A blogging pause ... but an iManifest milestone

Pressure of work has progressively reduced my blogging cadence to one post per month - the minimum, you would think. Well now I've reach a new low and not managed a single intelligent post since mid-October (or ever, depending on your view point). The only defence I can offer is that since being promoted to the COO position at LANSA on Oct 1 my workload has gone off the chart. It's all good stuff but, frankly, I need to find a new way of working because trying to "stay on-top-off everything all of the time" is no longer practical - prioritisation and delegation are the key my boy!

Despite my blogging largesse I have made progress with the evolution of the iManifest EMEA initiative and today, with the 'purchase' of a Premium Economy seat by Meridian IT Ltd (MITL), I am thrilled to announce that we have passed the half-way mark. The funding total for iManifest EMEA now stands at €43,470. Note that the web site (www.imanifest.eu) is updated once or twice per month so the total you see there is only ever a snapshot. Turning €8k of LANSA seed money into €43k of community funding is an achievement of which we can all be proud.

It is hard to predict what the recruitment tempo will be leading up to the holidays but I am confident that, come early 2010, iManifest EMEA will be airborne. Several other major global ISVs are close to saying "yes" and I have found an ever-increasing number of IBM'ers who are helping to spread the word and activate their personal networks. Will the second-half of the fund raising effort be easier or harder than the first? I would like to think that we now have sufficient momentum to carry us across the finish line, but it's not a done deal. You can help and we all share an equal responsibility to recruit new members if we truly believe in the iManifest objectives. If you need help to spread the word and to 'get specific' about the objectives and intended outcomes then please re-use the recruiting tool that has been working for me. There are a few significant iManifest-related developments in the pipeline, which may break cover before Xmas, so stay tuned for the next gripping instalment.

Avnet and Infor join LANSA in iManifest EMEA

Today's news is the most significant thus far in the evolution of iManifest EMEA. Although not by design, we now have nice symmetry to the group; Avnet representing the Tier 1 distribution channel, Infor representing the biggest homogenous group of IBM i business applications and LANSA as the largest independent vendor of IBM i development tools and enabling software.

A month ago I opined that no IBM Business Partner wants to find that iManifest is the third rail of IBM politics, in so much as if you touch it then you die! My promise was, day job allowing, to invest the time to recruit a few major names to help reassure some others. I set the end of October as a milestone so, with today's announcement, I have achieved something early [for once].

NOTE: While I have no official word from IBM, I want to go on-record and say that I have personally received enthusiastic and practical support for iManifest EMEA from a number of IBM'ers around the globe. I cannot thank-you by name here, but you know who you are.

The trio of Avnet, Infor and LANSA means that we have sold all of our business-class seats on the inaugural flight of iManifest EMEA - I wonder how many airlines can say that in today's climate? Follow this link for a reminder of the proposed funding model.

We continue to receive in-bound pledges at the economy level based on word-of-mouth. Although the buzz around iManifest is spreading far-and-wide I expect that we will need a pro-active strategy for explicitly recruiting the six premium economy passengers. Hopefully the news of Avnet and Infor coming on-board will tempt some other major players from the shadows and I certainly expect that Avnet's extensive relationships within the IBM Business Partner community will prove fruitful in soliciting further support. I have worked with the Avnet folks in the past and have been impressed with what they can achieve with just one phone call. Likewise, with Infor's support, I hope we will witness more active involvement from the other packaged application providers who have so far been conspicuous by their absence (if you look at the supporter list it is dominated by infrastructure, tools and utility providers - not application vendors).

Finally, as a reminder, if you believe in the goals and spirit of the iManifest initiative then I urge you to wear your digital badge with pride.