We continue to see strong demand for service needs and technical training in the IT community. Over 4,000 technical engagements across the brands were delivered to assist IBM clients with more than 7,200 training services engagements delivered to more than 49,000 clients. The team also held 13 events with 3,900 participants to enable them to support their technologies.
We have updated the
2010 events list, so mark your calendars to join us! These events help you expand your knowledge and network with the experts in IBM Systems.
This year the training team is transforming the way we deliver training to our clients. This is the start of the
Guaranteed to Run schedule and is highlighted below in an interview with Jan Hoffman, Program Director for Technical Training and Skills Enablement in Two Minutes. We are confident that this program can meet your needs and give you the flexibility to train staff as well as allow our team to deliver quality training in 2010.
Once again, thanks for all your support in 2009, we are looking forward to a successful 2010.
A short interview with Jan Hoffman, Program Director for Technical Training and Skills Enablement of the IBM Systems Lab Services and Training team about the newest program available - the Guaranteed to Run program for Power courses.
IBM Systems Lab Services and Training (IBMSLST):
Welcome Jan to your two minutes of fame. I understand that there is a new program the training team has released in 2010. Can you tell me a little bit about it?
Jan: Thank you for speaking with me. Due to the recent recession and client's inability to travel to training courses we found ourselves canceling a significant number of our classes due to lower enrollments than we needed to run the classes. As a result, customers who needed the training and were able to get the funding were often frustrated that it wasn't available when and where they needed it. To address this situation we introduced the Guaranteed to Run (GTR) program mid-2009. This program was especially well received, and now we are further expanding the program with what we call the National Guaranteed to Run program for Power courses.
IBMSLST: How does this program work? What would be the benefit to the person enrolling in a Power course?
Jan: We scaled back the number of courses available by only have one instance of a course available any specific week. The courses are scheduled in popular geographies, and most of them are broadcast to other locations remotely. This gives the student the option to be face-to-face or participate remotely. The objective is to win back customer loyalty by reducing cancellations and reducing the travel requirements to attend our offerings. At the same time, this makes us more effective in scheduling other courses and usage of our equipment.
IBMSLST: Will the courses being available remotely mean that they are recorded for re-use?
Jan: No, they are not recorded as these courses are all lab intensive and hands-on. We want to deliver courses that provide a high impact for learning through live communication with the class and the instructor, and we limit the number of students to twelve per class.
IBMSLST: The idea of having a live instructor sounds like it would be a great option especially from a communication standpoint. How does this relate to Instructor-Led-Online (ILO) courses?
Jan: The ILO courses are completely taught on-line as opposed to an actual room available for participants. There are two other methods of live virtual delivery. vTrain allows the student to see the instructor on-line as well as the instruction material. The second method is LITE, which is a live location where the instructor teaches through multiple LITE hubs available for remote students to participate in the course. In a LITE hub facility the students are able to see the instructor and materials and the instructor has the ability to see into other classrooms through a network of cameras. The instructor can also observe the desktops of students to assist in troubleshooting. vTrain, LITE, and ILO all have the ability to deliver training directly to a student's desktop regardless of where the desktop may be located. I would also like to add we have conducted quite a few ILO courses as private on-site offerings, as this allows clients to deliver customized training to their employees regardless of their physical location.
IBMSLST: So how do I know if I have enrolled in a live virtual class or GTR and what method of delivery I would be getting?
Jan: Live virtual classes and GTR courses are designated in the description shown in our IBM Training Custom Catalog or shown in the Guaranteed to Run class schedules listed in the IBM Training homepage. When a student enrolls in a live virtual course they will be contacted about the technology to verify the format will work for them.
IBMSLST: Will this program be released for the other IBM Systems courses?
Jan: We are looking to expand to other curriculums in the second half of the year. We expect our National Guaranteed to Run program in the Power curriculum to be received well by our clients. Momentum has been on the rise in our live virtual classes throughout 2009, and we expect it to continue into 2010 and beyond. Many of our live virtual classes are in the National GTR program as well.
IBMSLST: Thank you very much for sharing this information with us Jan. Be sure to stay tuned to this blog to keep up with the latest and greatest in our delivery of training to our IBM clients!
NEW! Offerings, courses and specials
Sparkplugs – Our teams in action!
Demonstrate to your customers asynchronous mirroring on XIV! The iSCSI Connection established between the Systems Labs in Mainz and Tucson enables us to have a real-life demonstration of the superior XIV functionalities, even on long distances. With the established iSCSI Connection between the STG Systems Labs in Tucson and Mainz, it becomes possible to demonstrate and test asynchronous mirroring over the overseas distance. This functionality, available with XiV Codelevel 10.2, has been accomplished ans see the world's reaction on the team's accomplishments as presented in the following video:
Mainz-Tucson XIV iSCSI Connection (You won’t want to miss this!)
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