Think You Know Lotus Traveler? Guess Again.

Bill Malchisky  October 20 2011 11:00:00 PM

Recently, I had the privilege to observe a couple of hours of Paul Mooney's mobile management seminar covering Lotus Traveler. Like many people covering such a topic, Paul went through the software requirements, hardware requirements, architecture decisions, plus recent patches and issues--ensuring currency. What I really liked was his emphasis on covering the vast arsenal of customizations that are possible with the product. This facet allows administrators the ability to lock-down and provide security for their environment. The most interesting component is that seemingly the best parts of Traveler are undocumented. Paul's session covers extensively, this facet well. It is quite extraordinary how much of what the Traveler product can do is so lacking any, let alone proper documentation. You would think IBM would provide some information in this regard, to better promote their great product and increase adoption, particularly with development... but I digress.

Now keep in-mind his session is not a pro-Traveler or anti-BES session. Quite the opposite. Paul carefully provides what the Traveler server can do well along with opportunities for improvement, and also where Research In Motion's (RIM) Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) excels. For example, one aspect mentioned there exist approximately 500 policies that a BES administrator can set to manage their mobile hardware and over 400 for the express version of their server product. Whereas the Lotus Traveler has only 100+ rules that can be applied. Additionally, BES is optimized for more users on each respective server, due to its longevity--allowing for finely tuned code. However, as most of you know, BES really only works with its own brand of hardware. So, there are points to consider with your mobile strategy and these are articulated with lucidity.

Unlike most sessions, Paul ensures that people expand their sphere of knowledge with hands-on configuration experience on mobile devices they typically do not use or know. He brings to the session an assortment of phones worthy of making any border customs agent think twice before letting him pass. One of the fun aspects of being a technical administrator in the modern era. (Fortunately, he passes through every time.)

The best part of this session is that you can bring Paul to your place of business and get your team up-to-speed on the deeper particulars of Traveler. He also offered this unique opportunity as the administration component for the IamLUG Tack It On event back in August 2011. Although intended for business, I am almost certain that if you wanted to bring Paul to your home and train your kids on Traveler that could be arranged as well: for a fee, of course. Besides his bag of mobile phones will keep your kids busy for hours.

You can contact Paul here or email him for further information on pricing and availability for this worthwhile session.

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