Tag: Vendor

Business · CIO · Cloud · Data

HPE clarifies their new role in the enterprise

Tim CrawfordLeave a comment

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Last week, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) held their annual US-based Discover conference in Las Vegas. HPE has seen quite a bit of change in the past year with the split of HP into HPE & HP Inc. They shut down their Helion Public Cloud offering and announced the divestiture of their Enterprise Services (ES) business to merge with CSC into a $26B business. With all of the changes and 10,000 people in attendance, HPE sought to clarify their strategy and position in the enterprise market.

WHAT IS IN AND WHAT IS OUT?

Many of the questions attendees were asking circled around the direction HPE was taking considering all of the changes just in the past year alone. Two of the core changes (shutting down Helion Public Cloud and splitting off their ES business) have raised many eyebrows wondering if HPE might be cutting off their future potential.

While HPE telegraphs that their strategy is to support customers with their ‘digital transformation’ journey, the statement might be a bit overreaching. That is not to say that HPE is not capable of providing value to enterprises. It is to say that there are specific aspects that they do provide value and yet a few significant gaps. We are talking about a traditional hardware-focused company shifting more and more toward software. Not a trivial task.

There are four pillars that support the core HPE offering for enterprises. Those include Infrastructure, Analytics, Cloud and Software.

INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE CORE

HPE’s strength continues to rest on their ability to innovate in the infrastructure space. I wrote about their Moonshot and CloudSystem offerings three years ago here. Last year, HPE introduced their Synergy technology that supports composability. Synergy, and the composable concept, is one of the best opportunities to address the evolving enterprise’s changing demands. I delve a bit deeper into the HPE composable opportunity here.

Yet, one thing is becoming painfully clear within the industry. The level of complexity for infrastructure is growing exponentially. For any provider to survive, there needs to be a demonstrable shift toward leveraging software that manages the increasingly complex infrastructure. HPE is heading in that direction with their OneView platform.

Not to be outdone in supporting the ever-changing software platform space, HPE also announced that servers will come ready to support Docker containers. This is another example of where HPE is trying to bridge the gap between traditional infrastructure and newer application architectures including cloud.

CLOUD GOES PRIVATE

Speaking of cloud, there is quite a bit of confusion where cloud fits in the HPE portfolio of solutions. After a number of conversations with members of the HPE team, their solutions are focused on one aspect of cloud: Private Cloud. This makes sense considering HPE’s challenges to reach escape velocity with their Helion Public Cloud offering and core infrastructure background. Keep in mind that HPE’s private cloud solutions are heavily based on OpenStack. This will present a challenge for those considering a move from their legacy VMware footprint. But does open the door to new application architectures that are specifically looking for an OpenStack-based Private Cloud. However, there is already competition in this space from companies like IBM (BlueBox) and Microsoft (AzureStack). And unlike HPE, both IBM & Microsoft have established Public Cloud offerings that complement their Private Cloud solutions (BlueBox & Azure respectively).

One aspect in many of the discussions was how HPE’s Technical Services (TS) are heavily involved in HPE Cloud deployments. At first, this may present a red flag for many enterprises concerned with the level of consulting services required to deploy a solution. However, when considering that the underpinnings are OpenStack-based, it makes more sense. OpenStack, unlike traditional commercial software offerings, still requires a significant amount of support to get it up and running. This could present a challenge to broad appeal of HPE’s cloud solutions except for those few that understand, and can justify, the value proposition.

It does seem that HPE’s cloud business is still in a state of flux and finding the best path to take. With the jettison of Helion Public Cloud and HPE’s support of composability, there is a great opportunity to appeal to the masses and leverage their partnership with Microsoft to support Azure & AzureStack on a Synergy composable stack. Yet, the current focus appears to still focus on OpenStack based solutions. Note: HPE CloudSystem does support Synergy via the OneView APIs.

SOFTWARE

At the conference, HPE highlighted their security solutions with a few statistics. According to HPE, they “secure nine of the top 10 software companies, all 10 telcos and all major branches of the US Department of Defense (DoD).” While those are interesting statistics, one should delve a bit further to determine how extensive this applies.

Security sits alongside the software group’s Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), Operations and BigData software solutions. As time goes on, I would hope to see HPE mature the significance of their software business to meet the changing demands from enterprises.

THE GROWTH OF ANALYTICS

Increasingly, enterprise organizations are growing their dependence on data. A couple of years back, HP (prior to the HPE/ HP Inc split) purchased Autonomy and Vertica. HPE continues to mature their combined Haven solution beyond addressing BigData into the realm of Machine Learning. That that end, HPE now is offering Haven On-Demand (http://www.HavenOnDemand.com) for free. Interestingly, the solution leverages HPE’s partnership with Microsoft and is running on Microsoft’s Azure platform.

IN SUMMARY

HPE is bringing into focus those aspects they believe they can do well. The core business is still focused on infrastructure, but also supporting software (mostly for IT focused functions), cloud (OpenStack focused) and data analytics. After the dust settles on the splits and shifts, the largest opportunities for HPE appear to come from infrastructure (and related software), and data analytics. The other aspects of the business, while valuable, support a smaller pool of prospective customers.

Ultimately, time will tell how this strategy plays out. I still believe there is an untapped potential from HPE’s Synergy composable platform that will appeal to the masses of enterprises, but is often missed. Their data analytics strategy appears to be gaining steam and moving forward. These two offerings are significant, but only provide for specific aspects in an enterprises digital transformation.

Business · CIO · Data

Uncertainty is the only certainty in technology today

Tim CrawfordLeave a comment

Last week was spent at the IBM InterConnect and Green Data Center conferences in Las Vegas and San Diego respectively. At each of the conferences, there were a ton of great conversations around the CIO, cloud computing, social media, big data analytics and data centers. While more details will come out in future posts, a common theme became crystal clear. We are squarely in a period of extreme disruption and no amount of Dramamine will settle the tides. The needs of the many far outweigh the needs of one, two, or three.

The power of social media

Social media plays a central role to gather our collective thoughts and banter. The conversations that ensue will further the development of innovation through the development of new ideas and critiques. However, today, we are only scratching the surface with social. Many of the ‘conversations’ happening across social media are one-way conversations usually sharing information, but with little interaction. The vast majority of tweets coming from the conferences are either a promotion or sound bite overheard during a session or conversation. In addition, there is quite a bit of ‘noise’ that contributes to the confusion. If one were to try and follow the threads, it would appear an eclectic mix of varied thoughts taken from some complex juxtaposition. A better approach is needed to improve the level of two-way engagement.

Cloud, the great equalizer

Cloud is very similar to social in terms of missed opportunities. Cloud presents the single-largest opportunity for organizations today regardless of size. At the InterConnect conference, cloud was in the forefront of many discussions. The challenge many had was how to effectively embrace and leverage cloud. Those tie back to a gap between the freeway and the on-ramps. We do not need more freeways, we need more on-ramps. Yet we continue to build new freeways.

Is it possible that cloud has gotten too far ahead of itself? One of the many discussions was that of the speed of innovation versus adoption. Is it possible we have reached a point where we are actually innovating too quickly without fully considering the ramifications? There is more to be written on this issue alone.

Understanding the customer

Ironically, much of this may go back to understanding the customer. For the vendor or provider, it is understanding who is buying (or should buy) the solution and why. It is about shifting from a transactional sale to a consultative one. That is easier said than done, as context is required to do so.

Enterprises are not immune from the confusion. According to a recent IBM survey of CEOs, 31% doubt c-suite executives understand the changes from customer and the marketplace. That is a huge number when looking across the entire c-suite. If the same question were asked of the CIO specifically, the number would most likely increase. That is not a good position considering the emphasis tech plays in the customer relationship today.

Changes in paradigms

The chasm may simply tie back to a difference in understanding evolution. The customer base is moving very quickly. For the past decade, the number of digital natives in the workplace has only increased. And they are having a strong influence on other generations. They are more familiar with technology and comfortable with rapid adoption. Yet the solutions we deliver leave them wanting.

Understanding the root of discomfort

And so the problem comes full-circle. As with any problem, it is important to understand the root of the issue. When I discuss this in detail with IT leaders and staff members the root issue comes back to uncertainty. There is a level of uncertainty with the solution, nerves, job loss and a general path forward.

Forging a path ahead

Change is hard. Change is confusing. Change is stress and burnout. And at the edge it kills. Think that is being a bit dramatic? Just read my friend John Willis’ moving post about Karojisatsu.

But change is not something we should fear. At this point, we must stick together and drive hard toward the future. Our very future depends on the success of our ability to adapt and change.

For the foreseeable future, the tech industry will continue to present confusion and uncertainty. Our ability to adapt and accept uncertainty is directly related to our ultimate success.

 

Cloud · Data · Social

IBM InterConnect Day 1 Impressions

Tim CrawfordLeave a comment

InterConnect 2015 Las Vegas is the combination of a few IBM conferences. Past conferences carried quite a bit of overlap in content. As the conversations blurred, it made sense to combine the conferences. The challenge is the conference is spread across two hotels in Las Vegas that are not connected. A whopping 21,000 people are in attendance with another 15,000 joining via their online portal InterConnectGO.

Logistics aside, the first day kicked off with a bang. The opening sessions includes all the glitz and glamor one might expect from a Vegas show. The content covered a wide spectrum of IBM’s portfolio from cloud to data analytics.

In my opinion, IBM’s SoftLayer and Watson stories are gems among a varied portfolio. In addition, the social engine is in full swing here at InterConnect. Analytics play a great role in defining different social metrics and IBM is not missing the opportunity. But more about that in a minute.

All about cloud

The cloud story is starting to gel for IBM, but still needs a bit of sharpening. They covered all the buzzwords in cloud, but it left me wanting to hear more than buzzword bingo. Much of the story hinges on the success of SoftLayer. Taking a deeper look at SoftLayer, it addresses a number of the core enterprise requirements for the broader market. It is not everything for everyone, but doesn’t need to be. This is where the ecosystem comes in. Ecosystems are everything today.

During the opening session, IBM announced ‘OpenStack as a Service’. It is not clear how this fits into the overall strategy as it was glossed over. This is an area to watch closely from two perspectives: 1) What exactly is the offering and what market is it intended to address? 2) How will this affect and/or divert SoftLayer’s existing VMware offerings. Will it cause SoftLayer to abandon VMware in favor of OpenStack as others have done? Each of these questions could govern the future success of SoftLayer both short and long-term.

Coursing through the data analytics

Many references are made to the growing accumulation of data. Terms like ‘data lake’ and ‘data ocean’ are used to describe the growing mass of untapped data. During the opening session, IBM outlined several use cases where companies have leveraged their technology to gain insights to the data problem.

Many of the examples continue with the financial services and healthcare use cases. Healthcare is one, if not the largest industry ripe for disruption from data analytics. Citi joined on stage to talk about their approach to innovation. Their mantra: Unleash, develop, disrupt. In the case of Citi, “Nobody needs banks, but everybody needs banking.” Great analogy. For healthcare, May Clinic mentioned that only 5% of cancer patients are engaged in a trial. Meaning there is a huge disconnect (read: opportunity) in connecting patients to potential treatment courses.

Getting social

Cloud and data analytics aren’t the only topics here at InterConnect. IBM is heavily leveraging their analytics platform to demonstrate the value of social here. And the social media elite are in full force. There are a couple of mis-steps by use of the longer hashtags (#IBMInterConnect and #NewWayToWork), but otherwise, the twitter stream is flowing pretty heavily. The longer hashtags are definitely leading to a myriad of typos, which defeat the purpose of the hashtag. One change would be greater engagement in the conversations happening on Twitter. Like some conferences, the twitter feed is mostly one-way with little two-way engagement.

Aside from the downsides, it is impressive the flow of tweets coming from an IBM conference. Considering the perception of IBM, it appears they’re moving in the right direction socially.

On tap for Day 2 and beyond…

It’s all about the cloud. Looking forward to the cloud discussions today along with the Executive Session and Shark Tank presentations.

Overall, it’s apparent that IBM is turning the corner on the conversations. IBM does have it’s flaws as any company that is 400,000 employees strong. That aside, IBM needs to continue on their quest to drive toward cloud and data analytics dominance. SoftLayer and Watson are two shining gems in the IBM portfolio that will need to blossom as they mature.

 

CIO

3 reasons traditional enterprise vendors will fail

Tim Crawford2 Comments

Many often ask for my thoughts on traditional enterprise vendors compared with their startup and mid-size contemporaries. Without going into naming names, let me outline a few real situations that happened in just the past week alone. Each of these are large traditional enterprise providers and publically traded on either the NYSE or NASDAQ exchanges:

Direct line to sales

Last week, I called the main number of an IT services provider from their website. In the phone menu, I selected ‘sales’. Someone from ‘operations’ answers. I state that I’m looking for sales and was told “we take information for sales and pass it along for them to return the call.” It has been 5 business days and someone has still not returned my call.

Companies need to offer customers (and prospects) a direct line into sales. It is ok to leverage inside sales, but responses need to be quick while the customer is still engaged.

Keep reasonable hours

In a separate case, I called a second company that provides telecommunications, IT and cloud services. I used the main number from their website. Theoretically, telecom should be part of their strong suit. Unfortunately, the experience was not. My call was met with a greeting “Thank you for calling <name omitted>…Our hours of operation are 8-4:30pm Eastern Standard Time.” I was calling mid-morning Pacific Time, well within their hours of operation. But then the phone just rang and rang. No answer. After a few minutes, I hung up and called back a while later. Same thing, the phone just rang with no answer.

Two problems here: 1) their hours are 8-4:30pm Eastern? That means that anyone from the West Cost of the US better call in the morning before 1:30pm Pacific. That assumes that 2) there is someone to take the call. Even if not, there should be an option to leave a message with a quick callback. For a telecom company, this seemed like a big miss on multiple fronts.

Listen carefully to what the customer is saying

In yet another case with a third company, I wanted to explore their cloud services. First, getting to the right person was not trivial. Once I did, I clearly stated what I was looking for and wanted to understand more about their products. The person kept coming back to a script that involved a process to evaluate my needs before talking solutions. In most cases, this would be stellar. However, I knew what I was looking for. I just needed to know which of the vendor’s solutions fit best. It seemed that was not possible without running some involved tool that characterized my environment for some period of time first. I kept asking for more information about their solutions to no avail. They were not budging. Eventually, I had to actually state, “I don’t know how to explain what I’m looking for any other way.” And that was the end of the conversation.

Simplicity over complexity

Let’s face it; working in a big company has its issues. Big companies are complex beasts that are hard to traverse. In the first case, I’m certain my request for sales fell through the crack somewhere and may never surface again. Even if it does, I’ve already moved on. In the second case, I finally got to a person that could help me out. But not without the help of social media and a few extra hops finding the “right” contact for my specific situation. Again, far too many people in the process. In the third case, the person was not listening to my needs. They were more focused on the official company process.

Comparatively for their mid-sized contemporaries, the process was far more direct, complementary and simple for a customer to traverse. It is clear that mid-sized competitors do have an edge on their larger, established enterprise companies.

As a result of the experiences above, 2 of the 3 enterprise IT providers lost the opportunity. The third almost lost it, but barely made the running…for now. Unfortunately, those are not good odds.

My point of view

If enterprise IT providers are going to play in today’s ecosystem, they need to change their game. The game itself has evolved and is quickly leaving them behind. The sad part is that most of them either 1) don’t realize it or 2) refuse to believe it. My advise: believe it, step up and make a change.

 

CIO · Cloud

Does the enterprise marketplace really need a new email solution?

Tim CrawfordLeave a comment

This week, Amazon announced their WorkMail solution as a business-class email and calendaring solution in the cloud. Over the past several years, Amazon has produced some amazing solutions. But is WorkMail something that the enterprise CIO should really take note of? And are we really in need of another email and calendaring alternative? There is a very important lesson to learn here. Read on.

Ask yourself this question: If this press release were launched by a completely different company, say Acme, would it have garnered as much attention and praise? Probably not. So, why are so many interested in this announcement?

New and innovative features?

If you read the details in the press release and on the WorkMail preview site, it is all motherhood and apple pie. Nothing new. Nothing innovative. In fact, many of the touted features are merely table stakes for any email and calendaring solution today. In order to supplant an incumbent, especially something as ingrained as email and calendaring, there needs to be a significant advantage.

Simply stating support for SSL, Active Directory or a Web-client is not going to get anyone excited. Or at least it should not. Those should be table stakes. If, however, you do get excited about those, it may be time to re-think your priorities. Conversely, the absence of those features should immediately garner a no-go.

Cloud-based alternatives?

The argument Amazon is making is really against on-premise email solutions today, namely Microsoft Exchange. The argument is for cloud-based email and calendaring solutions. The irony is that there are two solid, mature solutions in place today: Google Apps and Microsoft 365. There are other cloud-based solutions in the market today, but they are a distant 3, 4, 5, etc behind Google and Microsoft. In addition, WorkMail’s cost is right in line with that of Microsoft and Google. So, why try to compete? What is the advantage?

Enterprise integration

Enterprises are increasingly in need of better integration between solutions. Email, calendaring and file storage are some of the top areas of need. That is why we have seen the Google and Microsoft solutions include these core functions. But integration goes quite a bit further than simply backend integration.

Quite often, companies forget about the users and their perspective. This is one issue Google has faced from day-1. Using Google’s ‘tag’ approach vs. Microsoft’s files/ folders approach in use for years creates a significant learning curve. And that is one reason Microsoft 365 has seen a marked uptick in interest over Google Apps.

Anything in this space that is less than mature is simply an extremely hard sell to any enterprise. It is simply too risky to put email, calendaring and file storage to a less than mature solution. In addition, the integration needs to be solid and robust. It is not clear how/ if WorkMail is able to address this.

Marketing

The only thing I can come back to is marketing. Launching WorkMail is an opportunity for Amazon to garner wider interest and keep their name in the press. If that was their goal, they succeeded based on the number of articles written about WorkMail. If it were WorkMail by Acme, I doubt we would have heard about it.

Keeping your company in the public’s eye with fresh launches is one of several key initiatives. Launching WorkMail certainly does that. But in order to remain of interest, it needs to differentiate itself. In that area, WorkMail has failed. There is another side effect in that the perception will start to question why Amazon is going after such a mature market like email/ calendaring with such a basic offering. It definitely leaves some open questions.

My take

Amazon is heading down a questionable path. Enterprises are not chomping at the bit for a different email and calendaring alternative. They are, however, looking for easier ways to adopt and leverage public cloud solutions. Same goes for service providers.

My advice to Amazon would be to focus on what they do best and not go after email and calendaring. There are still a number of gaps in the public cloud space that could use their expertise and leadership.

 

CIO · Data

HP charts a course for the enterprise CIO from the inside out

Tim CrawfordLeave a comment

Last week, HP (NYSE: HPQ) held their Discover Conference in Barcelona, Spain and the first since announcing their split into two major technology companies. Post split, HP Enterprise, the half focused on enterprise-class solutions, will need to demonstrate a strong leadership position to remain relevant in the dynamic and ever-changing enterprise space. Not a short order for such a large incumbent as HP. The split, however, brings into focus a renewed vigor to go after the enterprise CIO.

Looking inside to look outside

Over the past two years, HP assembled a powerhouse of CIO talent. The talent is not an advisory council, but rather executive leadership within the HP machine. In August 2012, HP went outside to hire Ramon Baez as their Global CIO. Previously, Baez was Vice President and CIO at Kimberly Clark. Then, in July 2014, HP made two other significant CIO hires. Former Clorox SVP & CIO Ralph Loura joined HP as CIO of HP’s Enterprise Group. At the same time, HP hired Paul Chapman as CIO of HP Software. Paul was formerly VP of Global Infrastructure & Cloud Operations at VMware. All three are highly respected among both their CIO peers and fellow executive colleagues. And one only needs to spend a few minutes with each to see how their thinking aligns with HP’s vision of the New Style of IT.

In their former roles, all three individuals accomplished many of the very activities that HP is helping their customers with today. For HP as a provider of products, solutions and services, it only needs to look internally to gain insight on which direction to take. Think of it as having the inside track on the transformational CIO.

On day one of the conference, I had the opportunity to join Paul Chapman and Paul Muller, VP of Strategic Marketing, HP Software to discuss The Evolving CIO.

Emphasis on cloud and big data

At Discover Barcelona, HP’s Helion cloud solutions and Haven data solutions were front-and-center at the front of each exhibit hall.

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HP’s Helion cloud division continued their beat toward an OpenStack based ecosystem. The group, soon to be lead by former Eucalyptus CEO Marten Mickos, is placing a strong showing behind the OpenStack platform with solutions that address the enterprise challenges with Private Cloud to Public Cloud solutions.

Even so, there is still quite a bit of work to be done by both HP and their customers. Enterprises are still, in large part, working out how best to leverage cloud-based solutions. In addition, OpenStack has its own set of challenges to become a viable product for the masses. HP’s intent is to bridge the gap between what the enterprise needs and the current state of the technology. Mickos’ new position heading up the Helion division is already starting to turn a battleship in great need to a significant course correction.

On the big data front, HP made a splash in June 2013 with their HAVEn set of core technologies. The idea was to bring the best of both worlds with their acquisitions of Vertica and Autonomy. Since the announcement, the products were perceived to be a grouping of parts rather than a cohesive solution. At Discover Barcelona, HP unveiled their updated branding to Haven that signifies the integration of the products into a more comprehensive solution.

While the marketing is coming together, it is unclear that customers are resonating with the broader appeal of Haven beyond just that of each component. Haven is, however, moving to a Helion application offered in the cloud or on-premises, which could appeal more broadly to enterprise CIOs.

Infrastructure incredibly important

At the conference, HP made it clear that infrastructure remains incredibly important. And from the size of the crowds around their Converged Systems areas, it would seem customers are resonating with the same view. Anecdotally, the hardware areas were the most crowded sections of the exhibit floor.

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Packed within the Converged Systems group is HP’s OneView management platform. Today, OneView presents a management platform for the broader infrastructure platform. However, the real value will come from the ecosystem HP is building around the platform.

A comprehensive management platform is one area that will become increasingly more important for the CIO facing a potpourri of different vendors, providers and solutions.

Devil in the details

Ultimately, for HP, the devil is in the details. For the enterprise CIO, however, HP presents some interesting potential in their portfolio. They do have some formidable challenges ahead as they split in two and bring focus to the enterprise of tomorrow. Neither is easy, but will be interesting to see how HP fares moving forward.

 

CIO

IBM connects the dots between data, cloud and engagement

Tim CrawfordLeave a comment

At this week’s IBM Insight conference in Las Vegas, IBM brought out the big guns to demonstrate their chops in the data analytics space. Insight is IBM’s conference dedicated to their solutions around data management and analytics. While there are some highlights, other areas are still evolving.

Setting the stage and connecting the dots

Things kicked off with IBM SVP of the Information and Analytics group, Bob Picciano, talking about the important interconnection between data, cloud and engagement.

  • Data is the ‘What’
  • Cloud is the ‘How’
  • Engagement is the ‘Why’

Bob’s messaging paints a good picture of how the technology and data play a central role to the ever-changing IT organization. Engagement is the key to business relationships with customers. The CIO and IT organization need to fully understand how they engage with customers today and how that will evolve over time. Where are the opportunities? How can IT help create deeper relationships with customers? Data and cloud will play a leading role.

Relationships comes in all sizes

The way companies connect with their customers will vary greatly. To that point, there are some core themes here at Insight that mirrors the varied ways. Two of the key areas are social engagement and mobile. Ironically, traffic at the mobile booth seems anemic compared with the social engagement area, which saw constant traffic. In order for IBM to truly capitalize on the changing marketplace mobile will need to take a stronger position.

Getting social, but still a ways to go

Social media plays a central role in customer engagement for many organizations. The impressive thing is that the #IBMInsight hashtag was trending high on Twitter’s list for much of the day. As a data geek, one is always thinking about the value of those metrics. Trending at the top of Twitter is pretty impressive until you start to look at the finer details.

Running data through Tweet Binder provides a bit of clarity (report). Almost 50% of tweeters used Twitter clients for iPhone, iPad or Android speaking to the importance of mobile in social media. Looking a bit further, 61% of tweeters only tweeted a single tweet while 77.51% of tweeters tweeted only one or two times. That is not a good showing for attendees that should be well versed on the impact of social media and demonstrates there is still a ways to go.

Building an ecosystem

Walking the expansive show floor, it is apparent that IBM has worked to build their ecosystem. There are plenty of vendors that provide complementary products based on IBM technology along with plenty of consulting shops too. The interesting point here is that there are not many larger technology companies other than IBM exhibiting. This could be a side effect to IBM’s wide portfolio of services and solutions and a feeling of competitiveness among vendors. Unfortunately, it does not represent the varied needs of the average enterprise customer.

Summary in a nutshell

Putting it all together, IBM is making good waves to support the enterprise around data and analytics. They have made a good start, but still have a ways to go. The solutions still have a traditional IBM ‘feel’ and with rare exceptions span into the newer territories. There was a showing of IBM’s BlueMix platform, but not too much beyond the large enterprise perspective. Even the cloud area competed with the size of the infrastructure areas.

The reality is that turning a company the size of IBM is hard. In addition to size, there are cultures that need adjustment too. But it seems IBM has started to make good strides in some specific areas with ostensibly more to come. It will be interesting to see how IBM addresses solutions going forward and starts to truly pull the different components (data, cloud, engagement) together.