D-Day 56 years later

Andrew J. Higgins with President Harry Truman

I was born nearly ten years after D-Day, June 6, 1944, but that date was stamped indelibly on my conscious as I grew up. I knew it was a turning point in the war, obviously, but I recognized it as more than just the first big push back at Hitler's stranglehold over Western Europe. It was costly in terms of human life, but the reason historians like the late Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley felt the effort succeeded was due in no small part to the influence of New Orleans and Higgins Industries, the local shipping company run by Andrew Higgins that provided the flat-bottomed landing craft that stormed the beaches like Omaha, Juno, Gold, Utah and Sword. General Dwight David Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces said it himself after the war. "Andrew Higgins...is the man who won the war for us... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCPVs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different." That's an absolutely awe-inspiring thought about the importance of Andrew Higgins and the improbable war machine that he built up during the two years following Pearl Harbor. Some have reported that Hitler called Higgins "the new Noah." Despite the devastating loss of life, it was a positive morale builder for the Allies and a realization for the Axis forces that their reign of terror over Europe would one day end. Higgins' success is the reason that the D-Day Museum was constructed in New Orleans ten years ago with great hoopla. Today, the more impressive campus has been renamed the National World War II Museum and I am proud to say it is located just off historic Lee Circle on Andrew Higgins Boulevard. Ironically, Higgins died two years before I was born, but it took several decades more for his impact on World War II to surface again. Higgins would probably shrug it off, saying something like it was his civic duty. Yet others will point to him and call him the "man who won the war for us." Just thought I'd send a little shout out to a great American and a great New Orleanian on this great American holiday of remembrance.

A chip off the old bloke

Ron Zappe, the founder of Zapp's Potato Chips in Gramercy, Louisiana passed away on Tuesday in Houston, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A Houston oil industry engineer whose companies went bankrupt in the oil bust of the 1980's, Zappe moved to Louisiana to start up his "little chippery." It took a lot of guts and even more convincing to get the necessary financing for his envisioned potato chip business. Starting with a shell of a building that formerly housed a car dealership, he began to fry his own chips on site, inviting bystanders to sample his wares. Zappe was a tireless promoter of the thick chips fried in kettles of peanut oil that became his famous trademark. A showman and a flamboyant personality, Zappe never let an opportunity pass by where he couldn't promote himself or his tasty products. The most famous of his line was the super spicy and hot Cajun Crawtators, introduced 25 years ago. Zapp's employees would delight in throwing cartons of chips to waiting Mardi Gras parade fans in several parades leading up to the big day. Zappe himself would donate much of his product line to food banks and to the Red Cross, according to news accounts. He was unflappable and unstoppable if a microphone got in his way. Zappe recognized the importance of appealing to every segment of the marketplace. Zapp's licensed potato chips to local sports franchises L.S.U. (Tiger Tators) and to the NFL's New Orleans Saints (Who Dat? Chips), even when a Super Bowl championship was in doubt. Back in the 1990's he was approached by a local Jewish group seeking his okay to have his entire product line designated as kosher. It was revealed to Zappe that only about one to two percent of the population kept kosher for religious reasons, but that a larger share of the market (vegetarians, vegans, etc.) used kosher designations for making their purchasing decisions. The upfront fee for the supervision was just the beginning of associated costs for the designation of kosher such as redesigning packages with the kosher symbol and adhering to specific methods for maintaining the kosher status of his facilities. But Zappe was a wise businessman. He more than recouped his initial investment for the supervision within the first year and his company's sales figures have increased significantly, even in the years following Hurricane Katrina. Zappe was a guest at the Jeux To Deux fundraiser for Torah Academy a few years ago, appearing in a colorfully attired and flashy set of white tails. As one might suspect, he was extremely popular and his enthusiasm for the school and his promotion of Zapp's Chips were both highly appreciated. I actually saw him on the streets of New Orleans driving to yet another affair not so long ago. Among the more unusual characters in a city famous for unusual characters, Ron Zappe stood out. His business remains to carry on his legacy with about 200 employees on the payrolls. Zappe is survived by his wife, a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.

Something is busting out all over

June is here and that means camping with Boy Scouts and other summer activities, especially plays and musical offerings. June can often be the hottest month in New Orleans, which is strange when one considers that July and August should have that distinction. Last year I recall that July and August were much less severe than the onslaught provided by June's heat. But there is more to June than heat and high humidity. It is the natural consequence of school letting out and vacation time beckoning millions to travel to far away, exotic locales or to investigate and examine local sites with ever more inquisitive eyes. The trend to stay close to one's own environs might be prompted by the high cost of gasoline and the still sluggish economy, but I believe Americans will still take the time to enjoy themselves with their families and friends - both near and far - while the summer sky beckons. This is a great time of year for my friends from Cleveland as the gray skies of winter part for what seems like an all-too-brief, but busy time to enjoy the outdoors. Wine connoisseurs should check out some of the small bed and breakfasts that border along the wine country near Lake Erie. Ah, for a glass of a palatable sauvignon blanc as the sun sets on the lake. It is a magnificent way to spend a summer evening. While the media's attention has been on the spewing oil emanating from the Gulf of Mexico's floor, I have tried to take my mind off the protests and calls for action. I agree that something needs to be done, but I have learned a bit about what would probably occur were the government to take over the cleanup from British Petroleum's engineers at this juncture. Can you spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R ? First of all, I distrust government to do any sort of action better than can be had from private industry. The response of the federal government to the cries for help from victims of Hurricane Katrina and the lack thereof should be enough of an answer to the sharpest critics that we should let the feds take over the operation only when all other options have been exhausted. Second, like it or not, the most intelligent people acquainted with the equipment that has failed are from BP. To bring others on board and try to educate them as to the whys and wherefores doesn't instill in me any degree of confidence. Third, like it or not, BP literally needs to clean up its image. Their stock value has plummeted while this storm of controversy has raged. It would not be unreasonble for me to expect some of the top leaders to resign or be sacked after the crisis has disipated. They derive no benefit from dragging their heels. So, while I will be cheering the protestors on, I will also be praying that BP's people have some luck with their latest project, which is to slice the pipe below the blowout preventer (BOP) and try to make a permanent seal at the 5,000-foot level. Frankly, the likelihood that it, too, could fail and that there could be more oil rushing forth as a result scares the heck out of me. But they have to try it. The relief well operations won't be finalized until August in a best case scenario and if a hurricane or two get in the way, the target date will extend even further back. I prefer to think about the better aspects of summer: sun, fun and the outdoors. And there is yet another June that makes me smile on this first day of the month whose name she bears. I will deliberately be somewhat mysterious as I endeavor to protect her confidence, but I remember this June from some of my earliest childhood memories and I am happy to know we are connected. So, I will enjoy June for all of its charms and for its namesake. I hope you will do likewise.

The cloud and the fallout

SBS MVPs Calvin McLennan and Boon Tee, MVP Kerry Brown, SBS MVP Kevin Royalty and marketing guru Matt Makowicz

Back in the McCarthy era when atomic proliferation was on the minds of most politicians, the looming threat of mushroom clouds and nuclear fallout from potential first or second strikes scared the living daylights of most reasonable people. It became a matter of life or death to get everyone to think about life under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation and how to prepare for the inevitable. In the IT professional world, the newest threat and challenge to its business model is the amorphous "cloud," the term used to include all services, monitoring and threat management being sent to the Internet. In reality several corporations whose services live in the cloud are a direct threat to those who have traditional business models or offer managed services for clients on a local basis. There are potential problems of fallout with these companies due to legal liabilities or lack of failsafe methods being employed that can directly impact clients. Such scenarios include servers that may reside side-by-side with enterprises that are not legitimate, which could then get impounded by law enforcement officials or changes in H.I.P.P.A. laws which now put the physicians at risk should a breach of data occur, for example. This fallout can mean real costs to IT professionals and can lead to clients losing trust in them because of shortsightedness on the IT firms' parts. It is essential that everyone in the IT industry know of their legal responsibilities and that they inform their clients of how moving their data to the cloud can lead to future problems. What happens if the company they choose fails? How do they get their data back or, if they decide to leave the firm, at what cost will that firm charge them for the data? And, if the data is recoverable, in what form will they send it back? If the client wants to look at costs, how do we explain that the upfront costs may be miniscule compared to the overall cost of liabilities that may arise later? These cases are critical to the future of the IT industry and will be of prime import as more business move to the cloud and current managed services firms grapple with how to stay afloat with the burgeoning threat of the cloud. Today's panel discussion included several Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals who gave their take on what to look for and what to look out for. Also, Matt Makowicz, a former IT firm owner who now deals solely as an author and marketing guru, lent his own suggestions and warning to IT professionals. It was agreed by everyone on the panel that change is coming and all of those in the IT industry will have to change with it or lose viability in the next few years. Once again, thanks to Jeff Middleton for an impressive three-day event.

To "v" or not to "v"

MCP Ryan Spillane, left, and MVP Oliver Sommer

Virtualization has taken on frightening new possibilities since the core processors have come out that have made it a real consideration for business applications. The primary question is whether it makes sense to virtualize single applications on a server or run them outright without virtualization. Three major experts on virtualization answered questions and gave their own tack on virtualization: Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Dave Sobel of Evolve Technologies; Oliver Sommer, an Austrian Microsoft MVP; and Ryan Spillane, an Australian Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) with tons of business experience. They each gave their own reasons as to why or why not virtualization makes sense in a business setting and where they ran into some problems. Others in the room offered their own opinions, some welcomed by the panel, some not. More on this later tomorrow when Jeff Middleton takes on some of his own musings on the subject.

The first day of the IT Pro Conference 2010

Jeff Middleton, Matt Makowicz, Karl Palachuk and George Serchio

The IT Pro Conference 2010 sponsored by Jeff Middleton's SBS Migration.com got underway with a plethora of IT professionals gathering to inform each other of some of the best ways to maintain and grow their businesses. Much of the fear from industry insiders has involved thinking about how "the cloud" will affect the market and impact IT firms, who previously have offered services on a local basis. Much of the early panels discussed how to determine strengths within IT businesses and how to mitigate problems with cash flow and liability management. Later discussions revolved about servers and ramifications of data servers hosted remotely ("the cloud") as well as real answers to questions about how to brand Small Business Server and other Windows Servers to clients. The best of the later sessions was done by Ofer Shimrat, the San Diego guru whose SoundOff is about to launch its first Managed Services platform in July. It will be interesting to see how they make the transition from advanced client support to full unified threat management and monitoring of clients through the cloud. Sessions tomorrow will deal with an alternative mail server to Microsoft Exchange, VPN firewalls and monitoring alternatives as well as virtualization tips and best techniques.

It's that SBS Migration time again

Jeff Middleton, "Old Betsy" and Tim Laughlin

Tireless Microsoft Small Business Server Most Valuable Player Jeff Middleton hunkered down at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel tonight with a mission. He is hosting his third annual SBS Migration.com IT Professional Conference there, welcoming a gaggle of geeks from across the globe to his own beloved New Orleans. In order to appreciate the charms and joys of New Orleans, he has summoned up a number of special events for evening time and started the three-day event with Tim Laughlin's band performing before a crowd of nearly 80. Laughlin, who is the premiere New Orleans clarinetist played "Old Betsy," Pete Fountain's fabled clarinet which he presented to him some time back. It was a pleasant kickoff to what should be several days of impressive panels of IT gurus who, along with Middleton, will impart knowledge and answer questions about Microsoft Windows servers and how to best implement effective solutions in the business arena. Some of the presentation team members have come from as far away as Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. A number of major players from the IT industry will be on hand to pitch their products as well like eFolder, Storagecraft, BackupAssist, Cloud Services Depot, Own, Cloud, Autotask and Kerio. My own eports will emanate from the hotel throughout most of what remains for this holiday weekend. Middleton definitely knows how to show off his own beloved New Orleans and the cuisine, drinks and music will reflect that. After the conference concludes on Sunday, there will be an opportunity for many of the visitors to leave New Orleans for a short cruise to exotic ports of call.