cadenceblog

Sun buys MySQL AB

I wanted to mark the day (yesterday) Sun Microsystems announced the purchase of MySQL AB (also coincidently  Oracle buying BEA). The news of Sun was most exciting (a surprise for many).  You can read more about the acquisition here, or at Sun Microsystems CEO - Jonathon's blog.

I've always admired Sun and that's why you'll see me writing about them often. My enthusiasm stems from direct experience working with their servers and software, but also from their story and culture.  Since the dot com bubble burst, they have had to transition themselves, and persevere though financial hardship. But with strong leadership and commitment to innovation, they are getting back into the game. I hope this merger will benefit both parties, their customers, and perhaps continue Sun's recent upswing.

A couple of interesting podcasts on Sun's history/philosophy and also marketing perspective:
Conversations from the Corner Office
The B2B Marketing Podcast

Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2008

As an IT B2B Marketer, you can't ignore the trends in IT. I heard a comment last week about Gartner releasing a report of the top 10 technologies for 2008. Right away 4-5 trends came to mind, Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) being one of them.  I found this interesting article today about  SOA from IT Business Edge, describing whether SOA was idea, an ideal, or a trend.

That prompted me to finally have a look  at the list - Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2008. The findings were released at the Gartner Symposium/ITexpo in Orlando, Oct 7-12, 2007.

If you haven't seen it yet, just for fun write your own list and see how many you get right. It won't necessarily tell you how smart you are...just how good you are at following the trends in the industry. The being smart part will be figuring out what trends will turn into real demand and whether you have a play in the market.

Web Conferences - Toronto

I wanted to mention a couple of upcoming web related conferences in Toronto:

Mesh Conference - May 30-31, 2007
Canada's premier Web conference, being held in Toronto on May 30th & 31st, 2007, is a chance to connect with people who are as excited about the potential of the Web as you are – people who want to know more about how it is changing the way we live, work and interact with the world. And you won't just connect with them in the hallways – at mesh, every panel and workshop is interactive.

Keynotes include Richard Edelman, Michael Arrington, Austin Hill, Jim Buckmaster, Tom Williams.

Enterprise 2.0 Conference - May 29, 2007
Anthony Williams, co-author of  internationally renowned “Wikinomics” and John Bruce, CEO of iUpload, a leading (and Canadian) Enterprise 2.0 success story, will be keynoting a breakfast seminar on “How Enterprise 2.0 is Changing Business”. Taken from a top manager’s perspective, this session will explore how “social media” and new collaborative models are already changing business and what lies ahead for the future.

The morning program will be followed by an interactive Q&A session. Afterward, feel free to stick around for a day-long series of participant-led workshops. Packed with examples from organizations that are walking the talk right now, these sessions will explore the role of the business and technology leaders implementing “2.0” in the enterprise.

The keynotes should be interesting as well as the "camp" style sessions that follow. Casecamp was great, so I'm looking forward to this.

Top 100 Most Influential People in IT

Baseline Magazine has posted a list of the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT. I started at #1 and went backwards. If you can resist the temptation to do what I did - start here.

Here's how they were ranked. One famous person is missing (hint: his first name rhymes with Phil).

Baseline Magazine is one of my favourite industry magazines because it gives me a high level understanding of IT business issues and solutions.  Aside from news, each issue includes a case study, project planner, primer, and vendor dossier. They have great charts, interesting facts, and statistics! View articles online or apply for the hard copy.

I get excited about when I see Baseline arrive on my desk (unlike a lot of other things).

Gartner Voice - keep up with new trends in IT by listening

I came across Gartner Voice while I was researching information about Single Sign-on (SSO) Solutions.

Since then I have listened to the other podcasts and find it an interesting way to quickly absorb ideas and understand the market. It is a good supplement to reading analyst's reports. It can be a useful tool for sales and sales training as well. Try playing a relevant one, at your next sales meeting.

The Future Leadership of IT puts some perspective on phrases such as "aligning IT with Business Goals", or "IT providing more Business Value" which we seem to be hearing about more and more these days. Fixing stuff and fighting fires are old school for IT (hopefully they have that under control), improving business information, processes, and relationships are new school.