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"Is everybody happy now? Is everybody clear?" . . .especially when it comes to GroupWise? As a consultant, I have found the answer to be 'YES'. Novell has a stronger-than-ever commitment to GroupWise. I found this to be a demonstrated truth at Brainshare 2006. More than in any other year, Brainshare appeared to have a very large GroupWise following. There were more sessions, more GroupWise-oriented vendors, and many more GroupWise experts at "Meet the Experts." For all of us in the GroupWise community this is the validation we need for GroupWise.

As with any community, the success or failure depends upon the actions of individuals and the events which strength or weaken the community. Let me take a minute to list out a few successes to the GroupWise community as of late.

GroupWiseR

GroupWiseR is the first that comes to mind. It started in Europe by Erno de Korte almost 2 years ago and now it is seeing global results. GroupWiseR has its own conference in Europe. GroupWiseR is supported strongly in Europe by the GroupWise User Group Community. You could say GroupWiseR is the umbrella for the GroupWise User Group Community. They work together symbiotically to strength GroupWise in Europe. This has created a domino affect causing GroupWise User Groups to pop up all over the globe. I know for a fact there will be a GroupWiseR-USA, as I, along with Danita Zanre, will be heading it up. Stay tuned.

GWAVACon

GWAVACon is a third-party-vendor conference for GroupWise. Sponsored by GWAVA, it provides the GroupWise community with yet another outlet for education. Certainly they have sessions on their products, but they also provide GroupWise-focused sessions like those you've seen at Brainshare and GroupWise Advisor Summit.

GroupWise Advisor Magazine and Summit

The Advisor organization started a magazine a bit more than two years ago for GroupWise. A void was definitely filled, as Advisor focused on providing top talent to write articles to assist the community in strengthening their GroupWise implementations. Advisor also produces a conference where all third-party vendors and GroupWise techies can learn and share all things GroupWise. The diligence of the Advisor staff has led to a premier conference, where GroupWise administrators can learn cold, hard technical information without the fluff of marketing.

As you may have noted all of the above have shown up in the last 2-3 years! All have strengthened the GroupWise community and provided us with the fact that GroupWise is very much alive and growing. Nowhere was this sentiment expressed more than at "Meet the Experts," Brainshare 2006. It was here that I met with Ken Muir. For those who are unfamiliar with Ken, he is THE man at Novell for all things GroupWise. He is responsible directly for the success (or failure) of GroupWise, in its current form. Ken is simply a powerhouse. We as a community cannot possibly be better served at Novell by anyone else. During our brief discussions Ken expressed his direction for GroupWise, as a leader, rather than a follower in its space. This was definitely good news for us GroupWise lovers - GroupWise has longevity.

So how do you create longevity for your own organization's GroupWise system? This was a topic of a BrainShare session I presented this year entitled: "How to Build a Highly Available GroupWise 7 System." For a summary, please see the Cool Solutions article based on the BrainShare session - and much like me, as of late, your organization's GroupWise system will be "up all night" . . .getting "your dreams just right".

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.