Tweeting and CAAC-ling

Back in October, I tweeted about what was happening at the System i Developers RPG and DB2 Summit. IBMer Diane Olson, who follows me on Twitter, remarked that my tweets made her feel like she was there. That was a nice compliment and made me feel like my tweets had value. (By the way, you can follow me on Twitter at @ibmimag.) Diane returned the favor by tweeting some about the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) meeting at IBM Rochester last month.

Then I got an e-mail from Roxanne Reynolds-Lair and Pete Massiello, both CAAC members and meeting attendees. They wanted to share more about the CAAC and what happened at the meeting. I thought I’d let them give you an inside look :

On a chilly November morning, 13 members of the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) gathered for a two-day collaborative discussion with IBM on the future direction of the IBM i. The CAAC is a diverse group of IBM i customers and business partners that represent the entire IBM i community. Company sizes range from single person IT shops with one 520 to organizations with dozens of IT staffers and multiple systems. Industries include children’s apparel, banking, city utilities, higher education, radiologic testing and more. The one commonality in all participants is their undeniable passion for the IBM i. With such a diverse group, we often have very lively discussions because a feature that benefits one customer set may create a problem for another. This weekend would be no exception.

The CAAC was formed in 2004 to provide IBM i customers with a vehicle to request new features and functions that would be beneficial to the customer business. IBMer Guy Havelick facilitates all of the CAAC meetings and conference calls. He keeps us on track and focused on the important issues. IBM’s new Executive Briefing Center served as the site of the meeting allowing CAAC members easy access to a wealth of IBM developers.  Being onsite in Rochester meant that questions initiated in our discussions could get immediate clarification and answers from the IBM Rochester team.

Our day began with IBM headliners Ian Jarman, Craig Johnson, Dave Nelson and Steve Will. They were followed by a talented supporting cast from the IBM Rochester team. We were delighted to see Jim Herring, a long-time CAAC advocate and now director of Power Systems.
A primary focus for the meeting was a review of all the requirements submitted to the CAAC that are included in IBM i 7.1. It’s exciting to see the successful results of the collaborative relationship between customers, CAAC and IBM.

Other topics for the two days included a preview of the release beyond IBM i 7.1, hardware plans for the follow-on to POWER6, storage initiatives including solid-state drives, tools and compilers, processor pooling, and systems management solutions. Application development, availability and virtualization rounded out the agenda. After listening to the IBM speakers, we engaged in a collaborative discussion on the merits and challenges of what we just heard. It all comes back to the value to IBM i customers. To determine requests that provided the highest value, the team reviewed and prioritized requirements that originated from the CAAC, COMMON meetings and the iSociety Web site. We added some new requirements and checked off others as complete or “in plan.”

The dynamics and diversity of the CAAC promote interactive learning as we share successes and challenges in an IBM i environment. Direct access to the Rochester brain trust allows us to gain insight into the design process for an integrated and innovative technology solution. In turn, the Rochester team learns how the technology solution performs in a real-world business environment. As long-time COMMON volunteers and champions of IBM i, we believe the benefits of the CAAC experience are priceless. We’re excited about the things to come and continue to see the business value in the IBM i.

Thanks for sharing with us, Roxanne and Pete. Like tweeting from a conference for those who can’t attend, your story helped all of us non-CAACers to get some insight into this important role.

BONUS: Roxanne and Pete sent a photo of the CAAC team. Pete's third from the left in the back row, Roxanne is in the middle front and right of her is Diane.