(Dis) connecting from extst.ibm.com is easy to do, since you cant connect
Tags :Sametime
Some of the IBM bloggers (Chris Pepin and Adam G) have recently posted on how strong and wonderful the external Sametime server, known as extst.ibm.com, for IBM is. Now let's clarify a few things. First, it is not a Sametime Gateway server. It is an old Sametime 3.1 server as shown in this image here:
If it was a Sametime Gateway, then everyone would be firing up gateway servers to connect to it, you could not use your Sametime client directly. So moving on. I am able to log into this site via the web interface (HTTP), I am able to chat via the old Java connect client. But I cannot log in via the Sametime Connect client, for about the last two years. This has been pointed out in the partner forums for a long time, and each time the upgrade and fixing of this service gets pushed for numerous reasons. Adam once again mentions a quarter and change freeze. What happened to all of 2007 and 2006? That freeze gets mentioned over and over. That must be one of the coldest server rooms in existence. Yet the demo servers in DFW get upgraded on a consistent basis. Chris pointed out that it worked for Sametime 7.5, yet that was a select few. Many people got bumped somewhere along the road and the excuse was also made of compatibility issues. So we have compatibility, freezes, finance and a ton of others for the past few years.
I am one of the lucky ones that do communicate over the Sametime Gateway. I am on BleedYellow. But to have a public facing Sametime server that doesn't work right for years is not a good experiment.. Mitch (a hosted blogger here as well as a large customer reference at Lotusphere) even comes out with a blog comment on the state of the server.
So I will go out on a limb here and make a theory. No insider knowledge, just a theory. Many of the employees do not want you contacting them directly, bypassing support. Many of them would get understandably overwhelmed with pings form all over. I really try to be sparing in contact because I know how my chats can be overwhelming during the day sometimes. So having this take it's little time, and having sites like BleedYellow and demo3.DFW.ibm.com make it an extra step for an IBM'er to log in. Adam does a good job of being online all over, but he is product management and wants the exposure. Developers really do not.
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On Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 by Chris Miller
