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Jonathan Griep, President, JPG Consulting, Inc.
Jonathan Griep is currently president of JPG Consulting, Inc. An MIT trained engineer, he has 30 years of experience solving problems for customers. He started his career developing integrated circuits for Honeywell, Motorola and Fairchild but found software to be so compelling he switched over to doing software development in the late ‘80s and has never looked back. He started his own firm, JPG Consulting, Inc. in 1997 and has done work for Lotus/Iris/IBM and many other companies. JPG Consulting, Inc. is an IBM Business Partner and Symantec STEP partner.
How did you first get involved with Lotus Notes?
I was hired to do a contract at Lotus in Cambridge in 1995 and they were using Notes 4.6 at the time. In 2000, I was hired to do a contract for Iris Associates (the original developers of Lotus Notes) in Westford, MA and did work on the 5, 6, 7 and 8 Notes and Domino releases.
When did you decide to start your business?
In 1997, when I thought my Lotus work was ending, I started the company to do a contract at Digital Equipment Corp. It turns out I did part time contract work for Lotus for 3 more years as well as other companies.
Tell us a bit about the EZ Notes Search product.
EZ Notes Search enables users to search their IBM Lotus Notes databases using Microsoft Windows Search. Windows Search is integrated into Microsoft Windows 7.. Users can click on the Start button and start typing their search term and instantly see search results in the Start menu pane. They can click on the item to open it in Notes or click the More... item to view the his in the Search results window. In this window, they can preview each of the hits in the preview window (including attachments). We support Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit) and Microsoft Windows XP. Windows XP requires the installation of the Windows Search 4.0 addin from Microsoft first. You can see our product on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/notesconnectors and get a free trial version on our web site: http://www.notesconnectors.com/products/EZ-Notes-Search-V2%3A-30%252dDay-FREE-Trial.html
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Topics
Lotus Live - as a customer
A year ago you decided to try out Lotus Live. Was it mainly for testing for your product?
Yes, mainly for testing but we also wanted to move our production mail there.
How difficult was the initial set up? The service only was fairly straightforward. Did you have to contact support? Yes, and they were awesome. Would you have to be/engage a mail admin to set this up? I think so yes. A Domino admin? For the hybrid mode I would definitely think you would need one. Or could a non-technical solo entrepreneur handle the set up?
Did you migrate historical data? No, not yet.
Are you using Lotus Live for your primary production mail server? Are you using Lotus Live Notes (regular Notes client, cloud server managed by IBM, as opposed to Lotus Live iNotes/notNotes - Outblaze)? How is the multi-tenant version of Domino different? How much access do you have as compared to a regular on prem server?
Are you using mail only, or other basic Notes functions such as calendar, contacts, to dos and notebook/personal journal?
Do you have Lotus Notes applications?
Have you considered using any of the features besides email. such as Connections/Files, Surveys, Forms, Meetings, Events, Instant Messaging?
After the initial set up, have you had any issues?
As a small business, how responsive and understanding is IBM support?
Would you do it over again? Do you plan to continue with Lotus Live?
Lotus Live - as a partner
As a partner, would you recommend your clients switch to Lotus Live or stay on prem? Yes, I think customers should consider the move for the economics of it. Start with a small pilot to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the offering.
Is there a role for the partner with the customer after the sale of Lotus Live with regards to email? Yes I think there are other companion products which can be built/integrated with the cloud offering.
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Contact Information
Jonathan:
http://www.notesconnectors.com
Email: jgriep@jgriep.com
Twitter: @NotesConnectors
Symantec Enterprise Vault for Quickr & Notes apps coming soon
Lisa:
http://about.me/lisaduke
Events Page: http://www.simplified-tech.com/events
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