IBM IMPACT 2012 Opening Keynotes

April 30, 2012 No Comments

After a great introductory session from Walter Isaacson (biographer of Einstein, Franklin and Jobs), we kicked off the main session at IBM’s largest IMPACT conference with over 8,500 attendees with a focus on re-thinking IT.

Marie Wieck started by discussing how core applications are changing. IBM claims that $5Trillion run on IBM hardware. These systems must be increasingly integrated with Billions of mobile devices – everything from smart phones to sensors like the Bodymedia armbands. This drives a need for cloud, for open APIs, for automated interactions (powered by decision management systems presumably). More of the transactions handled by IBM systems are being initiated using multiple channels, mobile devices and new forms of communication. Meanwhile more people have an impact on your business both business contacts and consumers, increasingly using social media of various forms. Cloud, mobile, social and more are creating an interconnected economy. To support this IBM believes you need an open, robust SOA that can handle the different kinds of workloads, transactions and interactions being driven by this change- new development patterns, new cloud deployments, new APIs and new Apps.

Whirlpool came up next – another 100 year old company with $19B in revenue across 170 countries. This drives them to create an IT platform focused on globally scalable value chain solutions. Consumer engagement is changing as the web channel moves from simply seeking information on a web page to a more interactive, social environment that involves e-commerce and can be mobile, global. Global transactions in the value chain are scaling in volume and the need to support a global supply chain makes for ever more complex transactions. These trends push Whirlpool to aim for a platform that is geared for real-time global engagement. Scale, reliability are critical – you can’t just chase the latest cool technology, you must deliver reliable real-time transactions.