AlphaTV project coincides with 60th anniversary of IBM tape innovation
IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that AlphaTV, a leading television network in Greece, has overhauled its storage infrastructure with IBM high performance, high capacity tape solutions for greater efficiencies, faster access to video and the ability to store more video in dramatically less space.
AlphaTV has been broadcasting since 1996, creating and storing all forms of video entertainment, from soap operas and documentaries, to movies and sporting events, and creating a vast video archive along the way. Initially, AlphaTV archived its programming on Sony Beta SP format video cassettes that stored up to 90 minutes of content. Not long after, in need of storage that offered greater density, it turned to DVCPRO format videos that stored up to 120 minutes. But even that format was not allowing the network to keep pace with its ballooning archive, a storage infrastructure that by 2011 spanned over 1,507 square feet.
To get greater control of this infrastructure, AlphaTV turned to IBM and its Linear Tape File System (LTFS) and IBM Linear Tape Open (LTO) Ultrium 5 tape drives, that can store up to 3TB, with 2:1 compression in a single cartridge. With this solution, AlphaTV has been able to store more content in far less space.
“A Greek TV series stored on 100 DVCPRO tapes took up four shelves in our library, whereas on LTO-5 cartridge now takes up the space of a deck of playing cards,” said Constantinos Colombus, chief technology officer at AlphaTV.
The move has helped the network shrink its archive from 1,507 to just 388 square feet, representing dramatic systems and energy cost savings.
In addition to the sheer capacity gains of the LTO 5 drives, the network’s use of IBM LTFS has enabled it to better manage the content on an on-going basis. IBM LTFS, an intuitive and graphical file system that provides direct access to data on LTO 5 drives, has enabled AlphaTV to manage, move, and share video files much like they can with disk management systems, by simply dragging and dropping. As a result, file management is easier to do and far more efficient, said Colombus.
AlphaTV’s move to IBM’s advanced tape solution underscores the ongoing value and the reverberating impact of the company’s research around magnetic tape that began with a major breakthrough back in 1952. In that year, IBM released the IBM 726 tape storage system, a hulking 935-pound system that stored up to 2.3MB of data on reel-to-reel tape. Up to that point, magnetic tape was deemed unreliable and problematic for data storage because the fast starts and stops of the high-powered drives often snapped the relatively brittle media.
IBM researchers solved this problem by employing a “vacuum column” that gently pulled a portion of tape in between access times to create a buffer, or a loop, of loose tape. With this buffer, the tape could withstand the abrupt starts and stops. The innovation was widely adopted by the industry and ushered in the era of modern computing.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
IBM Teams up with Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center to Reduce New HIV Infections to Zero
IBM business analytics enable more efficient strategic planning and enhance HIV prevention
IBM is collaborating with the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center (TRCARC) to strengthen efforts to prevent HIV and to make Bangkok the world’s first city to achieve "Zero New HIV Infections" by 2015. As part of this initiative, IBM is donating technology expertise and business analytics software to enable the center to design more effective intervention strategies to help end the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The initiative is in response to “Getting to Zero,” a global campaign initiated by UNAIDS to stop new HIV infections, reduce discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, and to reduce HIV/AIDS related deaths by 2015. The campaign was endorsed the Thai government in February 2011. Leveraging IBM business analytics, TRCARC can tap into all types of related information and share outputs with its alliance gencies such as the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health.
Professor Emeritus Praphan Phanuphak, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center said, “HIV infection is one of the most serious public health threats Thailand is facing. The country currently has about 500,000 people infected with HIV. It is estimated that there are 16,000 new HIV infection cases per year. Unfortunately, only 40 per cent of the HIV infected population knows they are living with HIV/AIDS and gets access to antiretroviral treatment services. This situation results in the continuing spread of the life-threatening virus and new infections are rising every year.”
Operating under the Thai Red Cross Society, TRCARC is a leading healthcare entity with a mission to provide people affected by HIV with access to comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support. Another of its roles is to initiate and execute high-quality HIV prevention programs, cultivate social responsibility and community awareness of HIV/AIDS, as well as conduct preventive and curative research in the field.
Prof. Praphan said, “We are excited to work with IBM and to adopt the company’s advanced technology and expertise. The IBM team helped develop a database and provided directions to manage behavioral records of people with high risk of HIV infection. IBM's business analytics capabilities also enable our researchers to make better decisions on more proactive and preventive measures against the transmission of HIV. This collaboration also helps foster a comprehensive platform for technical knowledge transfer and skills development among our staff.”
Previously, TRCARC launched many HIV prevention campaigns targeting epidemic hot spots to create greater awareness of HIV/AIDS and provide voluntary counseling and testing services free of charge. However, the center found that such activities had limited effect because information used to design campaign strategies was insufficient, inaccurate and outdated.
“This collaboration clearly represents IBM’s vision to build a Smarter Planet,” said Parnsiree Amatayakul, Managing Director of IBM Thailand Company Limited. “By adopting IBM technology, organizations are able to transform the way they work and improve the quality of life. We are thrilled to contribute our expertise and technologies to Bangkok’s initiative to fight against the transmission of HIV while empowering TRCARC’s research capabilities. This is our commitment to building a sustainable society.”
IBM donated software licenses and a technical team of highly experienced professionals to:
Develop an advanced, fully automated information management system using IBM COGNOS software to better analyze and report behavioral trends associated with people with a high risk of infection. The software also helps researchers to manage information relevant to the prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. This information can be presented in the form of tables and maps enabling TRCARC to make better decisions and efficiently identify the best possible strategies to fight against HIV transmission.
Create an online behavioral survey that can be applied among people with a high risk of HIV infection. To answer questions, respondents can access this survey via www.adamslove.org - and at TRCARC’s Anonymous Clinic.Design and develop a database that systematically stores data from the online behavioral survey. By using IBM DB2 database software, data retrieval time is significantly reduced from two months to five minutes.
IBM is also instrumental in giving scientists the computer resources necessary to research drugs that treat HIV, the disease which causes AIDS. For instance, IBM's World Community Grid -- a network that provides researchers the spare computing power of two million PCs owned by 600,000 individuals and organizations -- has enabled the Scripps Research Institute to discover two new compounds that could lead to medicines for those infected with HIV.
IBM is collaborating with the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center (TRCARC) to strengthen efforts to prevent HIV and to make Bangkok the world’s first city to achieve "Zero New HIV Infections" by 2015. As part of this initiative, IBM is donating technology expertise and business analytics software to enable the center to design more effective intervention strategies to help end the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The initiative is in response to “Getting to Zero,” a global campaign initiated by UNAIDS to stop new HIV infections, reduce discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, and to reduce HIV/AIDS related deaths by 2015. The campaign was endorsed the Thai government in February 2011. Leveraging IBM business analytics, TRCARC can tap into all types of related information and share outputs with its alliance gencies such as the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health.
Professor Emeritus Praphan Phanuphak, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center said, “HIV infection is one of the most serious public health threats Thailand is facing. The country currently has about 500,000 people infected with HIV. It is estimated that there are 16,000 new HIV infection cases per year. Unfortunately, only 40 per cent of the HIV infected population knows they are living with HIV/AIDS and gets access to antiretroviral treatment services. This situation results in the continuing spread of the life-threatening virus and new infections are rising every year.”
Operating under the Thai Red Cross Society, TRCARC is a leading healthcare entity with a mission to provide people affected by HIV with access to comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support. Another of its roles is to initiate and execute high-quality HIV prevention programs, cultivate social responsibility and community awareness of HIV/AIDS, as well as conduct preventive and curative research in the field.
Prof. Praphan said, “We are excited to work with IBM and to adopt the company’s advanced technology and expertise. The IBM team helped develop a database and provided directions to manage behavioral records of people with high risk of HIV infection. IBM's business analytics capabilities also enable our researchers to make better decisions on more proactive and preventive measures against the transmission of HIV. This collaboration also helps foster a comprehensive platform for technical knowledge transfer and skills development among our staff.”
Previously, TRCARC launched many HIV prevention campaigns targeting epidemic hot spots to create greater awareness of HIV/AIDS and provide voluntary counseling and testing services free of charge. However, the center found that such activities had limited effect because information used to design campaign strategies was insufficient, inaccurate and outdated.
“This collaboration clearly represents IBM’s vision to build a Smarter Planet,” said Parnsiree Amatayakul, Managing Director of IBM Thailand Company Limited. “By adopting IBM technology, organizations are able to transform the way they work and improve the quality of life. We are thrilled to contribute our expertise and technologies to Bangkok’s initiative to fight against the transmission of HIV while empowering TRCARC’s research capabilities. This is our commitment to building a sustainable society.”
IBM donated software licenses and a technical team of highly experienced professionals to:
Develop an advanced, fully automated information management system using IBM COGNOS software to better analyze and report behavioral trends associated with people with a high risk of infection. The software also helps researchers to manage information relevant to the prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. This information can be presented in the form of tables and maps enabling TRCARC to make better decisions and efficiently identify the best possible strategies to fight against HIV transmission.
Create an online behavioral survey that can be applied among people with a high risk of HIV infection. To answer questions, respondents can access this survey via www.adamslove.org - and at TRCARC’s Anonymous Clinic.Design and develop a database that systematically stores data from the online behavioral survey. By using IBM DB2 database software, data retrieval time is significantly reduced from two months to five minutes.
IBM is also instrumental in giving scientists the computer resources necessary to research drugs that treat HIV, the disease which causes AIDS. For instance, IBM's World Community Grid -- a network that provides researchers the spare computing power of two million PCs owned by 600,000 individuals and organizations -- has enabled the Scripps Research Institute to discover two new compounds that could lead to medicines for those infected with HIV.
IBM Expands Global Cloud Capabilities with Advanced SmartCloud Services and New Customer Adoption
Cloud Services Focus on Choice, Security and Control for Enterprise computing
As businesses embrace the transformative power of cloud computing to gain a significant advantage, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled advancements to its SmartCloud Services and announced new customers and partners that demonstrate IBM SmartCloud is a leading enterprise cloud platform for business.
IBM has seen rapid adoption of its SmartCloud portfolio as customers and partners move to the cloud. IBM manages massive amounts of data and client transactions in its cloud environments, including:
· 1 million enterprise application users working on the IBM Cloud
· More than $100 billion in commerce transactions a year in the cloud
· 4.5 million daily client transactions conducted through the IBM Cloud
Customers and partners are increasingly choosing IBM SmartCloud services, software and hardware to expand into new markets, enable their mobile workforces and develop enterprise applications more efficiently.
“Companies are starting to understand that cloud is more than just about gaining efficiencies and cost savings, it’s about driving the kind of fundamental innovation that provides lasting marketplace advantage,” said Paul Loftus, general manager, IBM Global Technology Services. “We are helping all kinds of clients manage enterprise applications and processes in the cloud as well as leverage new cloud centric applications while meeting their unique requirements for governance, security and portability.”
Open Innovation in the Cloud
TopCoder®, Inc., the world’s largest Open Innovation Community of digital creators, is moving its global community of more than 400,000 developers - the largest community of its kind – to IBM SmartCloud Enterprise. These developers help organizations succeed by efficiently and effectively supporting their entire innovation process—from ideation, software engineering and analytics to implementation, testing and support.
TopCoder provides high quality application development, mobile development, user experience and graphic design, and big data project work through this competitive, multi-disciplinary, global community of developers.
SmartCloud for SAP Applications
Ogilvy & Mather, an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency, also turned to IBM to solve its critical business need to upgrade their IT environment. The IBM team is in the process of migrating Ogilvy from its current hosted environment to the SmartCloud for SAP Applications hosted in IBM's state-of-the-art, green Smarter Data Center in Raleigh North Carolina.
The Ogilvy solution includes the latest infrastructure technology, full SAP service and is pre-built, pre-configured, requiring minimal client resources to maintain their entire production SAP landscape. IBM’s SAP Cloud solution also offers Ogilvy the benefits of solution scalability, and the ability to add resources for development projects with a short term commitment.
“Given the attention to cloud-based solutions, it's easy to be overwhelmed with comparisons and multiple options. However, when it comes to critical applications like SAP, we were looking for a mature model that could scale and cater to our unique prerequisites,” said Yuri Aguiar, Senior Partner and CIO, Ogilvy & Mather. “The SCE+ offering fit this need very well and had the backing of a reliable global partner.”
Smarter Marketing in the Cloud
OTRUM, a leading provider of interactive TV solutions and content to the hospitality industry, utilizes the Cognos analytics tool from IBM to handle marketing campaigns and highlight repeat behavior patterns associated with guest interaction and purchasing. This solution leverages Cognos on SmartCloud Enterprise to deliver custom analytics to over 500 hotels.
OTRUM has now fully migrated all digital signage clients to the IBM SmartCloud Enterprise, a move that eliminates the need for hundreds of physical servers at customer sites. As well as reducing hardware, the cloud increases efficiency by allowing for central management and distribution of data.
Expanding IBM Platform-as-a-Service
Launched as a platform-as-a-service beta program in October 2011, IBM’s SmartCloud Application Services (SCAS) is expanding to a full pilot with new customers such as CLD Partners, a leading provider of IT consulting services with a particular focus on cloud computing.
“We share IBM’s vision for how enterprise customers can achieve huge productivity gains by embracing cloud technologies. SCAS allowed us to utilize world class software in a managed environment that greatly reduced the complexity of the deployment while also providing for future scalability that our customers only pay for when they need it,” said Steve Clune, Founder and CEO of CLD Partners. “Ultimately, traditional infrastructure planning and configuration that would have required weeks was literally reduced to hours. And future flexibility as infrastructure needs change is virtually limitless.”
Connected Healthcare in the Cloud
IBM is helping improve healthcare delivery in Haiti through its collaboration with ‘Colleagues in Care’ Global Healthcare Network. Colleagues in Care is using the IBM SmartCloud for Social Business to virtually connect medical workers and volunteers from around the globe. Using the IBM SmartCloud, the volunteers and those on the front lines taking care of patients are armed with an online medical knowledge system that includes treatment options, clinical pathways, and best practices specific to the situation in Haiti.
The network consists of approximately 200 doctors, nurses, and business professionals coming together virtually from all around the globe including Canada, China, Haiti, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Additional new clients, including RICOH Company, Ltd., Neiman Marcus, University of Texas El Paso, Hindustan Motors, Bonduelle and Apave have chosen IBM's SmartCloud to help drive social business adoption across the enterprise. Using IBM social networking tools in the cloud, these organizations are seamlessly collaborating and sharing information and ideas, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity in a security-rich and cost-effective environment.
For these social businesses, IBM is also introducing IBM SmartCloud Archive Essentials, a cost-effective email archiving solution. IBM SmartCloud Archive Essentials provides customers with the confidence of knowing their email is archived continuously and securely, while making the data accessible for compliance and e-discovery requirements in the IBM SmartCloud.
Ready for IBM SmartCloud Services
Launched in February, IBM’s Ready for IBM SmartCloud Services validation continues to grow with over 30 new Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and partners, making it easier for clients to quickly find technology from Business Partners that are validated for IBM SmartCloud Services. In the new online directory, certified Business Partner technologies are divided into categories such as business applications, collaboration, development and test tools, infrastructure services, and security and monitoring.
New ISVs and partners include AppZero, Cloud Prime, Cohesive FT, Convertigo, Corent, Jaspersoft, NViso, SOASTA, Sproxil, SugarCRM, Vacava, Vision Solutions, Zementis, among many others.
Additionally, IBM is announcing new and expanded capabilities to its SmartCloud portfolio, including:
SmartCloud Enterprise 2.1
· Offering new and enhanced functionality in a simple to deploy, robust infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS) for building and deploying innovative applications that can optionally integrate with private cloud and traditional IT elements.
· New service level agreement (SLA) of 99.9% SmartCloud Enterprise gives clients confidence in factoring cloud-centric applications for a broad array of workloads.
· Two new Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 will add new and improved functionality for enhanced performance, flexibility and security while Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 delivers improvements in virtualization, resource management and high availability, and offers new features in storage, file system performance and identity management.
· Upgrades to the persistent storage system, enabling increased speed and performance, and upgrades to embedded KVM hypervisors providing greater security and performance improvements.
SmartCloud Enterprise
· Now available in North America and Europe with plans for additional global roll-out in 3rd quarter 2012.
· Unprecedented support for both x86 and P-Series - running operating systems including Windows, Linux and AIX on top of either VMWare or PowerVM hypervisors, and delivered with the proven expertise of IBM services.
· Migration Services for SmartCloud Enterprise+ with patented tools and methods to help clients speed up transition from traditional outsourcing to cloud is projected to be available in 3rd quarter 2012.
· SCE+ is designed to support different workloads and associated technology platforms including a new System z shared environment that will be available in the U.S. and U.K. later this year.
SmartCloud Application Services
· IBM’s platform-as-a-service (PaaS) will now be more widely available to select customers moving from beta to pilot stage. Customers will be able to take advantage of both Application Workload Service as well as Collaborative Lifecycle Management Service to develop and deploy applications on top of SmartCloud Enterprise to jump-start their SmartCloud Application Services (SCAS) projects.
· While in the pilot phase, customers will be able to use SmartCloud Application Services at no charge, except for the underlying IBM SmartCloud Enterprise infrastructure used by the SCAS pilot services.
· Available in English around the world, the SmartCloud Application Services pilot will run from May 15th until general availability projected for 3rd quarter 2012.
· As part of the broader IBM SmartCloud family, SmartCloud Application Services are compatible with the newly announced IBM PureSystems family. For example, through SmartCloud Application Services clients can rapidly design, develop, and test their dynamic applications on IBM's public cloud and deploy those same applications on a private cloud built with PureApplication Systems, or vice versa.
Across both IBM SmartCloud Enterprise and Enterprise+, IBM now supports Microsoft License Mobility program. Offering new flexible options for deploying Microsoft applications, such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft SQL Server on IBM's SmartCloud Enterprise, customers can choose between deploying Microsoft applications on premises or on IBM's SmartCloud leveraging the value of volume licenses with Microsoft's Software Assurance. This option can help customers lower operating costs using IBM's SmartCloud shared infrastructure.
Financing provided by IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing arm of IBM, helps credit-qualified clients make the transition to cloud computing with low-rate financing for cloud solutions and zero percent loans for IBM software. Financing helps clients accelerates their cloud project’s cash flow break-even point by spreading upfront costs over time, enabling them to utilizing cash reserves for other strategic investments.
About IBM Cloud Computing
IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models and manages millions of cloud based transactions every day. IBM assists clients in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centers.
As businesses embrace the transformative power of cloud computing to gain a significant advantage, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled advancements to its SmartCloud Services and announced new customers and partners that demonstrate IBM SmartCloud is a leading enterprise cloud platform for business.
IBM has seen rapid adoption of its SmartCloud portfolio as customers and partners move to the cloud. IBM manages massive amounts of data and client transactions in its cloud environments, including:
· 1 million enterprise application users working on the IBM Cloud
· More than $100 billion in commerce transactions a year in the cloud
· 4.5 million daily client transactions conducted through the IBM Cloud
Customers and partners are increasingly choosing IBM SmartCloud services, software and hardware to expand into new markets, enable their mobile workforces and develop enterprise applications more efficiently.
“Companies are starting to understand that cloud is more than just about gaining efficiencies and cost savings, it’s about driving the kind of fundamental innovation that provides lasting marketplace advantage,” said Paul Loftus, general manager, IBM Global Technology Services. “We are helping all kinds of clients manage enterprise applications and processes in the cloud as well as leverage new cloud centric applications while meeting their unique requirements for governance, security and portability.”
Open Innovation in the Cloud
TopCoder®, Inc., the world’s largest Open Innovation Community of digital creators, is moving its global community of more than 400,000 developers - the largest community of its kind – to IBM SmartCloud Enterprise. These developers help organizations succeed by efficiently and effectively supporting their entire innovation process—from ideation, software engineering and analytics to implementation, testing and support.
TopCoder provides high quality application development, mobile development, user experience and graphic design, and big data project work through this competitive, multi-disciplinary, global community of developers.
SmartCloud for SAP Applications
Ogilvy & Mather, an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency, also turned to IBM to solve its critical business need to upgrade their IT environment. The IBM team is in the process of migrating Ogilvy from its current hosted environment to the SmartCloud for SAP Applications hosted in IBM's state-of-the-art, green Smarter Data Center in Raleigh North Carolina.
The Ogilvy solution includes the latest infrastructure technology, full SAP service and is pre-built, pre-configured, requiring minimal client resources to maintain their entire production SAP landscape. IBM’s SAP Cloud solution also offers Ogilvy the benefits of solution scalability, and the ability to add resources for development projects with a short term commitment.
“Given the attention to cloud-based solutions, it's easy to be overwhelmed with comparisons and multiple options. However, when it comes to critical applications like SAP, we were looking for a mature model that could scale and cater to our unique prerequisites,” said Yuri Aguiar, Senior Partner and CIO, Ogilvy & Mather. “The SCE+ offering fit this need very well and had the backing of a reliable global partner.”
Smarter Marketing in the Cloud
OTRUM, a leading provider of interactive TV solutions and content to the hospitality industry, utilizes the Cognos analytics tool from IBM to handle marketing campaigns and highlight repeat behavior patterns associated with guest interaction and purchasing. This solution leverages Cognos on SmartCloud Enterprise to deliver custom analytics to over 500 hotels.
OTRUM has now fully migrated all digital signage clients to the IBM SmartCloud Enterprise, a move that eliminates the need for hundreds of physical servers at customer sites. As well as reducing hardware, the cloud increases efficiency by allowing for central management and distribution of data.
Expanding IBM Platform-as-a-Service
Launched as a platform-as-a-service beta program in October 2011, IBM’s SmartCloud Application Services (SCAS) is expanding to a full pilot with new customers such as CLD Partners, a leading provider of IT consulting services with a particular focus on cloud computing.
“We share IBM’s vision for how enterprise customers can achieve huge productivity gains by embracing cloud technologies. SCAS allowed us to utilize world class software in a managed environment that greatly reduced the complexity of the deployment while also providing for future scalability that our customers only pay for when they need it,” said Steve Clune, Founder and CEO of CLD Partners. “Ultimately, traditional infrastructure planning and configuration that would have required weeks was literally reduced to hours. And future flexibility as infrastructure needs change is virtually limitless.”
Connected Healthcare in the Cloud
IBM is helping improve healthcare delivery in Haiti through its collaboration with ‘Colleagues in Care’ Global Healthcare Network. Colleagues in Care is using the IBM SmartCloud for Social Business to virtually connect medical workers and volunteers from around the globe. Using the IBM SmartCloud, the volunteers and those on the front lines taking care of patients are armed with an online medical knowledge system that includes treatment options, clinical pathways, and best practices specific to the situation in Haiti.
The network consists of approximately 200 doctors, nurses, and business professionals coming together virtually from all around the globe including Canada, China, Haiti, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Additional new clients, including RICOH Company, Ltd., Neiman Marcus, University of Texas El Paso, Hindustan Motors, Bonduelle and Apave have chosen IBM's SmartCloud to help drive social business adoption across the enterprise. Using IBM social networking tools in the cloud, these organizations are seamlessly collaborating and sharing information and ideas, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity in a security-rich and cost-effective environment.
For these social businesses, IBM is also introducing IBM SmartCloud Archive Essentials, a cost-effective email archiving solution. IBM SmartCloud Archive Essentials provides customers with the confidence of knowing their email is archived continuously and securely, while making the data accessible for compliance and e-discovery requirements in the IBM SmartCloud.
Ready for IBM SmartCloud Services
Launched in February, IBM’s Ready for IBM SmartCloud Services validation continues to grow with over 30 new Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and partners, making it easier for clients to quickly find technology from Business Partners that are validated for IBM SmartCloud Services. In the new online directory, certified Business Partner technologies are divided into categories such as business applications, collaboration, development and test tools, infrastructure services, and security and monitoring.
New ISVs and partners include AppZero, Cloud Prime, Cohesive FT, Convertigo, Corent, Jaspersoft, NViso, SOASTA, Sproxil, SugarCRM, Vacava, Vision Solutions, Zementis, among many others.
Additionally, IBM is announcing new and expanded capabilities to its SmartCloud portfolio, including:
SmartCloud Enterprise 2.1
· Offering new and enhanced functionality in a simple to deploy, robust infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS) for building and deploying innovative applications that can optionally integrate with private cloud and traditional IT elements.
· New service level agreement (SLA) of 99.9% SmartCloud Enterprise gives clients confidence in factoring cloud-centric applications for a broad array of workloads.
· Two new Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 will add new and improved functionality for enhanced performance, flexibility and security while Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 delivers improvements in virtualization, resource management and high availability, and offers new features in storage, file system performance and identity management.
· Upgrades to the persistent storage system, enabling increased speed and performance, and upgrades to embedded KVM hypervisors providing greater security and performance improvements.
SmartCloud Enterprise
· Now available in North America and Europe with plans for additional global roll-out in 3rd quarter 2012.
· Unprecedented support for both x86 and P-Series - running operating systems including Windows, Linux and AIX on top of either VMWare or PowerVM hypervisors, and delivered with the proven expertise of IBM services.
· Migration Services for SmartCloud Enterprise+ with patented tools and methods to help clients speed up transition from traditional outsourcing to cloud is projected to be available in 3rd quarter 2012.
· SCE+ is designed to support different workloads and associated technology platforms including a new System z shared environment that will be available in the U.S. and U.K. later this year.
SmartCloud Application Services
· IBM’s platform-as-a-service (PaaS) will now be more widely available to select customers moving from beta to pilot stage. Customers will be able to take advantage of both Application Workload Service as well as Collaborative Lifecycle Management Service to develop and deploy applications on top of SmartCloud Enterprise to jump-start their SmartCloud Application Services (SCAS) projects.
· While in the pilot phase, customers will be able to use SmartCloud Application Services at no charge, except for the underlying IBM SmartCloud Enterprise infrastructure used by the SCAS pilot services.
· Available in English around the world, the SmartCloud Application Services pilot will run from May 15th until general availability projected for 3rd quarter 2012.
· As part of the broader IBM SmartCloud family, SmartCloud Application Services are compatible with the newly announced IBM PureSystems family. For example, through SmartCloud Application Services clients can rapidly design, develop, and test their dynamic applications on IBM's public cloud and deploy those same applications on a private cloud built with PureApplication Systems, or vice versa.
Across both IBM SmartCloud Enterprise and Enterprise+, IBM now supports Microsoft License Mobility program. Offering new flexible options for deploying Microsoft applications, such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft SQL Server on IBM's SmartCloud Enterprise, customers can choose between deploying Microsoft applications on premises or on IBM's SmartCloud leveraging the value of volume licenses with Microsoft's Software Assurance. This option can help customers lower operating costs using IBM's SmartCloud shared infrastructure.
Financing provided by IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing arm of IBM, helps credit-qualified clients make the transition to cloud computing with low-rate financing for cloud solutions and zero percent loans for IBM software. Financing helps clients accelerates their cloud project’s cash flow break-even point by spreading upfront costs over time, enabling them to utilizing cash reserves for other strategic investments.
About IBM Cloud Computing
IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models and manages millions of cloud based transactions every day. IBM assists clients in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centers.
IBM Collaborates with Colleagues In Care to Empower Medical Workers in Haiti
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it is helping improve healthcare delivery in Haiti through its collaboration with ‘Colleagues In Care’ Global Health Network.
The organization is using IBM cloud-based social analytics and collaboration services to provide the global network of healthcare volunteers with immediate access to critical data and information for the current healthcare needs of the Haitian citizens. The network consists of approximately 200 doctors, nurses, and business professionals coming together virtually from all around the globe including Canada, China, Haiti, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Prior to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the country’s healthcare programs were already poorly staffed with limited resources. According to the 2009 World Health Organization statistics, Haiti had one nurse and three doctors for every 10,000 people. Infant and maternal mortality, hypertension and stroke, and life threatening illnesses were among the highest in the world.
Today, Colleagues In Care is using the IBM SmartCloud for Social Business to virtually connect medical workers and volunteers from around the globe. Using the IBM SmartCloud, the volunteers and those on the front lines taking care of patients are armed with an online medical knowledge system that includes treatment options, clinical pathways, and best practices specific to the situation in Haiti.
For example, doctors on the ground in Haiti now have immediate access to information. Previously, a healthcare worker typically had no access to a specialist to consult about a specific medical condition. Via the IBM SmartCloud, they can now immediately determine how to best care for a patient directly in front of them, at the same time collaborating with colleagues to determine more population-based strategies of effective care.
Medical workers can then develop, post, and share their stories about their experiences, providing this critical background to incoming medical workers. The volunteers are also participating in approximately 70 online communities on topics including “Mother and Baby,” “Hypertension,” “Heart Failure,” “Stroke,” and "Eye Care" to track initiatives from start to finish.
“At Colleagues In Care, we share a deep level of purpose to stand with and support our medical colleagues in Haiti,” said John Kenerson, M.D. and co-founder of Colleagues In Care with his wife Lisbet Hanson, M.D. “Working with IBM, we are helping the citizens of Haiti find relief from the devastations they continue to face daily. Many of our medical volunteers come from highly respected medical institutions, and we’re humbled by the opportunity to share our knowledge with those that need it most.”
Through social networking, file sharing, Web-based meetings, activities, and forums, the volunteers are sharing ideas and information as if they were in the same room.
The medical knowledge system has been so effective that Colleagues In Care is looking to replicate the system in other under-served regions and countries facing low and limited resources.
IBM's partnership with CIC began as the result of an IBM Services Grant, but has evolved to include dozens of IBM employees from around the world who volunteer their expertise to help connect medical colleagues. The long-standing commitment to working with charitable organizations around the world is part of IBM’s On Demand Community, an innovative global program reflecting IBM's strategy to help the world work better, making a wide range of knowledge and expertise available to volunteers.
About Colleagues In Care:
CIC has connected many of the world's leading healthcare organizations and associations' medical specialists focused on a similar cause, mission and passion. The CIC best possible practices technology-based volunteer model can be replicated anywhere. There is no limitation to the potential reach of the Colleagues In Care healthcare collaboration model.
The organization is using IBM cloud-based social analytics and collaboration services to provide the global network of healthcare volunteers with immediate access to critical data and information for the current healthcare needs of the Haitian citizens. The network consists of approximately 200 doctors, nurses, and business professionals coming together virtually from all around the globe including Canada, China, Haiti, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Prior to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the country’s healthcare programs were already poorly staffed with limited resources. According to the 2009 World Health Organization statistics, Haiti had one nurse and three doctors for every 10,000 people. Infant and maternal mortality, hypertension and stroke, and life threatening illnesses were among the highest in the world.
Today, Colleagues In Care is using the IBM SmartCloud for Social Business to virtually connect medical workers and volunteers from around the globe. Using the IBM SmartCloud, the volunteers and those on the front lines taking care of patients are armed with an online medical knowledge system that includes treatment options, clinical pathways, and best practices specific to the situation in Haiti.
For example, doctors on the ground in Haiti now have immediate access to information. Previously, a healthcare worker typically had no access to a specialist to consult about a specific medical condition. Via the IBM SmartCloud, they can now immediately determine how to best care for a patient directly in front of them, at the same time collaborating with colleagues to determine more population-based strategies of effective care.
Medical workers can then develop, post, and share their stories about their experiences, providing this critical background to incoming medical workers. The volunteers are also participating in approximately 70 online communities on topics including “Mother and Baby,” “Hypertension,” “Heart Failure,” “Stroke,” and "Eye Care" to track initiatives from start to finish.
“At Colleagues In Care, we share a deep level of purpose to stand with and support our medical colleagues in Haiti,” said John Kenerson, M.D. and co-founder of Colleagues In Care with his wife Lisbet Hanson, M.D. “Working with IBM, we are helping the citizens of Haiti find relief from the devastations they continue to face daily. Many of our medical volunteers come from highly respected medical institutions, and we’re humbled by the opportunity to share our knowledge with those that need it most.”
Through social networking, file sharing, Web-based meetings, activities, and forums, the volunteers are sharing ideas and information as if they were in the same room.
The medical knowledge system has been so effective that Colleagues In Care is looking to replicate the system in other under-served regions and countries facing low and limited resources.
IBM's partnership with CIC began as the result of an IBM Services Grant, but has evolved to include dozens of IBM employees from around the world who volunteer their expertise to help connect medical colleagues. The long-standing commitment to working with charitable organizations around the world is part of IBM’s On Demand Community, an innovative global program reflecting IBM's strategy to help the world work better, making a wide range of knowledge and expertise available to volunteers.
About Colleagues In Care:
CIC has connected many of the world's leading healthcare organizations and associations' medical specialists focused on a similar cause, mission and passion. The CIC best possible practices technology-based volunteer model can be replicated anywhere. There is no limitation to the potential reach of the Colleagues In Care healthcare collaboration model.
First Academic Case Competition Proposes Novel Ways to Put IBM Watson to Work
University of Rochester Students Offer Game-Changing Ideas, Hone Analytics and Cognitive Computing Skills
In Rochester, New York, Christian Beck (left) and Jamiee Saxton (right), students of the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester are winners of the IBM Watson case competition for their proposal on crisis and disaster management. Students from the school submitted new ideas for applying the IBM Watson technology to address complex societal and business challenges in the transportation, energy, retail and public sector industries. The competition is helping students gain new skills in analytics and cognitive computing to prepare for future career opportunities.
Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of scientists to accomplish a grand challenge –a computing system that rivals a human’s ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence. The Watson technology represents a new class of cognitive systems that can quickly sift through large volumes of Big Data, and apply advanced analytics to improve decision making across a variety of use case and industries.
Twenty-five MBA and master of science students with concentrations ranging from marketing and business consulting to finance and entrepreneurship competed in teams submitting seven proposals outlining how Watson's technology could be applied to solve complex challenges in the transportation, energy, retail and public sector industries.
Three winning ideas were selected by a panel of judges comprised of faculty, regional business leaders and IBM executives. Team evaluations were based on the ability of the students to clearly articulate the business case including market research, tactical planning and feasibility while exhibiting an understanding of how to harness Big Data for strategic outcomes.
The winning case studies included a crisis management capability to better allocate resources during disasters, a mining application to improve the effectiveness of natural gas, petroleum and other natural resources exploration, and streamlining the customs process for airports to reduce wait times.
• First Place: Managing Data in the Eye of a Storm – With capricious weather activity expected to be on the rise, IBM's Watson technology could be put to work combining weather-related data and the latest census numbers to help organizations better prepare for a crisis administration and allocate resources accordingly. The first place student team concluded that Watson's extraordinary ability to look at unstructured and structured information could more accurately identify weather patterns and help improve response times.
• Second Place: Mining for Insights, Literally – Considering profit margin, consumption rates and and opportunities for exploration of oil, gas and mineral reserves, the second place student team recommended that the Watson technology could help energy companies improve the understanding of environmental impacts, and regulatory and safety information to reduce accidents while avoiding the over exploration of natural resources. This team relied on Watson's cognitive reasoning capabilities to deliver precise and accurate results to optimize exploration efforts.
• Third Place: Unpacking Big Data Improves Travel Experience – About 1 million people travel into the United States every day and during the summer months this number peaks resulting in long lines, congestion delays and aggravated travelers. This team devised an approach employing Watson's technology to quickly analyze massive amounts of unstructured information in order to enhance security, reduce wait times and improve the travel experience in airports while taking the guesswork out of the customs process.
"Providing our students access to the most advanced technologies and approaches in business will better prepare them to be future leaders and innovators in the workforce,” said Mark Zupan, dean of the University of Rochester, Simon Graduate School of Business. "We are deeply appreciative of the opportunity to team with IBM in the area of Big Data and see this as a great opportunity to further teach and advance skills in diverse fields like finance, marketing, consulting, operations, and health care management."
Students in the top two winning teams held concentrations in marketing and business, a sign of the growing need and interest for hands-on expertise in analytics, outside of traditional engineering and computer science programs. As companies look to gain faster and more accurate insight into customer opinion and preferences, the ability for graduates to strengthen skills in analytics is making them highly sought after in today's job market.
The Watson case competition supports Simon School's commitment to incorporating analytics and evidence-based reasoning across all areas of business ranging from marketing to economics and brand development to entrepreneurship. The initiative is part of IBM’s ongoing collaboration with educational institutions to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills.
“The case competition provides a new way for students to bring forward game-changing ideas while providing them with the opportunity to hone their skills in important new areas such as analytics and cognitive computing,” said Manoj Saxena, general manager of IBM Watson Solutions. “Our goal is to inspire the next generation of business leaders to think differently about how technology can be used to transform business and redefine industries."
The case based approach may help shape how IBM applies the Watson technology to client challenges across a variety of industries in the future. Watson is already being put to work in the health care and financial services industries. In a pilot program at WellPoint, the technology is helping medical professionals make more informed decisions around patient treatment options, and Citibank is evaluating new ways the technology can help improve the banking client experience.
The New Era of Cognitive Computing
The IBM and Simon School competition is intended to foster new ideas, drive awareness, and build student skills around transformative business solutions enabled by next generation big data and analytics technology.
Representing a fundamentally different type of technology, Watson is a cognitive system that learns and becomes more accurate over time by applying analytics and evidence-based reasoning to volumes of information. Like the human brain, Watson builds relationships between a variety of data sets and continuously processing and reprocessing information to draw deeper insights for better decision making.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be a 24 percent increase in demand for professionals with management analysis skills over the next 8 years. While the McKinsey Global Institute projects a need for approximately 190,000 more workers with analytics expertise and 1.5 million more data-savvy managers in the U.S.
The role and value of data is causing shifts inside organizations and across business cultures driving demand across a broad range of industries in the private and public sectors. These organizations are seeking new ways to tap information in traditional databases and unlock data tucked away in an unstructured format including videos, comments on social media sites and text messages.
IBM's Watson academic case competition is the latest example of how IBM is helping universities to prepare students in new areas of computing and business leadership. The Simon School and IBM Watson case competition is in keeping with IBM's Academic Initiative which delivers coursework, case studies and curricula to more than 6,000 universities and 30,000 faculty members worldwide to help students prepare for high-value future job opportunities. IBM worked closely with academic institutions during the development and introduction of Watson. Eight leading universities around the world participated in the development phase of the system; and more than 10,000 students watched Watson triumph on the Jeopardy! quiz show in February 2011.
In Rochester, New York, Christian Beck (left) and Jamiee Saxton (right), students of the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester are winners of the IBM Watson case competition for their proposal on crisis and disaster management. Students from the school submitted new ideas for applying the IBM Watson technology to address complex societal and business challenges in the transportation, energy, retail and public sector industries. The competition is helping students gain new skills in analytics and cognitive computing to prepare for future career opportunities.
Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of scientists to accomplish a grand challenge –a computing system that rivals a human’s ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence. The Watson technology represents a new class of cognitive systems that can quickly sift through large volumes of Big Data, and apply advanced analytics to improve decision making across a variety of use case and industries.
Twenty-five MBA and master of science students with concentrations ranging from marketing and business consulting to finance and entrepreneurship competed in teams submitting seven proposals outlining how Watson's technology could be applied to solve complex challenges in the transportation, energy, retail and public sector industries.
Three winning ideas were selected by a panel of judges comprised of faculty, regional business leaders and IBM executives. Team evaluations were based on the ability of the students to clearly articulate the business case including market research, tactical planning and feasibility while exhibiting an understanding of how to harness Big Data for strategic outcomes.
The winning case studies included a crisis management capability to better allocate resources during disasters, a mining application to improve the effectiveness of natural gas, petroleum and other natural resources exploration, and streamlining the customs process for airports to reduce wait times.
• First Place: Managing Data in the Eye of a Storm – With capricious weather activity expected to be on the rise, IBM's Watson technology could be put to work combining weather-related data and the latest census numbers to help organizations better prepare for a crisis administration and allocate resources accordingly. The first place student team concluded that Watson's extraordinary ability to look at unstructured and structured information could more accurately identify weather patterns and help improve response times.
• Second Place: Mining for Insights, Literally – Considering profit margin, consumption rates and and opportunities for exploration of oil, gas and mineral reserves, the second place student team recommended that the Watson technology could help energy companies improve the understanding of environmental impacts, and regulatory and safety information to reduce accidents while avoiding the over exploration of natural resources. This team relied on Watson's cognitive reasoning capabilities to deliver precise and accurate results to optimize exploration efforts.
• Third Place: Unpacking Big Data Improves Travel Experience – About 1 million people travel into the United States every day and during the summer months this number peaks resulting in long lines, congestion delays and aggravated travelers. This team devised an approach employing Watson's technology to quickly analyze massive amounts of unstructured information in order to enhance security, reduce wait times and improve the travel experience in airports while taking the guesswork out of the customs process.
"Providing our students access to the most advanced technologies and approaches in business will better prepare them to be future leaders and innovators in the workforce,” said Mark Zupan, dean of the University of Rochester, Simon Graduate School of Business. "We are deeply appreciative of the opportunity to team with IBM in the area of Big Data and see this as a great opportunity to further teach and advance skills in diverse fields like finance, marketing, consulting, operations, and health care management."
Students in the top two winning teams held concentrations in marketing and business, a sign of the growing need and interest for hands-on expertise in analytics, outside of traditional engineering and computer science programs. As companies look to gain faster and more accurate insight into customer opinion and preferences, the ability for graduates to strengthen skills in analytics is making them highly sought after in today's job market.
The Watson case competition supports Simon School's commitment to incorporating analytics and evidence-based reasoning across all areas of business ranging from marketing to economics and brand development to entrepreneurship. The initiative is part of IBM’s ongoing collaboration with educational institutions to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills.
“The case competition provides a new way for students to bring forward game-changing ideas while providing them with the opportunity to hone their skills in important new areas such as analytics and cognitive computing,” said Manoj Saxena, general manager of IBM Watson Solutions. “Our goal is to inspire the next generation of business leaders to think differently about how technology can be used to transform business and redefine industries."
The case based approach may help shape how IBM applies the Watson technology to client challenges across a variety of industries in the future. Watson is already being put to work in the health care and financial services industries. In a pilot program at WellPoint, the technology is helping medical professionals make more informed decisions around patient treatment options, and Citibank is evaluating new ways the technology can help improve the banking client experience.
The New Era of Cognitive Computing
The IBM and Simon School competition is intended to foster new ideas, drive awareness, and build student skills around transformative business solutions enabled by next generation big data and analytics technology.
Representing a fundamentally different type of technology, Watson is a cognitive system that learns and becomes more accurate over time by applying analytics and evidence-based reasoning to volumes of information. Like the human brain, Watson builds relationships between a variety of data sets and continuously processing and reprocessing information to draw deeper insights for better decision making.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be a 24 percent increase in demand for professionals with management analysis skills over the next 8 years. While the McKinsey Global Institute projects a need for approximately 190,000 more workers with analytics expertise and 1.5 million more data-savvy managers in the U.S.
The role and value of data is causing shifts inside organizations and across business cultures driving demand across a broad range of industries in the private and public sectors. These organizations are seeking new ways to tap information in traditional databases and unlock data tucked away in an unstructured format including videos, comments on social media sites and text messages.
IBM's Watson academic case competition is the latest example of how IBM is helping universities to prepare students in new areas of computing and business leadership. The Simon School and IBM Watson case competition is in keeping with IBM's Academic Initiative which delivers coursework, case studies and curricula to more than 6,000 universities and 30,000 faculty members worldwide to help students prepare for high-value future job opportunities. IBM worked closely with academic institutions during the development and introduction of Watson. Eight leading universities around the world participated in the development phase of the system; and more than 10,000 students watched Watson triumph on the Jeopardy! quiz show in February 2011.
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