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Share exec spells out user group's wish list

12.12.2005
Share, a Chicago-based IBM user group, has assembled a "wish list" of things it would like vendors to do to address some of the IT issues large enterprises face. Many of the items on Share's list call for improved vendor interoperability around file systems and identity management, according to Share President Robert Rosen, who is also CIO of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Rosen also outlined the user group's motives and some of its needs in an interview with Computerworld. Among the items on the group's list: enterprise-worthy open-source software, easier server consolidation, interoperable calendaring capabilities, longer-lasting batteries for mobile computing, and a standards-based distributed file system.

CW: By doing this, are you trying to make Share and user groups more relevant at a time when the trend seems to be in the opposite direction?

RR: I disagree. I don't think user groups have become less relevant, but I think what we're really doing is getting the word to a broader audience about the kinds of things that Share is involved in and doing. This has to do with the big IT shop, the enterprises -- where are their pain points? Where would they like some relief?

CW: Why is it important for Share to do this?

RR: I think it's important because we're the people in the trenches. We're the people living with these problems, and we need these kinds of solutions.

CW: Many of the things that you are asking for require multivendor cooperation, particularly around standards and interoperability, including file system, identity management and calendaring interoperability. Is that a major thrust?