Expertise? Yes, I'll have some

Last week I reached my own 25th anniversary working for IBM (imagine joining IBM on May 2nd 1988, being immediately sent to Rochester Minnesota, and having a mysterious future system go from rumor to real overnight!)

Working my entire IBM career in and around AS/400, iSeries and IBM i (and their users) has illuminated many wonderful things, the most profound being: truly brilliant and fiercely dedicated people.

In my last post I talked about the advantage of integration. What I did not say is, the expertise and wisdom of thousands of scientists, engineers and business folks are integrated into the IBM i platform. Maybe THAT is the real magic!

What is wisdom anyway?  Personally, I define and test wisdom using the following equation:

wisdom   =  knowledge  X  experience  X  time

To be considered truly wise, you must have the appropriate amount of knowledge for sure, but this is not enough. You must also have experience. In other words, you better have applied your knowledge in a practical and meaningful way.

Furthermore, it is a stretch to claim "wisdom" by only applying the knowledge once or twice. Ah, to be truly considered wise, you must have applied the knowledge many times, in many different circumstances, under many different conditions. As a corollary, I was once told that no one can be considered wise unless they have lived 50 years; I better leave that notion for a different conversation...

For sure the IBM i platform embodies the wisdom of IBMers, business partners and users from around the world. But the system is also surrounded by a team of people with an unrivaled breadth and depth in all things technical.

IBM STG Lab Services

Within IBM Systems and Technology Group exists a set of technical consultants whose sole mission is to ensure the success of IBM i users. That team is known as Lab Services.

As a member of the Lab Services team, I can state that we are here to guide you, educate you and provide services to you. We are here to connect the dots between Power Systems and IBM i, and between IBM i and DB2. Connect the dots between systems and storage, and determine what needs to be real and what can be virtual. We can separate, or combine blue sky and clouds.

When it comes to helping clients get the most out of their IBM i system and related business solutions, IBM STG Lab Services has the knowledge, the experience and the time.

If you would like to tap into this wisdom, please reach out to our business manager, Mark Even (even AT us.ibm.com).

And if you have a comment or success story to share, please join the conversation on facebook, where the IBM i 25th anniversary celebration continues.