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Martin Buckley - on systems management

Blogging about systems management - with a partner twist.
Introductions – the difficult first post

Martin Buckley

Where to start?

The first post to any blog is the most difficult; tradition dictates that it should be an introduction to the blogger. After starting several blogs over the years this should be getting easier, not harder.

The biographical pieces are quite easy; my name is Martin Buckley and I’m relatively new at Microsoft. I joined in March 2008 as a Senior Program Manager working with System Center strategic partners and alliances. Put simply my role is to get more people to integrate with System Center products – and then to get people using the joint solutions.

I’ve been working in the Systems Management field for ever. I started off in the mid-90’s as a consultant in the UK; deploying Windows NT 4 workstation and managing it using various products. As the millennium approached most of my work was replacing legacy systems with Windows workstations and a lot of Novell NetWare and Windows NT 4 servers.

I spent over eight years working at Novell – as a Product Manager (that’s Program Manager in Microsoft speak) for the Novell ZENworks desktop management products. For most of that time I saw the Microsoft products – Systems Management Server and Microsoft Operations Manager as directly competing with my product. It’s certainly strange to be ‘on the other side’.

I’ve been blogging for over four years; I run my own blog, a family blog and I ran the Novell Cool Blogs site for Novell technology bloggers.

My blogging here is going to be ‘ISV partner focused’ – I don’t know where that’s going to lead me; but certainly most of the content will be useful for the IT Pro as well as the occasional developer.

Phew! Enough of the tedious bio. Expect to see ‘content’ very soon.

Written at: Issaquah, WA

Posted: Wednesday, June 04, 2008 11:10 AM by martinbuckley
Filed under:

Comments

ronvanherk said:

I knew it wouldn't take long before you would start a blog ‘on the other side’, adding one to my watch list...

Greetings from the Netherlands ;-)

Ron

# June 4, 2008 3:50 PM

eric said:

it is good to see you over on the new side making a blog.

I have been looking at the other place you did blog and no one is in your shoes yet over there

You are happy being away from the failing zen?

# June 5, 2008 1:08 PM

Tony said:

Martin,

Now the dust has settled I would be interested to hear a "without predjudice" summary of your personal views on the current industry situation with regard to systems management. From a customer perspective, and I am sure you self evidently recognise this only too well, there's more to a strategic and purchasing decision than just technical excellence. As a customer, I really have no idea whatsoever what is going on inside Novell. All I know is it is not leaving a good feeling nor instilling confidence in the company or its product lines. A major part of the strategic decision is how the vendor is placed to support and grow the product set over the forseeable future. In addition, that undefinable "vibe" that a company gives off with regard to its position and thought processes is quite important. So, to recap, I think there is a lot of us who have valued your independance and enthusiasm and would welcome your thoughts on:

- The (management) market space and the technologies

- The various vendors and their attitude and approach to that space and the customer base in it

- The various product sets, and various approaches to the problem of management and how that fits in with future likely strategies and technologies

At the end of the day we (us) will only implement something we wholeheartedly believe is the best overall solution. Sometimes that may cost more, sometimes it may not be the best technical solution, but it will always be the best overall package for our business.

The red pill now leaves a bitter tase all round perhaps, but how sweet is the blue pill??

# June 5, 2008 4:03 PM

Leandra said:

Hi Martin - glad too see you are still blogging!!! Maybe I can pick up some tips :-)

# June 6, 2008 9:12 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 25, 2008 4:40 PM
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