Japan and IBM i

In the past two weeks, I have had the chance to speak to, and talk with, customers from around the United States at the Power Technical University in Las Vegas and from Japan at the 23^rd Intermediate Systems Users Conference in Sendai. I put the English link there, but if you’re able to read Japanese, there is a big site for our Japanese speaking clients. You might not be aware of it, but IBM i has a very large presence in Japan. The conference was notable – maybe even impressive – for a number of reasons.

The attendance at this annual conference was well over 1,000 this year – I think I heard a final number around 1,200. I’ve only been to this conference once before, but other IBMers who attend more regularly assure me this is quite typical. The number of partners and clients who want to learn about IBM i and the related Power Systems products each year is quite high. But, while there are some people who attend no matter where it’s held, there are also many of our Japanese customers who attend depending on their budgets and the location of the conference. This makes it very similar to COMMON in North America, really, where a venue on the West Coast draws a different crowd than a venue in another part of the country. In any case, attending a conference with more than 1,000 people enthusiastic about IBM i is always exciting.

One thing that made this experience special, though, is the number of youth at the conference. I heard that the average age of those who attended was 30, and while I cannot be sure that’s an official number, it certainly seems accurate based on my experience. I met many young professionals at the conference and saw many more. It seems clear that the businesses that use IBM i in Japan are very interested in getting younger people involved and educated, and they back it up by sending them to this conference.

As part of the conference, Alison Butterill (IBM i Product Manager) and I met with representatives of the iManifest organization in Japan. We had a wide ranging discussion, held in a conference room with a setup that was quite unusual for this Minnesota guy. (See the photo – yes, those chairs don’t have legs. Very cool; very Japanese!) But that was not our only chance to have an unscripted interaction with our Japanese customers, because we had a session that was billed as a “Requirements” session, but that really involved a lot of questions & answers.

At the Q&A session, as well as during the rest of our time in Japan, it was very nice to have Mike Pavlak from Zend and his colleague Tim Benson to help us discuss PHP and open source applications on IBM i, which are attracting quite a following in Japan. The photo can be found on the Facebook page from the conference. Here’s the link, though, again, knowing Japanese is helpful!

I want to publicly thank the conference organizers for the invitation to participate and the IBM Japan team who helped us with translation and arrangements. It was an excellent experience – one I hope to repeat!

Comments

[Donnie MacColl]

I must say i agree with Steves comments, I also attended the show (in fact exhibited at the show in Sendai with our superb Japanese business partner Solpac)

The show was huge and well in excess of 1100 attendees which makes me think this is the largest show of its kind worldwide

The professionalism and friendliness at the show, its exhibitors, attendees, in fact everybody we met was heart warming , i feel we can learn a lot about ourselves from spending time immersed in the Japanese culture, the service, politeness and caring ways are a real asset

The after show party was great , an amazing piano performance , great food and drink, great people.

I met Alison (who i seem to bump into in every place i visit no matter how far away i go) and Steve also, who i must admit this was the first time i have met him, BUT i won't forget him, one snappy dresser

Will Halcyon attend again, ABSOLUTELY

I know i have concentrated on the social aspect of the show but this is as important as all the superb information Steve has provided , it helps to know that work and play and when all is said and done, real business can be done if you work at it and travel to where it is and i for one will make sure that Japan is very high on my list of priorities when planning the 2013 travel budget.

Thankyou to every person i met and hello to everybody i haven't met , yet.

[Mike Pavlak]

Without question this was a truly impressive event. One of the fact Steve did not mention was that our three sessions were translated into Japanese as we were speaking by some very talented ladies. by our estimates they were only 1-2 second behind the presentation. This helps us deliver as much information as possible in a short time.

And probably out of modesty, Steve should also mention that his session was highly attended. In excess of 150 people came to hear about what is going on with IBM i and many declined the translator headphones to hear deliver the message in English.

Always great to see the folks in the community passionate about the most wonderful platform in the world! Here's to the next event!

Happy Turkey Day!

Mike