COMMON 2011 Fall Conference & Expo
October 3 - 5, 2011 • Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront •
St. Petersburg, FL • www.common.org/fallconference
Register by September 1, 2011 and Save with Early Bird Rate!

Register today for the COMMON 2011 Fall Conference & Expo, a conference event designed by the members to meet their educational needs. As with all COMMON conferences, it will feature leading-edge education delivered by industry experts, offer invaluable networking opportunities, an Expo of leading solution providers, and great value.

The 2011 Fall Conference & Expo will take place in St. Petersburg, FL at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, a beautiful property that provides even more value to COMMON attendees with a $109 room rate and includes complimentary in-room wireless internet access. The Fall Conference & Expo will feature:

• Three days of education on a broad range of topics.
• Over 100 educational sessions plus pre-conference workshops by industry experts.
• View the Online Session Guide at http://common.confex.com/common/f11/webprogram/programs.html
• Vendor-led sessions on leading products and solutions that you may already be using, or considering using.
• Numerous networking events and opportunities throughout the conference.
• Tabletop-style Expo of leading solution providers for a hands-on look at the newest products and solutions
• Great value and ROI - Minimized time out of the office and great hotel rate of $109 per night.

The COMMON 2011 Fall Conference & Expo is an educational and networking event that you and your team will not want to miss. Learn more and register today at http://www.common.org/fallconference !

COMMON Europe 2011 Top Concerns Survey - Results Announced!

COMMON Europe conducted its sixth annual TOP CONCERNS survey in May and June 2011 with global multilingual participation. It obtained 524 participations from Europe, Americas, Africa, Australasia, consisting of customers, IBM BPs/ ISVs and IBM. The Top Concerns Survey enables COMMON Europe to understand global i community priorities to influence IBM and its Business Partners as well as to share them amongst worldwide Power i users.

This 2011 survey showed that "Satisfy internal customers" is for the third year in a row top priority for survey participants, the worldwide users of IBM i on Power systems, System i or AS/400. "Ensure complete high availability" rose from last year's 5th to the 2nd place in 2011 and "Keep the skills current for the existing staff" had almost the same score. They are followed by "Receive consistent high quality vendor support" and "Modernize applications". "Aggressive marketing of IBM i by IBM" came in the 6th position although the whole i community cites it as a real concern.

The top five priorities identified in the 2011 survey were the following:

1. Satisfy internal customers
2. Ensure complete high availability
3. Keep the skills current for existing staff
4. Receive consistent high-quality service and support from vendors
5. Modernize applications

Click here to read the complete results of the 2011 Top Concerns Survey

COMMON Certification
Focus On... COMMON Certified Business Computing Professional

COMMON Certified Business Computing Professional (CCBCP) Overview

If you have worked in the Business Computing field for at least five years, you are ready for the CCBCP exam. Over that time you will have developed a deep understanding of business and how IT relates to your company’s business endeavor. You also will have achieved a high level of technical knowledge. If you want to confirm the proficiency of your IT knowledge, skills, and practices in a business environment, and would like to advance your career, achieving CCBCP will give you a significant edge over your peers.

Benefits of the CCBCP

For IT Professionals

• You have demonstrated your advanced business knowledge and technical skills to both current and future employers.
• You are recognized as someone that has a high level of business acumen, along with the technical expertise necessary for contributing to the success of the company.  
• You have demonstrated your commitment to the professionalism of Business Computing.

For Employers

• You can rely on the CCBCP certification to determine who are the high-performing employees and what their value is to the organization. 
• You have an independent validation of your staff’s technical skills and business competency. 
• You have a tool that supports and encourages the professional development of your IT staff. 
• When asking for CCBCP in your search to hire and retain top employees, you have a key differentiator from other companies.

CCBCP Eligibility

In addition to the recommended five years of work experience in the field, there are prerequisites for taking the CCBCP exam. 

• You hold a current CBCA credential.
• You can provide proof of a current technical certification, as defined in the COMMON Certification Program guidelines below.

Technical Certification

Holding a technical certification demonstrates your technical competence and is an integral part of the CCBCP certification. Acceptable certifications should meet the following guidelines:

• The certification must be valid and current either at the time when you sit for the CCBCP exam, or it must be achieved no later than 12 months from the date of passing the CCBCP exam.
• The certification must reflect technical Business Computing-related skills.
• The certification must be above an entry level certification from the certifying company or authority.
• Hardware or sales-related certifications do not qualify.

You may submit any other certification, degree, or other credential for consideration to the COMMON Certification Program Manager if you feel it qualifies, but does not fall under the general guidelines outlined above.  The COMMON Certification Steering Committee will make the final decision on whether or not the credential is acceptable, and that decision is final.

Learn more about the COMMON Certification Program at http://www.common.org/certification

Upcoming Web-based All-Day Education

WEBINAR (All-Day): Configuring the HTTP Server
Speaker: Dr. William A. Hansen, Manta Technologies, Inc.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 • 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Central

Every IBM i system comes with a server program called the IBM HTTP Server for i (powered by Apache). This webinar shows you how to configure the HTTP server to deliver both static and dynamic content to Internet users within your own organization or around the world.

The webinar begins with an introduction to HTTP. You will see the data flow in both static web requests (which retrieve existing objects) and dynamic requests (in which the resulting response is created by a server-side program). The Apache server and its relationship to the IBM HTTP Server for i are also discussed.

The webinar then shows you how to access the graphical control panel for the HTTP server and how to use it to create a new server instance. You will learn how to start the server and check your work. You will also see how to specify the location of your web documents and control access to them.

Dynamic web applications are covered next. First you will see how to configure the HTTP server to support server-side includes. These are commands for the server that can be embedded within HTML documents to perform such actions as including the current date or the contents of a specified HTML document. Then you will see how to configure a CGI program and control its use.

The webinar ends with a tour of other functions that are available from the HTTP server control panel. In particular, you will see how the wizards and forms of the control panel are used to create Apache server directives. You will see how to display and edit these directives directly and where you can find additional information about the options available.

Click here to learn more and register online for this Webinar

VIRTUAL LAB (All-Day): Integrated File System (IFS)
Speaker: Margaret Fenlon, IBM
Wednesday, September 8, 2011 • 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Central

This virtual lab will be a combination of presentation and work-at-your-own-pace lab portions. Get hands-on experience with the integrated file system and file servers.

The virtual lab will cover the following topics:

1. Accessing IFS - General and ASPs
2. Who's Using My Object?
3. Collecting/Analyzing Folder attributes
4. IFS Journaling
5. Authority considerations when copying files and creating objects in the IFS
6. IFS Security concepts
7. IFS Remote File Systems: NFS, QNTC, QFileSvr.400.

Click here to learn more and register online for this Virtual Lab

Member Benefit : Manta Education Products Discount
Exclusive to COMMON Members

COMMON Members can now get up to 25% off the standard price for Manta training products offered through Manta Technologies...exclusively for COMMON members.

Learn more at: www.common.org/memonly/manta.html

Browse COMMON's Knowledgebase of Archived Webcasts

Webcasts are exclusively free for COMMON members, and offer a great option to stay up-to-date on the latest in Power Systems-related education. They are delivered by recognized speakers, and offer members the flexibility to participate in the hour-long Webcasts from anywhere they have Internet access.

The monthly Webcasts are also archived, creating a great knowledgebase of Power Systems-related education that you can access at your own leisure and review them at your own pace. COMMON Webcasts have immeasurable ROI on your membership dollars, giving you access to leading-edge education that can immediately impact your work, without any additional cost. Below are some of the recent COMMON Webcasts that have taken place...all available free to COMMON members, and delivered by industry experts on the latest topics.

• Mobile and Cloud Computing with the IBM i
  Speaker: Eamon Musallam, looksoftware
  
  
• Everything You Need to Know to Get Started with the New Systems Director Navigator Console
  Speaker: Pete Massiello, iTech Solutions Group
  
  
• Enhancing Your Existing RPG Applications with PHP
  Speaker: Brian May, Garan Incorporated
  
  
• AIX Business Resiliency and Disaster Recovery
  Speaker: Ferenc Gyurcsan, Vision Solutions
  
  
• IBM i Performance Data Collectors and Investigator
  Speaker: Dawn May, IBM
  
  
• Best Practices for IBM i Performance Management
  Speaker: Dawn May, IBM
  
  
• What You Need to Know and Understand to do Successful IBM i Upgrades 6.1.1 & 7.1
  Speaker: Pete Massiello, iTech Solutions Group, LLC
  
  
• Open Source Report Writing Tools for IBM i
  Speaker: Pete Helgren, Value Added Software, Inc.
  
  
• IBM i 7.1 Overview
  Speaker: Steve Will, IBM

View the complete list of archived Webcasts and access them at http://www.common.org/index.php/webcasts/archived-webcasts.html

Learn more about upcoming Webcasts and register online at http://www.common.org/index.php/webcasts.html

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COMMON – A Users Group
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Phone: 800.777.6734 or 312.279.0192
Fax: 312.279.0227
E-Mail: common@common.org
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