Paragraphs from the President

Welcome to the November
e-Bulletin!

What does IDUG mean to you? This is a question I’ve been asking people at various events all over the world recently, as we continue to adapt and tune our offerings to better meet the evolving needs of our members.

To many of you, IDUG is synonymous with the information-packed annual conferences we hold in North America, Europe, and Australasia. Those events will continue to be a major part of the IDUG experience in the future, giving you a unique opportunity to acquire valuable new skills, gain industry insight, and network with other DB2 professionals.

Conferences aside, I have been very encouraged by the ever-increasing awareness of IDUG’s many other offerings, which are intended to compliment the conference experience and provide our members with year-round benefits. Many of these offerings, such as the IDUG Solutions Journal and the Online Learning Center, are based around our Web site at www.idug.org. You’ll see some big changes here in the coming months, as we seek to address the feedback we’ve received and make the site more intuitive and easier to navigate.

In the meantime our "Search for the XML Superstar" competition continues to gather pace as the global launch schedule progresses. The event is now up and running in North America, with entrants joining over 10,000 developers and 45,000 students from China, India, Turkey and other countries that have already participated. Take a look at http://xmlchallenge.com/ for further details of this exciting competition.

Back on the events front, November saw the launch of our new Regional Forums – a brand new format that gives you a great opportunity to get IDUG’s world-class training at a convenient location that's close to home. The initial events were held in Northern California, Central Pennsylvania, and Kansas City and proved to be a great success, with superb feedback and attendee numbers way in excess of our expectations. Watch this space for more announcements on this exciting new venture soon.

Finally, this is the time of year where many organisations review their current year’s budgets and begin to plan for the new year ahead. If you are fortunate enough have unused budget from this year, you may want to consider using it to register early for our 2009 conferences, registration is now open or will be open soon for all of our events. Now is the time to reserve some of next year’s budget to attend these, or one of our other 2009 events! Full details can be found on our Events Page.

Until next month,

Julian Stuhler
IDUG President

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Technical Library

Even more presentations from IDUG 2007 - North America in San Jose, California, that were released to all IDUG Basic Members during the month of November.  

Drag-and-Drop BI for the MASSES - DB2 Data Warehouse Edition

Paul Zikopoulos - NA07H11
Take the world's most powerful database server for BI, and mix it with an Eclipse-based tooling that lets you create mining and data flows, along with OLAP optimization, with a click of a button and you have Drag and Drop BI for the MASSES. In this session you'll get introduced to these key components of the DB2 Data Warehouse Edition and learn how easy it is to embed analytics into your Web applications with a Business to Technology methodology. We'll take you through a business problem and solve it with the integrated tooling of DB2 DWE that will evolve the schema, load the data, optimize the OLAP cubes it supports, creating a mining flow and embed that flow in a Web page.    
      

Accelerate Your DB2 Business on Demand Autonomically!

Scott Hayes - NA07H12
Over ten years of crisis and fine tuning DB2 LUW and its applications (SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Lawson, Websphere, and I2 to name a few) have yielded many valuable lessons and performance tuning solutions. This session describes performance best practices and tips for exploiting the many autonomic tuning capabilities of DB2 LUW. It is loaded with practical, technical, and usable lessons for achieving dramatic and measurable performance improvements on any DB2 Multi-Platform database, with emphasis on V8.2 and V9. Attendees will hear anecdotes and customer success stories from actual customer situations and learn the physical design and/or configuration solutions that provided remarkable performance results, and will also take home a checklist to verify performance integrity in their own shops. With all of the new AUTOMATIC and AUTONOMIC capabilities of DB2, attend this session to learn what is left for the DBA to do - if anything!

Here to There (and Back): Converting From Replidata to Q Replication in 8 Years or Less

Jeff Kram - NA07H13
This presentation will cover our experience (Wells Fargo) from converting from Replidata to Q Replication as our replication product solution.  Topics will include the pitfalls of setup and conversion: what challenges we faced in implementing Q Replication, performance issues, and hints and tips for a successful install and conversion.

The Impact of Regulatory Compliance on Database Administration

Craig Mullins - NA07I01
Governmental regulations are increasing in number, and many of them impact the way organizations must treat their data. Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, BASEL II, and more make the news, but what do they mean to a DBA? This presentation will offer an overview of the regulations and their impact on database administration.

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IDUG Free Technical Webcast

DB2 9: What's New Since GA?

IDUG is pleased to partner with CA to deliver a free Webcast by renowned presenter Phil Grainger, Sr. Principal Product Manager. This live event will run approximately 60 minutes and participants will have the opportunity to pose questions to the presenter. Capacity is limited, so register early.

About the Webcast:
Well, it's been a while since DB2 9 for z/OS went GA, but development did not stop there. Join Phil Grainger of CA as we look at some of the new features and functions that have been added to DB2 9 in the last year or so.

The presentation will also cover some new XML functionality (such as XMLTABLE and XMLCAST) as well as some other things that have snuck in during maintenance.

About the Presenter:
Phil Grainger, Sr. Principal Product Manager, CA, has more than 17 years experience with DB2, starting in 1987 with DB2 Version 1.2. Since then he has worked with all versions, including Version 8. Beginning as a DBA for one of the largest users of DB2 in the UK,. Phil moved to PLATINUM technology and then to his present role as Product Management Director for CA solutions for DB2.

Phil has always been a keen supporter of user groups and is a regular speaker at CA events, as well as independent industry events. He currently serves as the CA representative on the IDUG Europe Conference Planning Committee, and is a regular contributor to the IDUG sponsored DB2-L discussion list.

Webcast Schedule – Wednesday, December 10, 2008:
USA (Pacific Standard Time)                     8:00 a.m.
USA (Central Standard Time)                   10:00 a.m.
USA (Eastern Standard Time)                  11:00 a.m.
UK (Greenwich Mean Time)                      4:00 p.m.
Universal Coordinated Time                     4:00 p.m.
Switzerland (Central European Time)     5:00 p.m.

Register Today!

A replay of this Webcast will be available for a short period of time afterwards.  Look for future announcements for direction on how to access the pre-recorded Webcast.

IDUG is pleased to sponsor this free distance learning opportunity. Questions about the Webcast can be directed to idug@idug.org.

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IDUG News 

IDUG is Now on Facebook

Are you looking for a way to connect with fellow professionals in the DB2 community? Become friends with “Experience Idug” on Facebook, a growing social network where you can connect and share with people in your life. You’ll find members of the IDUG community sharing experiences, posting industry news and participating in industry-related groups.

Participate in the Challenge

IDUG is proud to announce the XML Challenge, a worldwide initiative aimed at recognizing the power of XML and those developers most skilled in leveraging its potential.

Specifically, the Challenge is geared towards two audiences: practicing professionals and students.  The Challenge consists of five separate contests that utilize different media and test different skills.  Of course, the common focus across the Challenge is XML, a component that's critical to recent versions of DB2.

So even if you're currently an XML novice, the Challenge is a great way to gain exposure to a red-hot technology. Interested? Visit the XML Challenge Web site for details.

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Upcoming Events

IDUG 2009 - North America
May 11 - 15, 2009
Denver, Colorado

Plan to join us in Denver, May 11-15, 2009 for IDUG 2009 - North America, your source for in-depth training presented for users, selected by users, Special Interest Group sessions, and the opportunity to network with DB2 users and experts from around the globe.

IDUG 2009 - Australasia
18 - 20 March 2009
Melbourne, Australia

Join us 18-20 March in Melbourne, Australia for IDUG 2009 - Australasia for a jam-packed three-day event that is designed to enhance your experience with DB2. Additional details, including the forum schedule, speaker line-up, and registration will be available shortly. Keep an eye on your inbox for updates from IDUG.

IDUG 2009 - Europe
5 - 9 October 2009
Rome, Italy

Mark Your Diary!
IDUG is proud to annouce the location of IDUG 2009 - Europe:  Rome, Italy!  Mark your diary now for next 5 - 9 October as IDUG brings its prestigious DB2 educational and networking opportunities to the beautiful Rome Marriott Park Hotel.  Check back often as more details become available.

Call for Presentations
IDUG 2009 - Europe is now accepting presentation submissions for next year's conference.  If you have a presentation or idea you would like to share with fellow DB2 colleagues at our next European event, simply fill out our convenient online submission form.  Presentations for One-Day Seminar topics are also being considered.  If you would like to submit a presentation topic for a One-Day Seminar, please indicate so on the submission form.  Additional questions? Contact euspeakers@idug.org.

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