similar
hardware, software and networks."
Another way
is to focus on knowledge transfer. Hands-on training
either by instructor-led or eLearning is valuable
tool for knowledge transfer and retention. Combined
with a customized training program, you are almost
guaranteed a return on your investment.
Some may argue
that once you train them, you may lose them. That’s
always a possibility but more and more IT managers
are providing internal career paths
for their staff which greatly improves their retention.
The
bottom line:
Targeted and relevant IT training is the key to success
and return on investment. “For this to happen,
IT departments need to take time to assess current
and future skillsets needs, determine which portions
of the skillsets it believes it can hire and which
portions it must internally "grow," and if
possible, work with an area of the organization that
is expert in putting together training programs,” reports
Mary Shacklett of Enterprise Networks and Servers.
|
5.
Hardware Today – Coping with a Midrange
Crisis – OpenVMS More Affordable!
by Drew Robb
www.serverwatch.com
The term "midrange" used to define a very
precise segment of the market. In the past, when you
talked about low-end servers, midrange boxes and high-end
mainframes, everyone knew what you were talking about. Those days are now over,
and the lines of distinction have gotten rather blurry.
" I see vendors whose primary strength is in the midrange, being squeezed
between the increasing capabilities of high-quality desktop systems from the
bottom and the decreasing cost of server systems from the high end," said
Bob Gezelter, a software consultant from Flushing, New York specializing
in the midrange market.
In the past few years, the
steady encroachment of souped up x86 boxes, in particular,
is lessening the traditional divide between low-end,
low-priced
white boxes
and expensive proprietary midrange systems. As of late, the combination
of dual-core
technology and 64-bit architectures are driving this trend.
" The big midrange server news is the introduction of processors that extend
the functionality of 32-bit operating environments and applications, as well
as the introduction of multicore technology," says Mark Feverston, Unisys
director of platforms for systems and technology. "Though both of
these were introduced in the first half of the year, their real impact
will be felt
starting in the second part of this year."
As dual-core and 64-bit received
substantial coverage in last week's Midyear Server
Report Card, we will focus, instead, on other trends
shaping this
market.
Consolidation
Gains Momentum
Consolidation is certainly
one area that vendors
and analysts alike find noteworthy.
" Momentum in blades is picking up, spurred by the fact that server consolidation
is seen as the major area of infrastructure investment for 2005," says Jon
Collins, an analyst with Quocirca, a U.K.-based IT research firm. "Consolidation
spending is being driven by efficiency gains."
| In
the past few years, the steady encroachment
of souped up x86 boxes, in particular,
is lessening the traditional divide between
low-end, low-priced white boxes and expensive
proprietary midrange systems. |
|
|
Unisys Feverston agrees. His company has
noticed an accelerated rate of both server
and application consolidation among its customers,
as well as the continued standardization
of IT infrastructure technologies.
" Consolidation and standardization
help end users see quicker response to new
business requirements due to a reduction
in integration efforts and the offer of greater
solution availability/choice," says
Feverston. |
|
This, he believes has resulted in a consistent increase
in server shipments for Unisys, including a healthy mix
of new-name
business.
The Unisys
ES7000 server
family, in particular, has been upgraded recently to
take advantage of the consolidation and standardization
trends.
And it's not just Unisys.
According to IDC, most hardware vendors are seeing
an uptick in midrange server sales. "Revenue
for midrange enterprise servers grew 6.1 percent
year-over-year, its second consecutive quarterly
increase in that segment," says Matt Eastwood,
program vice president of worldwide server research at IDC. "This
may reflect increased IT spending to run more scalable
workloads and consolidation/virtualization
initiatives than can be deployed onto volume servers."
IBM, too, is experiencing strong midrange sales. Jay
Bretzmann, director, IBM eServer products, says iSeries
customers
remain committed to
the platform but
recognize the need stay modern with Web-based applications.
The trend
this year, he says, is to innovate at the
software level
to upgrade
hardware investments. Accordingly, IBM developed the
iSeries
Initiatives for Innovation program,
which
provides up to $50,000 to more than 2,500 software
partners and application tool developers to create
and deliver business
solutions
on the iSeries
platform for
midmarket clients. " In the last 90 days, IBM has added 156 tools for its premier midmarket
system, the iSeries platform," says Bretzmann.
HP
has also made great strides this year in standardizing
its midrange offerings on the Integrity server
line. Although Integrity
server
sales exceeded the
$1 billion mark in 2004, HP is not resting on its
laurels. New enhancements include
faster Intel Itanium 2 processors, integrated virtualization
capabilities across multiple operating systems,
expanded high-availability and
disaster recovery
features for HP-UX 11i and Microsoft Windows Server
2003, and production releases of the OpenVMS and
Linux operating
systems
on Integrity.
| Such developments
are having a significant impact on business
dynamics. In an increasing number of areas,
the technologies available to the largest companies
are now economically feasible for the smallest
private organizations. |
|
| In
an increasing number of areas, the
technologies available to the largest
companies are now economically feasible
for the smallest private organizations. |
|
|
" HP OpenVMS, and many of the Unix systems, including Linux, provide the
full functionality of large corporate servers costing millions of dollars on
systems within the scale and budget of a small business," says Gezelter. "No
longer does the size of the business dictate
the level to which it can exploit IT." On the manufacturer's side,
Gezelter has observed the reappearance of identical
functionality over
a wide
scale of organizations,
from the
very small to
the multinational. Gezelter says this trend first
appeared with the advent of Digital
MicroVAX II two decades ago. Today, small, robust
midrange server systems are available for less
than $10,000,
a sum that is even
smaller, when
adjusted for inflation, than the $20,000 price-point
of the MicroVAX II generation.
What are the implications
of this market shift for end users? For one thing,
the features and
capabilities
formerly
available
solely
to large
firms
are now also present in products aimed at the
small and midsize business (SMB)
market.
As a result, IS organization can now trod a seamless
growth path from the garage to the Fortune 500
data center, without
changing
the IT
platform.
"On an economic level,
the emergence of high-quality server hardware at modest
prices [$5,000 to $10,000] is a great enabler," says Gezelter. "The
availability of enterprise-level technologies, such as
those in OpenVMS, on inexpensive platforms reduces the
development
and operational risks
of IT projects and produces
a higher quality product." Midrange Marketing
While all major vendors continue
to push hard on their midrange product lines, in truth,
many of
these machines
could be
characterized as
high-end white
boxes or, in some cases, low-end mainframes.
The functionality and technical breadth
that once separated the midrange from the low-end
is factually a thing of the past.
" I see 'midrange market as now a purely marketing term, no longer a term
with substantial technical significance," Gezelter
concluded. |
6.
Spotlight: Encompass and the HP Technology Forum
MindIQ is pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting
at the HP Technology Forum 2005 will take place September
12-15 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Make new contacts and reunite with old friends at your traditional Encompass
events, including the annual Encompass Member Meeting, Open Board Meeting, Special
Interest Group meetings, the Local User Group Networking Center, the Encompass
Reception, and the ever-popular Campgrounds. Other event highlights include:
- 200+ hands-on labs and 400+ sessions
- More than 4,000 technical users, engineers and providers
- Train side-by-side with HP engineers
- Hear from
keynote speakers:
- Ann Livermore, HP’s
Executive Vice President, Technology Solutions
Group
- Shane Robison, HP’s
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy
and Technology Officer
- John
Glenn, legendary astronaut and senator
- HP Certification testing available on
site FREE for current HP Certified Professionals
and with a 50% discount for those not yet certified
- Certificates
of Completion at the end of the event.
- 100,000
square foot Technology Exchange exhibit hall including
a 12,000 square foot HP pavilion
- Incredible value
and ROI – bring solutions immediately back
to your office
Attend HP’s largest, most comprehensive technical
and training event ever—and save $100! Encompass
members in good standing pay only $995. Be sure that
your membership is current or join today at www.encompassUS.org,
and include your Encompass ID # while registering to
receive this discount.
Learn more about the HP Technology Forum, and register
today by visiting www.hptechnologyforum.com.
See you in New Orleans!
Nina Buik
SVP MindIQ
Director, Encompass Board of Directors |
