Actuate's Insights Newsletter Highlights AMT's MTInsight

Actuate and their BIRT onDemand cloud service have been a great partners for MTInsight and I was very pleased to see MTInsight mentioned in Actuate's Insights Newsletter Q2/2012.

Below is a quote by Doug Woods, President of AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology: 

“Our team required a solution that could eliminate server management costs and reduce IT involvement, as well as integrating BIRT natively into popular mobile platforms for our large base of end users. The flexibility in delivery model really provided an edge...” says Douglas K. Woods, President, AMT. “Overall, MTInsight powered by BIRT onDemand enables our members to resolve their own questions, saving them a huge amount of time and money.”

Virginia Tech's 3D Printer - DreamVendor

Here is a link to Virginia Tech's 3D Printer - DreamVendor video showing how students can create 3D objects for both educational and personal prototypes.

Very cool!

The Shot Peener -- "A New Age In Manufacturing Is At Hand"

 There is a great article on MTConnect in The Shot Peener called, "A New Age In Manufacturing Is At Hand" written by Kathy Levy of InfoProse.

The article starts out discussing ITAMCO:

"THIRTY CRITICAL MACHINE TOOLS at ITAMCO have been selected to provide real-time, accurate information about their performance. Improvement opportunities will become apparent to everyone, from machine operators to the Chief Financial Officer. “Right now, we don’t know what we don’t know,” said Joel Neidig, an engineer at ITAMCO. That’s a typical problem for manufacturing facilities that rely on verbal and paper records to evaluate machine performance and workflow. Machine statistics are very difficult to gather and organize into any kind of coherent picture. If machine data is tracked manually, the information might be outdated before it’s compiled or inaccurate."
 
Below is a quote that I really like by A.J. Sweatt:

 MTConnect Is a Free and Open Bridge

•      “To say MTConnect is revolutionary is a gross understatement. Connecting machines and collecting data using the same protocol not only gives in-plant management far greater agility and control; it also allows for a level of communications between suppliers, customers, OEMs, sales and international partners that could easily be the greatest achievement for manufacturing since CNC. Or even the Internet itself.”  

–The Shot Peener | Spring 2012   A.J. Sweatt AJ Sweatt Logic and Communications

 

Below is another quote that I really like by Stephen Luckowski:

 "A noteworthy point regarding alarms was made by Stephen Luckowski, Chief of Materials, Manufacturing & Prototype Technology with US Army ARDEC at the 2011 MTConnect conference: “Typically when the machine alarms, it’s too late, the tool is already broken. That means that just collecting and reporting alarms is only part of the problem. To prevent alarms that relate to downtime, we need to use MTConnect to understand the alarm and develop a pattern of what causes the downtime.”

 

1946 Farmall Tractor

I go up to Chik-filA in Sterling sometimes on Friday nights because of the interesting cars up there.  This past Friday someone brought up a 1946 Farmall tractor that was completely rebuilt and looks new.  Since both my parents grew up on farms I asked the guy to take my picture on it.  He sells these for $2,500 after he completely rebuilds them.

The Top 8 Reasons Exhibitors Need MTInsight's IMTS 2012 App

I just saw this mention of an MTSedu Webinar at Quality Magazine in an article by Genevieve Diesing, who is eMedia Editor for Quality Magazine:

"Of course, it’s never too early to start planning your trip to IMTS. Attend the MTSedu Webinar: The Top 8 Reasons Exhibitors Need MTInsight's IMTS 2012 App on Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 11 a.m. ET. The MTInsight team will show you eight reasons why the IMTS 2012 app will help exhibitors find customers and market your booth before, during, and after the show. The webinar will also include a live demo of the tools that will be available in the IMTS 2012 application."

The article does not list how to get an invitation, but here is some additional information on the top 8 reasons and who to reach out to in order to receive information on the webinar.

1. Unlimited access to sell and market to more than 42,000 IMTS 2010 contacts!
   • Invite your 2010 leads back to your booth in 2012
   • Add your perfect prospects to your CRM today
2. Unlimited access to sell and market to IMTS 2012 registrants – starting June 1
3. Filter prospects by geography, industry, product interest, buying role, job function, and plant size to find your key customers
   • Target your marketing campaigns
   • Send leads to your sales teams and distributors now
4. See what days your key customers are coming to IMTS 2012
   • Market the special events in your booth to visitors attending that day
   • Find out when the executives and engineers will be at IMTS
5. Filter prospects by geography, industry, product interest, buying role, job function, and plant size to find your key customers
   • Target your marketing campaigns
   • Send leads to your sales teams and distributors now
6. Compare your booth performance to other exhibitors in your pavilion, quadrant, building, and the whole show
   • Examine your booth traffic and leads in one place
   • See how your leads compared to those gathered in your pavilion
7. Identify new opportunities – everyone who missed your booth in 2010 and post show 2012
   • Tell your 2010 opportunities why they must visit your booth in 2012
   • Sell to your opportunities all year long
8. Pinpoint visitor traffic trends to amplify your booth's productivity
   • Help staff your booth with daily and hourly traffic analysis from 2010
   • Plan your booth events to maximize floor traffic and effectiveness
9. Visualize never-before-seen data using state-of-the-art interactive tools
   • Create custom reports anytime, anyplace
   • Export what you need in Excel, PowerPoint, Word, PDF, HTML and CSV files

Each of those is a great reason to buy the IMTS 2012 app, but here’s the primary reason why I think MTInsight IMTS 2012 is a killer app.  If we were to ask every exhibitor at IMTS what they expected to get out of the show this year, it would be first sales and then leads. If you look at what sales are all about, it comes down to having the opportunity to show your product and/or service to a qualified customer. The MTInsight IMTS 2012 app helps you find qualified leads before, during, and after IMTS.

Don’t just take just my word for it; here is what Peter Eelman, AMT Vice President-Exhibitions & Communications says:  "MTInsight IMTS 2012 is the type of app that can pay for itself many times over — with just one extra sale. I would encourage all IMTS exhibitors to check out this app at MTInsight.org. We designed this app to help IMTS exhibitors have their best year ever at IMTS."
Also, Tom Snyder, AMT’s Exhibitions Sales Manager, thinks this is an app that can make a huge different for IMTS exhibitors. “I’ve been at AMT for 27 years and working with IMTS exhibitors for 22 years. I can think of no better investment for a successful IMTS than the MTInsight IMTS 2012 app.”

2012 One-Year Bundle - $1,650		2012 Two-Year Bundle - $2,250
Includes: IMTS Lite ($200 value) - through May 31		Includes: IMTS Lite ($200 value) - through May 31
One-year MTInsight subscription		Two-year MTInsight subscription

IMTS 2012 is your ONLY source for IMTS registration contacts. 

Visit www.mtinsight.org to learn more and subscribe. For questions, pricing, or to schedule a live demonstration contact Mark Kennedy (mkennedy@amtonline.org or 703-827-5220) or Kim Brown (kbrown@amtonline.org or 703-827-5223) today!

Happy Mother's Day 2012

Below are Tim, Michael, Julie and John outside my parents house for Mother's Day 2012.  Tim was not wearing shoes, otherwise he would look taller.  I would give Julie an A+ on being a mother.

Americans Yoctosecond Memory

There is a fantastic article in

on May 7, 2012 that is titled: Don't know much about history BY MARTY KAPLAN Below are two snippets that give you an idea how quickly Americans forget facts and history:

"Romney is entirely surrounded by those wonderful folks who brought us Iraq, people like John Bolton and Dan Senor.  As Nation columnist Ari Bermanquotes the Cato Institute’s Christopher Preble, “I can’t name a single Romney foreign policy adviser who believes the Iraq war was a mistake.”  This doesn’t mean that Iran isn’t a serious threat, but it does mean that the Republican presidential nominee’s brain trust has suffered a catastrophic foreign policy brain fart."

"Or take Reaganomics.  Every Republican presidential candidate, and every Republican running for Congress, swears allegiance to Ronald Reagan’s economic policies by signing Grover Norquist’s no-tax-increases-ever pledge.  But in 1982 Reagan cut corporate tax breaks, raised unemployment insurance taxes and increased excise taxes.  In 1983 he raised the Social Security payroll tax.  In 1984 he signed an increase in the estate tax, closed more business tax loopholes and increased excise taxes again.  Reagan’s 1986 Tax Reform Act contained the largest corporate tax increase in history.  While Reagan was president, deficits and debt both nearly tripled.  George W. Bush’s tax cuts, successfully promoted as a rerun of a Reagan record that never was, put us in a hole we still can’t dig ourselves out of.  If you’re a candidate promoting a new round of regressive tax cuts, of course you’re counting on our dementia." 

NCDMM Summit 2012 and BlueSwarf's Tooling Cloud

Last Wednesday I was in Blairsville, PA presenting at the NCDMM Summit 2012 on MTConnect.  NCDMM is the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining.  Ralph Resnick is the President of NCDMM and also is on the MTConnect Board of Directors.  Both Ralph and NCDMM have been HUGE supporters of MTConnect.

It was a GREAT conference in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania.

 

Below is the Tooling Cloud diagram that Dave Barton, founder of BlueSwarf, shared with me at NCDMM Summit 2012.   This is all in the cloud which is very cool!

Mori-Seiki Innovation Days 2012

It is always the ultimate privilege to speak at DMG Mori-Seiki Innovation Days.  The facility is amazing. DMG Mori-Seiki has and is a HUGE supporter of MTConnect.  

The photo below is as you walk into DMG Mori-Seiki's fantastic facility.

I joked last year when I spoke here with Task Force Tips Stewart McMillen, that I wish my house was as clean and nice as their showroom. It is not a joke, I wish it was.   Apologies to my wife here if she happens to be reading this blog entry :-)   

Dana Super and Surya Kommareddy are fantastic to work with.  This is my second year presenting.  I was very fortunate to present with Surya Kommareddy.


Summary of MTConnect Presentation at Mori-Seiki Innovation Days

Surya Kommareddy and I presented MTConnect together.  The 
title of the talk was:

Shop Floor Networking and 

 Communication Using

The Open and Royalty Free Protocol

• A little history

• Challenges

• “How” Matters

• Look Under The Covers

• Obvious and Not So Obvious

• Future

• Q & A

I went through the history of MTConnect discussing the challenges from 
both a business and technical standpoint.  The key point with MTConnect
is that "how" you get the data really matters so I discussed the 
benefits of being based on HTTP and XML as well as the importance
of a data dictionary.   We took a look at how easy it is to get
MTConnect data by showing how you can use Excel to connect
to any MTConnect enabled piece of manufacturing equipment.  Excel
can easily do this because it supports HTTP and XML out of the box.
I discussed the typical steps a shop owner or plant manager will
go through when they decide to embrace MTConnect.  I finished
with discussing futures.  Surya presented on the many things
that Mori-Seiki is doing with MTConnect and shared many great
tips with the audience.  Surya and I answered many great and
probing questions on MTConnect as well.  We exchanged many business
cards and look forward to coming back next year.

Thanks Dana and Surya!

We had nearly a full room with lots and lots of great questions from the audience.   It is great to see such interest in MTConnect.

What really thrilled me was when I walked in I saw these two screens as the first thing that I saw.  These two screens below are the Mori-Monitor software.

Notice MTConnect is mentioned above in the bottom bullet.

In the slide below you can see MTConnect in the upper left hand corner.

Below is a CND controller with a camera on it to get folks attention as you walk by.  It got mine :-)

The Killer App from MTInsight: IMTS 2012 App

May 9, 2012

By Dave Edstrom

Note:  I wrote this for the May 9th, 2012 IMTS Insider

A killer app is defined as an application that is so innovative that it creates its own category. It sells itself because it becomes an “absolutely must-have.”  I believe that MTInsight IMTS 2012 is a killer app. If you are an IMTS exhibitor and have not yet looked into what this app can offer you, then you are missing the opportunity to go from having a good IMTS to having a great IMTS. No matter the size of your booth, you should absolutely invest in the MTInsight IMTS 2012 App because it is the best bang for the buck going for IMTS.

In my experience, the No. 1 killer app from 1970s through today is VisiCalc, which I was demonstrating and selling back in the late 1970s.  I was going to college at night, programming in assembler during the day for the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and working weekends selling TRS-80s for Radio Shack.

NOTE:  This next paragraph was edited out of the IMTS Insider, but it is important to me because it puts in context how much money people were making back in "the day".  I guess AMT's editors did not like, but I do so I am including it here:

Why was I selling TRS-80s on weekends?  The answer was that in 1978 a good friend of mine made $83,000 selling TRS-80s.   Today, $83,000 is a very nice income level today, but in 1978 that was a whole lot of money to be making per year.   If we were to calculate what $83,00 would be equivalent to in 2011 dollars it would be $286,000 per year.   When VisiCalc came out in 1979, my friend’s income doubled.  VisiCalc had changed everything to what would be the equivalent of $572,000 in 2011 dollars for my friend.   Needless to say he was knocking it out of the park.   I was not nearly as good as he was, but I did ok myself.  I was making more on a weekend than I was during the entire week.

A typical demonstration for VisiCalc followed a common scenario.   I would sit a customer down, explain the physical components of a TRS-80 and jump into showing off VisiCalc.   I would create a very simple spreadsheet and then start adding to it.   At some point the customer would say, “Can you do this?”  Then the suggestions would become more and more specific until finally the customer would say, “get out of the chair, I want to try this.”  At that point I knew I had a sale.  At my very best, I probably had a 35% close ratio on someone buying a system and VisiCalc.  I had a 70% close ratio if it was just selling VisiCalc to a user who already had a TRS-80.

MTInsight’s IMTS 2012 is a killer app because 9 out of 10 exhibitors who receive a demo from AMT’s Steve Lesnewich, Mark Kennedy or Kim Brown buy the IMTS 2012 app. Let me repeat that number in case you thought it was a typo – a 90% close ratio. Certainly Steve, Mark, and Kim are fantastic at what they do, but I would suggest that it is the tremendous value of MTInsight IMTS 2012 app that basically sells itself.
If you’re wondering why 9/10 exhibitors that demo the IMTS 2012 app lead to a  purchase, here are the Top 8 reasons:

1. Unlimited access to sell and market to more than 42,000 IMTS 2010 contacts!
   • Invite your 2010 leads back to your booth in 2012
   • Add your perfect prospects to your CRM today
2. Unlimited access to sell and market to IMTS 2012 registrants – starting June 1
3. Filter prospects by geography, industry, product interest, buying role, job function, and plant size to find your key customers
   • Target your marketing campaigns
   • Send leads to your sales teams and distributors now
4. See what days your key customers are coming to IMTS 2012
   • Market the special events in your booth to visitors attending that day
   • Find out when the executives and engineers will be at IMTS
5. Filter prospects by geography, industry, product interest, buying role, job function, and plant size to find your key customers
   • Target your marketing campaigns
   • Send leads to your sales teams and distributors now
6. Compare your booth performance to other exhibitors in your pavilion, quadrant, building, and the whole show
   • Examine your booth traffic and leads in one place
   • See how your leads compared to those gathered in your pavilion
7. Identify new opportunities – everyone who missed your booth in 2010 and post show 2012
   • Tell your 2010 opportunities why they must visit your booth in 2012
   • Sell to your opportunities all year long
8. Pinpoint visitor traffic trends to amplify your booth's productivity
   • Help staff your booth with daily and hourly traffic analysis from 2010
   • Plan your booth events to maximize floor traffic and effectiveness
9. Visualize never-before-seen data using state-of-the-art interactive tools
   • Create custom reports anytime, anyplace
   • Export what you need in Excel, PowerPoint, Word, PDF, HTML and CSV files

Each of those is a great reason to buy the IMTS 2012 app, but here’s the primary reason why I think MTInsight IMTS 2012 is a killer app.  If we were to ask every exhibitor at IMTS what they expected to get out of the show this year, it would be first sales and then leads. If you look at what sales are all about, it comes down to having the opportunity to show your product and/or service to a qualified customer. The MTInsight IMTS 2012 app helps you find qualified leads before, during, and after IMTS.

Don’t just take just my word for it; here is what Peter Eelman, AMT Vice President-Exhibitions & Communications says:  "MTInsight IMTS 2012 is the type of app that can pay for itself many times over — with just one extra sale. I would encourage all IMTS exhibitors to check out this app at MTInsight.org. We designed this app to help IMTS exhibitors have their best year ever at IMTS."
Also, Tom Snyder, AMT’s Exhibitions Sales Manager, thinks this is an app that can make a huge different for IMTS exhibitors. “I’ve been at AMT for 27 years and working with IMTS exhibitors for 22 years. I can think of no better investment for a successful IMTS than the MTInsight IMTS 2012 app.”

2012 One-Year Bundle - $1,650		2012 Two-Year Bundle - $2,250
Includes: IMTS Lite ($200 value) - through May 31		Includes: IMTS Lite ($200 value) - through May 31
One-year MTInsight subscription		Two-year MTInsight subscription

IMTS 2012 is your ONLY source for IMTS registration contacts. 

Visit www.mtinsight.org to learn more and subscribe. For questions, pricing, or to schedule a live demonstration contact Mark Kennedy (mkennedy@amtonline.org or 703-827-5220) or Kim Brown (kbrown@amtonline.org or 703-827-5223) today!

Signed Pong Circuit Board By Nolan Bushnell

Last night Julie and I went out to dinner with long time friend Chris Melissinos and his wife Michelle to thank Chris giving the keynote at [MC]2 2011  MTConnect Connecting Manufacturing Conference.   We had a great time and after dinner, we came back to their house.   We went in to Chris's office and he showed me something pretty amazing.  Chris is holding an original Pong circuit board signed by Atari co-founder and gaming legend Nolan Bushnell.  Pong came out in 1972.  Chris and Nolan are good friends.

Lunch Token: Dennis Govoni, Steve Fritzinger, Tim Wallace and Dave Edstrom

I am using this as a way to track who buys the next SunDC old timer's lunch for Dennis Govoni, Steve Fritzinger, Tim Wallace and Dave Edstrom

• 4/20/12 I paid for Steve and Dennis
• 7/10/12 Steve paid for Dennis and me at Famous Daves
• 9/28/12 Dennis paid for Steve and me at Neighbors 
• 12/20/12 I paid for Steve and Dennis at Passion Fish at Reston
• 4/24/13 Steve paid for Dennis and Dave at La Caraquena in Falls Church 
• 8/13/13 Dennis paid at Jason's Deli for Steve and Dave in Falls Church 
• 12/5/13 I paid for Dennis and Steve at CPK in Tysons 
• 1/29/14 Steve paid at Neisha in Tysons 
• 4/29/14 Dennis paid at Skorpios in Vienna
• 9/14/14 I paid at Buffalo Wing Factory in Ashburn
• 10/27/14 Steve paid at Palandir in Tysons
• 1/12/15 Dennis paid at Cafesano in Reston
• 4/14/15 I paid at Be Right Burger in Reston 
• 6/18/15 Steve paid at Europa in Herndon 
• 8/6/15   Dennis paid at Mellow Mushroom in Herndon 
• 10/25/15 I paid at The Old Brogue with Tim Wallace joining our ole SUNW'ers lunch
• 11/25/15 Steve paid at The Vienna Inn aka VI 
• 12/28/16 Dennis paid at Busara in Tysons 
• 2/25/16 Tim paid at Joe's Burgers in McLean 
• 7/15/16 I paid at Gordon Biersch in Tysons 
• 9/1/16   Steve paid at Red, Hot and Blue in Herndon 
• 12/12/16 Dennis paid at Enatye Ethiopian Restaurant
• 2/2/17 Steve paid at Vienna Inn 
• 3/10/17 Tim paid at Mookie's BBQ in Great Falls 
• 5/25/17 I paid at The Old Brogue 
• 7/28/17 Dennis paid at Basura in Tysons 
• 9/1/17 Steve paid at The Buffalo Wing Factory in Reston 
• 12/1/18 Tim paid at Pho Dulles 75 in Herndon 
• 5/31/18 I paid at  The Buffalo Wing Factory in Reston  since it was an expensive lunch that day, the good Dr. Govoni chipped in $40

Knox Johnstone: The REAL Most Interesting Man In The World

Above is Knox Johnstone, Business Development Director for AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. 

When I first started consulting for AMT two years ago, I heard the same thing about Knox from every employee I met at AMT, "Knox is a extremely interesting and a brilliant man."   I did not realize how interesting until I learned that Knox is the real life "Most Interesting Man In The World" in which the Dos Equis beer commercials are based.   The actor Jonathan Goldsmith plays Knox in those commercials.   Wikipedia states that Jonathan Goldsmith says that the person in the commercials is based on his friend actor Fernando Lamas.   Don't believe that for a second!   Knox IS the TRUE Most Interesting Man In The World.    Knox is in front of his custom Mercedes Benz van. 

What does "The Most Interesting Man In The World" listen to in his van?   The Who's Tommy is currently on his reel-to-reel tape recorder.   That's an honest to god working reel-to-reel tape recorder in Knox's Mercedes Van.  Notice the two way level on top of the cup holder on the lower left.  This is to make sure the reel-to-reel is always perfectly balanced when traveling down the highway listening to great rock-n-roll!

The picture below is from the back of the van showing the reel-to-reel between the seats.   The van is state of the art and has a complete shower, bath, kitchen, and beds with a wide variety of classic rock-n-roll reel-to-reel tapes to put in.

I started 25 years ago today on May 4th, 1987 for Sun Microsystems.   Back then I was young, 27 years old, no kids.  Lots of great memories.   I was employee #3705.  Thank god for stock options and Sun's ESPP :-)   You have to know when to hold'em and know when to sell'em.  To quote my favorite investor Warren Buffet, "Bulls and bears do fine, but hogs get slaughtered."

Sun Microsystems is just a memory, but a GREAT memory for those of us who put in a lot of blood, sweat, hard smart work, and fun all while creating lifelong friendships. I came here as a true believer in "Open Systems for Open Minds" and that has been part of my DNA. I will always bleed Sun purple :-)

What was the most fun I had at Sun? That's really easy. Working with Dave Patterson at Berkeley to reinvent the machine tool industry with MTConnect. 

What was I the most proud of? My oldest son, John, being selected Sun's Campus Ambassador of the Month out of over 500 Sun Campus Ambassadors.

What team effort at Sun am I most proud of? That is much harder for me. I would say it would be a three way tie:

• The East Coast Technology Center (ECTC) that was an all SE volunteer group that created a Technology Center that held over 400 benchmarks and POCs in the Dunn Loring and McLean, VA Sun Microsystems offices.
• Software Genius University (SGU) This was also an SE led effort working with a variety of groups around Sun that put together over 740 hours of content.
• A little background history...
  
  Sun SGU grew out of the extremely successful Software Genius Program (SGP). The genesis of SGP was a conversation that Scott Radeztsky and I had in the fall of 2005 when we asked the basic question, "what can we do to help the SEs to embrace the developer and Sun's software stack?" In January 2006, we kicked
  off the Software Genius Program Council (SGPC) where the SEs in Americas Software Practice created ten courses, or twenty hours, of software training. This program had one goal - to ensure Sun's Systems Engineers were properly equipped with the necessary software knowledge and skills to be successful.
  
  Sun SGU served a very important need when it was announced globally on July 1st 2007. SGU now has 740 hours of course work in it and the best of that content will be transitioned to Software University. There are countless individuals who should be thanked for the (literally) 1,000s of hours that went into Sun SGU.
  We will continue to make the necessary student competence mappings transitions
  from the Sun SGU's University certifications levels to Software University's Accreditations much like we did with the global Solaris training that came out of Dan Berg's organization last FY. We will make it very clear regarding the how, when, where, why and what as we go through this effort.
• Last but not least, was the High Performance Workstations opportunity that put $2BILLION (Billion with a B) into Sun Microsystems over the years.
• A little background history...
  When I first spoke with Sun Microsystems, it was the summer of 1984 and Betsy MacLean (later Ferry) and Steve Ferry had recently went over to Sun Microsystems from Systems Development Corporation (SDC) a Division of Burroughs Corporation. I met Betsy and Steve while we were all at SDC. It is interesting to note that SDC based in Santa Monica, California, was arguably the world's first computer software company as noted by Wikipedia. I was not smart enough to go over to Sun in 1984 :-)
  Sun was founded in 1982 with Sun standing for Stanford University Network (SUN).
  In 1986, I was an SE for SDC and technical lead for a HUGE and extremely challenging opportunity for High Performance Workstations opportunity where Sun Microsystems was the digital workstation and Masscomp was the analog workstation of choice. At the end of 1986 and long after the completion of the bid and benchmarks, I started talking to Sun Microsystems about working there. I started on May 4th, 1987.
  Betsy hired me and was a great manager and leader. My mentor was Neil Groundwater who was clearly the smartest person in computers that I had ever met. In the summer of 1987 we found out we won the HPW business that has since been worth at least $2 BILLION to Sun Microsystems over the years - yes that is B as in BILLION. Steve Ferry was THE Sales Rep on this opportunity and to this day is far and away the best Sales Rep I have ever seen/worked with and a great friend to this day.
  

I already thanked Scott, Bill, Andy, Vinod and John previously, but you can check it again here.

For everyone else, there are way too many people to thank from fellow employees to customers to partners and most importantly - family and friends.
Most importantly, I must thank my beautiful wife - Julie - for all her support through thick and thin.

Like I said, Sun is just a memory now - much like Burroughs, DEC, Apollo, Data General, Sperry Univac and countless other computer companies that either acquired, merged or simply went belly up.....

The photo above I took on our 25th Anniversary in 2008 when we spent a month in Europe with a 12 day cruise in the middle.

On Thursday the 27th, 2009, we held a SunDC Sunset Party for former (and some current) Sun Microsystems employees. We were hoping to get 20 to 30 to show up since it was a Thursday, it was a prime vacation week and it was simply a get together. This was not Sun sponsored and Sun did not pay for anything. We were shocked and thrilled to have over 300 Sun employees (past and some current) show up.

We are looking at having a 30th Sun Microsystems Party to match up with other global Sun Microsystems Parties this July.  Stay tuned :-) 

My Favorite Top 1% Statistics

I heard a great statistic this week on the top 1%.   12% of Americans are convinced that they are in the top 1%.

35th Anniversary of the movie Annie Hall

Today, Friday the 20th, is the 35th anniversary of "Annie Hall."  The Woody Allen movie beat out Star Wars that year and won Best Picture in 1977.   It is one of my all time favorites.    Annie Hall is an all time classic.

There are so many great lines from Annie Hall:

Alvy Singer: [addressing the camera] There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly. The... the other important joke, for me, is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx; but, I think it appears originally in Freud's "Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious," and it goes like this - I'm paraphrasing - um, "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." That's the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women. 


Alvy Singer: I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable.

Duane: Can I confess something? I tell you this as an artist, I think you'll understand. Sometimes when I'm driving... on the road at night... I see two headlights coming toward me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion. The sound of shattering glass. The... flames rising out of the flowing gasoline.
Alvy Singer: Right. Well, I have to - I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth.

Alvy Singer: Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here. 

Alvy Singer: Don't worry. We can walk to the curb from here. 

 

Alvy Singer: A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark.  

Alvy Singer: It's mental masturbation!
Annie Hall: And you would know all about THAT, wouldn't you?
Alvy Singer: Hey, don't knock masturbation! It's sex with someone I love. 

 

Alvy Singer: I remember the staff at our public school. You know, we had a saying, uh, that those who can't do teach, and those who can't teach, teach gym. And, uh, those who couldn't do anything, I think, were assigned to our school.  

Alvy Singer: In 1942 I had already discovered women.
[Young Alvy kisses girl in school]
Alvy's Classmate: Yecch. He kissed me, he kissed me. Yecch.
Miss Reed: That's the second time this month. Step up here.
Alvy at 9: What'd I do?
Miss Reed: Step up here.
Alvy at 9: What did I do?
Miss Reed: You should be ashamed of yourself.
Alvy Singer: Why? I was just expressing a healthy sexual curiosity.
Miss Reed: Six year old boys don't have girls on their minds.
Alvy Singer: I did.
Alvy's Classmate: For God's sake, Alvy, even Freud speaks of a latency period.
Alvy Singer: Well, I never had a latency period. I can't help it. 

 

 

Alvy Singer: [narrating] After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.  

I used the line below on Julie on our first date.  Luckily, she did not see Annie Hall two years earlier :-)

Alvy Singer: Hey listen, gimme a kiss.
Annie Hall: Really?
Alvy Singer: Yeah, why not, because we're just gonna go home later, right, and then there's gonna be all that tension, we've never kissed before and I'll never know when to make the right move or anything. So we'll kiss now and get it over with, and then we'll go eat. We'll digest our food better.

 

Five Year Anniversary of VT Tragedy

Today is the five year anniversary of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families, relatives and friends of those who lost their lives on April 16th, 2007 in this senseless tragedy.....

The picture below was on the Collegiate Times in 2007 at VT:

 

There is a permanent memorial at VT. The Collegiate Times has a nice article describing the memorial.

My memories of last April 16th started with a phone call from my wife. Julie called and said, "just wanted to let you know that John is fine." At the time I was on my SunRay reading email while on a con call when she called my cellphone. She never calls me during theday since she is a school teacher. "Why would John not be be fine?" I asked. She asked me if I was watching TV or listening to the news. Of course I was not watching TV or listening to the news. She explained what was going on. I immediately interrupted the Sun folks on the con call and quickly said, "I had to get off the call, there was a shooting at my son's school."

It was then that I turned on the TV and was shocked to see the peaceful and beautiful VT campus on the news. I started getting emails, phone calls from literally around the world checking on John. You sometimes forget in casual conversation that you mentioned something about your kids that your friends and colleagues remember. Every time a call came, I paused the DVR. I was getting the current updates from friend, colleagues\s and family all around the world via email and non stop phone calls. As the numbers kept rising, it became more and more surreal.

 My son John was working for the Collegiate Times during his freshman year.  He put together a very nice week long history of events starting on April 16th through April 23rd that shows what happened each day.

I can not imagine the horror the students and faculty must have felt. There was an article in the post today by Nick Miroff, titled, "A Year Later, Virginia Tech Is Still Healing" is a well written article worth reading. As Miroff points out:

"Virginia Tech students have learned to talk about it in shorthand, if they talk about it at all. This Story

• A Year Later, Va. Tech Is Still Healing
•  Special Report: Va. Tech Shootings 
•  Essay: In Blacksburg, An ER Physician Still Tries to Heal
•  Blog: Va. Tech Students Remember  
•  VT: One Year Later - Living With Cho

They do not use the words massacre, or

shootings, or rampage. They call it "April

 16th," and sometimes not even that. To
 say "four-sixteen" is enough. Everyone
 knows." 

I have been back to VT many times since April 16th, 2007 both as a parent and working for Sun Microsystems where I have given talks and brought down Sun's thought leaders to speak at VT's ACM where my son John is President.  Each time, the first thing I do is visit the memorial

          Governor Kaine has did a good job demanding there was the VT Task Force.  Governor Kaine stated:

"On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech University suffered a terrible tragedy. Today, my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and the entire Virginia Tech community.

"In the year that has passed since that horrible day, we have grieved for those we lost and prayed for the comfort of their loved ones. We have rejoiced in the recovery of those who were injured. We have been inspired by the unfaltering hope and Hokie spirit of Virginia Tech. And we have renewed our commitment to do even more to learn lessons from that day and to make our campuses and communities safer.

"As I think about the victims' families, I am at a loss for words to express what is in my heart. The courage and strength they have shown in the face of such tremendous, tragic loss is awe-inspiring. We have been inspired by the resilient Hokie spirit of Virginia Tech, both in Blacksburg and around the world. Since that tragic day last April, the unshakeable sense of unity and hope demonstrated by the Hokies has touched the lives of people around the world. Their focus on pulling together to support their school and each other in the days after the shooting, and their commitment to public service through the VT Engage program in the months that followed has moved us all.

"We still have work to do. A continued commitment to improvement is the best tribute we can pay to those who lost so much. And as we move forward, we will continue to be inspired by those in the Hokie Nation."

VT seems to have made the right changes. The VT Task Force seemed to not pull any punches when it came to how the University should have dealt with the events on the morning of April 16th, 2007. As the AP reported and I FULLY AGREE with Governor Kaine about purchasing firearms at gun shows. Virginia needs to get its act together.  This loophole is INSANE!

"Gov. Timothy M. Kaine proposed mandated background checks yesterday for everyone who attempts to purchase firearms at gun shows - legislation that he called critical to helping prevent future tragedies like the shootings at Virginia Tech. Many families of those killed or injured in the April shootings have called on legislators to close Virginia’s so-called gun show loophole, which allows people to purchase firearms from unlicensed sellers at gun shows without having to submit to background checks. Under current Virginia law, only licensed dealers are required to run background checks on customers.
“If by doing this, we can keep one family from having to go through what these families have suffered, it will be the best thing that the legislature will do this year,” Kaine said at Virginia State Police headquarters, surrounded by several of the victims’ families."

VA continues to be a backward state and allows the gun show loophole.   I also called into the Kojo Nnamdi Show when he had an anniversary show on the VT shooting.   If you go to the 11:52 mark, you can hear my statements and question that goes until the 13:14 mark.

 

"Courage is the first of human qualities because it
is the quality which guarantees all others."

Winston Churchill

The tragedy at Virginia Tech is still heart wrenching. As a parent of a VT freshman, it is still hard to comprehend the magnitude of this tragedy. There
were many heroes on VT's Campus on April 16th, 2007. Many
are well documented in the press.

There are five individuals who were behind the scenes
that are absolute heroes in my mind. Those five heroes are
the individuals who run online Collegiate Times which is
VT's main online paper and kept the world informed on the
latest breaking news coming out of VT on this senseless
tragedy. These five individuals were literally working
around the clock, giving up sleep to keep their fellow
students, parents, family, friends, faculty and the rest of
the world informed.

These five unsung heroes all have the "first of human
qualities" - courage. It would have been perfectly
understandable if these five individuals would have given
up when their servers went down. But they did not. They
had the courage to literally work around the clock to get
the server back up *and* keep the rest of the world
informed of the latest updates to one of the most of
horrific days in the history of our country. The five
individuals are:


Chris Ritter, Online Director
Tim Tutt, Web Developer
John Edstrom, Associate Web Developer
Gabriel Martinez, Associate Web Designer
Collin Smith, Multimedia Editor

One of the many amazing statistics is that the
Collegiate Times received up to 53 million hits by
early afternoon on Monday April 16th.

Wikipedia has a nice history of the Collegiate Times with the
picture that appeared on the Collegiate Times April 17th, 2007,
edition titled "Heartache."




Below are just some of quotes on the fantastic work that
these five unsung heroes did under
tremendous pressure.

The OnLine Newshour on PBS

"The Internet became a prime place for people to
get the news out of Blacksburg. The college
newspaper, the Collegiate Times, scooped the major
media, getting the story online, right after the
first shot rang out, and staying on it non-stop
ever since.

The 104-year-old paper received up to 53 million
hits by early Monday afternoon, forcing the site
down for a time. It also listed some of the dead
early Tuesday morning, prompting the New York Times
Web site and other news outlets to link to the
Collegiate Times."
The Shield - University of Southern Indiana Student Newspaper
"The information on the Web site is remarkable.
Besides the list of confirmed deceased, the site
provides a graphic map of the shootings, a photo
gallery, personal accounts and interviews and
related stories ranging from emerging donation
details to the impact on the nearest hospital. The
staff has handled the facts correctly, but not
without compassion, which is a difficult task.

The Collegiate Times editorial says, "When
considering the number of deceased victims, 32 is
devastating, but those lives are not just a number,
each one is a member of our community." Journalism
cannot be disregarded due to a personal tragedy,
since citizens rely on journalists for information.
Such journalists must remember, however, that
although horrific tragedies stir media attention as
sensational, there is nothing sensational about
human suffering and coverage must be conducted
tastefully.

Well done Collegiate Times staff.

To those that believe campus newspapers are a waste
of time and funding, let this tragedy serve the
purpose of proving the necessity of campus
newspapers nationwide."Chronicle of Higher Education

"National Public Radio is among news organizations
that have profiled and praised Virginia Tech
student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, which has
become a crucial source of information for other
reporters covering Monday's events.

The papers online edition, said NPR's Larry
Abramson, has grabbed international attention
indeed, on Tuesday The New York Timess home page
linked to the student publications list of
confirmed victims of the shooter. Mr. Abramson
also pointed out that Collegiate Times staff
members know how to mine Facebook for information
inaccessible to many older reporters who are
unfamiliar with the social-networking site." -WGHP Fox TV VIDEO:


"The team at The Collegiate Times, the campus
newspaper, will remain. So far, they have been
setting the pace for all journalists"Middlebury Campus


"The face of a crisis, the writers, photographers
and editors of Virginia Tech's student daily, The
Collegiate Times, transcended their roles as
college journalists to not only inform their
community, but to inform the world. With many local
news sources shut out, only limited comments coming
from Virginia Tech officials and an entire campus
on lock-down, the importance of these students'
work was heightened to an extreme. The written,
photographic and video posts to The Times website
throughout the day were among the most vivid and
honest portraits of the campus available. Working
from computers outside of their offices, the
students held nothing back, and produced a raw,
emotional narrative of the tragedy. Their reporting
was effective, critical and in every sense, brave."

Editor and Publisher


"While the editors of the student newspaper went
about their work with inspiring leadership,
internal communications by Virginia Tech
administrators showed the University was less than
fully prepared. As more and more details about the
sequence of events have been released, it has
become clear that administrators did not notify the
entire campus or order a full lockdown until more
than two hours after the first round of shooting
began. Whether or not any of the deaths in the
second round of shooting could have been avoided,
we should realize the need for all institutions to
prepare for the unimaginable. And in the face of
this shooting, college administrators everywhere
should recognize the need to share information with
their communities quickly and clearly, even as the
full extent of a crisis may remain unknown."


"The college paper at Virginia Polytechnical
Institute kept a running account of the tragedy
that struck the campus today, with more than 30
students gunned down in at least two areas of the
campus, a dorm and a classroom. The shooter is
allegedly dead as well, but not identified. It is
not known if he was a student ...

Here is how the student-run Collegiate Times
reported it, blog-style, with the most recent
posting first. A full article is now posted there,
which includes the note that police "are also
investigating if it has any relation to the recent
bomb threats on Tech's campus."


Seattle Post Intelligencer


"For unique reporting on the massacre read the
Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech's student-run
newspaper."University Daily Kansan

"While news organizations like CNN have done a
thorough job in covering Monday's events, I'd like
to point the readers of kansan.com to Virginia
Tech's student newspaper, the Collegiate Times.
After overcoming early technical difficulty when
the news initially broke, they've done what I feel
is an admirable job as the student voice of the
Virginia Tech community.

In the process of learning about these tragic
events, be sure to not overlook the students
themselves. http://www.collegiatetimes.com"WRAL

"I found a couple sites with unique angles on this
story. One of the most interesting is The
Collegiate Times, which is VT's student newspaper.
Their staff apparently first reported this shooting
this morning. The server is overwhelmed right now,
but it will be interesting to check their coverage
in the days and weeks ahead."Forbes

"Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech provided a
grim, real-time stress test for the effectiveness
of Web 2.0 technologies. And on Monday, all of them
seemed to work: Information flew through text
messages, blog posts, Web sites, online videos and
social networking sites.

The Internet reacted to the event immediately--and
more quickly than Virginia Tech administrators, who
took two hours to warn students, via e-mail, about
a first shooting. The Web site of VT's student
newspaper, the Collegiate Times, crashed when
students flooded it after the first shooting. As a
replacement, students created a low-tech blog,
CollegeMedia.com.
It posted the first entry about the event at 9:47 a.m.,
minutes before the second shooting began."
Yahoo News

"The student newspaper, the Collegiate Times,
regularly updated its website proving to be a
valuable resource for the campus as well as the
national media."
Daily Californian


"And as this happened, students at the Collegiate
Times, the Virginia Tech student newspaper, were
able to live-blog the days events. The Web site
began the day with a post at 9:47 a.m. EST,
reporting Shots were fired on campus and
provided continuing updates throughout the day. The
entries of the papers staff provide an
illuminating window into the fear and questioning
that doubtless gripped the campus in those
uncertain hours."


"The Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech's campus newspaper,
was the first media outlet to break the story Monday with
on-line reports of shots fired on campus."Manhattan Mercury

"No amount of on-the-job experience or education
could have prepared Kelly Furnas for what he's
faced this week in his capacity as an editorial
advisor to the campus newspaper at grief-stricken
Virginia Tech University.

.....

To be honest its been pretty much non-stop working
with the student newspaper I have not had time on a
personal level to sit down and digest everything
yet," Furnas said.

The Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech's campus
newspaper, was the first media outlet to break the
story Monday with on-line reports of shots fired on
campus.

"I can't put into words how proud I am of our
students," Furnas said. "They have provided
desperately needed information to their readers,
and they have done that with gusto. I think the
campus newspaper's reputation with the students
here has helped a lot."

The Age (Australia)

"'The school's student newspaper, The Collegiate
Times, filed up-to-the-minute online dispatches. At
4.44pm: "Police have confirmed that the shooter
took his own life." At 4.54pm: "University
Relations has confirmed 31 deaths at Norris Hall,
in addition to two deaths at West Ambler Johnson."Gulf Times

The Collegiate Times (its server quickly crashed
and a blog written by editors with messages from
students appeared instead on the web site of the
newspapers owning company), as well as to media
outlets around the world, including CNN and the
BBC. Regardless of where the contributions are
aimed, the back and forth on facebook.com and other
social networking sites are equally an instant and
new resource for news producers and reporters


NPR


"As reporters from around the world descend on
Blacksburg, Va., one publication stands out:
Virginia Tech's student newspaper, Collegiate
Times, is doing a truly remarkable job of covering
the story."

About 15 staff members were rushing to update the
site about every 15 minutes with news of the
convocation, shooting investigation and candlelight
vigil plans.

"We're getting like 10 billion phone calls,
everyone from Al Jazeera to tiny radio stations in
Iowa," Kendall said.LA Times


"The paper's scoops included eyewitness accounts of
the shootings, interviews with a classmate of the
shooter and a list of victims' names that was
posted late Tuesday. A reporter was one of the
first to question administrators about why they
didn't warn students during the two hours between
the two shootings Monday morning."
Poyneronline

"The Web staff for Virginia Tech's student
newspaper, The Collegiate Times, was also
scrambling for solutions after its servers crashed
around 10:30 a.m. the day of the shootings.
Online editor Chris Ritter's main goal was to get
the site back to its original state -- a large,
graphical and Flash-intensive homepage. When that
couldn't happen, Ritter and his staff opted for a
simple text page with blue background -- to ensure
they could communicate information quickly to
users. After that page continued to overload its
own server, The Collegiate Times tech adviser,
Scott Chandler, suggested that the staff use the
College Media server, the parent company which
hosts the publication's site.

Once the site stabilized on the additional server,
The Collegiate Times began posting photos and
videos to a third server usually reserved for
design research and development. To prevent
crashing again, a Virginia Tech server is now
hosting videos and photos for the site.

Monday night The Collegiate Times staff redesigned
its homepage from scratch to have a Web site that
was "intuitive and a graphically pleasing display"
of its special content for the shootings. The
Collegiate Times began creating breaking-news
multimedia when escaped convict William Morva shot
two police officers at Virginia Tech on the first
day of school last August.

Since then, Ritter said users are looking at the
Web for information more than ever before, and the
staff has adopted a Web-first attitude change."
Roanoke Times on CT:
Coping Through Journalism Video

 

Hopefully the healing will continue for those directly affected...