Mb first post, and Quixtar at WinHEC 2007

Posted by Matt Behrens on Monday, May 21, 2007  
Category: , ,

Hello,

This is my first post to the blog, my name is Matt Behrens (herein referred to as Mb).  I am the supervisor of the Quixtar IT Infrastructure group.  I am responsible for all of the internal servers for Quixtar, our middleware as well as all of the servers that make up all of our internet facing websites, and of course, Quixtar.com.

I am new to blogging, so please hang on with me as I fumble my way through this.

I just returned from the Microsoft WinHEC 2007 conference, in Los Angeles, CA where I was part of Bill Laing's keynote speech on Day Two (located here, this will open up a very long video, the Quixtar portion of the video starts around 42:10).  We went to two Los Angeles Dodgers games, which were very cool; I love baseball and whenever I can get an opportunity to go to a game, I usually do.  It was my first time to Dodger Stadium, which in my opinion is an old school park, my favorite kind.  On the recommended list are Dodger Dogs and Garlic Fries.

Anyway, on to the real reason we were at the conference...  Since 2005, Quixtar has been a part of the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for Windows Server 2008.  (It is hard to believe is has been that long.)  We have been working with Microsoft and their development team to make Windows Server 2008 a better product; in fact, we have been running the product in our production environment since June 2006.  During our experience at the WinHEC conference Microsoft and Quixtar produced two videos, one that was an overview of Quixtar (located here) and a second one that was done of the exhibition floor of the conference (located here).  I think they both turned out very well...  I must say, it is much harder talking to a camera than I first anticipated.

If you have any questions/comments on our infrastructure or Windows Server 2008 (aka Windows Server Longhorn), let me know.

Mb


Comments

# Josh said on May 22, 2007 at 12:39 AM:

Hi MB,

Great videos, really impressed.  Also nice to see we DO work directly Microsoft as far as the website and obviously many other components are concerned.

I do have one quick question, is there any plans for a overhaul of the website in the near future?  Kinda like a couple years ago?

One suggestion, since we are a product based company I think an innovative sight map on the main page would be beneficial.  Many people refer to Quixtar as an online mall.  Perhaps a mall type layout featuring "anchor stores", ie health nutrition, beauty, home care, ...etc.  Just a late night thought before bed!

Great to have you on board!

# Katie Pearsall said on May 22, 2007 at 9:55 AM:

Matt,

Welcome to the Ozone! I look forward to reading more from you. And you did a GREAT job in the videos.

# Matt Behrens said on May 22, 2007 at 10:42 AM:

Josh,

Thanks...  We work with Microsoft regularly, it is one of those "behind the scenes" things that we do to keep things rolling.  :)

As far as overhaul goes, we are working on some things, but unfortunately we cannot discuss them right now as nothing is final at this time.  More information will come out as things progress.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will forward it on to our content people for their review.  Keep them coming!  :)

Thanks,

Mb

# The Big Apple said on May 22, 2007 at 11:59 PM:

Matt,

Great job on the interviews with Microsoft.  This kind of partnering sure helps keep us at the cutting edge of IT productivity and efficiency.  

# Suresh Raghavan said on May 23, 2007 at 8:42 AM:

Hi Matt,

The Microsoft-Quixtar video is a great crediblity tool. Ypu guys did a wonderfull job!!!

Thanx

Suresh

# Josh said on May 23, 2007 at 11:25 AM:

Ahhhh,

Not even any hints?  Either way, no problem.

We look forward to seeing it.

# Jack A Trahan said on May 24, 2007 at 4:05 PM:
Matt: My question is about the ordermygift personal web sites. They do not work for people running Adobe Flash version 9.0 and all upgrades. The sites work for versions 7.0 and 8.0. The sites were built using Adobe version 7.0.0.0. The problem is when trying to view the Gift Collections. The first time you try the gifts pictures will load but not the name of the Album. If you close and click on the same album it opens correctly and you can view the gifts. But when you close the album collection the site freezes in the sense that the browser will not open anything on the site. If I close the site I cannot re-open the site until I close that Internet connection and start over. I am using Adobe version 9.045, Explorer 6 and Windows XP Pro. I have been talking to LLoyd and Robert in the Tech Department for over two weeks and they now says it is a problem with the Microsoft servers. Finally to the question why do the servers work with versions 7 an 8 and not 9. This would lead one to think it could be something to do with Adobe and version 9. Jack
# Sivaram Rajagopalan said on May 25, 2007 at 11:27 PM:

Matt,

great credibility videos !. Thanks for giving us one more reason to be proud of you guys/Quixtar. 2 suggestions..

(1) SHOULD QUIXTAR PASSWORD PROTECT THESE BLOG ZONES ONLY TO IBOs ? As of now you DO NOT have to be an IBO to view or post on these new Quixtar Community zones. Only IBO participation will make the blogging much less labor intensive for your admins?

(2) How about creating a new subcategory e.g "INFO.SECURITY & PRIVACY" under Code Review. It can be a beneficial forum for sharing and enhancing the IT security posture of Quixtar and its affiliated sites.

We appreciate your dedication in serving the IBO community well being & making a difference in 10000's of IBO's Dreams & Goals...God Bless.

//Sivaram

# Matt Behrens said on May 29, 2007 at 1:01 PM:

Sorry for the delay in comments, I have been away from my computer due to the holiday w/e...  :)  Thanks for all of the posts.  I like to see the activity here...

First, to Jack's issue, I can assure you that we are looking into the situation right now.

To speak to Sivaram's concern about password protecting the blogs, we dont feel that that is the right move right now, we are all for open and honest communication regardless if someone is an IBO or not.  :)

We will cover lots of topics here in Code Review, I'm sure that we will touch on the topic of security in an upcoming post...  Speaking of that, if there are topics that you would like to see covered here, let us know, we are all listening.  

Thanks,

Mb

# Jeffrey said on May 29, 2007 at 11:18 PM:
I have posted many times about how inconvenient it is to order products like the Trim Advantage Meal Replacement Shakes, the XS Energy Drinks, the new snacks, and various other products because Quixtar forces us to purchase them in case lots. I have complained numerous times about making them available in smaller quantities but so far, my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. That being said, I have decided to sell these items indivudually to my customers that are in my local area. The problem: On the "Create a Receipt," I am unable to break down the prices to individual units like I was able to with the Amware Gold software. Please put on the receipt under "quantity" a box to select either "case" or "unit." Then make it so that when I enter the stock number of XS Energy Drink Root Beer, for example, and I check 1 unit or 1 each, it would divide the price by 12. I simply refuse to demand that my customers order case lots when they either don't want to, or are not able to. Some of my customers are elderly. I think it is arrogant of Quixtar to make them spend the money on an entire case of something, perhaps causing a short-term financial hardship, and when they get it, might not even be able to lift it. If marketing refuses to break down the case lots, at least let us do it so we can move this stuff. Let me know your thoughts on this.
# Matt Behrens said on May 31, 2007 at 9:43 AM:

Jeffrey,

You make all valid points, personally, I was unaware of these things...

I have forwarded your comments/concerns on to tha proper people, they are looking into the situation.

Thank you,

Mb

# Matt Behrens said on June 1, 2007 at 11:25 AM:

FYI, I have uploaded some pix of the WinHEC event out on our flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/codereviewblog/sets/72157600292134819/

Mb

# Kim said on June 4, 2007 at 11:25 PM:

Matt, your pictures show true IT comments. “Brief”.

# Jeff McDonald said on June 18, 2007 at 10:50 PM:

just a question about cutting edge app dev...is there any talk about creating some simple barcode technology for reorders?  time savers are hot in the tech market and could creat a nice buzz with time leveraging principal of the business plan...or a slick light weight app to run on Smartphones etc that we can place fast reorders thru without navigating the site

how about using formfillable pdf to generate orders as well...this way we just transmit data back encrypted to a webserver that does all of the work...simple interface that can be customized for a variety of applications...b2c or b2b types by product types...no messing around with highspeed connections either...just a little pipe from a wireless modem would do virtually anywhere and an email autoresponders for confirmations and validations could add layer of security just like with password resets from many websites...sorry need some sleep...the less sleep the more the ideas flow...cheers

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