Latest News from WebSphere Journal

Cloud Expo | IBM & OpenStack Together: Accelerating Cloud Adoption & ROI

Mon, 13 May 2013 06:00:00 EDT

Speed-to-market and improving ROI for new cloud services are an important element for adopting cloud computing. Open source technology translates into savings for clients in terms of flexibility and interoperability. OpenStack is leading the way in open source for IaaS, capturing the attention of the cloud customers, business partners and vendors alike, and producing the ubiquitous open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds. In his session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Andrew Trossman, Distinguished Engineer, IBM Common Cloud Stack at IBM, will discuss IBM's role in OpenStack including key contributions to strengthen OpenStack, ending with a wrap up of an overview of IBM's plans for the adoption of OpenStack as part of the IBM SmartCloud portfolio.

OpenXava 4.7 Released

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:35:54 EDT

Pulse2013 – IBM Technology Evangelist Kathy Zeidenstein

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:36:00 EDT

I talk with IBM Technical Evangelist Kathy Zeidenstein about the integration between BIG-IP ASM and IBM’s InfoSphere Guardium along with some of the current security trends occurring in the industry. We recorded this after the Wrap video so that’s why it’s out of order.

OpenXava 4.6: Open Source Rapid Development for WebSphere

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:36:05 EST

OpenXava is an open source framework for Rapid Development of WebSphere and WebSphere Portal applications, well-suited for business and database oriented applications. OpenXava allows you develop applications just by writing simple domain classes with Java or Groovy. The user interface is generated automatically in runtime, without code generation. OpenXava 4.6 has some new interesting features such as: Custom reports generation from list. It's possible to customize the list mode defining your own editor. You can assign a model object (an entity or a transient object) directly to a View to populate it.

WebSphere Datapower Configurations for HTTP (GET and POST) Requests

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 11:00:00 EDT

The purpose of this article is to describe the steps involved in configuring Datapower services for the browser-based HTTP type requests. The commonly used methods for such requests are either the POST or GET HTTP method. 1. For the testing purpose create a loopback pass-through XML Firewall. 2. Create a new Multi-Protocol Gateway with the following values

IBM Fills Out Ginny’s Chevons, Names Her Chairman Too

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 07:30:00 EDT

Ginny Rometty, who took over from Sam Palmisano as president and CEO of IBM back the first of the year, will add the title of chairman when Sam steps down from the board on October 1. He will stick around as senior advisor until he retires on December 1. Palmisano became CEO in 2002 and was named chairman in 2003.

OpenXava 4.5: Open Source Rapid Development for WebSphere

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:04:20 EDT

IBM Trying to Become a Hip Agile Software Developer

Mon, 07 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

At its annual user and partner Impact conference in Las Vegas this week, IBM announced a slew of new products, including new additions to its WebSphere applications family. There are also promises of better integration with software products from its … Continue reading →

OpenXava 4.4: Rapid Development for WebSphere Portal

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:43:18 EDT

APM Industry Support for IBM WebSphere Environments with dynaTrace 4.1

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:25:00 EST

Compuware Corporation the technology performance company, today announced the release of Compuware dynaTrace 4.1, the industry's first application performance management (APM) solution to provide full support for IBM WebSphere Message Broker. dynaTrace 4.1 also adds to its powerful User Experience Management (UEM) capabilities, enhances visualization and integrates with Compuware Gomez(R) Real-User Monitoring - Data Center. This new release furthers Compuware's leadership in the APM industry and extends its ability to deliver unprecedented business agility, cost optimization and competitive advantages to the marketplace.

IBM DataPower vs. Forum Sentry

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:15:00 EST

Mark Bakker from Xebia -- a specialized international IT consultancy focusing on Enterprise Java -- published an interesting overview of IBM DataPower Security Gateway and Forum Sentry. Mark writes:

read more

Rapid Development for WebSphere Portal

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:59:45 EST

OpenXava is a framework for Rapid Development of portlet applications compatible with WebSphere Portal. It is well-suited for business and database oriented applications. OpenXava allows you develop applications just by writing simple domain classes with Java or Groovy. The user interface is generated automatically in runtime, without code generation. OpenXava 4.3 adds support for total properties in collections, it has a new editor for HTML_TEXT stereotype, add info and warning messages and some other useful new features. Now you can use square brakets in @ListProperties to asociate one or more properties of the container entity to a property of the collection. In this way you can add arbitrary values as totals.

After Five-Year Drought, Java SE7 Is Here

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EDT

Java SE 7, the Java Platform, Standard Edition 7 is out. It’s the first major release in five years and took 9,494 bug fixes, 1,966 enhancements, 9,018 changesets, 147 builds and four JSRs to get here. It’s also the first release of the Java platform under Oracle’s stewardship, and threatened not to happen until Oracle put its foot down and went off and wheeled and dealed and leveraged IBM. (Remember the Apache Foundation stalking off and slamming the door?) Still, it’s based on the open source OpenJDK, making it something of a novelty for a commercial release.

GSX Solutions SVP Eileen Fitzgerald Selected as IBM Champion

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:40:00 EDT

GSX Solutions, a provider of proactive, consolidated monitoring, reporting of enterprise messaging, mobile and collaboration environments, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES), is proud to congratulate senior executive Eileen Fitzgerald for being selected as one of this year's IBM Champions. Fitzgerald, GSX Senior VP for Customer Delivery and Product Management, worked in the Global Notes environment for over 15 years and then focused on Service Delivery, managing Notes services, infrastructures and functionalities according to Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Standards. She is also a co-organizer for several Lotus User Group conferences (such as ILUG and UKLUG) and a regular speaker at IBM Lotusphere.

In the Spotlight: The ROI of E-Signing

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:22:50 EST

Indeed, the Signature Mortgage story was so compelling, that Bob was invited to also share the stage with two of IBM’s corporate clients during Sean Poulley’s strategy session in the morning, as well as participate in an analyst panel discussion on cloud computing later in the day. I would like to thank Bob Catlin, CEO and founder of Signature Mortgage, for doing a stellar job today at sharing his David and Goliath success story in the mortgage industry during his one-hour presentation at Lotusphere 2011. Bob discussed how e-SignLive and LotusLive have enabled his small regional operations to go head-to-head with large Internet players, and deliver superior performance and customer service. Indeed, the Signature Mortgage story was so compelling, that Bob was invited to also share the stage with two of IBM’s corporate clients during Sean Poulley’s strategy session in the morning, as well as participate in an analyst panel discussion on cloud computing later in the day. The reasons for the interest in Signature Mortgage’s story are easy to understand because of the compelling ROI that Bob was able to achieve in just three months since using the combined Silanis and IBM services.

Providing Extensible and Scalable SOA Infrastructure

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 03:30:00 EST

The XC10 and XI50 Integration is compelling. The idea behind the XI50-XC10 integration is to enable faster look-up of cached data and reduced processing at back-end tiers, with use of XC10 as a general purpose caching appliance. The XI50-XC10 integration has opened up many possibilities to economize on infrastructure costs and further leverage XC10s caching mechanism to speed up XI50 Authentication process. In simplest terms this integration amalgamates the better of two breeds of appliances. This integration speeds the look-up and processing done by XI50, by extensible and scalable cache enabled by XC10.

Silanis Announces Support for IBM Forms 4.0

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:38:35 EST

Silanis Technology, the electronic signature provider for the US Army, 21st Century, a Country Financial, BMW Financial Services and many other leading government, financial services, and insurance organizations, today announced that the latest release of its e-Sign Desktop solution 6.6 now supports IBM Forms 4.0. Version 6.6 of e-Sign Desktop (formerly known as ApproveIt Desktop) adds support for IBM Forms 4.0 on top of its existing support for MS Word, MS Excel, MS InfoPath, Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe Accelio. Organizations using IBM Forms 4.0's powerful "built-in" workflow engine and design tools to automate forms-based processes can now maximize their investment by adding Silanis' electronic signing capabilities to also achieve a 100% electronic approval process. e-Sign Desktop is a highly flexible and secure electronic signature solution that plugs into common file formats and supports the embedding of signatures within documents to facilitate integration with existing content management and workflow systems.

New IFS Explorer and Excel Exporting Enhancements for IBM i

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:30:13 EST

Building on over a decade of success with the database and file utility for the IBM i – Version 3.8 of the award winning Surveyor/400 is now available. Surveyor/400 is a GUI-based application running on your desktop computer that makes working with IBM databases, libraries, files, and spool files on the IBM i easy. Previously, many functions could be performed by browsing the IFS in the main Surveyor/400 window, but the new IFS Explorer allows file lists to be maintained in separate windows for an enhanced folder browsing experience. The IFS Explorer provides easier IFS navigation with a drop-down location bar, familiar forward and back buttons, and file filtering. The ability to transfer IFS files between IBM i systems or a user’s desktop now includes the ability to copy entire folders.

IBM VISION Cloud: "We Are Targeting an Open Specification"

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:15:00 EST

The EU-funded VISION Cloud initiative, led by IBM, has been launched and is focused on creating a metadata format that will enable users' data to be interoperable among Cloud service providers. This is potentially a huge development for all business, but especially small businesses, which run the risk of vendor lock-in and general unhappiness when they find that it's not cost-effective to switch Cloud vendors should they encounter problems. IBM heads the list of 15 organizations participating in this initiative. The research is being conducted out of an IBM facility in Haifa, Israel. We were able to learn more about the initiative from Dr, Yaron Wolfsthal, IBM's senior manager responsible for VISION Cloud, Here's what we asked and what he answered: Cloud Computing Journal: What are the key, high-level architectural challenges that you face in creating a way to handle portable metadata in the cloud?

Something You May Not Know About IBM and Cloud

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 03:15:00 EST

Ask someone to associate IBM and cloud computing, and that person will probably come back with something about solutions to help build private clouds. I know because I ask… all the time. On the surface, this is a fair association. After all, it is true that IBM offers quite a few different solutions that help users to build both private clouds and on-premise clouds that they then offer up to others (i.e. enabling service providers). However, it does not participate in this cloud delivery model at the expense of other delivery models.

Fortinet Denies IBM Acquisition Talks

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:30:00 EST

After Bloomberg reported that IBM was planning to buy network security appliance maker Fortinet, the company has fired back with a denial of the claim and a demand for a retraction. Bloomberg had quoted two unnamed sources who said a deal was in the works. Fortinet only IPO'd a year ago and has been selling pretty well since then and now its shares have also climbed way up on the takeover rumor.

IBM Seems To Be Having Trouble Supporting its Mainframe Restrictions

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT

A filing in the Neon v IBM mainframe antitrust case managed to get past the IBM censors, who have been sealing court documents willy-nilly in the name of confidentiality agreements. Imagine not being allowed to know the grounds for Neon's motion for a partial summary judgment - and in Texas no less. However, it seems we were right in betting that Neon Enterprise Software asked the federal court down there to rule that nowhere in IBM's contracts with its mainframe users does it say they can't run whatever workloads they want on the mainframes zIIP and zAAP specialty processors (SPs).

New IBM Platform for Telcos Takes Public Cloud Computing to a New Level

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:00:00 EDT

IBM is poised to become a change agent in public cloud services by enabling telecom companies to rapidly and easily roll out new "as a service" offerings to companies of all sizes, especially big ones. This week, the company announced the availability of the IBM Cloud Service Provider Platform, which combines hardware, software and services, both from IBM and an impressive roster of partners, in an offering tailored for the world's largest telecommunications companies. The telcos will use the new platform to provision and manage a broad variety of highly secure, scalable and reliable infrastructure, platform and software services through regional and global public clouds. The platform will be backed up with a rich menu of business and technical services provided by IBM and its channel partners. The combination of IBM's staggering investment and the reach, reliability and richness of the telcos' network infrastructure comprise a new force in public cloud computing that could leave many of its current leaders in the dust, gasping for air.

Top IBMers Turned HP Job Down: Reuters

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:45:00 EDT

In a exercise in futility, HP first tried to get both the immovable head of IBM software and now systems Steve Mills as well as its $95 billion global sales chief Ginni Rometty for its CEO, according to Reuters. HP’s search for a replacement for ousted CEO-gone-to-Oracle Mark Hurd is now in its sixth week. Gartner analyst Dave Cearley told CNNMoney.com that he heard HP had fixed on a candidate and is in contract negotiations. An announcement is dependent on how quickly they come to terms. Cearley thinks it’ll be by the end of October, also the end of HP’s fiscal year, which frankly doesn’t sound all that hopeful.

IBM Buys Netezza

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 08:45:00 EDT

IBM said Monday morning that it’s buying Netezza, the data warehouse appliance company that competes with Oracle’s vaunted Exadata widgetry, for roughly $1.78 billion net of Netezza’s bank book. IBM timed the announcement to coincide with Oracle’s OpenWorld festivities which are just getting off the ground. It said it would pay $27 a share cash, close to a 10% premium, modest compared to the recent HP–3PAR deal. Wall Street evidently thinks IBM’s bid may be challenged like Dell’s was for 3PAR because the punters, probably thinking of Oracle, immediately bid Netezza’s stock up over $27 on the news.

A Patterns-Based Approach for Middleware

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EDT

Yesterday, I joined some colleagues on a webcast where we had a chance to talk to some of our users about the technical concepts behind WebSphere solutions for building, consuming, and integrating clouds. We discussed ways to enable autonomic, policy-driven runtimes, construct elastic, in-memory data grids, and integrate on-premise and off-premise applications. It was all fun stuff to talk about, and hopefully the webcast participants got a good look at how cloud computing is taking hold in WebSphere. Having said that, for me, one topic stood out above the rest and that topic was pattern-based middleware for the cloud.

IBM Acquires Netezza

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:34:50 EDT

My take is that these purchases are for more than the engines that drive analytics -- they are for the engines that drive SaaS, cloud, mobile, web and what we might call the more modern work loads ... data intensive, high-scaling, fast-changing and services-oriented. IBM is snapping up yet another business analytics player. After purchasing OpenPages last week, Big Blue is now laying down $1.7 billion in an all-cash deal to acquire Netezza. Netezza provides high-performance analytics in a data warehousing appliance that claims to handle complex analytic queries 10 to 100 times faster than traditional systems. Netezza appliances puts analytics into the hands of business users in sales, marketing, product development, human resources and other departments that need to actionable insights to drive decision-making.

IBM Buys OpenPages

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EDT

IBM is buying OpenPages, a close friend of Sarbanes and Oxley, on undisclosed terms. An IBM study found risk management and compliance has risen in priority by 93% since 2005 maybe because two out of three companies had encountered material risk events within the past three years. OpenPages will expand IBM's business analytics. Its software lets mid- to large-sized businesses develop a comprehensive compliance and risk management strategy. It claims 200 clients including Allianz, Barclays and Carnival.

HP Paints Target on Its Back; IBM CEO Shoots Arrows

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 10:15:00 EDT

It’s not everyday that the buttoned-down CEO of the buttoned-down IBM takes a highly public shot at a rival – however calculated – but Tuesday was a day to watch a master practitioner. In an hour-long interview at a Wall Street Journal breakfast conference Sam Palmisano told all there that IBM would never in its wildest dreams have paid the $2.35 billion HP is proposing to pay for a joint like 3PAR or the $1.5 billion it’s paying for ArcSight – it doesn’t have to – but HP does because its ousted CEO Mark Hurd “cut out all the research and development.” “HP used to be a very inventive company,” Palmisano tsked, but now he doesn’t have to worry about it. It’s a reseller. Hurd cut HP’s R&D budget from $3.6 billion to $2.8 billion thereby making it weak and ineffectual. (Hurd loyalists say what Hurd actually did was can redundant R&D projects and focus the rest but the urban myth is easier to exploit. IBM spends $6 billion and you can bet that doesn’t all come up roses either.)

Ex-IBM Bigwig Sentenced to Six Months in Jail

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:15:00 EDT

There’s nothing like six month in the calaboose to round out one’s resume. Robert Moffat, the ex-IBM server and chip chief who supposedly had a shot at being named Big Blue’s CEO someday, was sentenced Monday to six-months in prison for blabbing insider secrets to his mistress Danielle Chiesi. Chiesi, unfortunately, just happened to be at the center of what the government calls the biggest hedge fund insider trading scandal ever. The sentence is exactly what the prosecution asked for. Moffat was hoping for probation. He also has to pay a $50,000 fine. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud like a dozen of the 21 defendants in the case.

Here It Is, Your Moment of zEnterprise

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EDT

IBM's new zEnterprise 196 server, powered by a 4-core chip with a record-breaking clock speed of 5.2GHz per core, is a monster. The top-end 96-core unit can execute over 50 BIPS and run 100,000 virtual servers. But, is it a mainframe or is it a cloud server? IBM engineering and sales simply say, "Yes, it is!" But the big iron marketing folks can't quite bring themselves to say the "C-word" yet.

Cloud Computing: Bidding for 3PAR Hits $30 a Share

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:45:00 EDT

The bidding for 3PAR now stands at $30 a share. That's like two billion bucks, pushing passed what appeared to be hysterical speculation about how far into the clouds the offers could go just days ago. Dell this morning rolled out of bed and matched HP's price late yesterday of $27 a share, $1.8 billion. HP immediately countered with $30 returning the puck to Dell, which thought it had the apparently priceless storage operation in the bag a week ago Monday at only 18 bucks a share until HP upset the apple cart Monday with a surprise bid of $24 a share on Monday. Dell Thursday morning sweetened HP's $24 offer by 30 cents and HP then went to $27. Wall Street is betting the price will go higher still and had boosted 3PAR's stock price to $3.68 mid-morning Friday.

Do Appliances Have A Role in Cloud's Evolution?

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:45:00 EDT

Recently, I read an interview with fellow IBMer, Bruce Otte, in which he laid out IBM’s Roadmap to ‘Smart Clouds’ by highlighting five key areas. I’m not going to enumerate those here, if you are interested you can check out the interview, but there is one thing that especially caught my eye: the notion of cloud appliances.

IBM Buys Unica

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:34:00 EDT

IBM is buying Unica Corporation for ~$480 million for its advertising and marketing software. It’s paying better than double what the stock was selling for. The deal should close before the end of the year. Unica is supposed to automatically predict customer preferences around which ad campaigns are built and measured. Unica, which has maybe 1,500 customers, and its 500 people will become part of Blue’s analytics unit. IBM means to use it especially in developing countries.

Ex-IBM Higher-Up Could Do Six Months in Jail

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:45:00 EDT

U.S. federal prosecutors want former IBM server and chips chief Robert Moffat, supposedly a candidate to replace IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, to spend six months in jail for passing insider information to love interest New Castle Partners trader Danielle Chiesi, a prime player in the big Galleon hedge fund scandal. Moffat, who pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges back in March, is supposed to be sentenced on September 13. Reuters says U.S. attorneys told the judge their recommendation “is consistent with Moffat’s plea agreement.”

Why IBM Is Going to Acquire Unica

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:32:10 EDT

Unlike the other three leading Eco Systems vendors Microsoft, Oracleand SAP, IBM is not a player in the applications market. Its absence from this market is based on strategy which does not include ERP,CRM and other applications as one of its target markets. So why is IBM going to acquire a small CRM vendor named Unica? In order to answer this question I am going to describe the first time the name Unica was mentioned to me.

IBM Acquires Marketing Automation Software Company Unica

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:40:00 EDT

IBM and Unica Corporation today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for IBM to acquire Unica in a cash transaction at a price of $21 per share, or at a net price of approximately $480 million, after adjusting for cash. A publicly held company in Waltham, Mass., Unica will expand IBM's ability to help organizations analyze and predict customer preferences and develop more targeted marketing campaigns.

Positioning for PaaS

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:45:00 EDT

One objective look at the current PaaS market provides all the evidence you need to conclude that we are in but the infancy of development for this technology. I want to be clear here, there are some really cool (and more importantly value-providing) offerings out there, but there is a long way to go. Specifically, I am not convinced anyone can make a case that we have solutions today that comprehensively address two concepts that will become mere table-stakes in the PaaS play space.

HP’s Golden CEO Quits Amid Sex Scandal

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:00:00 EDT

HP chairman, president and CEO Mark Hurd, 53, the buttoned-down golden boy the company brought in to clean up the mess left by his ousted predecessor Carly Fiorina, the guy who delivered on that charter beyond the company’s wildest expectations, quit suddenly this evening after a weeks-old company investigation by outside and inside legal counsel of sexual harassment charges.

Sharp Community Medical Group Taps IBM and ActiveHealth Care Solution

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EDT

Sharp Community Medical Group (SCMG) announced on Thursday it will employ a new Collaborative Care Solution unveiled today by IBM and ActiveHealth Management to connect the medical group's 200 primary care physicians and 500 specialists throughout San Diego County in order to help doctors to deliver more complete and accurate decisions about patient care. SCMG expects the new solution to change the way physicians and nurses access information throughout the hospital group's multiple electronic medical record systems by applying advanced analytics and clinical decision support to help give doctors better insight and work more closely across patient care teams.

IBM to Set Up Polish Cloud

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 06:30:00 EDT

IBM Poland and the Wroclaw University of Technology are going to set up the first university cloud computing center in Poland for students and professors, industry partners and government agencies. The school is supposed to create a new academic curriculum based mainly on IBM Tivoli software and make cloud-focused courses available to 1,500 students. They said cloud computing skills are increasingly in demand by Polish employers. The school is the first university to become part of IBM’s Multipurpose Cloud Computing Center established this year and opened to all institutes of higher learning. Last year IBM and the Polish government signed an agreement to cooperate on the creation of a new IBM IT service delivery center in Wroclaw.

We Need Standards... and Now!

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EDT

Generally, I believe standards are a good thing for both technology consumers and providers. For consumers, they act as a focusing lens for the kinds of capabilities they should be looking for from a particular implementation (regardless of the technology we are talking about). From a technology provider standpoint, you may often hear the rallying cry that standards impede innovation. By and large, this is a bogus argument. When formed at the right time, standards encourage innovation by normalizing the baseline capabilities that a particular piece of technology should deliver, thus encouraging implementers to seek out those things that will differentiate their offering. In this sense, standards serve as a forcing function for innovation.

Developers Rate IBM Top Private Cloud

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EDT

IBM on Tuesday announced that its private test and development cloud was the top choice of developers in Evans Data Corporation's Cloud Development Survey 2010. Evans Data Corporation's Cloud Development Survey Report examines the concerns, intentions and current adoption of developers regarding deploying to and developing for public or private clouds. The report covers the full range of Cloud Computing issues, including: Private Cloud vs. Public Cloud, Private cloud management and data centers, standards and security. In the survey of over 400 software developers, almost 30% identified IBM as the top Private Cloud provider. Developers indicated that the most important factors in determining which private cloud provider to use are security, reliability and uptime, and proven expertise. The primary benefits of deploying applications in a private cloud are the freedom from maintaining hardware, cost savings, and scalability.

Developers Pick Google and IBM as Top Cloud Vendors

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:15:00 EDT

The Cloud Development Survey Report examines the concerns, intentions and current adoption of developers regarding deploying to and developing for public or private clouds. The report covers the full range of Cloud Computing issues, including: Private Cloud vs. Public Cloud, Private cloud management and data centers, standards and organizations, security, wireless Cloud Services, tool use, licensing, languages for use in the Cloud, and applications that will move first to the Cloud.

An Anti-Oracle Play or IBM’s Succession Plan?

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:25:00 EDT

IBM reorganized its executive suite Monday in a move that an ex-IBM VP thinks signals that CEO Sam Palmisano, on the cusp of turning 59 later this month, “is planning to stick around for a while and just wants smaller staff meetings.” Most everybody else sees it as the beginnings of a succession plan with the survivor of the obstacle course acceding to the throne. See, IBM CEOs have this tradition of retiring and passing their swagger stick on to the next generation at 60. Sam got the job when he was 50. If he sticks around indefinitely, those in the newly ordained inner circle may be too old to succeed him. Some are already deemed too old. Ultimately IBM may look elsewhere.

IBM Bolsters Scientific Research to Improve Healthcare Quality

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:28:00 EDT

IBM on Thursday announced plans to enlist some of the company's leading scientists and technologists to help medical practitioners and insurance companies provide high-quality, evidence-based care to patients. As part of this initiative, IBM is collaborating with clinicians in medical institutions and hiring medical doctors to work alongside its researchers to develop new technologies, scientific advancements and business processes for healthcare and insurance providers. Dedicating $100 million over the next three years, the initiative will draw on IBM's leadership in systems integration, services research, cloud computing, analytics and emerging scientific areas - such as nanomedicine and computational biology - to drive innovations that empower practitioners to focus their efforts on patient care.

IBM and EU in Cloud Consortium

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:45:00 EDT

IBM is setting up a research consortium with the European Union and European schools to flesh out a new computer science model that uses open source software and the cloud to derive a 40% cost reduction in the design, deployment and management of what it calls “e-service blends” – that is, in hooking together various companies’ customer services. The consortium has set itself an Artifact-Centric Service Interoperation (ACSI) project that’s supposed to simplify and streamline the usually costly and mostly manual process of blending multiple, separately managed e-services into industry-specific, dynamic, organic wholes. It says the ACSI framework should be able to automate about 90% of the data transformations needed.

Larry Hires David Boies to Snag a Billion Off of SAP

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:00:00 EDT

Oracle has hired David Boies to argue its case against SAP. Oracle has made it clear in a 2008 filing with the court that its damages “are, at a minimum, well into the several hundreds of millions of dollars and likely are at least a billion dollars.” Boies is the guy who won the Justice Department’s antitrust suit against Microsoft although the judge’s breakup decision didn’t stick. He also lost Al Gore the presidency and his boys lost SCO its case against Linux. Maybe he and his people will understand this one better. Oracle charged SAP’s now defunct discount maintenance subsidiary TomorrowNow with ripping off its IP. It looks like the Armonk-based Boies is going to argue this one himself judging from his pro hac vice admission to the California bar. The trial is set to start November 1. The judge wants the parties to settle beforehand but with Boies in the picture that doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen. SAP has already admitted TomorrowNow was off base. Boies represented Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in his litigation over the America’s Cup race.

IBM Helps Financial Markets Manage Increasing Volumes of Transactions

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:18:00 EDT

IBM has unveiled a new technology platform designed to transform the way that financial services firms manage the ever increasing amount of data and transaction volumes generated by capital markets around the world. Financial systems are tremendously data-intensive and rely on speed in trading transactions that can result in huge profits and help exchanges compete and meet client demands. The slightest unexpected spike in market volatility can lead to transaction delays and systems failures, with a direct impact on the global financial system and the businesses and individuals that rely on it.

IBM To Buy Storwize: Report

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:00:00 EDT

IBM is supposed to be negotiating to buy Massachusetts-based online data compression ISV Storwize for $140 million according to the Israeli daily Haaretz. Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital, Tamares Group and Tokyo Electron have about $40 million in the six-year-old company. Its widgetry increases the storage space for networks. Haaretz thinks the deal will close by the end of July.