Chris Pepin

Traveling to MacWorld and MacIT conference

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:43:00 +0000

I'm flying out to San Francisco on Wednesday morning to attend Macworld and MacIT at the Moscone Center. I will be presenting for the first time at the MacIT conference on "Deploying Apple in the enterprise: An IBM case study." I'll post a copy of the presentation as well as a summary of the event here on my blog.

In a related item, Apple announced first quarter earnings results today that "demolished" expectations.

IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices beta

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

Last year, IBM launched a managed beta for IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager for Mobile Device Management. The latest beta drop 3 was released last week. This exciting new product is scheduled to ship 1Q2012 and extends endpoint management capabilities beyond Windows, Linux and Mac PC's and Windows Mobile to include support for Apple iPhone/iPad, Google Android and Windows Phone.

IBM recently opened the beta and changed the name to IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices. I spoke to this product at my Lotusphere presentation last week and I will present at IBM's Pulse conference in Las Vegas in March.

Lotusphere 2012 wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Lotusphere 2012, IBM's annual collaboration conference wrapped up on Thursday, January 19 with a special visit from Andrew Zimmern, TV food personality. eWeek published their top ten list for the conference and I humbly submit my top 8 list:

Mobile. At Lotusphere last year, IBM made a number of mobile product announcements. At Lotusphere this year, IBM successfully delivered on those promises. Almost everyone I saw at the conference had a smartphone, tablet or both and several remarked that it was their primary device (replacing a laptop). IBM announced new mobile capabilities including Lotus Traveler support for the up-and-coming Windows Phone platform a new "Flipboard-like" mobile interface for IBM Connections.
Social. At Lotusphere 2011, lots of companies were talking about becoming social and this year companies where actually doing it. IBM Connections is the premier enterprise platform for social and goes far beyond a simple online file repository. IBM announced new capabilities including email support in IBM Connections (e.g. the future of email is social).
Cloud. We're probably a year or two away from cloud disappearing from the vocabulary (remember Web 2.0?) as it becomes the de-facto standard for delivering IT. Again this year, cloud was a big area of focus at Lotusphere with the re branding of LotusLive to IBM SmartCloud for Social Business.
Analytics. The amount of new data that is generated each day on the Internet is staggering. Making better decisions based on that data is where analytics comes in. IBM is adding analytic capabilities across the software portfolio.
Lotus/Domino Social Edition. The next version of the Notes client includes embedded experiences as well as a web browser plug-in to access Notes content - without having to have the full Notes client installed.
IBM Docs. Formerly know as LotusLive Symphony, this is IBM's version of Google Docs. The beta is available on Lotus Greenhouse.
Guest speakers. Michael J Fox, Andrew Zimmern and Dr. Jeffery Burns, Chief of the Division of Cricital Care Medicine at Children’s Hospital in Boston. I particularly liked Dr. Burns presentation which spoke about collaboration between doctors to heal a patient similar to collaboration between gamers on an xBox console.
My presentation, "The New Workplace: Unleashing the Power of Enterprise Mobility" was attended by 143 people and over 850 (and counting) viewed the slides online via Slideshare. Customers are still struggling with becoming a mobile business and my presentation provides a practical, step-by-step approach.

Lotusphere 2012 kickoff

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:05:00 +0000

IBM's Lotusphere 2012 conference officially kicked off yesterday in Orlando, FL. A few of the highlights so far:

OK Go provided the musical entertainment synchronized to their YouTube video
Michael J Fox delivered an inspiring keynote speech
IBM announced Lotus Traveler for Windows Phone. I had an opportunity to try Nokia's new Lumia 900 LTE smartphone that's coming soon to AT&T.
LotusLive will be renamed Smart Cloud for Business
IBM announces IBM Docs beat (similar to Google Docs) on Lotus Greenhouse
I delivered my presentation "The New Workplace: Unleashing The Power of Enterprise Mobility." I've included a copy below. Thanks to all that attended and for the tweets.
I'll be blogging a summary after the conference wraps-up on Thursday

The New Workplace: Unleashing The Power Of Enterprise Mobility

View more presentations from Chris Pepin

CES 2012 impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:26:00 +0000

While I didn't attend the Consumer Electronics Show in person, I followed the press coverage. My interest was twofold: personal and work. From a personal perspective, I'm interested in consumer electronics and I have a full compliment of devices at my home - many of which are listed on GDGT. From a work perspective, I'm a mobile enterprise technology evangelist for IBM with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. With more and more employees bringing personally owned mobile devices to the workplace, it's important for me to keep up to date on the latest technology. In fact, IBM recently published a new thought leadership whitepaper on this topic: The New Workplace: Supporting "Bring your own"

In short, I was disappointed with CES as there was nothing that truly "knocked my socks off." The following are a few items of interest:

Intel. Ultrabooks (e.g. HP Envy Sceptre), Atom-powered smartphones (e.g. Lenovo K800) and tablets
OLED televisions from Samsung and LG
Nokia's return the US smartphone market with the new Lumia 900 LTE Windows Phone. The new HTC Titan 2 "supersized" Windows Phone with 16MP camera, 4.7 inch screen and LTE also looks interesting. Windows Phone 7 is well positioned to gain market share in 2012

From a personal perspective here's what I'm most interest, I'm most interested in 2012:

A new car with telematics (e.g. My Ford Touch). My aging Toyota Avalon 2001 is in need of a replacement
New smartphones. I'm interested in upgrading my iPhone 4 to the new "5" this summer or a new Android phone. I'm also interested in upgrading my wife's Samsung Focus Windows Phone to the new Nokia Lumia 900.
New TV. While the new OLED TVs are probably out of my price range, I would like to upgrade an old Sony 34" XBR HD tube in my den to a flat panel
New computer monitor for my home office. My existing 20" monitor needs to be replaced. I'm interested in the new 27" Samsung connected monitors coming out later this year.
Windows 8. I'll be installing the beta in February. While the Ultrabooks are interesting, I think I'll hold off for the second generation at lower prices.
Tablets. Rumors are that the new Apple iPad is due out in March and will have a higher resolution display. I'm happy with the iPad 2 and probably won't upgrade.

2011 Year in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:45:00 +0000

As 2011 winds to a close, I wanted to take this opportunity to share my perspectives of the past year and a look ahead to 2012

2011 retrospective

My first year in a new role as IBM mobile technology evangelist focusing on enterprise mobility. I personally met with over 50 customers, presented at four conferences, authored two IBM whitepapers and delivered dozens of presentations. I connected with hundreds more via social media. It's certainly fair to say that without social media, I would not be able to do my job.
Year of the smartphone. Sales volumes eclipsed those of PCs. Google Android and Apple iOS emerged as the clear market leaders. RIM faltered and Symbian, WebOS and MeeGo are essentially dead. One year later, after an alliance with Nokia, Microsoft Windows Phone is finally beginning to gain traction. Microsoft is also hedging its bet by delivering mobile applications for a variety of platforms. Google announced its intentions to purchase Motorola Mobility and nearly 17,000 patents. Patent lawsuits increased in 2011 with no signs of letting up. Samsung emerged as the leading smartphone vendor driven by their Android phones. Apple proved the critics wrong and delivered a huge hit their iPhone 4S. Even with the passing of Steve Jobs, Apple shows no signs of slowing down.
Tablets. Led by the Apple iPad, tablets continue to gain momentum and wider acceptance for business use (e.g. iPads in use by airline pilots in the cockpit). However, the death of the PC didn't come to pass (yet again) and some vendors, like Apple, even grew their MacBook business and spawned a wave of imitators (e.g. Ultrabooks). Amazon and Barnes and Noble shook up the tablet market by evolving e-book readers into full-featured tablets.
Security. As the number of mobile devices increase and become a larger target, enterprises are increasingly concerned about data leakage and mobile security. Enterprises that turned a blind eye to "bring your own device" in the past are embracing the new reality and taking steps to manage and secure devices through Mobile Device Management (MDM) and anti-malware solutions. Prevalent on Windows PCs, malware is an increasing problem on the Android mobile platform.
Mobile applications. In the past, many enterprises had a singular focus on accessing corporate email on smartphones like BlackBerry. However, as business has become increasingly social and consumer mobile applications have exploded, interest in enterprise applications have also increased. Enterprises are deploying off-the-shelf and custom applications (e.g. native, web, hybrid, virtual) to users via enterprise application application stores. Adobe announced that mobile Flash is dead - long live HTML5! IBM released a number of new mobile applications as well as enhancements to existing applications in 2011.
Cloud. Cloud is mainstream and is how IT is delivered. The days of enterprises standing up new servers on the raised floor for each new IT project are over. Earlier this year, Gartner recommended that enterprises explore public cloud services first for delivering new services. Gartner identified six key vendors IBM, HP, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, and Cisco; and two big disruptors: Apple and Google
Consumerzation of Information Technology (IT). While certainly not new, I'd argue that this went mainstream in 2012 bu virtual of the "perfect storm" of mobile, cloud and social. The role of CIO is changing dramatically from "service provider" to leader.

Looking ahead to 2012

IBM enterprise mobility. 2012 will be a big year for IBM managed mobility services and solutions. To date, IBM has been one of the best kept secrets for enterprise mobility. However, all that will change in 2012 when we broadcast our capabilities and successes with clients and move beyond the hype to help businesses of all sizes deliver on the promise of a mobile business.
4G. While we can argue about what constitutes 4G, faster and more efficient networks are needed to support the increasing voice, video and data demands and carriers will respond
Near field communications (NFC). Increasing numbers of smartphones will include this technology to make it easier for devices to communicate over short distances paving the way for a variety of new use cases.
Ultrabooks. Essentially MacBook Air clones, these PCs have already started to hit store shelves but we should see much more at CES next month. Windows 8 is a big bet for Microsoft and arguably the biggest change for Windows since Windows 95. Look for Windows 8 to merge with Windows Phone.
Smartphones. Look for Windows Phone adoption to increase dramatically as RIM continues to lose market share and Android growth slows. Apple will release a new iPhone a new iOS upgrade and kill iTunes. Look for Google to release Android 5 (Jelly Bean?). Look for Intel powered Android smartphones to hit the market.
Tablets. Look for a new iPad, new tablets from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, a Google-branded tablet and Intel-powered Android tablets.

2011 blog statistics (ChrisPepin.com)

75 blog posts including 12 product reviews. Microsoft Money sunset was the most popular with 1,200 page views
135,000 page views
Most number of visitors are from Germany (40%), followed by the US (23%)
55% of visitors access the site from Internet Explorer. 85% are Windows users. Less than 2% of users access the site from smartphones and tablets

2011 Favorites

Hardware: Lenovo X201 laptop, Apple iPad, Apple iPhone, Directv. My complete list of gadgets can be found on GDGT
Software: Windows 7, Blogger, Gmail, Twitter, FaceBook, Foursquare, TripIt, Flipboard, Angry Birds, Lotus Symphony, Delicious, Windows Live Essentials, Microsoft Security Essentials, Apple AppStore, Google Chrome
Websites: Google, CNN, Wikipedia, CNET, Dealnews, Boy Genius Report

My upcoming Lotusphere 2012 presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:05:00 +0000

I'll be presenting at IBM's annual Lotusphere conference which takes place January 15-19, 2012, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort.

My presentation:

ID303 The New Workplace: Unleashing The Power Of Enterprise Mobility

Abstract: Increasing usage of smartphones and tablets in the consumer space is putting pressure on CIOs to adopt more flexible workplace strategies. Come learn how to embrace the new workplace and unleash the power of enterprise mobility to improve productivity, reduce response time and increase employee satisfaction.

Speakers: Christopher Pepin, IBM,
Date: Monday, January 16, 2012
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: S. Hem IV -V

A complete list of all the Lotusphere 2012 sessions can be found in the following PDF

Sametime for Apple iPhone and iPad now available!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:16:00 +0000

Sametime 8.52 Interim Feature Release 1 (IF1) is now available. This release includes native iPhone/iPad/iPod application, support for meetings on tablets, offline IM and more. The native iOS app, available today from the Apple App Store, supports presence, instant messaging and Sametime Unified Telephony call routing on iPads and iPhones. Browser-based online meetings are supported on iPads and Android tablets. Offline IMs, file-transfer-to-many (in a group chat) and folder (many files-transfer-to-one) functions are supported. Virtualization of the Sametime Unified Telephony servers simplifies hardware ordering for telephony implementations. This is a follow-up release to Sametime 8.52 that was launched in May which included a native Google Android client.

Other IBM mobile applications of interest include IBM Connections Mobile for iPad. I've used this application extensively and found it to be a great way to access IBM Connections on the go including downloading presentations to present to customers. Another useful application is Symphony viewers for Android, which allows Open Document Format (ODF) presentations to be viewed. Symphony viewer for iOS is now available ~~similar application is planned for Apple iOS.~~

Lotus Traveler, Sametime, Connections, Cognos, Symphony viewers and Lotus Mobile Connect provides mobile enterprise workers the ability to get work done from a variety of mobile devices. IBM continues to expand its capabilities in the mobile space including Tivoli Endpoint Manager for Mobile Device Management which is currently in private beta.

IBM press release: ‘Tis the Season for Enterprise-Class Tablet Apps: New IBM Software Encourages Safe, Secure Social Networking

Upcoming conference presentations

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000

I've been invited to speak at the following conferences:

"Deploying Apple in the Enterprise: An IBM Case Study." MacIT, January 25-28 2012. San Francisco, CA
"The New Workplace: Unleashing the Power of Enterprise Mobility." Lotusphere, January 15-19 2012. Orlando, FL

As always, look for my presentations to be posted after the event on SlideShare.net. I'll also be blogging and tweeting about each event

Panasonic DMC-G3K digital camera - thumbs up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 02:14:00 +0000

I've always been a lazy point and shoot photographer. Portable, low-cost and easy to use, I can take (almost) as many photos as I want and delete the bad ones. I've also taken my fair share of photos with smartphones (e.g. Apple iPhone) and as the saying goes "the best camera is the one that you have with you." However, as my kids have gotten older, the limitations of point-and-shoot have become more pronounced:

My kids play sports and my current cameras take photos too slowly resulting in blurry and cropped photos
Also sports related, my current cameras don't have enough zoom to get close to the action
I find myself using my HD camcorder less and less these days (too cumbersome to carry) and instead taking short video snippets with my cameras which are low quality

As a result, I decided to purchase a new camera. My first thought was a SLR camera since that's what the pros use but they can be big, heavy, expensive and complicated. The Micro Four Thirds Standard cameras were appealing since they offered portability, high photo quality, interchangeable lenses and relatively low cost. I looked at several manufacturers including Panasonic since I own the Panasonic DMC-TS1 waterproof point and shoot and I've been very happy with it.

I decided to purchase the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3K in bright red. I purchased the Panasonic telephoto lens and Lexar Professional 133x 64GB SDXC storage. So far, I'm impressed with the camera which also has a "intelligent automatic" mode which can be activated from a single dedicated button that shines bright blue. I'm still getting to know the camera and its features and I'll post pictures to my Picasa account in the coming weeks.

2011 IBM Tech Trends Report

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:36:00 +0000

Earlier today, IBM published the 2011 Tech Trends Report which was compiled with input from over 4,000 IT professionals from 93 countries. From the executive summary:

"The survey focuses on business analytics, mobile, cloud and social business,four critical and interconnected technologies that developers can use today to determine which skills they need to build a Smarter Planet. Over the next 24 months, these areas will only continue to grow, fueling development, architectural and analytic opportunities:

Business analytics is the most adopted technology in the survey, showing the least adoption resistance as businesses struggle to automate processes and make sense of ever-increasing amounts of data.
Mobile computing is here to stay, and offers room for IT professional growth as more and more organizations build mobile applications. Globally, Android emerged as the top platform for mobile application development; 70% of respondents are expected to develop for the Android platform over the next24 months, while 49% plan to develop for iOS.
Cloud computing offers new opportunities for technical professionals as businesses are moving beyond saving costs with infrastructure and beginning to build applications to innovate in the cloud.
Social business adoption for business purposes varies by country, depending on the perception of security concerns and local acceptance of this technology."

Not surprisingly, analytics, mobility, cloud and social map directly to the top priorities in the IBM CIO study published earlier this year.

As a mobile technology evangelist for IBM, I found the section on mobility particularly interesting. Google Android was ranked the top platform for mobile development (79%) followed by Apple iOS (49%), Windows 7 (35%), and BlackBerry (25%). Key challenges in becoming a mobile enterprise were identified as security/privacy and the cost of developing for multiple mobile platforms. I've included a few links below to IBM mobile thought leadership around mobility:

Enterprise Mobile Device Management (YouTube video)
IBM Unveils Mobile Security Service to Protect Sensitive Corporate Data (IBM press release)
Establishing an effective application strategy for your mobile enterprise (IBM whitepaper)

Work is not a place

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:06:00 +0000

As a resident of New Fairfield, CT, my family was personally affected by the October storm that dumped over a foot of snow and knocked out power to our home for 8 days. The cold temperatures made living at home without heat a challenge. We didn't sustain property damage other than a few fallen trees and refrigerator full of spoiled food. Photos of the storm can be found on my Picasa account. I've decided to purchase a backup generator for home to power my furnace, well pump and refrigerator. This was the second time we've lost power in the past two months. We lost power for one week due to hurricane Irene.

We stayed with family for a few days and later checked into a hotel. While I could have taken time off from work, I didn't need to. As a "mobile technology evangelist" for IBM I had the tools I needed to get my work done regardless of my physical location. Here are a few examples:

Lenovo ThinkPad X201i ultra-portable laptop running Windows 7 with Lotus Notes 8.53, AT&T Global Network Client for VPN access to the IBM network
Apple iPad (wi-fi) with Lotus Traveler and access to the IBM network. The iPad's long battery life and instant on capability are key advantages
Apple iPhone (AT&T) with wi-fi hotspot capability and the ability to simultaneously access voice and data. The wi-fi hotspot was critical to connect my laptop and tablet to the network
IBM Sametime Unified Telephony. Employees and customers have a single phone number to reach me. IBM employees could see from the contact list if I was on the phone and initiate a call by clicking on my name
Social media to connect with IBM employees via IBM Connections and with external customers via FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube etc. per IBM's social computing guidelines

Perhaps my biggest challenge was finding a quiet place to work, free of background noise.

IBM opens up smartphones, tablet support for its workers

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:22:00 +0000

A great article from Computerworld includes an interview with Bill Bodin, IBM CIO Chief Technology Officer for mobility. Specifics on how IBM is adopting a "bring your own device" strategy for smartphones and tablets and enabling 100,000 users this year to access email, contacts and calendar using Lotus Traveler.

By the end of the year, 100,000 IBM employees will be able to connect handheld devices of their choosing to IBM's internal networks, which have recently been fortified to provide enhanced mobile security, Bodin said in an interview with Computerworld. Another 100,000 employees will be brought on board in 2012, for a total of 200,000 people, or about half of IBM's global workforce.

For more information on how IBM is assisting external customers like Hilton Worldwide to deliver on the promise of a "mobile business" consult the following links:

IBM Mobile Enterprise Services on IBM.com
YouTube
FaceBook
Twitter
Slideshare
2011 IBM CIO study. 3,000 CIO's around the world rank mobility as a top priority

Computerworld: IBM opens up smartphone, tablet support for its workers: Up to 200,000 IBM workers will bring their own phones for work

Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2011 - Summary

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:48:00 +0000

Gartner Symposium ITxpo wrapped up on Thursday, October 20 in Orlando, FL. My summary:

Location: Walt Disney World Dolphin hotel and conference center in Orlando, FL
Date: October 16-20, 2011
Attendees: 8,000+
Twitter feed
Summary of the opening keynote
My photos, other IBM photos, and photos on Gartner's blog

Key messages:

Key themes: cloud, mobile, social
Mobile is not an emerging trend - it's here today. Media tablets are exploding
"Reimagine IT." Move to a "postmodern business" that takes advantage of cloud computing, social computing, big data, and mobile technologies
Think public cloud first
Disruption fuels innovation
Do more with less - IT budgets aren't increasing much
Role of the CIO is changing from service provider to leader. Employees are taking more responsibilities for themselves (e.g. BYOD) and embracing the cloud
Six major strategic IT vendors: IBM, HP, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, and Cisco; and two big disruptors: Apple and Google
Embrace "customer delight, customer involvement, and customer intimacy."
Cloud brokers: Manage multiple cloud services as individual end-using companies can’t afford to do the cloud services integration themselves. Just a few small companies in this space at the moment but look for IBM and others to enter

My responsibilities at the conference:

Working at the IBM booth answering enterprise mobility questions. I received the most number of questions on mobile strategy, policy, security, mobile applications (web, native, hybrid, virtual), smartphones, tablets, mobile device management, support (including self-service), mobile device management (MDM), mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP), social computing, business analytics, cloud, enterprise application stores, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Delivering a 20 minute presentation on "The New Workplace: Unleashing the power of enterprise mobility"
Meeting with customers and vendors one-on-one
Attending conference sessions of interest

Gartner Symposium ITxpo - Day one wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:31:00 +0000

The Gartner Symposium ITxpo officially kicked off on Monday with the opening keynote at the Walt Disney World Dolphin hotel and conference center with over 8,000 attendees (the largest conference yet I'm told). This was the first time I've attended Gartner Symposium and so far, I'm not disappointed. The general session delivered clear, concise messages on the key issues facing today's CIO's including cloud, social and mobile. Gartner provides a great summary of the opening keynote on their blog and the Twitter feed (#GartnerSym tag) is very active as well.

My responsibilities at the conference includes answering mobility questions at the IBM booth on the showcase floor as well as presenting a session on "The New Workplace: Unleashing the power of Enterprise Mobility" on the show floor, theater A at 6:30pm on Tuesday

I've also had an opportunity to attend a few sessions as well as meet with customers, vendors and partners. The conference runs through Thursday and I'll be blogging a summary of the conference.

Gartner Symposium ITxpo kicks off next week!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Gartner Symposium ITxpo kicks off next week in Orlando, FL. I'll be presenting a session on Tuesday at 6:30 pm titled "The New Workplace: Unleashing the power of Enterprise Mobility" on the Show Floor - ITXPO Theater A. I'll also be available at the IBM booth "PS8" at the Pacific Hall at the Dolphin hotel at Disney World. Drop by and say hello if you're attending the conference.

Intel Ultrabooks

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:43:00 +0000

Intel Ultrabooks have begun to hit store shelves. Examples include the Asus Zenbook, Acer Aspire S, Lenovo U300s and Toshiba Portege Z830. What exactly is an Ultrabook? It's a thin and light ultra portable laptop meant to respond to ARM-based tablets (e.g. instant on, great battery life). The Ultrabooks shipping this year are consumer focused. Next year, business-grade Ultrabooks with features like VPro, VGA and Ethernet jacks will start to appear as will touchscreens and hybrids with Windows 8. The comparison to the Apple MacBook Air (also powered by Intel chips) is obvious. Don't confuse Ultrabooks with netbooks. The average price of a new Ultrabook is ~$1,000 while a typical netbook can be had for less than $500.

If anyone has an Ultrabook or considering purchasing one, I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Handling lost or stolen mobile devices in the enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:14:00 +0000

Mobile devices, by their very nature, are well suited for work on the go. While their small size and portability make them the perfect travel companion, this also makes them susceptible to being lost of stolen. While laptops face this same risk, smartphones and tablets, by virtue of their small size - are at greater risk of being lost or stolen. This could put corporate data at risk. It is important that the enterprise establish a policy for addressing lost or stolen devices. Common techniques:

Require that corporate data stored on the device be encrypted. Note that not all mobile devices support encryption
Require that no corporate date be stored on the device and instead leverage web or virtual application delivery models
Require separation between work and personal data on mobile devices
Require remote wipe devices that are lost, stolen or after employee separation. Force device wipe after a specific number of invalid password attempts
Require that the device be locked with a device passcode or two-factor authentication

The level of security required will likely depend on the sensitivity of data and multiple techniques may be used in combination. Mobile Device Management (MDM) software can help enforce corporate security policy and implement the controls listed above. For more information on securing mobile devices, consult IBM's mobile security whitepaper

Book review: "Get Bold Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business" - thumbs up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:16:00 +0000

My IBM colleague, Sandy Carter, has published a new book "Get Bold Using Social Media to Create a new type of Social Business" that I highly recommend. And at $8.57 for the Kindle edition, it's a bargain as well.

From the very first page in the forward by Charlene Li, the book cuts to the chase and explains why business is personal and provides specific examples of how social media adds context. While there are lots of books (and blogs) that extol the virtues of social media for business, Sandy provides a concise definition of what a social business is (engaged, transparent and nimble) and provides a framework for enterprises interested in becoming a social business:

AGENDA

Align organizational goals and culture
Gain social trust
Engage through experience
Network your business processes
Design for reputation and risk management
Analyse your data

One of my favorite quotes from the book is "culture trumps strategy." The transition to becoming a social business requires a significant cultural transformation that goes far beyond technology. Throughout the book, Sandy provides best practices from over 70 companies based on practical, real-world experience that both the novice and seasoned social media professionals will find valuable. I highly recommend this book!

Links:

M&A Windows 7 Tablet - thumbs down!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:21:00 +0000

Over the past few months, I've been testing the M&A Companion Pad running Microsoft Windows 7. Readers of this blog may recall my earlier review of the HP Compaq multitouch monitor with Windows 7 - also a thumbs down. Unfortunately, this tablet is the best of both worlds - poor hardware and software. The tablet itself is thick, heavy and suffers from poor battery life. Windows 7, while a solid desktop and laptop operating system, isn't optimized for tablets nor are most of its applications. That said, Windows applications are starting to surface that are optimized for tablets like the excellent US Today application available from Intel's AppUp Center. Windows 8, which I previously blogged about, is positioned to challenge the iPad for dominance in the tablet market. Top tier hardware manufacturers appear to be lining up to support Windows 8. However, Windows 8 is not expected to ship until late 2012.

Earlier this week Boston Consulting Group published a survey that indicated that 42% of US users would prefer a Windows tablet - leading both Apple (27%) and Android (20%). This confirms a similar study from Forrester and demonstrates the value of the Windows brand. Only time will tell if Windows 8 can deliver on the promise without losing ground to its competitors.

Tablet specifications:
Processor: Intel Atom 1.66GHz
Resolution: 1366x768
Memory: 2GB
Hard Disk: 30GB
Camera: 1.3MP front facing
Output: Mini HDMI
Price: $699

Lenovo ThinkPad Android tablet - thumbs up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:17:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to test a Lenovo ThinkPad tablet running Android Honeycomb which, like the BlackBerry Playbook, is marketed and sold to enterprise customers. The similar Lenovo IdeaPad K1 is marketed and sold to consumers.

The Lenovo ThinkPad tablet features a number of features that will be of interest to the enterprises including:

Full device and SD card encryption
The ability to remotely disable and wipe the tablet
Documents To Go: View and Edit MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel documents. View Adobe® Acrobat documents.
MyScript Notes Mobile: Takes advantage of the ThinkPad Tablet Pen to convert handwriting to typed text.
USB Data Transfer Utility: Easily transfer files from external storage via the built-in full-size USB port and this easy to use software.
Lenovo Launch Zone: Provides access points to commonly used applications.
Lenovo SocialTouch: View events conducted through various widgets and applications on your Tablet, such as PopMail, Google Maps and Google Calendar.
Favorite Apps: Enables you to manage your favorite applications and launch quickly from a central location
Cisco AnyConnect VPN for connecting to the enterprise
Lenovo App Shop which also offers enterprise app store capabilities
Netflix support
The ability to output 1080p video via mini HDMI
Citrix Receiver pre-installed
Certified for Good for Enterprise
I had good success with Lotus Traveler, Sametime and IBM Connections mobile clients. However, I wish that all three apps would make better use of the tablet's larger screen real estate.

While the software was solid, I was less enthusiastic about the hardware. The tablet is thick, heavy and definitely not sexy. The Apple iPad has nothing to fear. However, if you're looking for enterprise-ready Android tablet, I definitely recommend adding the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet to your short list.

Specifications:
Processor: Single core, 1 Ghz Tegra
Screen: 10.1 inch 1280x800 touchscreen with Gorilla Glass
Camera: 2MP front and 5MP rear
Ports: USB 2.0 Port; Mini HDMI, SIMIM card slot, 3-in-1 media card reader
Network: wi-fi
Weight: 1.6 lbs
Memory: 1GB internal RAM and 16GB built-in memory storage
Operating system: Android Honeycomb 3.1

Windows 8 developer preview

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:05:00 +0000

Microsoft made the Windows 8 developer preview available at the Build conference earlier this week. The opening day keynote session has lots of demos. Windows 8 is a radical departure from previous releases of Windows with its new 'Metro" user interface optimized for touchscreens. Another key area of focus is decreased boot time and the following video of Windows 8 boot in 5 seconds demonstrates this. The developer preview is available to everyone here and Steve Ballmer announced over 500,000 downloads overnight.

I installed Windows 8 developer preview on spare laptop connected to a touchscreen monitor and recorded a brief video of my experience (below). Another video from Winrumors compares the iPad and Windows 8.

BlackBerry Torch 2 smartphone - thumbs up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:01:00 +0000

I upgraded my original RIM BlackBerry Torch to a new Torch 2 from AT&T. While not revolutionary, the new Torch has a significantly faster processor (1.2Ghz vs. 624MHz), improved screen resolution (640x480 vs. 480 x 360) and OS 7 - which is really just a maintenance release (e.g. 6.1). If you're an existing Torch user, you'll definitely want to upgrade but there isn't anything here to convince an iPhone or Android user to jump ship.

Processor: Single core, 1.2 GHz
Screen: 3.2 inch 640x480 touchscreen
Camera: 5 megapixel rear with flash
Form factor: Slider
Ports: Mini-USB
Network: AT&T, 4G (HSPA+)
Weight: 5.68 oz
Memory: 768 MB internal RAM and 8GB built-in memory storage
Operating system: BlackBerry OS7

US Open Tennis 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:33:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to attend opening day of the US Open tennis tournament in New York city yesterday with my son. Readers of this blog will recall my previous visits to the US Open in 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 visits. I look forward to the US Open each year and this year we attended the day session. As in the past, IBM is a major sponsor for the event and runs the USOpen.org website and other technology needs including the scoring, statistics and court side radar guns. The US Open iPhone application was back again this year and made it easy for me to plan my day and keep track of matches. My son's favorite attraction was the SmashZone which had lots of great activities for kids including miniature indoor tennis courts, table tennis and video games. As in the past, American Express distributed free headsets to follow the play-by-play. New this year was the ability to register an American Express card with FaceBook and Foursquare and get exclusive discounts on food and merchandise. I snagged a $10 discount on food.

With the US Open's close proximity to Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, I joined the rest of my family for a double-header against the Florida Marlins. The Mets won both games. While it was a long day, it was great to get out of the house while we wait for power to be restored due to Hurricane Irene.

IBM Connections native mobile application for Android, Apple iOS and BlackBerry

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Pepin) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0000

The native IBM Connections clients for Apple iOS, Google Android and RIM BlackBerry are available from their respective mobile application stores. Previously, mobile access was limited to web browser access. The new native clients deliver an improved end-user experience and deliver enterprise-grade social media to users on the go. One of the key features for me is the ability to access my Connections files and download presentations to my mobile device to present at customer briefings. I've included a link to the application is the respective application stores. The application is free and it's easy to enter the URL of your IBM Connections server. Don't have IBM Connections installed in your enterprise? You can create a FREE account on Lotus Greenhouse and connect to http://greenhouse.lotus.com/mobile