IBM closes acquisition of CSL International for zEnterprise expansion

IBM has announced the completion of the acquisition of CSL International, an Israeli virtualization management software maker, in order to add the company's virtualization management software portfolio to its System z lineup.

The deal was originally announced in June. On Friday, the tech giant said that acquiring the Pituach, Israel-based company will "deepen the consolidation and cloud capabilities of IBM zEnterprise technology by offering simplified set up and management of the virtualization environment."

CSL's system, CSL-WAVE, runs on IBM's zEnterprise system and provides monitoring and management capabilities for System z environments. The software, designed to be part of the zEnterprise System -- a mainframe to consolidate servers -- will be added to IBM's portfolio early next year.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

"Around the world, companies of all sizes rely on IBM zEnterprise Systems for their efficiency, reliability and security," said Patrick Toole, General Manager, IBM System z. "With CSL-WAVE software in our portfolio, it will be easier for new and existing clients to set up and manage clouds on the mainframe, enabling them to provide enhanced services and support around big data, analytics and mobile to their customers."

By: Charlie Osborne
Link: http://www.zdnet.com/ibm-closes-acquisition-of-csl-international-for-zenterprise-expansion-7000020065/

After Watson, IBM Looks to Build 'Brain in a Box'

Imagine Watson with reason and better communication skills.

The Watson supercomputer may be able to beat reigning Jeopardy champions, but scientists at IBM are developing new, super-smart computer chips designed from the human brain -- and that might ultimately prove much more impressive.

These new silicon “neurosynaptic chips,” which will be fed using about the same amount of energy it takes to power a light bulb, will fuel a software ecosystem that researchers hope will one day enable a new generation of apps that mimic the human brain’s abilities of sensory perception, action and cognition.

It's akin to giving sensors like microphones and speakers brains of their own, allowing them to consume data to be processed through trillions of synapses and neurons in a way that allows them to draw intelligent conclusions.

IBM’s ultimate goal is to build a chip ecosystem with ten billion neurons and a hundred trillion synapses, while consuming just a kilowatt of power and occupying less than a two-liter soda bottle.

“We are fundamentally expanding the boundary of what computers can do,” said Dharmendra Modha, principal investigator of IBM’s SyNAPSE cognitive computing project. “This could have far reaching impacts on technology, business, government and society.”

The researchers envision a wave of new, innovative “smart” products derived from these chips that would alter the way humans live in virtually all walks of life, including commerce, logistics, location, society, even the environment.

“Modern computing systems were designed decades ago for sequential processing according to a pre-defined program,” IBM said in a release. “In contrast, the brain—which operates comparatively slowly and at low precision—excels at tasks such as recognizing, interpreting, and acting upon patterns.”

These chips would give way to a whole new “cognitive-type of processing,” said Bill Risk, who works on the IBM Research SyNAPSE Project, marking one of the most dramatic changes to computing since the traditional von Neumann architecture comprised of zeros and ones was adopted in the mid-1940s.

“These operations result in actions rather than just stored information, and that’s a whole different world,” said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, who has written about the research. "It really allows for a human-like assessment of problems."

It is quite a complex system, and it is still in early stages of development. But IBM researchers have rapidly completed the first three phases of what will likely by a multi-stage project, collaborating with a number of academic partners and collecting some $53 million in funding. They are hopeful the pace of advancement will continue.

Modha cautioned, however, this new type of computing wouldn’t serve as a replacement for today’s computers but a complementary sibling, with traditional analog architecture serving as the left brain with its speed and analytic ability, and the next era of computing acting as the right cortex, operating much more slowly but more cognitively.

“Together, they help to complete the computing technology we have,” Modha said.

Providing a real-life example of how their partnership might one-day work, Kay imagined a medical professional giving triage to a patient.

Digital computers would provide basic functions such as the patient's vitals, while the cognitive computer would cross reference data collected at the scene in real-time with stored information on the digital computer to assess the situation and provide relevant treatment recommendations.

“It could be a drug overdose or an arterial blockage, a human might not know which is which [from the naked eye],” explains Kay. “But a [cognitive] computer could read the symptoms, reference literature, then vote using a confidence level that can kind of infer which one is more likely the case.”

Endless Possibilities Seen

The IBM researchers have put together building blocks of data to make cognitive applications easier to build and to create an ecosystem for developers. The data come in the form of “corelets” that each serve a particular function, such as the ability to perceive sound or colors.

So far they have developed 150 corelets with the intention to eventually allow third parties to go through rigorous testing to submit more. Eventually, corelets could be used to build “real-life cognitive systems," researchers hope.

To help get the ball rolling, the researchers envisioned a slew of product ideas that would make perfect use of these genius chips in real-world functions.

Here are just a few:

-An autonomous robot dubbed “Tumbleweed” could be deployed for search and rescue missions in emergency situations. Researchers picture the sphere-shaped device, outfitted with “multi-modal sensing” via 32 mini cameras and speakers, surveying a disaster and identifying people in need. It might be able to communicate with them, letting them know help is on its way or directing them to safety.

-For personal use, low-power, light-weight glasses could be designed for the near blind. Using these chips, which would recognize and analyze objects through cameras, they'd be able to plot a route through a crowded room with obstacles, directing the visually-impaired through speakers.

-Putting these chips to use in a business function, the researchers foresee a product they’ve dubbed the “conversation flower” that could process audio and video feeds on conference calls to identify specific people by their voice and appearance while automatically transcribing the conversation.

-Giving a glimpse into its potential use in the medical world, a thermometer could be developed that could not only measure temperature, but could also be outfitted with a camera that would be able to detect smell and recognize certain bacterial presence based on their unique odor, giving an alert if medical attention is needed.

-In an environmental function, researchers could see this technology being outfitted on sensor buoys, monitoring shipping lanes for safety and environmental protection.

Given the fluid motion of the project, it’s unclear how long it will take for the first generation of cognitive computers to begin applying themselves in real-world applications, but Modha and his team are optimistic they will be crafted sooner than later.

"We need cognitive systems that understand the environment, can deal with ambiguity and can act in a real-time, real-life context," Modha said. "We want to create a brain in a box."

By: Jennifer Booton

Link: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/08/22/after-watson-ibm-looks-to-build-brain-in-box/

IBM Boosts Power to Linux Servers for Big Data, Cloud

"When we want to do something new, Linux on Power is one of our go-to platforms. The performance, security and cost efficiencies inherent in Power Systems make it a superior foundation for the growing number of Linux-based applications available today," said GHY International's Nigel Fortlage.

IBM is pushing hard on its Linux on Power initiative. The company just rolled out a new PowerLinux server and new software and middleware applications that aim to satisfy the growing enterprise appetite for big data, analytics and next generation Java applications in an open cloud environment.  

The new PowerLinux 7R4 server is built on the Power Systems platform running IBM's Watson cognitive computing solution. Big Blue says the server offers that same performance for the new business-critical and data-intensive workloads increasingly deployed in Linux environments. IBM is also pushing out IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and EnterpriseDB database software, each optimized for Linux on Power. 

"More clients are choosing IBM's Power Systems designed to handle mission critical and complex cloud and big data workloads in an open Linux environment," said Doug Balog, General Manager for IBM Power Systems. "Responding to this need, we are aggressively investing in our open ecosystem -- including new products, applications and collaborations -- that support today's emerging Linux workloads."  

IBM's Strong Linux Play

The PowerLinux 7R4 is the high-end addition to IBM's line-up of Power Systems PowerLinux servers running industry standard Linux from Red Hat and SUSE. The new server, which follows the PowerLinux 7R1 and 7R2 models, delivers up to four sockets and 32 cores. The PowerLinux 7R4 takes advantage of the same virtualization, middleware, and applications that are available on all Power Systems running Linux today. 

Big Blue is offering Linux across its entire Power Systems portfolio for clients that want to run on both Linux and IBM's AIX and/or IBM i operating system software. Using IBM's PowerVM virtualization tools, enterprises can partition any Power Systems server into separate virtual servers, some running Linux-based applications while the others can run AIX or IBM i applications.

The Big (Data) Picture

We caught up with Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, to get his take on IBM's latest Linux servers and software additions. He told us the new solutions are good examples of the way the company leverages multiple innovations from multiple product groups into synergistic new solutions.

"In this case, the latest generation Power7+ processors provide the foundational hardware for Linux-specific cloud and other solutions. But just as important to this mix are the work and investments IBM's software group have been putting into big data and analytics," King said. "In essence, IBM's new PowerLinux System is a great example of what a mature, fully-formed systems vendor is capable of achieving. But just as important to remember are the benefits those efforts will provide IBM's customers and partners."

Driving Cost Savings

GHY International, an international customs brokerage company based in Winnipeg, Canada, uses a Power Systems server running Linux for its custom applications as well as its firewall and front-end spam checking. 

"When we want to do something new, Linux on Power is one of our go-to platforms," said Nigel Fortlage, vice president of Information Technology & Social Business Leader for GHY International. "The performance, security and cost efficiencies inherent in Power Systems make it a superior foundation for the growing number of Linux-based applications available today."

By: Jennifer LeClaire
Link: http://www.newsfactor.com/news/IBM-Boosts-Power-to-Linux-Servers/story.xhtml?story_id=10300626V92N
 
 

IBM wins $1 billion federal cloud computing deal

International Business Machines Corp. has been awarded a 10-year deal worth $1 billion to help the U.S. Department of the Interior transform its information technology systems to a cloud computing model.

As part of the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, the department may use IBM cloud computing technologies, services and hosting as the foundation of their next generation infrastructure, Armonk-based IBM(NYSE: IBM) said.

The Interior Department will use IBM’s expertise in data storage, secure file transfer, virtual machines, database, web hosting, development testing and SAP Application Hosting. The department also will be able to tap IBM's Smart Cloud for Government hosted at the IBM Federal Data Center, the Smart Cloud for Enterprise commercial offerings and the IBM AIX Cloud.

Other U.S. government agencies can also gain access to IBM’s cloud services via the Interior Department’s Foundation Cloud Hosting Services vehicle. The vehicle also allows request for quotes/task orders to be issued on behalf of other government customers including both civilian agencies and the Department of Defense.

The Interior Department is the steward of 20 percent of the nation's land. On these 500 million acres are 397 units of the national park system, 556 national wildlife refuges, 21 national conservation areas and 16 national monuments. In addition, the department is the largest supplier and manager of water in 17 states, overseeing 476 dams and 348 reservoirs. It also manages the land, subsurface rights and offshore areas that produce 24 percent of the nation's energy; and maintains relationships with 566 federally recognized Native American tribes with a population of 1.7 million people.

The Interior Department’s shift to a cloud computing model is part of efforts to save $100 million a year from 2016 to 2021 and then use those savings to fund investments in new business capabilities and applications.

By: New York Business Journal
Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2013/08/14/ibm-wins-1-billion-federal-cloud.html

NSA to set up new outpost in North Carolina, IBM to build super security lab

Earlier this week, CivSource reported on $6 billion in awards made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to 17 Big IT vendors for cybersecurity. Now, the NSA has announced that it will also be opening a new out post in North Carolina, and IBM made a strategic acquisition of Israeli company Trusteer in its effort to build a super security lab.

North Carolina State University is partnering with the NSA on its new lab.That lab will work to analyze the data coming out of the NSA’s large operations center in Bluffdale, Utah. The University won a $60 million contract as part of the partnership. The school announced the contract on Thursday, noting that negotiations had been underway for approximately three years.

The new lab will also be affiliated with the NSA’s military component, the Central Security Service, which focuses on protecting national security systems and to produce electronic intelligence information. Unsurprisingly many of the terms of the partnership are being kept secret, although the Salt Lake Tribune reports that the NSA wanted to take advantage of the overall academic community inside the Research Triangle in North Carolina. Researchers will be focused on helping the agency figure out how to manage the data coming out of its massive domestic and international dragnet.

IBM also plans to build out its cybersecurity apparatus with a new Israeli acquisition. The company purchased Israeli-company Trusteer for an undisclosed sum. Trusteer is focused on monitoring risks to computer systems. IBM plans to use the purchase as the foundation for a cybersecurity lab inside Israel.

Trusteer’s client base consists of a number of large US and UK financial institutions. Financial institutions often face the same level of complex threats as governments, as would be attackers seek sensitive and high value consumer data.

IBM is making a big play for the cybersecurity market, the company has some 3,000 security related patents and has made several strategic acquisitions of companies focused on security. The company is working to expand not only the data points it monitors but through the lab work aims to get ahead of threats.

By: Bailey McCann

Link: http://civsourceonline.com/2013/08/16/nsa-to-set-up-new-outpost-in-north-carolina-ibm-to-build-super-security-lab/

IBM Takes Over Trusteer

Acquisitions continue to be a key growth strategy for International Business Machines (IBM). The company recently announced the acquisition of Israeli cyber security solutions provider Trusteer. IBM is expected to shell out something in the range of $700.0 million to $1.0 billion for the privately-held company.

Trusteer helps organizations to fight off financial frauds and other cyber attacks. The takeover is expected to strengthen the technical capability of IBM’s security lab, which is mainly focused on developing solutions that enhances mobile and application security, helps in effectively countering fraud and detects malware.

IBM has been trying hard to strengthen its presence in this segment and has signed dozens of deals in this sector over the last few years. The latest addition was Q1 Labs in late 2011, which helped IBM to form a new security systems division. We believe that the addition of Trusteer will expand IBM security portfolio and market share, going forward.

Trusteer’s cloud-base solutions will primarily help IBM to improve its offerings in segments such as fraud protection, advanced persistent threat protection, zero-day vulnerabilities, endpoint security as well as threat intelligence services. We believe that the improved product portfolio will help IBM to win more U.S. Federal government deals, which has been a major source of revenues for the company over the years.

IBM recently won a cloud-computing contract from the U.S. Department of the Interior to improve the government’s IT infrastructure using its Smart Cloud technology. The deal made a meaningful contribution of $1.0 billion to IBM’s kitty and countered the loss of the $600.0 million CIA contract. 

Lately, cyber security has been a growing threat for organizations of all size. The recent data leakage from the National Security Agency has raised several questions over the competency of the government’s cloud storage systems.

As per a recent report published by global defense website “www.defencetalk.com”, the cyber security market is expected to grow to $93.6 billion from 2013 to 2023 irrespective of budget cuts and European slowdown. Europe is projected to be the second-largest spender with $24.7 billion.

We believe that this huge surge in defense spending provides significant growth opportunities for cyber security solution providers such as IBM. We believe that IBM will continue to pursue strategic acquisitions in this sector to boost its product portfolio, going forward.

However, IBM is expected to face tough competition from the likes of Symantec Corporation, Kaspersky, EMC Corp, and Intel Corp. in the near term.

By: Zacks Equity Research

Link: http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/106901/ibm-takes-over-trusteer

IBM, Google Team on OpenPOWER Consortium

In a bid to reinvigorate its POWER processor architecture, IBM this week announced a new development alliance called the Open POWER Consortium, with Google, Mellanox, NVIDIA and Tyan as initial members.

Battling a diminishing server market overall, on top of competition from the Open Compute Project and other industry initiatives, IBM hopes that OpenPOWER will build advanced server, networking, storage and GPU-acceleration technology on the POWER platform. The consortium makes POWER IP licensable to others and for the first time will make POWER hardware and software available to open development.

In doing this, IBM and the consortium can offer unprecedented customization in creating new styles of server hardware for a variety of computing workloads. IBM added variety to its own systems on Tuesday the addition of new FLEX systems with POWER processors.

“The founding members of the OpenPOWER Consortium represent the next generation in data-center innovation,” said Steve Mills, senior vice president, and group executive, IBM Software & Systems. “Combining our talents and assets around the POWER architecture can greatly increase the rate of innovation throughout the industry. Developers now have access to an expanded and open set of server technologies for the first time. This type of ‘collaborative development’ model will change the way data center hardware is designed and deployed.”

As a large maker of its own customized servers Google’s involvement in the consortium signals an interesting twist in the processor battleground. A year ago Intel noted that Google was in the top five of server manufacturers that account for 75 percent of Intel’s server chip revenues. There is nothing that guarantees Google will build POWER-based systems, but with Google’s love of open systems and drive to innovate its data centers, it is certainly a possibility.  NVIDIA and IBM will work together to integrate the CUDA GPU and POWER ecosystems.

“We are happy taking part in the OpenPOWER Consortium and its mission to further accelerate the rate of innovation, performance and efficiency for advanced data center solutions,” said Gilad Shainer, vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies. “Open source and community development are key to enabling innovative computer platforms and better serve the scalable and emerging applications in the areas of high-performance, Web 2.0 and cloud computing. Mellanox’s mission is to provide the most efficient interconnect solution for all compute and CPU architectures and deliver the highest return-on-investment to our users.”

IBM says OpenPOWER is open to any firm that wants to innovate on the POWER platform and participate in an open, collaborative effort.

By: John Rath

Link: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2013/08/07/ibm-google-mellanox-nvidia-and-tyan-announce-openpower-consortium/

OpenPOWER Consortium represents the next generation in data center innovation

The right infrastructure is the foundation that enables clients to deliver on the promise of cloud computing.

As big data reshapes global commerce, many companies are looking to new, highly customized IT platforms to gain business advantage. High levels of customization and speedy development cycles are the hallmarks for cloud developers, who are increasingly pushing the limits of what current, off-the-shelf components allow.

Yesterday, IBM, Google, Mellanox, NVIDIA and Tyan announced plans to form the OpenPOWER Consortium – an open development alliance based on IBM's POWER microprocessor architecture. This groundbreaking collaboration is the core of a broad-based effort designed to greatly expand the technology choices available to modern IT developers and thus bring innovation to clients through a new, open ecosystem on POWER technology. 

Open and collaborative development is the future of cloud innovation

OpenPOWER will be based on Linux open-source software and will for the first time provide licensees with the ability to customize POWER microprocessors, firmware and software to create their own unique servers, networking, I/0 and storage systems.

The POWER architecture, when paired with the resources and technology from the OpenPOWER members, will bring a new set of technical capabilities to allow systems developers to create more powerful, scalable and energy-efficient technology for next-generation cloud data centers.

With the OpenPower licensing model, IBM is essentially providing new R&D groups like the OpenStack foundation with their own chip technology. Developers now have access to an expanded and open set of server technologies for the first time. This type of collaborative development model stands to change the way data center hardware is designed and deployed. IT vendors have traditionally maintained closed and often proprietary R&D operations and offer customers essentially the same generic commodity that is difficult to re-engineer in the hopes of gaining meaningful competitive advantage. OpenPOWER will allow customization at a level never before seen in servers.

Why is this important to you?

Open technologies are a major catalyst for innovation and for making our planet smarter. Intelligence is being infused into the way the world literally works—into the systems, processes and infrastructure that enable physical goods to be developed, manufactured, bought and sold; that allow services to be delivered; that facilitate the movement of everything from money and oil to water and electrons. Ultimately, this will help to improve how billions of people work and live. Only through open standards and platforms can enterprises support an expanding universe of heterogeneous data, devices and services, and engage in today’s rich innovation ecosystems.

The OpenPOWER Consortium will provide open-source hardware, software, firmware and tools to allow developers to harness the full performance of IBM’s POWER microprocessor architecture. By opening up to developers the firmware connections that control basic chip functions, IBM and the Consortium can offer unprecedented flexibility in creating new styles of server hardware to fit specific needs, resulting in innovation that can benefit an entire segment of our industry, such as cloud computing. Clients can leverage this innovation to anticipate new customer preferences, outpace competitors’ actions and respond to dynamic events in their market landscape.

IBM is an innovation company and has a long-term commitment to open technologies. We have invested considerable financial, technical and marketing resources to foster the growth, development and use of open technologies. In fact, our commitment to open and collaborative technologies is the driver of how we deliver Smarter Computing technologies to our clients. We are reinforcing this commitment with yesterday’s announcement, covered in the Wall Street Journal, which once again demonstrates IBM’s leadership in world class technology collaborating with industry leaders to deliver innovation that matters.

By: Paulo Carvao
Link: http://www.smartercomputingblog.com/power-systems/openpower-consortium/?sf15904024=1

Human Brain Computer Built by IBM Researchers

As technology progresses faster than we ever imagined, researchers at IBM have created a computer that is capable of working just like the human brain.

The human brain is a marvel of in-body technology. Not only does it process billions (a generous figure) of bodily functions and thoughts and movements and feelings in a day, it also hold’s your entire life’s collection of memories. What’s more, is that this is made even more impressive by the fact that the human brain is an estimated 75% water. Compare the brain then, to a computer ; both have similar features in that parts of a computer must communicate with each other in order to complete the task at hand and, while few computers could ever match the brain’s ability of remembering stuff, data is a big use of a PC too. Computers in the past have never been a fitting rival for the human brain but now, a team of researchers at IBM just might have created a worthy competitor.

Working with the United States of America’s DARPA unit (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), IBM are working on SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics). Dharmendra Modha, principal investigator and senior manager at IBM Research, says of the project’s aim that “It’s a very modest goal — it’s to build a brain-like computer”. How IBM are working towards achieving this is by developing a ’multi-threaded software system’ that functions as the basis for their brain-based project. In addition, IBM have also designed a programming language, including algorithms that allows the components to work together efficiently. Altogether, with the simulation covering 2 billion synaptic cores and with each neurosynaptic core holding 256, around 100 trillion synapses are represented by the project, which is close to that of the human brain.

Outside of statistics, what IBM’s project means is that artificial intelligence based devices, such a drones and unmanned vehicles on the ground, will be even more capable of thinking for themselves. Whilst currently, most of these self-thinking pieces of technology have a human controlling them at the other end and future possibilities for this have yet to be announced, maybe, in the future, we’ll see human thinking tech out in the wild.

We’ll keep you posted once we know more.

By: Jasmine Henry

Link: http://walyou.com/human-brain-computer-built-by-ibm-researchers/

IBM Is Creating an Entire Computing Architecture Based on the Brain

The brain's an incredibly rich and complex computational core that we don't really fully understand—but that isn't stopping IBM building a new form of computing architecture around what's happening inside our heads.

Building on a collaboration it ran with DARPA's SyNAPSE program back in 2011, where it developed a neurosynaptic computing chip, the company is taking things a step further to create a whole computational ecosystem inspired by the brain. That original chip simulated some of the brain's functions—including the inter relations between 530 billion neurons—but the idea now is to create something even more realistic.

That means creating a whole new computing architecture—which is exactly what IBM is doing. So, as it's just announced, it's building all kinds of weird and wonderful things: multi-threaded software simulators that replicate the way the brain processes data; a neuron model that uses deterministic and stochastic computations to make sense of the world; and programs made out of arrays of "corelets," each of which represents a discrete neurosynaptic core. This is the stuff of science fiction.

It's a lot to imagine, but the applications are mind-boggling: computers that can think and process data just—or at least, a little—like humans. It's still some way off, mind, especially given that even an 83,000 - processor supercomputer can still only match 1 percent of your brain right now.

That doesn't deter IBM, though. Apparently, its long-term goal is to essentially build an actual silicon version of the brain. As they put it, that means they need a chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses, which consumes one kilowatt of power and occupies less than two liters of volume. That's what people refer to as a challenge.

 

 

 

By: Jamie Condliffe

Link: http://gizmodo.com/ibm-is-creating-an-entire-computing-architecture-based-1063836530

IBM wants you to learn how to program its brain chips

IBM Research has created programming software for its experimental brain chips.

Big Blue’s researchers in San Jose, Calif., have created what they call a “breakthrough software ecosystem” designed for programming chips whose architecture has been inspired by the way the brain functions. The chips function on low power and are good at applications that the brain can handle, like perception, action, and cognition.

The software is dramatically different from traditional software. IBM says its new programming model breaks the model of sequential operation that traces its roots back to the John von Neumann architecture created in the 1940s. Instead of handling one instruction at a time, IBM’s new model is tailored for doing lots of things at once. The new model is made for distributed, highly interconnected, asynchronous, parallel, and large-scale cognitive computing architectures.

“Architectures and programs are closely intertwined and a new architecture necessitates a new programming paradigm,” said Dharmendra Modha, principal Investigator and senior manager at IBM Research. “We are working to create a FORTRAN for cognitive computing chips. While complementing today’s computers, this will bring forth a fundamentally new technological capability in terms of programming and applying emerging cognitive systems.”

IBM announced its new brain-like computer chips in 2011. But to make use of them, it has to create software that programmers will use to program the new chips. IBM believes that these brain-like computers will be better at tasks such as vision and perception, at least in comparison to “number cruncher” von Neumann computers that are the foundation of all of today’s major computing architectures, such as Intel’s x86 architecture. IBM says that the brain-like computers can get a lot more work done simultaneously, without using too much power. Working on a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), IBM demonstrated working chips based on the new technology. More than $53 million has been poured into it so far.

IBM researchers developed a number of breakthroughs aimed at making brain-like computing easier. They created a simulator to demonstrate multi-threaded, massively parallel, and highly scalable software running on a network of brain-like cores known as Synapse processors. IBM’s long-term goal is to build a chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses, while consuming merely one kilowatt of power and occupying less than two liters of volume.

The software follows a neuron-like model. It is a simple, digital, highly parameterized spiking neuron model. A network of such neurons can sense, remember, and act upon a variety of programming inputs. The programming model simplifies this complex structure, creating a high-level description that is based on composable and reusable building blocks called “corelets.” Each corelet is a blueprint of a network of neurons. The inner workings of the neuron are hidden from the programmer, who only sees its external inputs and outputs. So the programmer can focus on what the neuron does, rather than how it does it. Corelets are hierarchical. They can be used to create new corelets that are more complex.

The researchers have created more than 150 corelets already as part of a library that programmers can tap. IBM is presenting the programming model at the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks.

By: Dean Takahashi

Link: http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/07/ibm-wants-you-to-learn-how-to-program-its-brain-chips/

IBM TRIRIGA Cited as a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Systems

Getting a better ROI from real estate assets requires a new approach—and often new solutions

The IWMS (Integrated Workplace Management System) story is getting more compelling by the day—and IBM's leadership role in that story is getting clearer and clearer.

Why is IWMS acquiring industry momentum? In large part, because of the increasing focus on the importance of optimized, unified management of all assets across a complex enterprise. And that certainly includes real estate, facilities, and related assets that have historically been managed in isolated domains.

If you can centralize the way asset information is aggregated and analyzed, it's much simpler to transform it into actionable intelligence—arriving rapidly at new business strategies, reducing costs, enhancing workforce safety, increasing asset lifespan and utilization rates, and generally becoming more agile and effective as an organization.

All of this context explains why leading technology analyst Gartner Inc. recently assessed the IWMS market to determine how the field is changing, who the leading software providers are, and how IWMS solutions have evolved in new directions to better fulfill emerging demand.

IBM was positioned as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Systems. Leaders, as defined in the report, “have strength in applications and platform technology; they demonstrate a high level of quality in product reliability and service; they have strong operational and organizational capabilities, financial stability, and global reach; and they offer a strong vision of customer needs, as reflected in a robust development road map.”* 

IBM TRIRIGA delivers industry-leading financial planning and energy-tracking capabilities

Since more than 25% of new IBM TRIRIGA customers in 2012 came from non-North American markets, this extended geographical support already delivers substantial productivity benefits for a large number of IBM clients—and that number is growing fast.

More specifically, IBM TRIRIGA delivers the insight and transparency required to better understand financial complexities, like how best to orchestrate leasing terms of multiple buildings across a global portfolio, as well as the energy consumption information needed to quantify and reduce one of an organization's largest operating expenses. 

Via IBM TRIRIGA, an organization can establish not just how matters stand today, but how they're likely to stand in the near future in different scenarios. 

Its capabilities in this area include advanced support for tasks like facility optimization; if physical space is in short supply, and it's possible to consolidate multiple buildings into one, IBM TRIRIGA can demonstrate that, as well as help you understand what the fiscal and operational benefits are likely to be, if you take that course of action. Energy costs, long-term environmental sustainability, and regulatory compliance are three additional areas in which the accurate prognostication provided by IBM TRIRIGA can translate into impressive benefits down the road. 

IBM TRIRIGA strengths cited by Gartner included:

• A single technology platform and data repository. This is particularly attractive for enterprise-class organizations, of course; they have the largest number of physical sites, in many cases operating in entirely different countries, as well as the largest number of workplace-related assets to manage. By unifying all relevant information pertaining to these sites, IBM TRIRIGA makes it faster, easier, and less costly to arrive at effective tactical and strategic planning decisions, such as how best to reduce energy costs overall, how to obtain the most productive use of space from a campus, or whether it would be better from a tax standpoint to lease or purchase buildings at a proposed new location. 
• IBM's ongoing investment in making IBM TRIRIGA a solution suitable for truly global organizations. IBM TRIRIGA, for instance, supports 20 different languages; this means it can be used by an exceptionally broad range of team members, regardless of where they live, what their native language might be, or what they need to use IBM TRIRIGA to do. Since more than 25% of new IBM TRIRIGA customers in 2012 came from non-North American markets, this extended geographical support already delivers substantial productivity benefits for a large number of IBM clients—and that number is growing fast.
• IBM's clear commitment to timely, ongoing integration and evolution of IBM TRIRIGA and related offerings. Consider that IBM's Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure group also includes IBM Maximo, its flagship enterprise-class holistic asset management suite, and you begin to see the possibilities. Over time, as IBM TRIRIGA and IBM Maximo are increasingly integrated, their capabilities and value propositions will both be increased in proportion. Both IBM Maximo and IBM TRIRIGA, for instance, have already helped to enhance IBM's Smarter Buildings initiative, a trend that will only gain strength going forward thanks to cross-solution enhancement. And for IBM customers, that means an ongoing improvement in the total ROI that all assets, of all kinds, will generate over the long term.
• The option to utilize IBM TRIRIGA capabilities via a cloud-based service. Increasingly, organizations are looking for a way to achieve the benefits of complex software packages without the traditional responsibility to acquire licenses, track their use, and deploy and manage that software in-house. That's why IBM TRIRIGA is now available in a SaaS (software as a service) model, allowing customers to focus on the capabilities they're getting—not the technical details involved in getting them. These capabilities, rendered in a cloud, are also particularly well suited to geographically dispersed organizations because they can easily be obtained from any location, so long as that location has Internet access. This is a much faster, simpler, and more flexible process than buying, distributing, and deploying different instances of software in multiple data centers around the world.
• A revision and upgrade process that is based not just on abstract possibilities, but real-world customer demand. IBM's approach to solution improvement, across the entire Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure portfolio, is increasingly transparent and customer-centric; if particular features or changes are called out in customer feedback, they're elevated to a higher priority for the next iteration. This way, IBM clients get the changes they need most as quickly as possible.

*Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Systems,” Rob Schafer, June 17, 2013.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

By: IBM Software

Link: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/beat/08062013.html

 

Google, IBM, Mellanox, Nvidia, Tyan announce development group for data centers

Google, IBM, Mellanox, Nvidia and Tyan have announced plans to form the OpenPOWER Consortium - an open development alliance based on IBM's Power microprocessor architecture. The Consortium intends to build advanced server, networking, storage and GPU-acceleration technology aimed at delivering more choice, control and flexibility to developers of next-generation, hyperscale and cloud data centers.

The move makes Power hardware and software available to open development for the first time as well as making Power IP licensable to others, greatly expanding the ecosystem of innovators on the platform. The consortium will offer open-source Power firmware, the software that controls basic chip functions. By doing this, IBM and the consortium can offer unprecedented customization in creating new styles of server hardware for a variety of computing workloads.

As part of their initial collaboration within the consortium, Nvidia and IBM will work together to integrate the CUDA GPU and Power ecosystems.

By: Joseph Tsai

Link: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130807PR202.html

The power of PowerVM virtualization

Virtualization is a term that refers to the various techniques and approaches of creating a virtual version of something. In an IT context, most people associate the concept of virtualization with the idea of running several operating systems on the same physical server. This is certainly the most broadly known type of virtualization, but it can also refer to the hardware platform, storage device, network resources or even applications virtualization.

Virtualization is a hot topic for companies trying to achieve increased leverage and efficiency of IT resources. This type of technology can help companies consolidate multiple workloads onto fewer systems, increasing server utilization and reducing costs. Lately, many companies have been adopting virtualization solutions to reduce hardware expenditures, giving them more time and money to concentrate their efforts on driving innovation and becoming competitive. 

One of the IBM's solutions to virtualization is the IBM PowerVM, a very robust virtualization solution for Linux environments on IBM Power processor-based system, IBM i and IBM AIX. It provides the industrial-strength virtualization solution for IBM Power Systems servers and blades on a secure and resilient virtualization environment. It is currently available in three editions, namely IBM PowerVM Express, IBM PowerVM Standard and IBM PowerVM Enterprise, and they all deliver higher quality service by improving virtual resources. 

The IBM PowerVM solution delivers many features with aggregated benefits, such as:

• Shared processor pools
• Shared storage pools
• Dynamic Logical Partitioning
• Live Partition Mobility
• Active Memory Sharing

In a previous blog spot, my colleague Philippe Lamarche wrote about Live Partition Mobility, one very interesting feature in this solution. And in this post, I will briefly mention the Active Memory Sharing (AMS) functionality, a memory virtualization technology that provides system memory virtualization capabilities and allows multiple logical partitions to share a common pool of physical memory.

AMS is an intelligent solution that dynamically optimizes the memory of the system by flowing memory from one partition to another, resulting in an increased memory utilization. This functionality automatically adjusts the memory available across multiple virtual images based on their workload levels, resulting in efficient memory utilization.

The system administrator can either assign dedicated memory to a single virtual image or create a memory pool that can be shared among a set of virtual images.

Shared and dedicated memory logical partitions (LPARs)

Image source: IBM Redbooks.

As a result, the AMS feature enables an increased overall memory utilization and drives down system costs.

For further details about this feature, you can take a look at an IBM Redbooks publication that talks specifically about it.

Smarter computing is about smarter solutions. What do you think about this intelligent solution to manage your available memory? Please leave a comment below.

By: Renato Stoffalette Joao
Link: http://www.smartercomputingblog.com/power-systems/powervm-virtualization/

New IBM Flex Systems squeeze a bigger cloud into a smaller data center

Announcing a raft of additions to its Flex System range, IBM aims to help companies consolidate their IT infrastructures and reduce operating costs. The new systems combine the latest server technology with updated virtualization, network and management tools. They will allow the fast deployment of increasingly large clouds without needing to boost the size of the data center. IBM quotes Morgan Stanley's Cloud Perspective survey which has found that by 2014 businesses will have migrated at least 62 percent of their database workloads to the cloud.

The new Flex Systems are available with a choice of x86 and Big Blue's own POWER7 architecture. The Flex System x222 uses a dual-density x86 architecture that allows it to support up to 2,800 Windows 7 user images on a single chassis. There's also an upgrade to the Flex System Manager so that systems can be monitored remotely using Android, Blackberry and iOS devices. A new utilization fuel gauge feature allows system managers to see at a glance the status and availability of their servers.

Flex servers can be built to order for clients who have specific processing, storage and networking configurations. You can find more information and access a configuration tool at the www.ibm.com/flex site.

By: Ian Barker

Link: http://betanews.com/2013/08/06/new-ibm-flex-systems-squeeze-a-bigger-cloud-into-a-smaller-data-center/

More on the IBM PowerLinux Announcement

As noted at the end of last week's post, on July 30 IBM made another PowerLinux announcement. Here's the full IBM press release.

"The PowerLinux 7R4 is the high-end addition to IBM's line-up of Power Systems PowerLinux servers running industry standard Linux from Red Hat and SUSE. Joining the PowerLinux 7R1 and 7R2 models, the PowerLinux 7R4 delivers a new level of performance with up to 4 sockets and 32 cores -- ideal for clients seeking a Linux solution capable of handling compute-intensive workloads including analytics, cognitive computing, database and web infrastructure. The PowerLinux 7R4 takes advantage of the same virtualization, middleware, and applications that are available on all Power Systems running Linux today.

“In addition to IBM DB2 database software for Linux, which offers an average 98 percent compatibility when migrating Oracle Database applications, IBM announced that EnterpriseDB's enterprise-level PostgreSQL-based database solution is now available on all Power Systems servers running Linux.

"Switching databases has traditionally been costly and risky due to limited application compatibility and lack of comprehensive migration tools and resources. EnterpriseDB's Postgres Plus Advanced Server and IBM Power Systems solve this problem by providing extensive Oracle compatibility functionality, migration tools and expertise that can deliver significant cost savings while allowing many Oracle based applications to run virtually unchanged,” said Ed Boyajian, President and CEO, EnterpriseDB.

“IBM has participated in a wide range of open source projects since 1999, and today this includes Open Stack, Open Daylight, KVM, Apache and Eclipse in addition to Linux. Hundreds of IBM programmers and engineers around the world are contributing to open source as part of the collection of global open source communities, including experts working on projects such as KVM and hands-on support for clients, IBM Business Partners and software vendors interested in running Linux on Power Systems. In May 2013 IBM opened the world’s first IBM’s Power Systems Linux Center in Beijing, and in June 2013 IBM announced its intention to open two more IBM Power Systems Linux Centers in New York and Austin."

Here's the IBM PowerLinux 7R4 announcement letter:

“The IBM PowerLinux 7R4 (8248-L4T) server is a powerful 2-socket or 4-socket server that ships with 16 or 32 fully activated cores and I/O configuration flexibility to meet today's growth and tomorrow's processing needs. The server features:

• Powerful POWER7+ DCM processors that offer 3.5 GHz and 4.0 GHz performance with 16 or 32 fully activated cores
• Up to 1024 GB of memory
• Rich I/O options in the system unit: six PCIe 8X Gen2 slots in the system unit; two GX++ slots for I/O drawers; six hard disk drive (HDD)/solid-state drive (SSD) SAS small form factor (SFF) bays and integrated SAS I/O controllers; integrated multifunction card with four Ethernet, two USB, and one serial port; redundant hot-swap ac power supplies in each enclosure; 19-inch rack-mount 5U configuration ...

“Without PowerVM, dynamic LPAR allows one partition per processor. With PowerVM , up to 20 partitions are allowed per processor. Logical partitioning is supported when IBM PowerVM for IBM PowerLinux (#EC22) is ordered.

“The backplane can be configured as one set of six bays, two sets of three bays (3/3), or three sets of two bays (2/2/2). Configuration options will vary, depending upon the controller options and the operating system selected. The controllers for the six-bay or 3/3 configurations are always the two pairs of embedded controllers. If the 2/2/2 configuration is used, the two embedded controllers run the first two sets of bays (2/2) and a feature 5901 PCIe SAS adapter located in a PCIe slot in a CEC enclosure controls the third set (2). By having three controllers, you can have three boot drives supporting three partitions.

“The IBM PowerLinux 7R4 (8248-L4T) server is designed with both IBM and customer serviceability in mind. Advancements such as Guiding Light LED architecture are used to control a system of integrated LEDs that lead the individual servicing the machine to the correct part as quickly as possible. With the PowerLinux 7R4 server, you can replace service parts (customer replaceable unit). To do this, the PowerLinux 7R4 server uses Guiding Light LEDs to indicate the parts that need to be replaced. An HMC attached to the PowerLinux 7R4 server enables support personnel (with your authorization) to remotely log in to review error logs and perform remote maintenance if required.

“Concurrent maintenance guided service procedures will continue to be supported by the Repair and Verify (R&V) component of the Service Focal Point application running on the HMC. Repair procedures that are not covered by the guided R&V component are documented and available for display on any web browser-enabled system as well as on the HMC. These procedures are available through the InfoCenter application.”

If you search for IBM 7R4 you will find more analysis. Here are two additional articles. Informationweek says: 

“Why buy Power when there are more x86 choices? Performance is the differentiator, according to IBM. Multi-threaded Java applications, for example, can take advantage of four threads per core instead of the two threads per core on Intel machines. What's more, Power 7+ series upgrades introduced over the last year include a highly optimized IBM Java Virtual Machine for better Java performance. Finally, the machine has a 2.5 times more cache than competitive Intel machines. 

The register says: 

 “... because of the relatively high cost of Power Systems iron, which was marketed to Unix and proprietary customers used to paying a premium for every component in their systems, it was difficult to pitch a Power-based machine against an x86 box and win. So, with the PowerLinux machines, IBM cut its prices to take that issue off the table. And now, IBM can focus the conversation on the performance of Java, database, and analytics workloads and show that a Power7+ alternative can take on a Xeon system and make economic as well as technical sense.”

IBM continues to make Power servers an attractive option for running Linux. As AIX and IBM i cannot run on the 7R1, 7R2 or 7R4, IBM has made the pricing on these systems very competitive when compared with traditional x86 commodity hardware. Take the time to investigate whether Linux on Power makes sense in your environment.

In case you missed it, here is some information from today's Wall Street journal about the OpenPOWER Consortium:

“The effort will start with Power8, a forthcoming member of the chip family that IBM plans to discuss at a technical conference this month.”

The IBM news release says the consortium is “an open development alliance based on IBM's POWER microprocessor architecture. The Consortium intends to build advanced server, networking, storage and GPU-acceleration technology aimed at delivering more choice, control and flexibility to developers of next-generation, hyperscale and cloud data centers.” 

By: Rob McNelly

Link: http://ibmsystemsmag.blogs.com/aixchange/2013/08/more-on-the-ibm-powerlinux-announcement.html

From Jeopardy to Cancer Institute: How IBM Watson is Transforming the World

IBM Watson is more than a supercomputer.  It is a cognitive system capable of natural language processing, and is able to perform deep natural language processing to make it seem like you are talking to a human, and not just a computer.

Watson achieved fame when it beat contestants on the popular game show Jeopardy!, and again when it beat Harvard Business School students in the same game show, taking home $56,33.

But Watson is not just about beating people in mind games, as it has evolved into something that is useful for people.

Meet Dr. Watson

In 2011, WellPoint’s Chief Medical Officer Sam Nussbaum, M.D announced that Watson-based services will be utilized to deliver patient care and diagnosis solutions and reduce costs.  The need for something like Watson in the field of healthcare stems from the fact that huge amounts of data are being generated in this field on a daily basis.  With more people seeking proper healthcare, industry professionals are finding it hard to keep track of patients’ care plans or give them the right treatment plans.  This often leads to costly and unnecessary procedures.

A few months after, it was announced that doctors at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars Sinai will be utilizing Watson to “comb through patient medical histories, medical journals and clinical trials to provide appropriate treatments,” for cancer patients.   The institute was chosen for its reputation in oncology.

So why cancer treatment?  Watson CTO, IBM Fellow, and VP Rob High claims that the team wanted to make a difference.  With all the changes and challenges arising in the field of cancer research, Watson will be able to quickly access the latest researchers and experimental trials, all in the hopes of improving patient outcome.

Professor Watson

Watson is also being utilized as a teaching tool.  At the Cleveland Clinic, the IBM Research team is using Watson to gather information as to how medical students learn as well as see how Watson reaches its conclusions.  High claims that this  “helps students understand the patterns and strategies for how Watson learns things that they might also use. And that’s reciprocal – Watson’s also learning from the students.”

The most recent medical achievement for Watson is its stint at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to treat lung and breast cancer patients as well as streamline treatment preauthorizations at WellPoint.  Dr. Nussbaum predicts that Watson could eliminate or greatly reduce waiting time for patients as physicians will be more effective in handling patients.  He states that right now, only 12 percent of a doctor’s time is actually spent on a patient.  The rest of the time is spent dealing with paperwork and medical billing like WellPoint, particularly in obtaining preauthorizations for the treatments.

If Dr. Nussbaum’s predictions are correct, Watson could become a vital piece of medical tool for every hospital or clinic.  More people will be given medical treatment faster, and more positive outcomes would result in this.

By: Melissa Tolentino

Link: http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/08/01/from-jeopardy-to-cancer-institute-how-ibm-watson-is-transforming-the-world/

 

Get your head “In” the clouds: IBM Redbooks on PureApplication Systems and cloud

The PureSystems team is focusing on the benefits PureSystems can bring to cloud deployment, and what better place to look for detailed, real world technical information than IBM Redbooks. Here are three of our most recent Redbooks publications addressing PureApplication Systems and Cloud.

Adopting IBM PureApplication System V1.0

Your first stop for understanding how to create cloud solutions with PureApplication System is here. This book covers the most common problems, solutions, best practices, and use cases about adopting IBM PureApplication System V1.0. It defines usage patterns for isolating applications, deployment models, how to customize virtual system and application patterns, and how to integrate with IBM PureData.

The book comes with an accompanying video that demonstrates PureApplication System in action, and solution guide that describes the powerful environment isolation feature of PureApplication System that is vital for the sharing of resources for applications running in the cloud.

Creating Composite Application Pattern Models for IBM PureApplication System

Just out in draft, this book focuses on the use case of using PureApplication System as a private, on-premise cloud
environment. The book discusses the PureApplication System pattern model that leverages pre-defined, pre-configured, proven middleware topologies and deployments.

The book shows concrete implementation examples that can be leveraged when creating your own pattern model, paired with a collection of best practices. Accompanying the book is an instructional video on creating your own plug-ins for PureApplication System.

Creating Smart Virtual Appliances with IBM Image Construction and Composition Tool

The IBM Image Construction and Composition Tool is used to create virtualized workloads that target several private cloud deployment platforms. This tool is unique in its ability to support such a wide range of cloud offerings. 

This book provides an in-depth look at the capabilities and internal workings of Image Construction and Composition Tool, including its support for PureApplication Systems.

For more books covering PureSystems and cloud head on over to the IBM Redbooks web site.

By: Martin Keen

Link: http://expertintegratedsystemsblog.com/index.php/2013/08/ibm-redbooks-on-pureapplication-systems-and-cloud/