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Did you know that some of Einstein's physics calculations are well over 20 pages long? Modern researchers in the field of physics have long struggled with how to do complex calculations in less time. Now researchers at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Dartmouth report that they have been able to reduce the amount of time spent on physics calculations using IBM hardware. The UMass Dartmouth Physics department recently completed research proving POWER7 is 8x faster over Intel Xeon Harpertown and 5x over Intel Xeon Nehalem. Calculations that used to take a month to run now take less than a week. The resulting enhancements in time to perform calculations greatly speed the progress of their physics research on black holes. If only Einstein had a POWER7, just think what might have been?
IBM Smarter Computing Blog
UMass Dartmouth Opens the Door to Scientific Discovery With New IBM Technology
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  black processes business power7 calculations physics hardware speed up storage cost ibm savings research hole roi 2,617 Visits
Watch this video to listen to Dr. Gaurav Khanna tell the story of how IBM technology has increased the speed of his research.
IBM Announces New Storage Systems Designed to Increase Efficiency
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  efficiency bm storwize hardware ibm business v7000 storage 1,579 Visits
Last week IBM made news by announcing innovative new storage systems that are optimized for workloads such as transaction processing and real-time analytics, reflecting the company's $6 billion annual investment in R&D.
Among the new products is a midrange disk storage system, called the IBM Storwize V7000, designed to efficiently and cost effectively manage the torrent of data flowing into companies so it can be swiftly delivered for such workloads as transaction processing -- like the growing volume of transactions completed from the Web and mobile and embedded devices. The new announcements include technologies that can eliminate the need to repeatedly make copies of the same data; scale-out storage technologies to support growth -- particularly of unstructured data like video and photos -- and high-performance workloads like cloud computing; and technologies to place the most critical data on fast, dynamic storage devices so it can be more quickly made available for workloads like analytics and mobile transaction processing. Examples include:
The IBM Storwize V7000 system further demonstrates that IBM is sharing its most innovative storage technologies across its portfolio. For example, the system includes a graphical user interface (GUI) modeled after the popular XIV user interface designed to significantly reduce system set up and administration; Easy Tier software; and industry-leading storage virtualization software that has been shown to double productivity (5).
IBM also introduced a range of other storage products, including:
"Organizations are struggling with the volume and evolving nature of the data they're already collecting. The IBM Storwize V7000 will deliver clients a new level of storage efficiency that can help them better store and secure their data," said Brian Truskowski, general manager of IBM storage. "IBM is combining home-grown storage innovations like our Easy Tier technology together with acquisitions of industry leading storage technologies such as XIV to deliver our clients a truly unmatched portfolio of storage solutions."
For more information, listen to the webcast replay on the announcements.
You're Invited: Join the IBM Storage announcement Nov. 3 at the Field Museum in Chicago
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Smarter Systems: Efficient Server Farms Power Universal's Animated Hit Despicable Me
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  savings ibm servers me energy storage despicable server 1,714 Visits
Check out the hero of the Universal animated hit, Despicable Me, Gru on the left. Gru is the villain of the film, seeking to commit despicable acts, and take over the world (I'm not telling you all the details, here.) I had to see the movie this week because my little niece wanted to see it for her birthday. Of course, the movie is a child's dream. It pokes fun at adults and features three very smart little girls who humanize the main character, Gru, with their winning combination of smarts and childhood innocence. My niece was completely charmed, as are movie goers all over the world. The film is a big box office success.
Watching the film, I had no idea that IBM was involved in the film's behind the scenes technology until I had a look at today's Information Week Magazine blog. Animated movies typically take a long time to complete, some several years. However, Despicable Me took far less time because it was built on a more efficient foundation, a "server farm." In case you haven't heard, a server farm is a collection of computer servers usually maintained by an enterprise to accomplish server needs far beyond the capability of one machine. Properly utilized, server farms can maximize the efficiency of the technology environment, while reducing the energy needed to power the IT environment.
"The traditional way of making these kinds of movies is in a big studio -- a "glass house" -- where the hundreds of people involved collaborate at the same site," says Ed Abrams, vice president of midmarket offerings at IBM. "As far as the technology, we're usually talking about huge, air-conditioned server rooms that take up a lot of room and consume a lot of energy." For this project, Serviware deployed a server farm that took up only four parking spots' worth of space and reduced power usage by about 40%. The VAR used IBM's iDataPlex systems, which Abrams says are noteworthy for their efficient design and flexible configuration. A Rear Door Heat eXchanger, a water-cooled door, eliminated the need for air conditioning.
The film's producer, Chris Meledandri was very pleased with how the IBM technology enabled collaboration from the the creative talent working on the film. "'Despicable Me' represents a breakthrough in the emerging model of collaborative, geographically distributed digital movie making, which we are proud to be building from the ground up. By seamlessly bringing together creative talent from the U.S., France and other locations around the world via technology, we completed a massive production undertaking that is often left to larger single-location Hollywood studios," said Chris Meledandri, Producer of "Despicable Me" and founder of Illumination Entertainment. "Thanks to the capacity of IBM's rendering technology and the skills of our artists, we were able to bring our creative vision to life through the completion of a wonderfully entertaining film and build the foundation for a large pipeline of projects in development."
According to Information Week, the way in which the film was produced "is a shining example of what IBM and its technology partners are accomplishing under the Smarter Planet umbrella." IBM Business Partner and Value Added Reseller (VAR) Serviware helped 330 Universal employees and animators from all over the globe to collaborate from different locations to bring the film to children like my little niece. That's pretty cool, when you think about the energy being saved, and the laughter being brought to little kids everywhere. The movie was built in nine months, as opposed to the typical 3 to 5 years. Love that Smarter Systems technology for smarter animation!:)
New Offerings to Improve Storage Efficiency
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Nov 10: IBM Defense Intelligence Technical Exchange Meeting
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  team federal ibm hardware defense security intelligence 2,143 Visits
You're invited to join IBM's upcoming Defense Intelligence Technical Exchange Meeting:
Date: November 10th from 2:00 to 5:00 PM
Location: The Sunset Room, 137 National Plaza, Third Floor, National Harbor, MD 20745
Sponsors: IBM's Systems Technology Group (STG), Software Group (SWG), and NISC (National Interest Security Company), new wholly owned GBS subsidiary.
Who Should Attend: CIOs, Program Managers, Project Managers, IT Architects, Enterprise Architects, Software Architects, System Architects, Data Center Managers, and System Administrators,
Click here to register now!
The Agenda for the Technical Exchange Meeting includes these timely topics:
Stop by to meet your IBM Defense Intelligence Team and IBM Business Partners Brocade, Jeskell, Mainline Information Systems, and Sterling Computers. Come engage industry solution experts on industry best practices.
Let IBM show you Intelligent Infrastructure and Technology Solutions for a Smarter Planet!
Click here to register now!
Save the Date: See IBM at the Gartner Data Center Conference, Dec 6-9, Las Vegas
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  hardware storage systems data virtualization cloud computing z ibm center 2,255 Visits
Join the IBM Systems & Technology Group at the Gartner Data Center Conference and learn how smarter computing strategies can help you gain insight, manage growth and leverage new technologies. The Gartner Data Center 29th Annual Event takes place at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV on December 6-9, 2010.
Attend and take advantage of these benefits:
Visit the IBM Booth Z to see the latest in IBM systems and solutions. Take a tour of the Portable Modular Data Center; a turnkey data center built for any environment for remote, temporary, mobile and raised floor expansion solutions.
Be sure to look for these IBM Speaker Sessions during the event:
- Matt Collins, Vice President, IBM Smarter Business Initiatives
Please contact your IBM representative for more information and to arrange a meeting at the conference. We want to see our customers in Las Vegas at the show. Follow us on Twitter at @IBMSTG to get real-time conference updates!
IBM Experts to Speak at Gartner Data Center Conference in Las Vegas!
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  data 2010 ibm ibmzseries system x hardware storage gartner mainframe conference center power 4,020 Visits
We're gearing up for our presence at the Gartner Data Center Conference next week with exhibits and all our IBM experts. IBM has some great speaking sessions offered at the conference that attendees will want to take advantage of. Take a look at the schedule of our sessions, and save the dates on your calendar. If you're attending the show next week, remember you can use the Gartner Data Center Agenda Builder to plan a visit to the IBM Booth or speaking slots. Click here to add IBM events to your Gartner Data Center calendar.
Monday, 12/6, Lunchtime Session:
Room: Octavius 12
Title: Blueprint for a Smart Data Center
Speaker: Steven Sams, Vice President, IBM Site and Facilities Services
Addressing unpredictable demands from business, technology and compute models are challenges we all face. Learn how to leverage proven approaches to provide flexible, cost-effective and efficient data centers that can support your business growth in four simple ways to: extend the life of your existing data center; rationalize your overall data center portfolio; design new data centers and manage your IT and data center operations.
Monday, 12/6, Solution Provider Session:
Time: 2:45pm - 3:45pm
Room: Octavius 12
Title: Smarter Infrastructures Deliver Better Economics
Speaker: Elaine Lennox , Vice President and Business Line Executive, IBM Systems and Technology Group
The traditional data center model just can't keep up with today's spiraling costs, explosive growth and IT complexity. Learn how smarter infrastructure strategies can help you gain insight, manage growth, leverage new technologies including cloud computing and business analytics and deliver better economics.
Monday, 12/6, Theater Session
Time: 6:50pm – 7:10pm
Room: Show Floor
Title: Maximizing Your NAS Storage Environment with IBM Real-time Compression
Speaker: Steve Kenniston - Global Storage Efficiency Evangelist, IBM Systems &Technology Group
Learn how you can maximize you NAS Storage Environment by deploying IBM's Real-time Compression technology. Real-time Compression provides up to 80% compression without performance degradation and fits transparently in your storage environment not requiring any changes to your applications, servers, networks storage or any of your down stream IT process.
Tuesday, 12/7 Theater Session:
Time: 12:55pm - 1:25pm
Room: Show Floor
Title: Making the Right Storage Choice for your Virtualized Server Environment
Speaker: Tony Pearson, Master Inventor/Senior Managing Consultant, IBM System Storage
Learn about the IBM Storwize V7000 disk system and how it can provide better storage performance, utilization and productivity in a virtualized server environment such as VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V. Integrating storage efficiency techniques, including thin provisioning and automated data tiering, can provide dramatic benefits to your business.
Tuesday, 12/7, Theater Session
Time: 1:25pm – 1:45pm
Room: Show Floor
Title: Maximizing Your NAS Storage Environment with IBM Real-time Compression
Speaker: Steve Kenniston - Global Storage Efficiency Evangelist, IBM Systems &Technology Group
Learn how you can maximize you NAS Storage Environment by deploying IBM's Real-time Compression Technology. Real-time Compression provides up to 80% compression without performance degradation and fits transparently in your storage environment not requiring any changes to your applications, servers, networks storage or any of your down stream IT process.
12/08 Wednesday Speaking Session:
Time: 11:45am – 12:15pm
Room: Octavius 11
Title: Univ of Pittsburgh Medical Center Maximizes Storage Efficiency with IBM
Speaker: Norm Protsman, IBM ProtecTIER
An integrated global healthcare enterprise provider headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., UPMC is one of the leading nonprofit healthcare systems in the U.S. -- having just been recognized for the 11th time as one of America's Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report . Faced with exponential data growth and stringent backup and recovery requirements for healthcare records, UPMC deployed a total IBM solution that has enabled significant storage efficiencies in their Oracle environment while enabling them to decrease their dependency of tape for their on site backup & recovery requirements.
12/08 Wednesday Speaking Session:
Time: 2:45pm - 3:15pm
Room: Octavius 7
Title: Enabling 5x Storage Efficiency in your NAS Storage
Speaker: Steve Kenniston - Global Storage Efficiency Evangelist, IBM Systems &Technology Group
Learn how IBM's Real-time Compression technology is the latest in the portfolio of storage efficiency technologies that help customers develop a more efficient storage infrastructure. By leveraging Real-time Compression customers can get up to 5x of their storage back to do more analytics to be more competitive while reducing their overall $/TB and develop a greener storage environment.
In case you miss a session, stop by IBM Booth Z for a demo, and a Starbucks coffee card when you get your conference badge scanned. See you in Las Vegas!
IBM's Blueprint for a Smarter Data Center at the Gartner Data Center Conference
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  at center ibm gartner data conference 1,940 Visits
Pictured: The IBM Portable Modular Data Center.
IBM is showing customers and analysts their "Blueprint for a Smarter Data Center" today at the Gartner Group Conference. Steve Sams, IBM Vice President of IBM Site and Facilities Services spoke today to a standing room only crowd at the conference
If you're interested in learning more, stop by IBM Booth Z at the Gartner Data Center Conference. IBM is showing their Portable Mobile Data Center for attendees, and you'll have the opportunity to ask IBM Experts at the show your questions about how to increase the efficiency of your data center, and optimitize your hardware for greater savings. Make sure to stop by, your session with an IBM Expert is complimentary. Take a tour of the IBM Portable Modular Data Center; a turnkey data center built for any environment for remote, temporary, mobile and raised floor expansion solutions.
Hot off the Press: IBM Announces Analytics Capabilities at the Gartner Data Center Conference in Las Vegas
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  center gartner hardware ibm data steve research sams show 2,874 Visits
Today at the Gartner Data Center show in Las Vegas, IBM announced that powerful new predictive analytical capabilities, constructed using intellectual property from 21 inventions, have been incorporated into its global technology services portfolio – including information technology and strategic outsourcing services. IBM VP Steve Sams, vice president, IBM Site and Facilities Services, hinted at this news yesterday in his luncheon address to over 650 conference attendees.
This is the latest example of IBM using analytics capabilities to transform the nature of high-value business and technology services, which includes everything from identifying fraud in tax or healthcare systems, to predicting consumer buying behaviors for retail clients.
Predictive analytics capabilities have been pioneered by IBM Research to enable chief information officers (CIOs) to construct specific, fact-based financial and business models for their information technology (IT) operations. Traditionally, CIOs have had to make decisions about their IT operations without the benefit of tools that could help interpret and model data. Now, planning future investments for data center capacity or adopting emerging technologies such as cloud computing can be more predictable, resulting in savings of up to 40 percent of technology infrastructure expenses through balancing IT capacity with business growth.
"Until now, CIOs have been unable to access many of the predictive, analytics-driven tools that CEO's or CFO's have used for years," said Steven Sams, vice president, IBM Site and Facilities Services. "With today's announcement, CIO's are able to not only apply relevant facts to optimize current IT investments, but also access business insights needed to make the best use of limited resources. In essence this broad array of new analytical capabilities take data generated from IT operations and turn it into a set of facts that clients can then use to make smarter business decisions," he added.
New analytical capabilities are available now across IBM Global Technology Services. Examples of capabilities that help clients with data center rationalization include:
IBM's Alternate Cash Flow Analysis can help determine which alternatives in data center or IT infrastructure operations can cost-effectively meet a client's business goals. Consolidate or upgrade? Two data centers or one? Short-term benefit or long-term approach? This analysis calculates the "do-nothing strategy" – for example, what would happen to investments if left in their current state – which provides a baseline for other financial comparisons.
IBM's Physical Threshold Capacity Analysis can help forecast data center capacity requirements many years into the future, allowing clients to know how long their data centers will remain viable and when they will need to be upgraded. A patent-pending algorithm developed by IBM Research empowers decision-making and improved business performance through the use of computational algorithms and modeling to determine how to meet unpredictable demand in data center capacity. Based on client's input on expected application growth, IT strategy and current data center capabilities, the tool provides objective analysis on the data center capacity thresholds to predict energy and space capacity requirements.
IBM's Resiliency Rationalization Analysis can help clients correctly gauge resiliency within their data center infrastructure. Current metrics for understanding reliability typically focus on the capital costs and don't facilitate the business decision of understanding the value of availability to the on-going business operations. Using client input on relative application values, recovery times, operational quality and other data can provide visibility into the trade-offs between the values of availability with the costs of reducing risk exposure.
Adopting IBM's predictive analytical capabilities to analyze cash-flow, threshold capacity and resiliency rationalization can help CIOs and business leaders better plan, manage and deploy IT infrastructure and budget effectively.
IBM continues to expand its multi-billion dollar investment in the business analytics and optimization market. Over the past five years, IBM has invested more than $14 billion in 24 analytics acquisitions. Today, more than 8,000 IBM business consultants are dedicated to analytics and over 200 mathematicians are developing breakthrough algorithms inside IBM Research.
To hear how IBM clients are using analytics to transform their business visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/ibmbusinessanalytics
If you're attending the Gartner Data Center conference in Las Vegas, stop by IBM Booth Z to learn more!
IBM's Watson Harnesses the Super Processing Capabilities of POWER7
IBM is at it again. That is being innovative, and taking those innovations to the airwaves. IBM and America's Favorite Quiz show® Jeopardy! today announced that an IBM computing system named "Watson" will compete on Jeopardy! against the show's two most successful and celebrated contestants -- Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. The first-ever man vs. machine Jeopardy! competition will air on February 14, 15 and 16, 2011, with two matches being played over three consecutive days. "Watson" is a Natural Language Processing, Question Answer machine, named after IBM company founder Thomas J. Watson, Sr., to challenge two of the world's trivia grand masters, to be aired on U.S. television from February 14-16, 2011.
So what can Watson do? Watson will enable people to rapidly find specific answers to complex questions. The technology could be applied in areas such as healthcare, for accurately diagnosing patients, to improve online self-service help desks, to provide tourists and citizens with specific information regarding cities, prompt customer support via phone, and much more. Watson harnesses IBM's commercial POWER7 system, showcasing how IBM workload-optimized systems provide unmatched capabilities for processing thousands of simultaneous tasks at rapid speeds, once the realm of only scientific supercomputers. According to IBM Blogger Elizabeth Stahl, "IBM workload-optimized systems provide unmatched capabilities for processing thousands of simultaneous tasks at rapid speeds. IBM systems can handle the massive analytics incredibly fast -- and that's what's needed to analyze complex language and deliver correct responses to natural language clues. Watson sifts through vast amounts of data and returns precise answers, ranking its confidence in its answers."
Read more about the technology behind Watson at ibmwatson.com.
To join the social discussion about Watson, go to http://www.ibm.com/social/watson and if you are on Twitter simply include the hashtag #ibmwatson in a tweet.
Get on the Pulse of Smarter Computing at IBM's Pulse Conference
If you're an IBM customer who has heard of, or attended our Pulse conference, odds are that you think of it a Service Management event that is about IBM's SLM software from Tivoli. But this year's event promises something different. Especially for customers who are interested in maximizing the performance of their enterprise hardware. After all don't business analytics and lightening fast servers go together like Fred and Ginger? This year, IBM is highlighting a new theme called "Smarter Computing" at the conference.
Smarter Computing is the next evolution of IT that will enable your clients to optimize their systems with analytics and high-performance hardware. The powerful combination of IBM hardware plus IBM software enables clients to plan and manage their investments to achieve an optimized enterprise. Investments in emerging technologies such as cloud computing can be more predictable, resulting in savings of up to 40 percent of technology infrastructure expenses through balancing IT capacity with business growth. Click here to see the Smarter Computing agenda at Pulse. A series of sessions at the conference will highlight these aspects of Smarter Computing:
If you're interested in learning more,click on over to www.ibm.com/pulse. Did I mention the conference is in Las Vegas featuring Pulse Palooza? And you never know who might show up. In years past, Smash Mouth has rocked Pulse Palooza.
The Power Behind IBM Watson:Tune in to see IBM Watson on Jeopardy, Feb. 14-16
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com 1,458 Visits
Next week kicks-off with a milestone in the world of technology. IBM Watson, a Super Computer, not a human being, will play Jeopardy with two of the games all time champions.The press and the blogs have been buzzing about IBM Watson for months. And naturally, as a Super Computer, Watson doesn't give interviews. He's more elusive than JD Salinger was. And, as far as I know, Watson doesn't yet have a Hollywood agent, although he is about to become a TV star. So just what is this thing called IBM Watson? I've heard from a few of you via my social channels that you are eager to learn more. So here's a little more about the power of Artificial Intelligence behind Watson.
IBM Watson grew up at the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. He's named for IBM founder, Thomas Watson. The Super Computer known as Watson is the brainchild of a brilliant team of IBM researchers, lead by Dr. David Ferrucci and a team of technologists. To make Watson come to life, there are IBM'ers working on his speech, algorithms that allow Watson to have answer recognition capability followed by answer detection capability, plus a systems team that worked to give Watson the processing power to rival a human brain to answer questions via natural language and artificial intelligence. Within Watson are databases stocked with what Dr. Ferrucci calls "as is knowledge from encyclopedias, dictionaries, plays and books." This is the repository of knowledge that Watson calls upon to answer questions. So basically, Watson uses information from existing sources, compiled by humans, and then analyzes it to find answers to questions. It is the computer algorithms within Watson that allow him to read from all the stored data, to find the answers. But what allows Watson to answer so quickly? That is the IBM Power7 processor which literally powers Watson's DeepQA natural language processing technology. According to Tilak Agerwala, Vice President, Systems, IBM Research " Watson relies on multiple IBM Power 750 servers clustered together, each with four processor sockets with eight POWER7 cores per socket, and four threads per core. Combined, they make a workload optimized system that can answer questions posed in natural language in seconds. No other system in the world can do this." In other words, Watson is lightening fast in his question and answer response time, running on the IBM Power7. Watson can answer a Jeopardy question in under 3 seconds because the Power7 system can run thousands of breakthrough analytical tasks at once.
There is no question that Watson is quick, but is he quick enough to beat the human Jeopardy champions? At last week's Lotusphere closing ceremony, IBM Watson won a preliminary match against some IBM human challengers. Even in categories as non-scientific as fashion, the Watson Super Computer was able to answer questions. How fascinating is that? Remember to watch Jeopardy next week to see how Watson performs. Whether Watson wins or not, it's amazing that the Super Computer is a player!
If you have more questions about Watson, you can actually ask Dr. Ferrucci a question about the Super Computer. NOVA is taking your questions about Watson, and Dr. Ferrucci will answer them on Feb 17. Click here to ask Dr. Ferruci a question on NOVA on PBS.
If you're interested in attending an exclusive IBM Watson viewing party in your region, ask your sales rep for details.
Join us for an Interactive System Z Tech Chat on March 15: Hybrid Computing
Hybrid Computing Live Chat with IBM's System Z Experts
Tuesday March 15th, 11am EST, 8 am PST
Hybrid Computing has been called the future of technology, but are you ready for the future? Join our IBM experts for a presentation followed by an interactive discussion to find out. Register to attend this Tech Chat to discuss: The live chat will feature these IBM experts to take your questions:
The live chat will feature these IBM experts to take your questions:
Offer available only in the US and Canada and may be modified or withdrawn by IBM at any time. This offer is non-transferable. Only clients receiving this e-mail directly from IBM qualify. © 2011 International Business Machines Corporation. IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. For a complete list of IBM trademarks, visit: http://www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. All other products may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. All rights reserved.
A Winning Machine Made by Man: The Brains Behind IBM Watson's Jeopardy Win!
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  research rick 7 jeopardy power lawrence iyer ibm watson bhavani 4,026 Visits
Pictured: IBM Watson in Action: Buzzing in with the right answer to take the lead
Some of you may have heard that on Wednesday night, the Supercomputer known as IBM Watson defeated the two biggest "Jeopardy" winners of all time: Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. IBM Watson finished the Jeopardy competition on Wednesday night with $77,147 in winnings over Jennings' $24,000 and Rutter's $21,600. Whether you turn on the TV, open the newspaper or log-on to Twitter, you'll find news of Watson's victory. Watson is sweeping the media with headlines shouting that in the battle of man versus machine, the machine won. Well, that's not quite true. Yes, Watson is a machine, but the Supercomputer is a machine created by humans. The brains behind Watson are the researchers and IBM technologists who developed this creation. Wednesday night at the special Jeopardy screening viewing at the Landmark Theatre in Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the brains behind Watson. Two brilliant IBM Researchers joined a full house of IBM customers at the event. Just as fascinating as watching IBM Watson play Jeopardy, was the live question and answer session that followed the Jeopardy TV show. Rick Lawrence, Manager, Machine Learning at IBM Research and Bhavani Iyer, Software Developer, IBM Research held the interest of the capacity crowd for almost an hour after the Jeopardy show ended. The human brains behind Watson shared the fascinating back story of how Watson was built and programmed for Jeopardy success.
Pictured: IBM's Bhavani Iyer and Rick Lawrence at the Los Angeles Jeopardy viewing party for IBM Watson.
The evening concluded with Bhavani Iyer taking a few questions from the audience on the Question and Answer Technology Watson uses. Bhavani Iyer is responsible for achieving the speed in the DeepQA technology that makes the system competitive in a live Jeopardy match. One audience member asked,"How is Watson processing the Jeopardy questions? " Bhavani explained that Watson considers internal representation of analyzed content of about the equivalent of 200 million pages when attempting to answer a clue. Bhavani explained that Watson's DeepQA processing is both CPU and memory intensive. Initially, Watson's computation took 2 hours to answer a question on a single CPU. By scaling out Watson's computation over 2,880 POWER7 processing cores and optimizing the computation and access to its data, Watson is able to answer most questions in about 3 seconds enabling the system to compete on Jeopardy. This how Watson can search his machine brain, just like a human processes a question through the brain pathways looking for an answer. Another question for Bhavani " What was the underlying framework within Watson used to scale things?" "We used Apache UIMA," said Bhavani. "This is a technology developed in IBM and used as the framework for the processing. This is Opensource and can be downloaded from www.uima.apache.org"
Both Rick and Bhavani were amazed by the audience's enthusiastic response to Watson's Jeopardy win. "Watson sparks the audience's imagination and everyone is fascinated by Watson whether they are technical or not," Bhavani told me after the event. "This is because Waston changes the way humans interact with computers," says Bhavani. "No more searching by one keyword for an answer, now you can just ask a question." I have a feeling, Watson will be answering a lot more questions. Think of the possibilities for enhancing decision making in scenarios like health care. The possibilities are endless.
Customer Perspective: An Interview with FIDM's Roxanne Reynolds-Lair on IBM Watson & the future
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  fashion merchandising los ibm fidm the angeles reynold design in for & roxanne institute watson lair (fidm) 3,257 Visits
Pictured: Roxanne Reynolds-Lair (center),CIO at FIDM, flanked by IBM Watson researchers Bhavani Iyer (left) and Rick Lawrence (right).
Last week IBM held a series of private viewing events around the United States to let our customers enjoy the IBM Watson Jeopardy final. One of the most enjoyable parts of these events is having the opportunity to speak with IBM customers about their view of Watson's supercomputing capabilities. Before the event, I had the opportunity to chat with Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, CIO of The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles. FIDM has been in downtown Los Angeles since 1969. Today, the college consists of four dynamic campuses with a co-ed student body of 6,000 full-time students from 30 countries and more than 30,000 graduates. The college's Resource and Research Center is the largest specialized fashion library in the Western United States, offering students access to print, online and electronic resources, as well as visual and creative materials. In 2009, the school achieved worldwide fame when it was featured on Bravo's popular Project Runway series. With such a large infrastructure, keeping the school systems and data running is a big task. In 2010, FIDM choose IBM Power7 to help them power their systems and keep critical information at their fingertips.
Because Roxanne is an IBM Power7 Customer, she wanted to see IBM Watson in action during the Jeopardy challenge. IBM Watson runs on the same type of IBM Power7 hardware that Ms. Reynolds-Lair uses at The Fashion Institute for Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles. Following is my interview with Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, CIO of The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles.
Q. Why are you so interested in IBM Watson?
A.. Watson and FIDM rely on the same IBM Power7 hardware to accomplish their mission. At FIDM we installed an IBM Power7 770 in December 2010. We run IBM i OS and Linux, with IBM Websphere Portal, IBM Content Management, IBM Websphere Commerce, Lotus Notes, Sametime, QuickR and Forms along with our custom applications. It is really exciting for our FIDM IT team and the entire IBM i and Power platform community to see "IBM Power 7" on TV and in all the Watson articles.
Q. How do you think Watson's Deep QA (Question/Answer) technology can be used after Jeopardy?
A. The applicability of Watson Deep QA in our everyday lives has limitless potential. I would like my doctor to have the Watson wealth of analytic information prioritized to determine the best diagnosis. I don't believe computers are going to take over the world but I do believe that we as humans need to take full advantage of the benefits of technology and create collaborative solutions using the best of both technology and the human brain.
Q. What did you think of a Supercomputer playing Jeopardy?
A. The IBM Watson Grand Challenge was a serious research project but presented to the public in a very understandable and entertaining manner. Watson has been the "buzz" around the water cooler. The Jeopardy Challenge was presented in an informative, educational and entertaining format. And just like humans, Watson is not always perfect, but learns from mistakes and moves on to make our world better.
To learn more about how Ms. Reynolds-Lair uses Power7 at FIDM, watch this video.
Storage Management Sessions at IBM Pulse
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com 1,376 Visits
Effective Storage Management is the best way to to make sure you have a contingency plan to protect your data. Be sure to take advantage of the Storage Management sessions during the upcoming Pulse conference in Las Vegas. The sessions at Pulse on Storage Management will include best practices, customer case studies and analyst presentations.
Use this convenient listing to find the locations for these sessions. You can print out this list, or send the URL to your mobile phone for easy reference during the conference.
Monday Feb. 28 MGM Conference Center, Las Vegas
Storage Track Kick Off – Monday 10:45 – 12:15 – Room 312
Title: The Butterfly Effect on Information and Storage
Abstract: Data and Information growth is often driven by small technical, business, regulatory, and social changes. For instance, the use of social
networks, photo sharing and video sharing websites,search engines, and regulatory changes all started small but are growing into paradigm shifts resulting in significant changes in the underlying IT infrastructure. Given that data and information are directly interconnected with storage, these small changes in the
overall environment can cause data and storage growth to outpace storage capacity, storage budgets, and an organization`s ability to stay ahead of these changes a phenomenon known as the Butterfly Effect. In this session, we will highlight some of the changes driving the Butterfly Effect in your storage infrastructure, how to address the changes, and how IBM can help.
Speakers: Kelly Beavers (IBM), Ron Riffe (IBM), Rachel Dile – Forrester Research
Storage Management Track – Monday PM - Rooms 306 & 307
Sessions in Room 306:
2-3PM, #1146: Building and Deploying a Centralized and Consolidated
Global Backup Environment: A Warner Bros. Case Study
3:30-4:30PM, #1492: Tivoli Storage Manager 6.2 and Centralized Storage
Management Success at Chesapeake Energy
5-6PM, #1142: TSM Disaster Recovery Alternatives from Systems
Integrator CKA: Exploiting Export/Import Functionality
6-7PM, #2016: TSM and Information Archive Roadmap and Birds of A Feather and Customer Reception
Sessions in Room 307
2-3PM, #2082, IBM Storwize V7000 - An Exciting New Era for IBM Storage Solutions
3:30-4:30PM, #1197: How Aetna Achieved Major Savings in Storage Management with Tivoli Storage Productivity Center 4.2 – With an update on TPC Future Directions from IBM
5:00-6:00PM, #1527: Disaster Recovery with Versatile Infrastructure
for Fun and Profit at Edith Cowan University
Tuesday, March 1 MGM Conference Center, Las Vegas
Storage Management Track – Tuesday - Rooms 306 & 307
Sessions in Room 306
10:45-11:45AM, #2122: The IBM Information Archive for Files, email and
2-3:00PM, #1072: How Ohio Health Increased Data Protection Capabilities
while Shrinking Its Backup Window by 75%
3:30-4:30PM, #1708: Implementing Tivoli Storage Manager for All Backup
Needs in Rex Healthcare's Virtualized Environments
5-6:00PM, #1367: Managing 100+ Tivoli Storage Manager Servers at a
Large Insurance Company – Can't we all just get along?
6-7:00PM, #2019: Best Practices for Migrating to Tivoli Storage
Manager for Your Data Protection Needs, Birds of a Feather
Sessions in Room 307
10:45-11:45AM, #1173: Managing Massive Data Growth at the Medical
University of South Carolina
2-3:00PM, #1310: IBM SVC Global Mirroring Monitored with IBM Tivoli
Storage Productivity Center at a Large Insurance Provider: With an SVC
Futures Discussion from IBM
3:30-4:30PM, #1880: Optimizing Storage Management Through Successful
Integration at CIGNA
5-6:00PM, #1881: How Noble Energy Ensures Reliable Backup with Tivoli
and STORServer
6-7:00PM, #2017: Tivoli Storage Productivity Center Best Practices,
Birds of a Feather
Wednedday, March 2 MGM Conference Center, Las Vegas
Storage Management Track – Wednesday - Rooms 306 & 307
Sessions in Room 306
8-9:00AM, #1511: How Tivoli Storage Manager Supports Retailer Hamm
Reno Groups Move to a Private Cloud
9:30-10:30AM, #1392: Upgrading to Tivoli Storage Manager 6 at Draper Lab
1AM-Noon, #1494: How Chesapeake Energy Plans to Protect Its Critical Applications and Meet Its SLAs with IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopyManager
2-3:00PM, #2042: Principal Financial Groups TSM Windows Environment
Best Practices for Microsoft SharePoint and Journal Based Backups
3:30-4:30PM, #1380: How a Leading ASP Migrates Customers Software
Infrastructure over WAN using Tivoli Storage Manager
Sessions in Room 307
8-9:00AM, #1356: Why Automated Toll Payment Provider Sem Parar
Switched to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
9:30-10:30AM, #2103: How Morgan Stanley Used IBM Storage Solutions to
Implement a Three-Site Replication Environment for Production Data
11AM-Noon, #2030: Extending the Reach of Tivoli Storage Solutions with
the IBM Information Archive: A Genus Technologies Case Study
2-3:00PM, #1898: Safe, Secure and Non-Disruptive Automated Data
Migration for Storage and Backup Environments: A Barclay's Bank Case
3:30-4:30PM, #1847: Virginia Commonwealth University Health System's
Storage Explosion Journey
Each session is numbered for your convenience, with the session number, you can search for the session an add it to your personal agenda on the Pulse Conference Smart Site. Use your conference ID from your registration email to join the Smart Site.
Don't miss Smarter Computing sessions at the Pulse Conference
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  smarter ibm storage datacenter computing pulse 2,455 Visits
On a smarter planet, technology is fueling innovation. Demand for computing resources is growing. Are your clients ready for Smarter Computing?
Smarter Computing at the Pulse Conference
Smarter Computing initiatives
IBM Pulse Ushers in the New Era of Smarter Computing
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  keynote conference steve pulse mills ibm. computing ibm smarter 2,321 Visits
IBM's Steve Mills,senior vice president and group executive of IBM Software & Systems, took the stage at IBM's Pulse conference in Las Vegas this morning to deliver a message about cost savings and the increased amount of data and "server sprawl" that will force all organizations to start working smarter towards the goal of Smarter Computing. Mills told an enthusiastic crowd of 7,000 IBM customers, business partners, press and IBM employees that now is the time to focus on their data and start consolidating and optimizing their systems to reduce costs and improve time to value. "You can have your own opinions but not your own facts," stated Mills with obvious passion. "IT consolidation saves money. Period."
Welcome to the era of Smarter Computing - a new era of IT necessitated by economic conditions and the need to conserve energy and precious resources. According to Mills, IT budgets are not growing, but instead shrinking. This lack of budget is forcing organizations around the globe to look at new ways to reduce the cost of doing business,while simultaneously increasing profits. To help organizations increase their business efficiencies, Mills urged the audience to consolidate their data and optimize workloads. He noted that IBM hardware, from the Power7 system behind IBM Watson to Systems Z is high performing, reliable and saves data server floor space because it is energy efficient. In one of the keynotes best received comments, Mills lauded the power of the 5.2GHz micro processor zEnterprise system, stating that IBM's ZEnterprise "runs like a bat out of hell" and is the "ultimate platform for server consolidation." He also praised the creation of hybrid environments saying, "Why fragment your workloads onto thousands of computers? You can bring in Intel and Power blades to create a hybrid environment," he said. "You can run thousands and thousands and thousands of concurrent jobs."
Clearly, the economics of Smarter Computing are compelling. Who doesn't want to double their IT capacity while improving availability and performance? Smarter Computing is clearly a way to maximize business efficiencies while increasing ROI. To hear Steve Mills keynote, register for the upcoming April 6 Virtual Event: The Smarter Computing Executive Summit. Click here to register.
Updates from IBM Pulse: Storage Sessions and Smarter Computing Demos
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It's been really busy the last two days at IBM Pulse! Thanks to all of the attendees who have joined our Smarter Computing Sessions, the exhibits and our Storage sessions. If you attended any of our Storage Sessions yesterday, then you know that the sessions were full to capacity. Yesterday's sell-out sessions featured Best Practices for Smarter Storage like:
Due to popular demand, in order to accomodate more people, we've moved the sessions into a larger space in Room 311 at the Conference Center, on the 3rd floor. Click here to see a list of sessions and look for them in the new location.
In addition to all the great educational sessions, remember to wonder across the way, outside the front door of the MGM Convention Center and to your right to check out the Smarter Computing exhibits in the Conference Center at the Marquee Ballroom. There are 12 pedestals featuring both software and hardware solutions to highlight the benefits of Smarter Computing. And look for this multi-media demo of Smarter Computing on the iPad.
Click here for more information on all the IBM Pulse exhibits.
Join us on April 6th for the Smarter Computing Executive Summit
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Last week at Pulse 2011, Steve Mills, Senior VP and Group Executive for Software & Systems, introduced Smarter Computing--IBM's technology point of view to help clients apply architectural principles to federated data, optimized systems, cloud and new delivery models to transform entire IT infrastructures to improve economics and support innovation. If you weren't able to make it to Las Vegas for Pulse, you can still experience the excitement of the Smarter Computing announcements and customer success stories by registering for our Smarter Computing Virtual Event on April 6th.
You're Invited to a LIVE Storage Webcast: How to Diagnose and Cure What Ails Your Storage Infrastructure
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Webcast: How to Diagnose and Cure What Ails Your Storage Infrastructure
Wednesday, March 23 at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET
Storage is the most poorly utilized infrastructure element -- and the most costly part of hardware budgets -- in most IT shops today. And it's getting worse. Storage management typically involves nightmarish mash-up of tools for capacity management, performance management and data protection management unique to each array deployed in heterogeneous fabrics. Server and desktop virtualization seem to have made management issues worse, and coming on the heels of changing workloads and data proliferation is the requirement to add data management to the set of responsibilities shouldered by fewer and fewer storage professionals. Forecast for Storage in 2012: more pain as long delayed storage infrastructure refresh becomes mandatory.
Jon Toigo, CEO of Toigo Partners International
Tony Pearson, Master Inventor and Senior Managing Consultant for the IBM Software and Systems Group
These experts will take turns assessing the challenges and suggesting real-world solutions to the many issues that confound storage efficiency in contemporary IT. Integrating real world case studies and technology insights, our storage experts will deliver a must see webcast that sets down a strategy for fixing storage...before it fixes you.
What's Next for IBM Watson? Find out on March 22nd by listening to a special webcast
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Since IBM's creation, IBM Watson played on Jeopardy, we've been getting alot of questions about the future of this superstar. So, we thought the best way to answer some of the questions was to do a LIVE webcast and tell you all what Watson has been up to since he won Jeopardy. On March 22nd IBM is doing a LIVE Webcast with Watson's creators and Information Week Magazine. Click here to register to attend and get all the news on IBM Watson. Be sure to tune in to learn more about the elusive Watson. And no, he is not getting a Hollywood Agent.:) But , he will continue to run on the IBM Power7 server and beat all comers.
Introducing IBM TechChat Series: Pose your questions from your PC to our experts
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IBM technical experts are renowned for their expertise and their knowledge of industry best practices. It is this expertise that has made our Developer Works website one of the top social communities in the IT industry. That's why we're introducing a new series of web events to offer our clients the ability to talk one on one with IBM experts from the convenience of their computer via the Internet. Following is the schedule for this series of TechChats. I think you'll agree that we have some topics here that are interest. Check out the schedule below.
Customer Success Story: IBM Systems Storage and Sprint
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com 1,026 Visits
One of the best ways to get educated about storage and data management issues is to listen to how customers are working with their IT challenges. In the video below, Josh Morton, Vice President, IT Enterprise Services at Sprint talks abouthow IBM's storage made a huge impact on the way Sprint was managing their storage/data issues. IBM System Storage solutions helped Sprint slash maintenance costs by 60%, increase utilization by 45%, and more effectively utilize lower cost tier 2 storage and their existing infrastructure. It doesn't get much better than that!
Smarter Computing Virtual Event to feature IBM Executives, Judith Hurwitz and an IBM Customer!
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The Twittersphere and the blogs are a buzzing about our upcoming Smarter Computing event, and with good reason. Next week's event promises to be a state of the art video conference held within a virtual auditorium. The event agenda is built around the key themes of Smarter Computing - Big Data, Optimized Systems, and Cloud. Smarter Computing is about understanding of the economics of IT and doing more with less. Best of all, no travel is required. You can join this webcast from virtually anywhere where you can connect to the Internet.
Many of the sessions were featured at the IBM Pulse conference in Las Vegas, NV. In addition to IBM executives, the conference also includes noted analyst Judith Hurwitz on Cloud Computing and IBM Customer from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Iftekhar Kazi.
Be sure to hear all the Smarter Computing
IBM Speakers joining the program include:
Look for IBM this week at SNW Spring 2011 in Santa Clara
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IBM will be where the action is this week at the SNW Show sponsored by Computerworld. SNA is one of the world's largest tradeshows and conferences on managing information infrastructure. Look for IBM experts and executives speaking at the event at the Santa Clara Convention Center, plus IBM Wonderkind, IBM Watson on display in booth 401. Following is a list of IBM highlights at the event, so you can find us. All times listed are in PST. This morning IBM will be holding a
"Storage Security Tutorial" session at 9:20 am PST. If you miss it, don't worry, this session will repeat in the afternoon, at 2:50 PM. Look for the speaking session, "New Era of Storage Efficiency" at 1:00 pm today, April 4th.
For real time coverage, follow IBMSTG on Twitter and follow the conference hashtag #SNWUSA on Twitter.
Mark your conference calendar for these IBM Highlights
"Storage Security Tutorial"
IBM Presenter: Gordon Arnold, IBM Senior Technical Staff
April 4 from 9:20 AM to 10:05 AM AND April 4 from 2:50 PM to 3:35 PM
Introduction of computing and data services in a virtualized and service provider context exposes the customer's information to a new set of threats and vulnerabilities. This session provides an introduction to those threats and what techniques are available to mitigate the threats.
IBM Presenter: Eric Collins, IBM Senior System Architect
April 4 from 1:00 PM to 1:45 PM
Today's organizations require efficient, affordable storage solutions that help keep up with exploding information demands. Yesterday's storage solutions are not built to meet these new challenges. Your clients' business information is multiplying rapidly. Managing this information is becoming increasingly complex and expensive. Eric Collins, Senior System Architect at IBM, will discuss how the IBM Storage strategy will help your clients drive down the cost of storage acquisition, data retention, and management and can reduce physical storage requirements by up to 50% and make future storage growth easier to accommodate.
"Cloud Computing & the Enterprise"
IBM Presenter: Kevin Leahy, Director, Cloud Strategy, IBM GTS
April 5 from 11:40 AM to 12:25 PM
This presentation will draw on IBM's experience working with customers and operating 13 cloud centers world wide to review the conditions under which cloud computing can deliver its promise of flexibility and cost savings in the delivery of IT services to the enterprise. IBM will discuss the importance of dynamic infrastructures and service management for both public and private clouds, cloud service life cycles and integration between public clouds and enterprise services. Also discussed will be standards required for interoperability between clouds and application scenarios that demonstrate the use of cloud computing in an enterprise context for a smarter planet.
IBM Keynote: "Smarter Computing for a Smarter Planet -- Managing the Explosion of Data"
IBM Presenter: Dr. Krishna Nathan, Vice President, IBM Storage Systems Development
April 5 from 4:00 PM to 4:30 PM
The tremendous explosion of data presents both opportunities and challenges to the IT industry. On one hand, there is the opportunity to analyze and transform the data into business value, on the other hand, there is the challenge of managing this data in an era of flat IT budgets. But the opportunities for innovation have never been greater. In this session, Dr. Nathan will highlight how you can transform your information infrastructure to get the most out of your data and your storage systems in order to deliver breakthrough economics and help support innovation.
"Understanding High Availability in the SAN"
IBM Presenter: Mark Fleming, IBM Senior Software Engineer
April 7 from 8:30 AM to 9:15 AM
This session will appeal to those seeking a fundamental understanding of High Availability (HA) configurations in the SAN. Modern SANs have developed numerous methods using hardware and software to assure high availability of storage to customers. The session will explore basic concepts of HA; move through a sample configuration from end-to-end; investigate HA and virtualization, converged networks and the cloud; and discuss some of the challenges and pitfalls faced in testing HA configurations. Real customer experiences will be shared to drive it all home.
IBM Exhibitor Booth (number 401)--Look for Jeopardy Superstar IBM Watson!
Booth Hours: April 3rd: 12:30pm -4:00pm April 4th: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
IBM's booth will feature our innovative storage solutions in action with demonstrations on touch-screen monitors and white boarding capabilities. We plan to organize our booth pedestals by four key storage themes around storage efficiency, data protection, application integration and management simplicity. The IBM Watson kiosk will be prominently featured in the IBM booth.
AwardsAnd a final highlight of the show, is the awards ceremony. Congratulations to the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR). DIISR, an IBM client, is a Finalist in SNW's Spring 2011 Best Practices Awards Program in the category of "Best Practices in IT Consolidation, IT Efficiency and Data Center Design." As a Finalist, DIISR will be welcomed to the stage to accept their award on Wednesday, April 6 from 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM.
Smarter Answers for a Smarter Planet: IBM to Deliver New Optimized POWER7 Products, Inspired by Watson Technology
IBM Power Systems incorporate a number of unique technologies for the specialized demands of new applications and services. In addition, the systems enable clients to manage current applications and services at less cost with technology breakthroughs in virtualization, energy savings, more cost-efficient use of memory, and better price/performance. Here are some highlights of the new announcement:
New and enhanced Power Systems products include:
IBM also introduced a new Systems Director Management Console appliance that allows data center administrators to operate both Power servers and blades with a unified, intuitive interface for physical and virtualized system resource management.
IBM is extending technology from the acquisition of BLADE Network Technologies (BNT) across its portfolio of workload-optimized systems, including high performance top-of-rack BNT switches with VMready network virtualization and BLADEHarmony management software. These IBM BNT RackSwitch products will, for the first time, be closely integrated with IBM Power servers to support workloads such as cloud computing, financial services, Web 2.0, streaming video, medical and scientific research and business analytics. According to a recent report by The Tolly Group, the newest IBM BNT switch demonstrated significant performance and energy efficiency advantages over comparable switches, including an average of 55 percent better price and performance. (3)
IBM also announced additions to its Intelligent Cluster line of energy-efficient, high-performance computing platforms -- pre-integrated solutions that build upon its rack servers including BladeCenter or iDataPlex platforms. These new offerings allow customers -- in segments such as financial services and energy exploration, for example -- to build HPC configurations that can reduce power and cooling costs by up to 50 percent. The new Intelligent Cluster offerings include:
Considerations for HP Itanium Users will be the focus of a May 12th IBM Webcast
Oracle's recent announcement to stop further software development for the Itanium platform has created a significant anxiety amongst clients using Itanium technology. And with good reason. According to ComputerWorld, "Technology executives at companies running Oracle databases and applications on Hewlett-Packard servers say that Oracle's decision to stop supporting Intel's Itanium chips could force them to undertake expensive hardware and software upgrades."
Since the announcement, we've heard from customers and Business Partners asking us what IBM's position on this is. In order to respond, IBM is holding a webcast on May 12th to discuss how enterprises can mitigate their risks and build a transition plan to the IBM platform. Click here to register for this web event.
The webcast will feature information about possible options for Itanium clients from IBM executives, including discussions on the impact, decision path, and major considerations that a user might encounter as they look ahead for answers. As HP Itanium Users re-evaluate their current infrastructure, IBM can make the transition much easier.
Following are some of the topics IBM will discuss during the May 12th webcast.
The IBM Enterprise Hardware Webcast Schedule: Listen at your convenience
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eWeek: Why IBM's Hardware Business Is Flying High
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com 1,243 Visits
Last week eWeek magazine featured a rave-up on IBM's enterprise hardware business. In IBM's recent earnings announcement the hardware division showed its "best quarter in a decade based on hardware sales in the first quarter of 2011, and analysts say it is because IBM has the right mix at the right time." So what are some of the right features IBM has at this time? The winning combination seems to be innovation and high performance. According to the article:
IBM's success in servers and systems is tied to the strategic decision IBM made during the 2008 recession to invest billions of dollars in hardware, with a focus on innovation and integration at every level of the systems stack, from semiconductor technology through application optimization, IBM officials said.
IBM's investments in high-value and high-growth areas like workload optimization, analytics, virtualization and data center energy efficiency are bearing fruit. In 2010, IBM released significant new product enhancements across its entire portfolio, from a radically redesigned System z mainframe and Power to Intel-based System x and storage.
IBM IT Storage webcast on May 24th to feature a customer success story
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We've heard from customers over the years, that some of the best events that we do at IBM are the ones that feature our customers sharing their real-life challenges and solutions. That's why you'll want to register for our upcoming IT Storage Webcast featuring Greg Johnson, CTO, Director of IT Technology & Engineering Services of VCUHS.
On May 24th, IBM and Information Week will be presenting the online event The Data Protection and Retention Mandate: Keep it Close, Keep it Safe and Secure, Keep Costs Low, 10:00 am PT / 1:00 pm ET. The topic for the show is how to protect your data, and keep it safe and secure. With data protection and retention requirements growing 40 to 50 percent annually, organizations are struggling to ensure their data meets government, compliance, and security requirements, not to mention risk management responsibilities. The challenge of keeping and protecting all this data, while ensuring access when needed, means that traditional approaches may fall short or simply cost too much. Join Information Week magazine and IBM for this special webcast on May 24th. Click here to register.
If you are struggling with your storage infrastructure, or anxious to learn best practices, you'll want to register for this webcast and participate in the live Question and Answer session that will follow the speakers' presentations. Save the date!
Introducing the IT Storage Community sponsored by IBM
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IBM Watson is the Webby Person of the Year!
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com 2,147 Visits
Whose Bad? Well, our IBM Jeopardy superstar Watson, that's who! And it's not just IBM saying so. It's the Oscars of the web world, the Webby Awards lauding Watson now. Previous Webby Honorees include no less than David Bowie. And now, the "Jeopardy" playing IBM computer Watson has been named person of the year by the Webby Awards. The Webbys have such good taste in people, don't they? :) Clearly the definition of a "webby person of the year" is changing. In case you haven't hear, the Webbys, honor Internet achievement. Yesterday, they, announced that IBM Watson was a special honorees.
So what's so special about Watson? He's a powerful super computer. Watson harnesses IBM's commercial POWER7 system
You can check out the special Achievement Honorees at the 15th Annual Webby Awards by RSVPing to watch the LIVE online broadcast on Facebook on June 13th! Tune in to see if IBM Watson wears Tom Ford or Armani.
Save the Date: July 19th Webcast Disaster Recovery and Business Resiliency Solutions
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Save the Date: July 19th Disaster Recovery and Business Resiliency Solutions Webcast
Given the recent natural disasters that have hit the U.S. and the world, it is essential for clients to have a robust business resiliency strategy. Planning in advance helps to reduce the impact of systems outages arising due to large scale disasters. One way to get ahead of disasters, before they strike, is to replicate business critical data across multiple sites with automation for remote locations. This applies to businesses of any size with multiple sites, regional operations or wherever decentralization of data is desired.
IBM will be hosting a Disaster Recovery and Business Resiliency Solutions web event to help you plan for disasters in a preventative, rather than reactive way. This webcast will included a customer case study from Dick Cosby Senior System Administrator, EDPS.
Register for this event on July 19th at noon EST, 9 am PST.
This program is designed to help organizations that:
1) Have no existing Disaster Recovery (DR) strategy in place
2) Are worried about recent natural disasters and if their current DR strategy and hardware in place is effective enough
3) Have multiple data centers and looking for assistance in design and implementation of business resiliency solutions.
In this session attendees will learn about:
Important zEnterprise Virtual Event July 12th: Experience Freedom by Design
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IBM zEnterprise 114 Mainframe: Mainframe Performance with Midmarket Price Point
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  mainframe zseries iron ibm zenterprise big 2,686 Visits
This week IBM announced its new IBM zEnterprise 114 Mainframe. The product is creating a lot of buzz in the marketplace and with good reason. The product is priced lower than previous IBM z10 BC Servers, and offers the ability to manage workloads on System x blades. Below are some of the highlights of the announcement:
The z114 is powered by up to 14 of the industry's most sophisticated microprocessors of which up to 10 can be configured as specialty engines. These specialty engines, the System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP), the System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP), and the Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL), are designed to integrate new Java, XML, and Linux applications and technologies with existing workloads, as well to optimize system resources and reduce costs on the mainframe. For example, using a fully configured machine running Linux for System z, clients can create and maintain a Linux virtual server in the z114 for as little as $500 per year.(4)
The z114 offers up to an 18%(5) performance improvement for processing traditional System z workloads over its predecessor the z10 BC, and up to an additional 25%(6) improvement for microprocessor intensive workloads using compiler enhancements.
To learn more about the new zEnterprise 114, register for a live seminar in a city near you! Following are dates and cities.
You're Invited: Sept 21 Disaster Recovery Webcast, Best Practices to Protect Your Data
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In response to recent headlines, IBM is offering a webcast on Sept. 21st entitled: Best Practices for Disaster Recovery. The webcast features a panel of experts, including Rick Haverty, Director of IT Infrastructure at University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). Mr. Haverty will share how he has worked with the team at the URMC to make sure that emergency preparedness plans are in place.
At the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), they have three datacenters. The first is 7,500 square feet, the second is 6,000 square feet, and the third is just 800 square feet to hold their "off-site tapes."
This is an event that you won't want to miss!
Downtime due to outages caused by disasters can cost organizations millions of dollars – and some may never recover. The key to ensuring business continuity is a detailed recovery plan, including tape-based back-up, as well as multi-site clustering, disk mirroring and back-up servers. The webcast will explore new approaches to building a Disaster Recovery plan--before a catastrophe strikes. You'll hear from a panel of speakers, featuring Rick Haverty, Director of IT Infrastructure at University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), and IBM experts.
Listen to this webcast to hear:
Register now to learn how to prepare your organization for unexpected disasters and to implement an effective business continuity strategy.
Visit IBM at #VMworld 2011 this Week
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Watch live streaming video from ibmsysxblade at livestream.com
Some of you may know that IBM, is a longtime collaborator with VMware. It is now 12 years that IBM has been working with VMWare. IBM produced the first Blade Server with VMARE. IBM was actually VMWare's first joint development partner. Because of that strong relationship IBM is a Platinum Sponsor of VMworld 2011, the virtualization industry's largest event. Look for IBM in Booth #321 demonstrating our hardware solutions for virtualization and cloud computing. The show is in Las Vegas and if you're not in Vegas you can follow the Tweets using the hashtag #VMWARE. Check out IBM's speaking session on Tuesday, Aug 31st at the show:
IBM Super Session: SUP1014 Managing Production Workloads in Virtual Environments – Best Practices for Increasing Resiliency and Reducing Cost as You Migrate to Cloud Computing (Twitter hashtag: #SUP1014)
Next Generation Virtual Fabric Webcast on Sept. 22nd
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Join us for the Power of i Fall 2011 Webcast Series
Over the next few weeks, IBM will be offering a series of webcasts entitled the Power of i. The webcast series will start with a session on developing and refreshing business applications on IBM i®. In later sessions you will hear about how to power up your analytics and you will hear about the new announcements for IBM i.
As a special thank you after you attend one or all of our webcasts, we will send you the "Maximize POWER7™ and IBM i 7.1 – A guide to benefits, features and functions", the System iNetwork Power Pack. If you are interested in learning about IBM, i, please register for the program of your choice using the links below. Don't miss this opportunity to get all the latest news on i, from the convenience of your office.
New IBM Redbook discusses IBM zEnterprise System features and benefits
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  114 ibm zenterprise 1,656 Visits
The popularity of the Internet and the affordability of IT hardware and software have resulted in an explosion of applications, architectures, and platforms. Workloads have changed. Many applications, including mission-critical ones, are deployed on a variety of platforms, and the System z® design has adapted to this change. It takes into account a wide range of factors, including compatibility and investment protection, to match the IT requirements of an enterprise.
A new IBM® Redbook publication discusses the IBM zEnterprise System, an IBM scalable mainframe server. IBM is taking a revolutionary approach by integrating separate platforms under the well-proven System z hardware management capabilities, while extending System z qualities of service to those platforms. The new Redbook from IBM discusses all the features and benefits of the IBM zEnterprise System. The eBook is available as a complimentary download, by clicking here.
If you're interested in zEnterprise 114, the new lower-priced version of the IBM solution, join us on Oct. 25th for a live webcast on the topic featuring some well known bloggers. Hear from experts Alan Radding, renowned Mainframe blogger and author of the Dancing Dinosaur blog as well as Bob Thomas, Editor of Mainframe Zone Magazine about how the mainframe market is changing and why it's the right time to consider Mainframe for midmarket and beyond.
IBM Systems Director Demos now online!
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We've heard consistently from our customers that one thing that is really valuable to them is the ability to test drive IBM products and solutions. That's why we're making a demonstration of IBM Systems Director available to our customers. IBM Systems Director offers a central point of control for all IBM resources in the data center—simplifying the entire IT process. Combining IBM Systems Director with IBM Tivoli creates a unified platform approach to systems management for a fully integrated IT system.
Click here to sign-up for a demo now. Two exclusive demos, Express and Standard Editions, are available for online demonstration.
The online demos show how Systems Director can be an integrating force in your data center. Each demo includes topics such as deployment, capture, grouping, monitoring, cost calculation, power capping and much more. Does your organization face challenges with:
• Monitoring and repairing systems?
• Deploying and optimizing workloads?
• Planning and documenting your IT infrastructure?
You can sign-up for the demo, and listen any time from the comfort of your office, at your convenience. If you check out the demos, leave a comment here on the blog and tell us what you think!
Register today for the Power of AIX Webcast Series.
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  power ibm software aix systems portfoilio 2,312 Visits
This information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied, and is based on current IBM product plans and strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without notice. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, this document. Nothing contained in this document is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM software.
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Let's Build a Smarter Planet and Smarter Planet, Power AIX and the planet icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
October 2011 Announcements: IBM Solutions Accelerate the Journey to Smarter Computing
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  it kit z for starter storewize ibm storage cloud computing 2,928 Visits
IBM is continuously looking for ways to enhance our products and solutions to meet our customer's need to keep pace with the rate of business change and expand their data storage needs. Towards that end, IBM is making a series of important announcements. Following is a brief summary of those announcements. To learn more, listen to the 15 minute webcast entitled, "Accelerate the Journey to Smarter Computing."
To get more details on all the announcements, visit the IBM.com announcements page.
Mainframe Bloggers Bob Thomas and Alan Radding to appear on IBM's Oct. 25 webcast: Perspectives on IBM's zEnterprise114
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com 1,880 Visits
On Oct. 25th, IBM is going to open up our webcast series to two of the Mainframe world's most respected bloggers/journalists. Bob Thomas, Editor and Publisher of MainframeZone and Bob's Big Iron Blog along with Ala Radding author of Dancing Dinosaur will be joining our webcast series. This is the first time we've invited Bloggers on the show to share their perspective on our z products. Join us for the special web event to discuss IBM's zEnterprise 114 and bring your questions.. In July, IBM introduced its newest member of the zEnterprise family, the zEnterprise 114, the successor to the System z® 10 BC. Today's mainframe is a modern system that runs technologies such as Java, Linux, XML and SOA, and with zEnterprise extends this concept further to integrate traditional mainframe with AIX® , Linux on System x® and, eventually, Microsoft* Windows* environments all under one management construct. IBM has highlighted many reasons to consider investing in the z114 today, and encourage users of current System z servers to migrate to the z114. But this unique show will take you beyond IBM's positioning to an understanding of what the marketplace and customers think about the announcement.
In this webcast you'll hear from experts about the benefits of this lower cost zEnterprise solution. Never before has the mainframe been so affordable. But, is it a practical solution for your organization?
Hear from experts Alan Radding, renowned Mainframe blogger and author of the Dancing Dinosaur blog as well as Bob Thomas, Editor of Mainframe Zone Magazine about how the mainframe market is changing and why it's the right time to consider Mainframe for midmarket and beyond.
Register now to join the program!
IBM to Exhibit and Present at Gartner Data Center Show
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Other IBM Speaking sessions at the conference include:
Look for the IBM Portable Mobile Data Center, the big trailer on the show floor. And take the opportunity to ask IBM Experts at the show your questions about how to increase the efficiency of your data center, and optimize your hardware for greater savings. Make sure to stop by, your session with an IBM Expert is complimentary. Take a tour of the IBM Portable Modular Data Center; a turnkey data center built for any environment for remote, temporary, mobile and raised floor expansion solutions.
IBM WhitePaper- zEnterprise Data Analytics with Analysts Joe Clabby & Brad Day
It has been said that if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Developing a centralized business analytics infrastructure that is highly reliable and secure can save money and increase productivity. It's a fact that business analytics can provide the insight users need to make adjustments, prevent slowdowns and enhance business effectiveness.
Download the white paper, Clabby Analytics/Enterprise Computing Advisors: Choosing IBM zEnterprise for Next Gen Business Analytics Applications from independent analysts Brad Day of Enterprise Computing Advisors and Joe Clabby of Clabby Analytics to learn:
If you missed IBM at the recent Information on Demand show (IOD 2012), then you'll want to read this complimentary paper. The IBM Smart Analytics System 9700 / 9710 generated a lot of interest with our customers at IOD after it was announced on October 12th in conjunction with the IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator. This new version of the IBM Smart Analytics System has been completely refreshed to create the ultimate transactional analytics workhorse. It is hybrid ready to provide a single transactional and deep analytics server when combined with the DB2 Analytics Accelerator. With the 9710 model it provides a starter configuration, at an extremely attractive price point, allowing them to start small with low risk and grow their analytics environments incrementally.
IBM Announces Fifty-five New and Enhanced Servers and Storage Products Designed to Help Businesses Make Better Decisions and Operate More Efficiently
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com 3,178 Visits
IBM has announced 55 new and updated server and storage technologies that can help clients gain actionable insights from data, increase IT capacity and deliver new services faster to create profitable business opportunities. This blog post offers a short summary of all the announcements by area of interest. The new and enhanced offerings include affordable business analytics systems, automated tools for implementing security and compliance standards, and starter kits for establishing private clouds.
As the world's increasing demand for data and services puts a strain on IT resources, organizations become trapped in a vicious cycle in which a rigid IT infrastructure and lack of trusted data leads to reactive or risky decision making. Attempts to overcome these challenges through additional IT investments often result in a more sprawling and costly infrastructure.
The new offerings, highlighted below, address these challenges with smarter computing technologies for business analytics, integrated storage, optimized systems and virtualized data centers.
Designed for Data
Tuned to the Task
Managed in the Cloud
Financing provided by IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing arm of IBM, helps credit-qualified clients make the transition to smarter computing with zero percent financing for servers, storage and software or deferred payments up to six months. Financing helps clients accelerates their cash flow break-even point by spreading upfront costs over time, enabling them to utilizing cash reserves for other strategic investments. For more information on IBM's financing options, visit http://www.ibm.com/financing/us/lifecycle/acquire/hardware.
New IBM x86 Solutions: Expanding analytics and cloud capabilities across the IBM System x product line
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  bladecenter ibm analytics computing x86 cloud 5,456 Visits
Yesterday, IBM announced new server solutions designed to expand cloud and analytics capabilities across its entire portfolio, helping make Smarter Computing a reality for x86 clients. The news was shared via announcements and a live webcast.
The increased bandwidth and up to four times more memory allows the HS23 to support faster data transfers that are essential to virtualized cloud and analytic workloads. In addition, IBM FastSetup for BladeCenter, a cost and time-saving console application can help clients reduce from days to hours the time it takes to complete large deployments. Bytemobile and German Leibniz Supercomputer Center Bet on IBM Cloud and Analytics California-based Bytemobile (http://bit.ly/wwxyCC) and Germany's Leibniz Supercomputing Center in Munich are among the first customers to purchase IBM next generation x86 systems. Santa Clara-based Bytemobile, a leading global provider of mobile Internet solutions for global wireless network operators, is using IBM BladeCenter HS23 servers as the foundation for its cloud computing implementation.
"With the new performance capabilities of the BladeCenter HS23 combined with our software, we are able to achieve two-and-a-half times the performance over our previous infrastructure," said Chris Koopmans, chief operating officer, Bytemobile. "The IBM solution allows us to process large amounts of network data more quickly and easily. Given the way that video traffic is exploding on mobile networks around the world, this is crucial in being able to provide customers an optimal, seamless end-user experience."
The Leibniz Supercomputing center provides supercomputing services to scientists in Munich, Bavaria, Germany and other parts of Europe. It is in the process of installing a new high-end supercomputer based on IBM System x iDataPlex technology, which will help scientists solve a broad range of challenging scientific problems.
"Our new iDataPlex-powered SuperMUC system will help enable the scientific community to test theories, design experiments and predict outcomes as never before," said Professor Dr. Arndt Bode, director of the LRZ supercomputing center. "In addition, the new SuperMUC system will be able to provide previously unattainable energy efficiency along with sustained performance."
IBM SmartCloud Solutions for Mid-sized Business Clients
IBM also introduced new and affordable SmartCloud solutions powered by its latest IBM System x 3650 M4 server, the most expandable, upgradeable system of its kind. The x3650 M4 demonstrated excellent performance on industry-standard benchmarks. It achieved a leadership two-processor score for SPECvirt_sc2010 benchmark (3), set a new record for two-processor server performance on TPC-E (4), more than 45% faster than the previous-generation result achieved by the HP ProLiant DL380 G7 server (5), and a leadership two-processor result on Windows on two-tier SAP SD standard application benchmark. (6) The System x 3650 M4 also comes with IBM eXFlash solid-state storage technology, bringing exclusive IBM enterprise-class storage capability to a two-socket rack server. The SSD technology enables 30 times more performance and a 90% increase in performance per watt for consolidating collaboration and database workloads. In addition, the new x3650 M4 system supports the IBM Smarter Analytics portfolio of offerings, a set of compact, integrated, single-analytics offerings supported by storage-dense System x two-socket systems running IBM InfoSphere Data Warehouse and Cognos business intelligence and performance management software. IBM's new portfolio of x86 computing solutions also include: The IBM System x iDataPlex dx360 M4, which offers significant flexibility for supporting a wide range of high-performance computing workloads. The system is designed for datacenters requiring high performance with limited floor space, and power and cooling infrastructure. Available with specially designed exclusive IBM warm water-cooled technology, this iDataPlex system is up to 40 percent more energy efficient than air-cooled systems, recovering 90 percent of heat per nodes. The IBM System x 3550 M4, a dense, feature-rich 1U server designed for data and business critical workloads, and the IBM System x3500 M4 tower that provides data center performance in a desktop package. The x3550 delivers four times more memory, more virtual machines, and improved networking performance in less space at a comparable price. The x3500 also offers four times the memory, plus 33% more storage capacity than prior generations. It is designed for quiet operation and fits easily under a desk or rack, making it ideal for office environments. IBM Feature on Demand across the IBM System x product line. Feature on Demand allows clients to activate or unlock features in the firmware or software on demand, providing customers the ability to grow their systems as they grow their businesses without the need for costly rip and replace. New Business Partner Incentives to Sell Client SolutionsThe IBM Solution Accelerator incentive is a new channel initiative to sell combined software and systems, and business solutions. It has two elements. First is a Software and Systems reward that amounts to a 5% incremental rebate for selling eligible IBM systems and a 15% percent incremental rebate for selling eligible software together to a single client. Secondly, a Business Solutions Reward offers an additional 10% rebate for selling a solution aimed at a particular IT challenge on eligible software content of the solution. Eligible solutions cover client needs such as turning information into insights, managing risk, security and compliance and social business. In addition, approximately 1% in fees can be earned when clients finance their solution through IBM Global Finance. The new products will begin shipping worldwide by March 16, 2012. About IBMFor additional information about IBM System x and BladeCenter solutions, visit: www.ibm.com/systems/x86/betterfuture.
For real-time updates, follow us on Twitter:@IBMSysxBlade.
(1) IDC Worldwide Enterprise Server Cloud Computing 2011-2015 Forecast, doc #228916, June 2011.
(2) IBM 2011 Global CIO Study, "The Essential CIO".
(3) x3650 M4's result: overall performance score of SPECvirt_sc2010 2,158 @ 132 VMs. Configuration: 2 chips/16 cores/8 cores per chip, Intel Xeon Processor E5-2690 (2.9GHz with 20MB L3 cache per processor), 512GB of memory, Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 6.2 and Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor. Result referenced is current as of March 6, 2012, and posted at http://www.spec.org/virt_sc2010/results/. View all results for SPEC benchmarks at http://www.spec.org/. SPEC and SPECvirt_sc are trademarks or registered trademarks of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC).
4) x3650 M4's results: 1,863.23 tpsE (transactions per second E) at $207.85 USD / tpsE, total solution availability May 31, 2012. Configuration: 2 processors/16 cores/32 threads, Intel Xeon Processor E5-2690 (2.9GHz with 20MB L3 cache per processor), 512GB of memory, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition SP1. Results referenced are current as of March 6, 2012. View all TPC results at www.tpc.org. See the details for this result at http://www.tpc.org/tpce/results/tpce_last_ten_results.asp
(5) HP ProLiant DL380 G7 Server with Intel Xeon Processor X5690 (3.46GHz—2 processors/12 cores/24 threads, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition; 1,284.14 tpsE at $250.00 USD / tpsE, total solution availability of May 4, 2011. Results referenced are current as of March 6, 2012. To view all TPC results, visit www.tpc.org. TPC, TPC Benchmark, TPC-E and tpsE are trademarks of the Transaction Processing Performance Council. (6) IBM System x3650 M4's result of 7,855 SAP SD benchmark users on the two-tier SAP SD standard application benchmark: 2 processors/16 cores/32 threads, Intel Xeon Processor E5-2690 (2.9GHz with 20MB L3 cache per processor), 128GB of memory, 64-bit DB2 9.7, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition, and SAP enhancement package 4 for SAP ERP 6.0. Certification number 2012---.
Results referenced are current as of March 6, 2012. View SAP benchmark results at http://www.sap.com/benchmark. SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.
IBM, System x™ and BladeCenter™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other company products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies in the U.S. and/or other countries.
Virtual Invite: April 11th, you're invited to join IBM for the launch of an entirely new category of computing, expert integrated systems
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  integrated systems speed ibm deployment expert time 1,874 Visits
Special Invitation to IBM's Virtual Event April 11: Unveiling A New Era of Computing
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m EST
11:00 pm - 12:30 pm PST
Smarter computing for a smarter planet. Join IBM for the launch of an entirely new category of computing, expert integrated systems
On April 11th, you're invited to join IBM online for the launch of an entirely new category of computing, expert integrated systems. IBM will be introducing expert integrated systems featuring both hardware and software solutions. This new computing category is expected to help change the way you deploy, manage and fund IT.
Some of us know all too well how painful IT-related challenges can be. Sometimes it seems that every project is underfunded with limited resources to make it all work. With overburdened budgets and staffs that can mean that precious time is wasted . Organizations can spend billions of dollars on maintenance instead of innovation. IBM has heard from, you, our customers, that it was time to fundamentally rethink how we design and build systems. That's why we've been working to develop expert integrated systems to offer a solution that offers the flexibility of a general-purpose system with the simplicity of an appliance.
We're hoping that new integrated systmes designed by IBM can get you up and running in as little as a few hours, cutting months off deployment times of new application projects. It's all based on patterns of expertise, that you deploy as quickly and easily as you download and use apps on a smartphone. IBM's goal is to help customers acheive faster system set-up and application deployment time. Register for our virtual event to get all the details and bring your questions. We want to hear from you!
IBM Hosts industry roundtable, "IBM Private Cloud" with Clipper Group Analysts on April 26
Companies are already turning to the cloud to extract the greatest utilization and value from their IT investments. But some are finding that immature and insecure infrastructures are limiting the efficiency of their cloud. They're still waiting on the promise of a flexible, scalable and cost-effective environment.
Register for this informative industry roundtable to hear customers' frequently asked questions on the cloud answered by experts! And bring your own questions,
You're invited to join the "IBM Private Cloud: Why Infrastructure Matters" industry roundtable discussion on Thursday, April 26, 2012 11:00a.m. – 12:00p.m. ET.
Join the industry roundtable,
IBM Linux Server Webcast May 17th: Come hear IDC's Jean Bozman
Data centers today are stretched to the limits with fast-paced business demands. On top of that, integrating and managing IT infrastructures can pose major challenges. Organizations need a new solution that consolidates servers and workloads without breaking the bank—and Linux, together with IBM® Enterprise Linux Server offers exactly that. Register for this informative webcast to hear IDC Vice President, Enterprise Servers, Jean Bozman's perspective on how you can overcome your IT challenges by optimizing workloads and lowering costs with an enterprise-wide Linux strategy, and gain "the flexibility of many and the efficiency of one."
This event will be broadcast live at 1:00 pm ET on May 17th. Register now, and bring your questions for our expert speakers!
Jean Bozman Research Vice President, Enterprise Servers IDC
Dennis Wunder
Executive IT Specialist , IBM
Register Early for IBM Technical University and Save! Classes for Power Systems and Systems Z
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com 1,524 Visits
This year's IBM Power Systems Technical University featuring IBM® PureSystems™ at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, is your consolidated resource, and remains the year's premier event, for the latest information about IBM Power Systems™, IBM POWER7®, IBM AIX®, IBM System i® and IBM Power Systems on Linux products. This year's university features more than 400 in-depth "how-to" technical sessions and hands-on labs led by IBM product expert and developers. New this year are in-depth sessions on the recent IBM PureSystems announcement and the new IBM PureFlex™ System. This is a conference that you don't want to miss!
Conference highlights include:
· Hear keynotes and discussions about future product strategy and technical direction directly from IBM executives and IBM product architects, including the latest about IBM System Storage®,
virtualization and its availability for IBM Power Systems
· Participate in communities of interest at birds-of-a-feather discussions and panel forums
· Test-drive the latest technology in hands-on demos, labs and workshops
· Obtain training based on the latest IBM product announcements
· Take advantage of the 50 percent discount for on-site certification testing, including the recently announced certification for IBM PureSystems
Also happening in Vegas this fall is the System Z Technical University. This
IBM's Upcoming Webcast Series Promises Product News and Market Research
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com Tags:  bozman puresystems jean idc. forrester group webcasts storage 3,777 Visits
If you're an IBM Customer or Business Partner, you'll want to have these upcoming web events on your calendar. In the next few weeks, IBM will be rolling out a series of web seminars featuring analysts, IBM Customer Case studies and IBM experts. Each event will be unique and offer insights and best practices to help your make informed IT Decisions. Most importantly, each event features a live QA session to allow listeners to interact with the expert presenters. Save the date for these upcoming sessions.Are you interested in simplifying your IT Systems and reducing your expenses? Then you'll want to learn more about IBM PureSystems. Join IBM and Industry Analyst, Charles King from Pund-IT, Inc on Sept 6th to learn why the IBM PureFlex System is the next smart step in the evolution of Enterprise IT. You'll hear about the IBM PureFlex System unique capabilities, advantages, and hear real world client case study scenarios. The PureFlex System combines compute, storage, networking, virtualization and management into a single infrastructure system that is expert at sensing and anticipating resource needs to optimize your infrastructure. Register to attend now!
Sept. 11th: Virtualization and Cloud in a Power Systems Environment, featuring IDC Analyst Jean BozmanJoin us on Sept, 11th for a live webcast: Virtualization and Cloud in a Power Systems Environment, featuring IDC Analyst Jean Bozman Listen to this webcast to learn how organizations can:
· Deliver services with superior economics by consolidating virtualized workloads
Sept. 18th: IBM's Linear Tape File System: Hear What All the Excitement is About
Sept. 19th: Enable Your Business with IBM PureSystems
Replay Available On Demand: Forrester's Total Economic Impact Study of Virtualized Storage. Hear the results that can help you save time and money to make your datacenter more efficient. IBM is sponsoring a webcast with Information Week to explain the results of Forrester's Total Economic Impact Study of Virtualized Storage. Jon Erickson, from Forrester Research, will review the findings from IBM SAN Volume Control (SVC) users studied as part of the recently completed Forrester Total Economic Impact Study of IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller. Register now.
Replay Available On Demand: Does Your Virtualization Platform Matter?
Think all virtualization solutions are created equal? Think again. This webcast discusses the real-world impact on businesses that deploy IBM's PowerVM® virtualization technology as compared to those using Oracle® VM for SPARC (OVM SPARC), Microsoft® Hyper-V, VMware® vSphere or other competing products. Tune into this webcast to learn first-hand, the finding from a Solitaire Interglobal study of over 61,000 customer sites on the value of virtualization from a business perspective and how IBM's PowerVM provides real business value. Register now.
Replay Available On Demand: The new zEnterprise: Operational Analytics. Trusted Resiliency. Efficiency at Scale.
On August 28, IBM is extending the zEnterprise platform to help large enterprises reshape their customer experiences through information centric computing and to deliver on key business initiatives that deliver true client value. Join us on online on for this web event/announcement featuring IBM Executive and Customers Colony Brands, Swiss Colony, Citigroup and Aron Hewitt will discuss how the new zEnterprise has transformed their businesses. Rod Adkins, IBM Senior VP; Doug Balog, IBM GM and Jeff Frey, IBM Fellow and CTO will introduce the next generation of zEnterprise, the world's fastest, most scalable and secure enterprise system with the ability to integrate resources for operational analytics, trusted resilience, and efficiency at an enterprise scale. Register now!
See IBM at VMWorld 2012! Details on our Booth, Demos, Giveaways & Speaking Sessions
IBM is gearing up for another great showing at VMWorld this week in San Francisco, CA. The show is on this week in San Francisco at Moscone Center, August 26 to 30. Stop by booth #1772 to see IBM solutions and demonstrations on the show floor. Demonstrations in the IBM Booth will include: VDI (VMware View), Virtual SAP Business Solutions, Cognos Business Intelligence, IBM Big Data Platform, IBM PureFlex, IBM PureApplication, System X and Blade Center Rack plus IBM Storage XIV . The IBM Booth is open during these show hours:
Join us for these IBM speaking sessions at VMWorld to learn more about IBM offerings, and be entered to win an iPad. That's right, an iPad! IBM Business Partner QLogic is sponsoring this super giveaway so be sure to save these dates for the sessions as you must be present to win.
Monday, Aug 27, 2:00 pm. SPO3305 -
Wed. Aug 29, 9:30 am SPO3304 -
Whether you are at VMWorld, or looking in via social networks, you can follow all the IBM updates on Twitter by searching or following the hashtags #IBM #VMWorld.
IBM's Smarter Computing Seminar Series Kicks off this Fall in Cities in North America
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  ibm enterprise seminar z series north mainframe america 4,275 Visits
IBM's Enterprise Systems for Smarter Computing Seminar Series
The next generation of zEnterprise, Power Systems and Smarter Storage designed to help you work smarter to save time and costs
This fall IBM is inviting our clients across the United States to a series seminars to highlight the benefits of IBM's Smarter Computing portfolio. Smarter Computing is a new approach to IT transformation in an information-centric era. It helps IT leaders seize the opportunities of a smarter planet by thinking differently about the way their organizations can manage IT as a cloud, unlock the power of Big Data, and secure critical information and business processes. Explore the full portfolio of IBM systems optimized for cloud, data and security that uniquely address clients' evolving needs for an IT infrastructure that enables a Smarter Planet.
Enterprise Systems for Smarter Computing Event Highlights
Highlights of these events include breakout sessions on :
Canadian Events
Click here to register for events in Ottawa, Toronto & Montreal
Join us on Dec. 6th: Enterprise Systems, Linux and the Cloud Webcast
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  marts linux david and clabby cloud ibm joe virtualization zenterprise 2,483 Visits
Join IBM on Dec. 6th for a special webcast entitled "Enterprise Systems, Linux and the Cloud – I/T efficiency, simplification and increased ROI"
Every IT manager knows that under utilized data center assets can quickly run up costs. But what do you do about it? On top of the space and energy they require, there's the additional administrative and software expenses . The more components you have the more complex your system can become. Sometiimes a standard virtualized cloud platform may appear to be an answer. But for organizations deploying clouds there's a more cost-effective solution—IBM® zEnterprise and Linux. Built with an advanced z/VM® O/S, this platform is designed to offer greater TCO for large scale consolidation, better service quality, built-in resiliency and easy-to-use functionality. Register for this live webcast to hear the benefits of the powerful combination of IBM zEnterprise and Linux.
Date: Thursday, December 6, 2012
Our experts speakers for this program are Joe Clabby, President, Clabby Analytics and David Marts, VP - Operations, Transzap.
Our speakers will discuss how IBM zEnterprise and Linux offer a flexible, robust solution to:
• Handle today's ever-changing and increasing workloads
• Transform IT economics and save you up to 50% in costs
• Provide the agility and performance to give you leverage in your marketplace
• Help you master your technology to get a better ROI
Register now, and join us on Dec. 6th. Bring your questions for our experts.
Join IBM on May 15th for a Webcast on the Storwize family of storage solutions
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com 1,197 Visits
Software-Defined Storage Webcast: Join IBM on May 15th & Bring Questions
If you're trying to store more, but literally running out of space in your data center, you'll want to join IBM for a live webcast on May 15th to hear about the Storwize family.
IT infrastructures have become onerously complex. Optimizing server-storage architectures for growth and manageability is challenging, and while tiered storage design can help to mitigate some of these issues, it can be difficult and costly to implement. Data mobility between and among various systems, along with a proliferation of isolated and often dissimilar management tools only compounds the problem. Meanwhile, organizations struggle to contain the spiraling costs of storage and storage management. A lack of storage virtualization in many environments also inhibits the ability of server and network virtualization to help improve overall asset utilization and drive out cost.
Join us on this webcast to learn how IBM Smarter Storage stands up to these challenges and allows organizations to optimize storage for today and tomorrow, while driving out cost and improving service levels. You'll see how the IBM Storwize family of storage solutions leverages advanced functionality like heterogeneous virtualization, real-time compression of live production data, consistent, simplified management tools and intelligent automated flash optimization to maximize efficiency while improving performance and reducing cost. These are family values that can truly improve user experience and create real economic value at the same time.
Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
#zDifferenceisz: IBM zEnterprise July 23 Webcast
Mary Hall 0600011C92 firstname.lastname@example.com 975 Visits
Cloud, analytics and mobile aren't just changing the way you compute, they're changing the way you do business with customers. To succeed in today's world, you must meet customers' demands the first time, every time, any time and anywhere. To tackle such challenges, IBM is launching an enhanced zEnterprise® .
Register for the July 23 announcement webcast and see how zEnterprise can help:
Speakers will include:
It's your opportunity to learn how to improve customer service, reduce costs, fuel business growth and more.
Join the IBM Mainframe 50 Livestream Event on April 8th
Mary Hall 0600011C92 email@example.com 695 Visits
Join IBM April 8, 2014, for a Livestream a landmark event that will take place in New York City. IBM will be making a series of announcements to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mainframe. The event will highlight breakthroughs in business, industry and society driven by the Mainframe, and the strategic role it will continue to play in the future. RSVP to save the date now.
The event will highlight the strategic role of the mainframe and its evolution in enabling:
RSVP to block your calendar now!