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Tom Hughes
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
With over 30 years of experience in the IT industry, Tom brings a unique perspective of someone who has worked in an IT shop, implemented ERP systems, run an IT consultancy, and developed strategies for controlled growth of the IT infrastructure. As Manager of Business Development for the Technology Solutions Practice of CIBER, Tom's role is to help in the review and positioning of new product offerings from IBM and other significant technology partners of CIBER.
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Posts by this author
The Challenge of Innovation
Tom Hughes, Business Development Manager : 28 April 2010 / 1:41 PM : 3
Innovators of the 16th century were in danger of being jailed, hanged, or excommunicated. Even Machiavelli wrote of the challenges of innovation and change. In today’s time, they are praised and promoted. Yet even so, innovation can come at a price. While many companies widely tout that their products or strategies are “innovative” , developing new ideas to meet customer needs and solve business problems can take time and money. In fact some companies are spending thousands, if not millions of dollars, in performing product development when practical and less expensive solutions are available to meet their needs.
At CIBER, we have int...
Posted in Servers, Storage and Software on 28 April 2010
Tagged: CIO ERP High Availability/Failover IBM Server IBM Storage Lawson Mobility Oracle Power Server Social engineering
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The Importance of Infrastructure Design Early in ERP Implementations
Tom Hughes, Business Development Manager : 15 December 2009 / 1:05 PM : 1
Designing an infrastructure solution to fit a client’s new ERP solution is much more than a “sizing exercise”. It is an inter-related project of its own that is key to the success of the overall ERP project. To ensure a successful completion, a client’s unique needs must be considered. Issues including database cost, goals and objectives surrounding required uptime and disaster recovery, new technology trends, virtualization, existing workloads and multi-environmental transitional plans required by a new ERP system are only a few areas of discussion that need to be taken into account.
To achieve the greatest benefit, the involvement of infrastr...
Posted in Servers, Storage and Software on 15 December 2009
Tagged: Enterprise Architecture ERP IT Planning IT Strategy Lawson Oracle Technology Architecture
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Oracle buys Sun - A Perspective
Tom Hughes, Business Development Manager : 04 May 2009 / 8:07 AM : 0
Oracle’s recent surprise offer to purchase Sun for $7.5B has created a new, yet untested, model for Oracle, and one for which no real patterns of success exist – the acquisition of a major, albeit struggling, hardware company by a software company. It can be argued that Oracle was being purely opportunistic, stepping into a void created by the inability of IBM and Sun to come to terms on price and conditions. Yet, under the covers and specifically looking at the components of Sun, the results can be viewed as quite strategic. Basically, it is a matter of perfect timing.
Let’s first look at what Oracle gets. For $7.5B ($5.4B net of cash and debt), it...
Posted in Servers, Storage and Software on 04 May 2009
Tagged: IBM Server Oracle
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Extending Application Delivery through Mobility Solutions and Kiosks
Tom Hughes, Business Development Manager : 16 April 2009 / 10:12 AM : 0
How do you bring your applications to employees on the shop floor, in the warehouse, on the road, or out on the floor? This is a dilemma faced by every industry. Whether you are a manufacturer, in the healthcare industry, operate a trucking company, or run a restaurant, the true assets in your company, as Henry Luce once said, go home at night. CIBER, at the Lawson CUE 2009 user conference in San Diego, will be presenting two solutions based on technology that helps to solve this common problem by extending application delivery through technology.
Mark Laatz, of CIBER’s Mobility Solutions Practice, will be demonstrating the ...
Posted in Servers, Storage and Software on 16 April 2009
Tagged: ERP Healthcare Interface Design Kiosk Lawson Mobility Technology Architecture
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Extending Applications through Self Service Kiosks
Tom Hughes, Business Development Manager : 12 March 2009 / 9:42 AM : 0
Ever go through the self-service checkout at the grocery store and wonder why the applications we deploy to our users can’t be made as easy to use? Do you have employees who don’t even have access to corporate systems at work, at home, or on the road? You could be in healthcare, retail, restaurants, trucking, even education. In every one of these industries, there are unique applications for touch-screen technology that could enhance the ease-of-use for employees and customers, lower costs, and increase user satisfaction and loyalty. And the solution is based on a concept known in IT for ages, the KISS principle.
Let&...
Posted in Servers, Storage and Software on 12 March 2009
Tagged: Healthcare Kiosk
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Pulse, 2009: A summary of the IBM Storage and Tivoli Announcements
Tom Hughes, Business Development Manager : 13 February 2009 / 2:43 PM : 1
I have just returned from PULSE, the annual conference sponsored by IBM's Tivoli software brand, and as usual, IBM put on a first class event concentrating on "Managing the World’s Infrastructure". What is different about this year’s event, and is also reflected in the other brands and products from IBM, is that we are seeing the start of delivering truly integrated solutions that are no longer just software, or just hardware, but a combination of products designed to solve business problems, many of which are delivered as appliances.
It was amazing, but understandable, to hear that the world’s information growth in 2008 was 4 exabytes, more than was...
Posted in Servers, Storage and Software on 13 February 2009
Tagged: IBM Storage Tivoli
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Welcome to CIBER's Technology Solutions Practice Blog
Tom Hughes, Business Development Manager : 10 February 2009 / 12:44 PM : 0
Welcome to CIBER's Technology Solutions blog, concentrating on IBM servers, storage, and software. CIBER, an IBM Premier Partner for over 12 years, brings history and perspective to the IBM product lines and direction. During that time, we have provided product, services, and consulting to companies in a variety of industries, including healthcare, distribution, manufacturing, retail, utilities, not-for-profit, and others from a few employees to over 5000; from a few million dollars in revenue to global companies and those with global reach who have run-rates of well into the billions.
What is common among all of these organizations is that they have recognized...
Posted in Servers, Storage and Software on 10 February 2009
Tagged: BladeCenter IBM Storage Information Management iSeries Lotus pSeries System i System p System x Tivoli WebSphere xSeries
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