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IBM Systems and Technology Group (STG)

IBM Server and Storage education resources for IBM Business Partners April 2009

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Contents Purpose ............................................................................................................ 3 IBM Business Partner training overview .......................................................... 3 How STG training is communicated to Business Partners ............................. 4 Navigating the online education resources in PartnerWorld ...................... 6 IBM Systems Connect eXpert ....................................................................... 11 IBM Training for Systems website .................................................................. 12 IBM Certifications website............................................................................. 14

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Purpose Given the breadth and depth of IBM products and services, complexity is an inevitable byproduct of dealing with IBM as a Business Partner. In the area of skills development, Business Partners may find navigating the many training resources made available by IBM to be daunting or confusing. This document has two purposes:

To describe how hardware (STG) skills development is delivered to Business Partners in Australia and New Zealand; and

To cut a path through the educational resources available for STG Business Partners on IBM PartnerWorld with a particular emphasis on self-study materials available at no cost. Such materials cover a wide spectrum of needs ranging from the basics, through to content suitable for obtaining formal IBM product certifications.

Notwithstanding the purpose of this document, the reader is encouraged to invest time to explore the array of training resources available from IBM, and discuss with their IBM Channel Manager and/or IBM Distributor their specific skills development needs.

IBM Business Partner training overview There are two main vehicles by which IBM delivers STG skills enablement to Business Partners in Australia and New Zealand:

1) Brand and channel management-led education delivery

There are a number of titles or banners under which IBM delivers this form of education, but they all in essence aggregate under this single category. Examples include:

Channel Chat PartnerWorld University STG SmartZone Systems Connect eXpert Virtual classroom Top Gun and Top Gun Virtual Learning iCARE “Foundation”, “Growth” or “Leadership” training Product announcements and briefings …etc.

Some of this training (e.g. Systems Top Gun) is delivered by a worldwide team, and the local IBM operation works with the global team to schedule and communicate local versions. Other forms of training (e.g. Channel Chat, product announcements etc) are delivered by the local IBM channels enablement team under the “Channel Academy” umbrella. The target audience within this category is almost always both IBM and Business Partner employees, and scope and duration ranges from just-in-

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time product updates taking an hour, through to single or multi-day training targeted towards product sales, technical and business skills.

2) IBM Training for Systems

This is the formal IBM training business which offers fee-based education classes to the public at large. As such, the focus is on development of technical skills only; development of product sales skills for Business Partners rests with the IBM brands and the channels management team. From a Business Partner standpoint, IBM training can be used to develop the skills necessary for achieving technical IBM product certifications, and on occasion IBM may offer discounted or free education vouchers to contracted IBM Business Partners to use with IBM training. Delivery includes scheduled classroom education and customised education on client/Partner premises. There is a standing discount available to contracted IBM hardware Business Partners wishing to use IBM Training for employees and contractors, or to resell to clients.

Given no two Business Partners have the same skills requirements, the IBM channel manager, together with the enablement team (and where applicable, IBM Distributors) work with the Business Partner to develop a customised enablement plan which may draw on combinations of the resources described above.

How STG training is communicated to Business Partners Given the wide spectrum of content and delivery methods available, At this point in time, multiple channels are used to communicate skills development events to Business Partners. These include:

Business Partner Bulletin

The Business Partner bulleting is an IBM-wide fortnightly newsletter covering hardware, software and services. Subscription to the bulletin can be requested via email to bpmktng@au1.ibm.com. The bulletin is delivered on a fixed fortnightly basis, and therefore it is not always possible to get timely information to Business Partners by relying on the Bulletin alone.

IBM Training for Systems monthly email update. Subscription to the training bulletin can be requested via email to stgedu@au1.ibm.com

Invitations and enablement calendar via the Channel Academy userid

(ibmskill@au1.ibm.com) The Channel Academy userid is managed by the local channels enablement team, and is used to send invitations for training and briefings, plus the schedule of planned events through to Business

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Partners via their IBM channel managers and/or IBM Distributors. Enrolment confirmations for some of the scheduled training will also go out via the Channel Academy userid. Where possible, the enablement team uses Channel Academy as a catcher for all sources of information around skills development for Business Partners. Thus invitations and enablement calendar items include not only events scheduled directly by the enablement team, but will also include selected events run by other parts of IBM including IBM Training for Systems, Top Gun, worldwide teleconferences suitable for our time zone etc. This deliberate duplication of information is an attempt to ensure that Business Partners are aware of what’s available from IBM in a timely fashion. Supporting the Channel Academy user id is the Channel Academy website at http://www.ibm.com/au/channelacademy. Stored here are copies of Channel Academy invitations plus a download area for briefing materials etc.

IBM PartnerWorld website at http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld. This is the global IBM resource for IBM Business Partners, and includes not only information relevant for skills development, but also management, business networking and sales and marketing resources.

IBM continues the work to find ways to streamline and refine communications for Business Partners but this remains a complex task given the breadth of offerings available from IBM. A/NZ Business Partners are therefore encouraged to make skills development a regular discussion point with their IBM Channel Manager and/or Distributor, so that the local enablement team can be engaged in a timely fashion to discuss specific needs.

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Navigating the online education resources in PartnerWorld The sections following provide a walkthrough of the IBM PartnerWorld website, highlighting items of particular interest around IBM servers and storage. Fastpaths are listed where available, but the reader is encouraged to use the main links to explore the PartnerWorld site more fully, and to catch any changes or additions made to the IBM PartnerWorld website since this document was written. Special considerations for System x and BladeCenter System x and BladeCenter have recently launched a global portal called the “System Connect eXpert Program” which is specifically targeted towards certified Business Partners in these product areas (refer to the System Connect eXpert section of this document for more information). Whilst the content described throughout the rest of this document is fully applicable to System x and BladeCenter, Business Partners working with these products should also take into consideration the information and services provided via this Connect eXpert portal. Getting Started A valid IBM PartnerWorld user ID and password is required to navigate the pages shown here. Go to the IBM partnerWorld main site and sign in: http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld Fastpath: https://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/mem/index.html Click on “Training and certification”. Fastpath: www.ibm.com/partnerworld/pwhome.nsf/weblook/tac_index_ap.html

Click on “Training resources” and scroll down the page to see the types of training categories available. Fastpath: http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/pwhome.nsf/weblook/tac_tpf.html

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Of particular interest are PartnerWorld University plus the IBM Systems Subject Matter Expert (SME) Portal. Click on the “PartnerWorld University” link. Fastpath: http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/pwu

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This page lists the PartnerWorld learning materials available across the entire IBM range of products and services. Note the mix of both sales, marketing and technical deliverables. From an IBM hardware standpoint, the Systems Colleges – “STG SMART Zone” is designed to provide all of the STG-related training in the one place.

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Click on “Systems Colleges (STG SMART Zone)”. Fastpath: http://www.ibm.com/services/weblectures/dlv/Gate.wss?handler=Login&sequence=1&customer=partnerworld&offering=camp&action=index Scroll down to the “Platform Education” section, and from either the Sales or Technical drop-down lists, select the IBM product area of interest.

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In this example, we selected Power Systems under the Sales category. Note how for each product area, there are learning paths to cater for a range of skills and experience. Click on the “Online Learning (PWU)” tab.

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Offered is a logical progression of online education modules which can assist with obtaining sales and technical product skills, including education suitable for IBM certification.

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IBM Systems Connect eXpert fastpath: http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/systemsconnectexpert Relatively new to IBM PartnerWorld, the Systems Connect eXpert program is a worldwide portal for System x, BladeCenter and entry-Storage solutions certification and education. The portal requires an additional registration step which captures certification information including a commitment from the Business Partner to maintain certifications in order to remain active in the program. The portal provides Business Partners with the means by which to obtain and track advanced sales and technical certification levels, and has pointers to resources within PartnerWorld such as sales and technical skills roadmaps, System x Techline resources, plus links back into some of the resources already described in this document such as STG SMART Zone.

IBM Training for Systems website IBM Training has websites for both Australia and New Zealand. These sites also have links back into PartnerWorld where applicable: http://www.ibm.com/au/training/ http://www.ibm.com/nz/training/ The two links of most interest to Business Partners are the course catalogue and training schedules. The Training schedules can be downloaded as PDF files.

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From a Business Partner standpoint, it’s important to remember that the IBM Training materials are targeted at a wider audience, and are designed to develop a complete and comprehensive set of technical skills. In consultation with IBM, a Business Partner should be able to efficiently achieve their skills development and certifications objectives by mixing and matching the various education materials as described in this document.

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IBM Certifications website Similar to IBM Training, the IBM Certifications website is targeted at a wider audience: http://www.ibm.com/certify

The website lists all available certifications, and Business Partners are encouraged to consider all relevant certifications for their business as a means by which to drive client and employee value and loyalty. In Australia and New Zealand, contracted IBM Business Partners are given guidance on the minimum certification levels that must be maintained in order to satisfy contractual obligations. Minimum certification levels are associated test numbers are available in separate documents from the IBM Client Rep for Business Partner (CRBP). Within PartnerWorld there is a link pointing to those certifications which are of particular interest to Business Partners: http://www.ibm.com/certify/partner/mem/na/certs/xs_index.shtml

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Business Partners can learn about certifications process steps plus enroll online to sit tests an an authorised Prometric test center, of which there around 42 sites in Australia and 19 in New Zealand.

Finally, this link on PartnerWorld lists certifications which are suitable or achieving higher levels of PartnerWorld ranking; from Member to Advanced or Advanced to Premier: http://www.ibm.com/certify/partner/pub/zz/mem_skillsreq.shtml