Infrastructure Matters - Hear It From The People Who Know Best

Business and technology are transforming, creating a greater need and urgency to deploy a computing infrastructure that helps support their business results. 

However, according to the IBM Institute of Business Value Study, while 70% want to embark on the new era of computing, only less than ten percent are ready.

The IBM Asia Pacific & ASEAN Systems & Technology Group shares about how infrastructure matters.  A fun ad lib no script impromptu video straight from the heart, from us to you!

Infrastructure Matters

Infrastructure Matters because: 

1. Big Data matters. 

The more quantity and complex the data you have, the faster and more accurate you need to crunch it. We tested our POWER servers against x86 servers and we were faster and cheaper!

2. Analytics matters.   

Imagine with IBM Power systems, you can crunch data up to 82x faster? That means you can get your analysis done faster to make decisions ahead of your competition.

3. Cloud matters.   

A robust cloud ensures that you have access 24x7 with no interruption or downtime. Always ask for POWER available as bare metal in your cloud.

4. Mobility matters. 

90% of the world’s banks run their applications and mobility on IBM Systems. Every second lost means loss of customers

5. Social matters. 

Customers demand immediate response. POWER systems have the highest availability and utilization, so you will never fear that you lose touch socially.

Catch this candid video where IBM Systems team shares what our clients and partners believe is the right infrastructure.

Move To Value: IBM Sells Microelectronics To GlobalFoundries

Just last week, I shared about IBM CEO Ginni Rometty’s interview at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, where she talked about the corporate strategy of moving towards higher value and differentiation.

For decades, IBM has been synonymous with innovation, cutting-edge technology, and cool research and developments that pushed the boundaries of what computers were capable of doing. Today, the innovation shifts to create breakthrough R&D innovations that will fuel the next era of computing systems.

In line with the delivery of that strategy, IBM has announced that it will pay $1.5 billion to GLOBALFOUNDIRES to take over IBM Microelectronics, its chip-making factories. According to an anonymous source, IBM will in return receive $200 million worth of assets as part of the supply of chips, making the net deal value $1.3 billion. 

IBM will become a major customer for GlobalFoundries, buying Power chips from the manufacturing company for its own mainframe and “scale-out” systems as well as for next-generation storage systems.  IBM will continue to design high-end chips and sell servers and supercomputers.  The deal is expected close in 2015.

Why GlobalFoundries?

GLOBALFOUNDRIES, which is owned by the Mubadala Development Co, the Abu Dhabi government's investment fund, has been collaborating with IBM since their inception in March 2009.  GlobalFoundries was created in 2009 when Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) sold its manufacturing operations to Advanced Technology Investment Co., which is wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, a part of the United Arab Emirates.

It is the world’s first full-service semiconductor foundry with a truly global footprint. Launched in March 2009, the company has quickly achieved scale as the second largest foundry in the world, providing a unique combination of advanced technology and manufacturing to more than 160 customers.  With operations in Singapore, Germany and the United States, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the only foundry that offers the flexibility and security of manufacturing centers spanning three continents.

According to Forbes’ contributor Roger Kay, there are only two foundries and one integrated manufacturer that have the investment capabilities to undertake risk in the semiconductor industry - Taiwanese TSMC, GlobalFoundries and Intel.  The integrated manufacturer Intel fights a lonely battle, doing all its R&D internally, building its own factories, making its own chips, and selling them to customers who build systems.  

In contrast, the industry has Common Platform, an alliance formed with IBM, Samsung, GlobalFoundries who picked up AMD and Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor and an alliance potentially in British ARM for Qualcomm and Apple.  The alliance has great benefits of reduced cost, technology development and physical risk.  

This means a serious threat to Intel and a bold reason for IBM to pay GlobalFoundries for IBM Micrelectronics just after divesting their x86 business.

Check out the news at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v71u2pi0DwE

IBM Races Ahead With Infiniti Red Bull Racing

IBM Asean GM Kellar Neville urges all to race forward, just like how Infiniti RedBull Racing partners with IBM STG platform computing as Innovation Partner to win in Formula One races!

Check out my blog on Infiniti Red Bull: http://annephey.blogspot.sg/2014/10/technology-secret-to-winning-f1.html

Check out slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/annephey/blog-2014-1016-infiniti-red-bulls-secrets-to-winning-f1-races

Check out the video from IBM XCITE Business Leaders Day below

#smartercomputing #redbullracing #infrastructurematters #technology #storage #bigdata #analytics

Al Peasland of Infiniti Red Bull Racing on Innovation Partnership with IBM Platform Computing

Al Peasland (Head of Technical Partnership) from Infiniti Red Bull Racing talks about the continued Innovation Partnership with IBM STG's Platform Computing (Symphony, Elastic Storage & Software Defined Storage).

Check out my blog on the details: http://annephey.blogspot.sg/2014/10/technology-secret-to-winning-f1.html

Check out slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/annephey/blog-2014-1016-infiniti-red-bulls-secrets-to-winning-f1-races

#smartercomputing #redbullracing #infrastructurematters #technology #storage #bigdata #analytics

HP Splits Up. Is Two Better Than One?

The IT industry is just getting more exciting.

Hot off the heels of IBM’s sale of its x86 server business to Lenovo, providing the momentum for Lenovo to repeat its success in 2005 when it acquired IBM’s PC division to become the number one vendor, HP makes a major announcement to spin off its PC and printer division into a separate company.

1.WHAT IS THE SPLIT
 

Former chief executive Leo Apotheker had proposed the move in 2011, 6 years after IBM sold its PC business.  It happened at the same time that HP’s disastrous acquisition of the British software company Autonomy.  Eventually, HP held on to its PC business amid shareholder pressure, resulting in Apotheker’s departure and Whitman’s appointment.  Meg Whitman who joined 3 years ago to turn HP’s fortunes around had dismissed her predecessor’s plan to carve up the firm but has now changed her mind in the fourth year of her five-year turnaround plan.

HP expects to complete the  split of HP into two public companies by end of 2015 fiscal year.  Shareholders will automatically own shares in both companies.

• Hewlett-Packard Enterprise to cover corporate hardware and services, which Whitman will head up, and
• HP Inc to comprise the PC and printer units, to be headed by Dion Weisler (the current executive vice-president of HP's printing and personal computing division). Whitman will be the chairman of the HP Inc board, thereby retaining influence in both businesses.

2.WHY SPLIT

"The decision to separate into two market-leading companies underscores our commitment to the turnaround plan," said Whitman. "It will provide each new company with the independence, focus, financial resources, and flexibility they need to adapt quickly to market and customer dynamics, while generating long-tern value for shareholders."

3. IMPACT OF SPLIT 

HP’s role in the IT market has been becoming increasingly unclear – with parts of its business moving toward growth areas, while others are being optimized to compete on the last era’s competitive battlefield.  This left the company in a tough spot, where new innovation efforts were often overshadowed by large legacy challenges.  HP has been addressing this through aggressive restructuring, ultimately shedding as many as 55,000 jobs by the end of FY2015. 

Whether HP’s efforts to reduce complexity and be more nimble with two large companies remains to be seen.  There are still many of the HP businesses that are not synergistic with different levers for success or where potential partners are unable to fit strategically with the company.

4. WHAT'S NEXT

Just when HP struck out at IBM by blatantly advertising that IBM customers and business partners should be worried about the x86 business sale to Lenovo, HP has now plunged into deeper uncertainty with their own company split.

It would be important for HP to quickly establish how different they will be after the split and what is the desired perception of HP to the world.

Catch Serena William's Victory Jump at US Tennis Open!

US Tennis Open Fans All Over The World Caught Serena Williams' Victory Jump Real Time!

Wow Moment Made Possible By Cloud And Software Defined Storage

Just last week, International Data Corp. (IDC) [1] has ranked IBM as the top ranking supplier of Software Defined Storage Platforms (SDS-P) [2].  The ranking reflects widespread adoption of IBM’s SDS-P technologies by companies looking to gain faster, more reliable access to their growing data volumes.

Why are clients making the switch? New era cloud environments and applications such as analytics, mobile and social are driving huge growth in data volumes, making data the new natural resource. But cost-effectively optimizing your current storage environments while at the same time exploiting new opportunities is straining storage budgets. IBM software defined storage is the solution.

Take the example of the United States Tennis Association (USTA).  Each year, USTA teams with IBM to deliver a dynamic online and mobile experience to fans of the US Open tournament. The cloud-based infrastructure consistently generates increasing amounts of data, as well as a corresponding increase in demand for greater access and analysis. During the 2013 US Open, the USTA churned out 2.9 million hours of live-streaming video and served more than 400 million page views on its tournament web site over the course of just two weeks.

“The versatile and reliable IBM infrastructure that supports the US Open enables us to provide fans the tournament data and insights they need, no matter where they are located,” said Nicole Jeter West, Senior Director of Ticketing and Digital Strategy at USTA. “The dynamic IBM cloud helps us ensure that we are able to immediately serve the right content to tennis enthusiasts around the globe.”The reliable digital platform that provides US Open fans constant access to real-time scores, statistics, video, etc., is supported by IBM’s Elastic Storage, part of the Software Defined Portfolio.

IBM has revolutionized the marketplace with our Software Defined Storage solutions [3], helping clients optimize current storage environments so they can unlock the potential of their data by exploiting new opportunities provided by cloud, analytics, mobile and social. I’m so proud to be part of the winning team in Systems Technology Group.

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[1] International Data Corp. (IDC) has ranked IBM as the top ranking supplier of Software Defined Storage Platforms (SDS-P) in its latest Worldwide Storage Software QView for the second quarter 2014, based on software revenue.

[2] IDC describes SDS-P as, “platforms that deliver the full suite of storage services via a software stack that uses (but is not dependent on) commodity hardware built with off-the-shelf components.” 

[3] IBM has hardware agnostic software technologies code-named Elastic Storage that automatically manage data locally and globally.  It provides breakthrough speeds in data access, easy administration and the ability to scale technology infrastructure quickly and more cost-effectively. 

In addition to Elastic Storage, the portfolio includes IBM’s storage virtualization software, SAN Volume Controller, which enables clients to virtualize storage infrastructures for fast, reliable data movement across heterogeneous storage systems. SAN Volume Controller is also available as part of IBM's Virtual Storage Center which provides additional capabilities for storage management such as backup, restore, and visual administration.