Systems Administration

How Intelligent Are the Computers of 2011?

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:49:00 EST

True, the computer system Watson, created by IBM, beat all human competition in the US reality quiz show "Jeopardy!" But does it make Watson intelligent – is it an important step towards Singularity? Is it a significant step in the field of AI? Or, is the win meaningless and does not imply anything significant? What is the future of this technology? How far are we from understanding how the brain works? If you are not familiar with "Jeopardy!" Then the best place to look is, where else, Wikipedia page. Let me just mention here that the open source community is quiet excited about this win as the software component of Watson relies heavily on open source software – on Apache, Linux, Hadoop… However, if you want to know how Watson works this is probably the best post – Could Google Play Jeopardy Like IBM’s Watson? – written by Danny Sullivan. Also, here are some thoughts on what Watson can be used for in the future – Envisioning IBM’s Watson computer as a Smartphone app.

A Tale of Microprocessors and DevOps

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:24:36 EST

At an IBM analyst event earlier this week, Steve Mills, IBM Senior VP & Group Executive, Software and Systems, made some interesting observations about how the microprocessor industry makes no distinction between design and fabrication anymore... I think Mills’ description is an excellent analogy of where enterprise software development and management is heading (aka towards DevOps)

Current Trends in the Data Management Market

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

In an interactive general session that forms part of its Data in Action virtual conference, IBM has really hit the jackpot. It has managed to snag Donald Feinberg, VP Distinguished Analyst at Gartner, to talk about current trends in the Data Management market. There is a live Q&A session too, and all of it - both the general session and the Q&A - are well worth viewing.

Under the Hood of IBM Workplace Collaboration Services

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 10:15:00 EST

Take a peek under the hood of IBM Workplace Collaboration Services and learn about the layers that make up Workplace Collaboration Services, including IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM WebSphere Portal.

Maintaining Visibility and Control With WebSphere 6.0 in SOA Web Services Environments

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:00:00 EST

The new features and capabilities found in the WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere MQ 6.0 lets organizations combine new and existing heterogeneous IT assets as part of composite applications that reside on an underlying service-oriented architecture (SOA) across distributed and mainframe environments. As you deploy your composite applications, having a complete strategy in place to manage and secure them properly becomes the next goal. This article explains the key changes in version 6.0 from a management perspective and offers pointers on how to meet the management and security challenges specific to the WebSphere 6.0 platform.

Modernizing Legacy iSeries Systems

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 13:00:00 EDT

IBM iSeries systems are installed in an estimated 250,000 organizations. If yours is one of them, then most likely your group is either interested in or committed to modernization, which could mean you wish to enhance the user interface while maintaining the existing core business logic, or to integrate data on an AS/400 with Windows-centric, SQL-based back-office applications, or to implement a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and offer Web services to better serve your customers and your enterprise's own competitiveness.