Food for thought...

I was just having an IM chat with someone and they kind of jogged a memory... AAS. Thats the system that IBM uses internally to check for entitlement. So when you call in to support, the level 1 support person (usually in India because its an IGS person and not the lab) will check to see who you say you are and that you are entitled to service. So, if someone within IBM wanted to know what accounts within a given state were running IDS, then can work through back channels to get a list of local Informix accounts. There's a catch. The contact name isn't going to be the DBA's name, and the account may actually be controlled from an account team that isn't local. Hyatt Hotels which outsources their IT to CSC isn't covered by the Chicago sales team, but the IBM sales team that covers CSC. (A GSI). But Gumby you ask, why is this important? Ah its quite simple... Knowing the local accounts that run IDS means that the local User group can contact them to tell them about local user group meetings. A sense of community is important in keeping customers on IDS and to let them know that Informix isn't dead. While we the outside world don't have access to AAS, IBMers do. It should be a no brainer to have the local IBM team work to get a list from AAS and then find the IBM sales teams that cover the accounts so that they can get the customers involved. But that's not happening. At least not in Chicago. The last time I brought it up to the local IBM IT specialists and their FLM, I got a bunch of excuses. It seems to me ... that IBM is always good at giving excuses. I mean heck we've seen Ambush's letter, yet we haven't seen IBM working to educate their sales teams. But hey! What do I know? I forgot about Ken Crum in MI who used to grok IDS, but I think he's moved in to a management role. So if Dave P and John S are in MI, then there are still 3 IT specialists who know IDS in Central North. 3 people who are supposed to cover MN, WI, IL, St Louis, IN, MI, Northern KY, OH, and Pittsburgh. (GO STEELERS!) -G

have these individuals give IBM permission to give a 3rd party their contact details?