We had a great experience with this year’s IOD. We met plenty of new and familiar faces, had some great conversations, and learned a lot about what DB2 users want and need. IOD is always a good opportunity for us to get “back to the roots”. We’ve had an excellent experience with Craig, who interviewed some top-notch DB2 experts this week (see video posts below). If you’re a DB2 professional, I’d highly recommend watching these videos. You’ll hear a variety of thoughts from some of the world’s best DB2 consultants, centered around hot topics in the DB2 world. Take a few minutes to watch them – you’ll be glad you did.

We’d like to thank Craig Mullins for working with us this year at IOD. He’s a first-class DB2’er, and it’s always a pleasure to work with him.

We’d also like to thank our guest speakers for spending some time with us. Thank you Cristian Molaro, Klaas Brant, Sheryl Larsen, Suresh Sane, and Dave Beulke. Check out the videos below in this blog to hear their thoughts on current hot DB2 topics!

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Craig S. Mullins is a data management strategist, researcher, and consultant. He is president and principal consultant of Mullins Consulting, Inc; a principal with SoftwareOnZ, a mainframe software distributor; and the publisher and editor for The Database Site. Craig has more than two decades of experience in all facets of database systems development including developing and teaching DB2 and SQL Server classes, systems analysis and design, database administration and system administrator, and data analysis and modeling.  He has worked with DB2 for z/OS since Version 1 and has experience working with other database technology including Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase and IMS. Craig has worked in multiple industries including manufacturing, banking, commercial software development, education, research, utilities, and consulting.

You can follow Craig on Twitter at @craigmullins, or you can check out his website at http://www.craigsmullins.com or read his blog at db2portal.blogspot.com.

Thursday was our last day in Vegas, and although we were sad to leave, we left with some great insights into exciting developments in the DB2 world. Craig talked with Dave Beulke for a few minutes before we left. Dave shared his thoughts on implementing temporal data, his recent experience mapping out a very large database for a client, and his thoughts on this year’s IOD.

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Dave Beulke, an internationally recognized DB2 consultant with over 25 years in the industry, performs application performance reviews for Fortune 500 clients. He is known for his extensive expertise in DB2 high performance development and tuning. Dave’s expertise is in business intelligence data warehouse, Internet applications, Java architectures and system/application performance. Dave is a frequent speaker at local, national and international conferences, is a co-author of the IBM V8 and V7 z/OS DB2 Certification exams, and the Business Intelligence Certification exam, as well as a columnist for DB2 Magazine and former editor of the IDUG Solutions Journal. Dave has also been an instructor for The Data Warehouse Institute (TDWI) and a past president of the International DB2 Users Group.

Dave is a member of IBM’s DB2 Gold Consultants program and just announced, an inaugural member of IBM’s Data Champion program . Through his consulting service experiences, Dave researches performance and has dramatically reduced CPU demand for his clients, saving them from unnecessary hardware upgrades and millions in processing charges.

You can find out more about Dave and his consulting services at davebeulke.com

Wednesday was the last day for exhibitors at IOD, and it seemed to be the busiest. It was a good convention this year, with plenty of new and exciting things to learn about DB2. We tried to talk to as many of you z/OS folks as we could. If you saw one of us, we were probably handing you a flash drive and asking to scan your badge!

Craig talked with Suresh Sane today as well, and Suresh shared his thoughts on exciting new DB2 features, the difference in IBM conferences, and recommendations for anybody just getting started with DB2.

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Suresh works as a Database Architect at DST Systems in Kansas City, MO and manages the Database Consulting Group, which provides strategic direction for deployment of database technology at DST.  He is an IDUG Hall of Fame speaker with three Best User Speaker awards.  He has lectured worldwide and co-authored 4 IBM Redbooks. And Suresh has also been recognized by IBM as an Information Champion for the past three years.

You can view his IBM Infomation Champion profile at https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/profiles/user/SureshSane

Tuesday was another bustling day at IOD. Craig talked with Sheryl Larsen for a little while after the expo. She discussed the things that she finds most surprising about development and how it is handled in DB2 shops today, as well as the most pressing features of DB2 10 for developers to focus on and the most exciting things that she’s heard about at IOD.

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Sheryl is an internationally recognized researcher, consultant, and lecturer, specializing in DB2. She owns Sheryl M. Larsen, Inc., a firm specializing in Advanced DB2 Consulting and Education.  Sheryl is known for her extensive expertise in SQL and her firm performs detailed DB2 Performance Reviews for many clients. Sheryl has over 25 years’ experience in DB2, has published many articles, and she co-authored the DB2 Answers book.  Sheryl has spoken at events around the globe and is a member of the IDUG “Speaker Hall of Fame” as well as being an IBM Information Champion and a member of IBM’s DB2 Gold Consultants program since 1994.

You can find out more about Sheryl and her work with DB2 at www.smlsql.com

Monday was another busy and exciting day for us at IOD. Craig took a few minutes to talk with Klaas after the general reception. Craig asked Klaas, organizer of the DB2 Symposium, to share his thoughts on what DB2 area people need the most training in, as well as his thoughts on exciting IBM developments.

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Klaas Brant is the founder of KBCE, a company that specializes in DB2. Klaas has been working with DB2 for more than 25 years and he has published many articles on DB2 topics. He also is the organizer of the DB2 Symposium, a training event with full day seminars presented by industry leading DB2 consultants. Klaas is also the chairman of the Dutch DB2 User Group and an IBM certified DB2 Database Administrator. He is a member of IBM’s DB2 Gold Consultants Team and an IBM Champion. And if you have ever attended the web-based DB2Night Show, he is the host of the z/OS edition.

You can keep up with Klaas at www.kbce.com and you can find out more information about the DB2 Symposium at www.db2-symposium.com

Check back tomorrow for Craig’s interview with Sheryl Larsen.

Sunday had a great turnout at IOD! We saw lots of new and familiar faces, and enjoyed the festivities provided by IBM.

Craig Mullins spoke with Cristian Molaro for a few minutes. They discussed Cristian’s thoughts on the trends in programmer capabilities and work environments, DB2 features that might be most underutilized, and the biggest impediment to building efficient distributed DB2 systems.

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Cristian Molaro is an independent consultant based in Belgium working in Europe for customers with some of the largest DB2 for z/OS and LUW installations. He is a regular presenter at international conferences and local user groups across Europe and North America. He holds a Chemical Engineering degree and a Master in Management Sciences, and is a coauthor of 5 IBM redbooks related to DB2. Cristian is part of the IDUG EMEA Conference Planning Committee, where he works as the Presentations Team Leader, and Chairman of the DB2 LUW User Group BeLux. He has also been recognized by IBM as a Gold Consultant and an Information Champion.

You can follow him on Twitter at @cristianmolaro or you can check out his LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/cristianmolaro

Craig S. Mullins is a data management strategist, researcher, and consultant. He is president and principal consultant of Mullins Consulting, Inc; a principal with SoftwareOnZ, a mainframe software distributor; and the publisher and editor for The Database Site. Craig has more than two decades of experience in all facets of database systems development including developing and teaching DB2 and SQL Server classes, systems analysis and design, database administration and system administrator, and data analysis and modeling.  He has worked with DB2 for z/OS since Version 1 and has experience working with other database technology including Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase and IMS. Craig has worked in multiple industries including manufacturing, banking, commercial software development, education, research, utilities, and consulting.

You can follow Craig on Twitter at @craigmullins or you can check out his website at http://www.craigsmullins.com