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Independent free training hits road for UX

While HP toasted a debut of a multi-million dollar US-based support center, an independent service provider is spreading business system intelligence at a more affordable cost: free.

Source Direct has hired HP-UX guru Bill Hassell, after his many years of self-owned consulting services, and this spring Hassell is on the road. He says he's happy serving the HP-UX community from a new position. "I joined Source Direct in November 2009 and loving every minute of it," he said. After more than 20 years teaching and training in HP's Unix, Hassell is giving one-day seminars for Source Direct in eight US cities between now and May 26.

His classes in Unix administration and power tips run 11-5 at his stops, usually at a hotel in a major city. March 10's class is in Pittsburgh at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel (RSVP to Andrea Ditillo at 412-951-5009); March 11 in Philadelphia at the Sheraton Society Hill (Kath Cropper at 610-643-4655 x143); and March 17 in Phoenix at the Marriott Courtyard, Scottsdale Downtown (Bob Mariner at 602-943-4649, x132).

These are the kind of talents that can help established 3000 pros retain jobs in a changing economy. HP has been doing some hiring in the support community for its part, but the latest round of new jobs came at a price in Arkansas.

THE SOURCE DIRECT seminars promise to improve the techniques for companies managing IT operations as small as one HP-UX server.

The presentation is intended to
• Share little known but powerful tips and techniques that will enable HP-UX System Administrators to prevent mistakes that lead to downtime and increase security and reliability.
• Increase Sys Admin productivity through streamlined administrative tasks and increased responsiveness to problems, and
• Share productivity tools that will extend a Sys Admin's ability to manage a complex multi-system environment.

This seminar is about presenting best practices and sharing tools that do not exist on most HP-UX systems. Each participant will receive a CD with these powerful HP-UX tools.

Other cities on the Hassell best practice tour include Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Houston, New York and Dayton.You can contact him for more details via e-mail or at 770-499-5007 x142.

In a much smaller community than those tour stops, HP on March 3 unveiled more than 800 new jobs to support the company's consumer and business customers. HP employs more than half of its workforce in the US, but the $144 billion corporation required a $28 million support center to be built by the Conway, Ark. economic development organization. The town of 50,000 kicked in another $8 million in infrastructure, according to an AP story, in exchange for up to 1,200 jobs.

One way to analyze the HP service expansion: divide the $36 million Conway paid into the 1,200 positions. Only $30,000 per job, including the building. (To be fair, HP doesn't own this building, the town does. Plus its infrastructure supports a new business park.) Conway has a rudimentary Web page for HP employees interested in moving to Central Arkansas.

While one free Source Direct class won't equal a job, the tour stops include a meal, a CD with administration tools -- the kind of free lunch that can help 3000 pros gain admin skills quickly they need for a new migration environment.

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