Top Takeaways from the 2013 IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference – Part 3

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Clik here to view.This is a continuation of part one and part two regarding my participation at the 2013 IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference. Please check back for part four, the final installment.

IBM Products in Action

Throughout my time at the conference, I stopped by the “IBM Mini Solution Expo” to catch glimpses of IBM technology infrastructure solutions and chat with the IBMers there. Here are some snippets (and some pictures):

• IBM Watson – Check out the photo.  You don’t need to be a huge company to leverage the technology.
• IBM PureSystems  - Over 2300 PureSystems have been deployed so far (see the “family” photo). Integration by design matters. Clients benefit from architectures like Flex System. In fact, an IBM exec provided a great resource in one of the meetings – a research report from Clabby Analytics on the IBM PureFlex System Architecture.
• IBM SmartCloud Foundation – Clients can easily build a secure, scalable private or hybrid cloud infrastructure, leveraging virtualization and automation to manage the delivery of business services. Datatrend has particular expertise in this area.
• IBM Power Systems – A key platform for data centric apps in this era of Big Data. IBM Power Systems runs both Linux and AIX, and this means choices for customers. And recently, IBM expanded POWER7+ to the entire product family, making it an even more compelling value proposition.
• IBM System x – A portfolio that runs the gamut for almost any size organization.
• IBM BladeCenter – The product roadmap has a lengthy overlap with IBM PureFlex and a well-thought-out transition plan so that customers have investment protection and can choose to migrate to the “Blade 2.0″ architecture when the timing is right for them.
• IBM Storage – IBM has a great portfolio, led by XIV, Storwize, and a new acquisition, Texas Memory Systems (Flash storage technology). We see huge value and benefits for our clients in these key product areas. Here’s a pic from the pedestal at PWLC.

Day Three

The day began in similar fashion to Day Two with a general session, split into two morning segments. Mark Hennessy kicked things off again and then introduced the first featured speaker – Rod Adkins. Here are some of the key points Rod and the other presenters covered:

• Rod Adkins, Senior Vice President, Systems and Technology Group – Rod provided an overview of IBM’s comprehensive, refreshed hardware portfolio and how it delivers Smarter Computing solutions that are “Tomorrow Ready”: cloud-ready, data-ready, and security-ready, as Steve Mills had mentioned the day before. Rod underscored what customers demand: IT must be simple, adaptable, and optimized, and that innovation and IT value are derived from the exploitation of data.
• Kristie Bell, Vice President, Worldwide Channels, Systems and Technology Group – Kristie focused on IBM’s commitment to helping Business Partners (like Datatrend) add value to client relationships by equipping them with increased sales and technical resources, new demand generation and lead management programs, and improved offerings around solutions and services. She summed it up by saying that IBM and Business Partners must work cohesively together to deliver a great customer experience. Amen!
• Steve Sams, Vice President, Worldwide Global Technology Services Channels, Alliances and Midmarket Services (how’s that for a title that’s a mouthful!) – Sam encouraged IBM Business Partners to take advantage of the ever-expanding set of offerings from IBM Global Technology Services. These offerings are designed to seamlessly supplement what IBM Business Partners are providing to deliver true end-to-end solutions for clients.
• Mark Register, Vice President of Software, Business Partners and Midmarket – Mark detailed how IBM Business Partners have a host of ways to become recognized as a high-value partner with outstanding deployment skills (e.g. skills training, marketing programs, incentives, IBM investments, etc.) around IBM software.
• Sylvia Wong, Chief Trust & Compliance Officer – Sylvia presented an important reminder that doing business with integrity not only facilitates compliance with laws but also differentiates IBM and its Business Partners in the marketplace.
• The day’s general session concluded with Mark Hennessy and Jim Corgel (General Manager, ISV and Developer Relations) sharing examples of IBM and IBM Business Partners teaming for success in many different areas.

Some other tidbits from Day Three:

• IBM PureFlex System outshines Cisco Unified Computing System servers and NetApp Flexpod systems because it offers more flexibility and customer choices. It also drives down costs because it can run more workloads per blade. PureFlex offers advanced networking and storage, great workload and hypervisor support, best-in-class cloud management, and easy upgrade options for optimum scalability.
• Thanks to a fellow “tweeter”, I came across a great article outlining the importance and future of Flash storage. Please refer to my comments above about Texas Memory Systems.
• There are only 44 IBM BPICs in the world. What is a BPIC? It stands for Business Partner Innovation Center, a place focused on clients and ISVs. One can see technology in action, conduct benchmarks and test validations, participate in briefings and classes, and more. Datatrend opened one of the first BPICs, so I encourage you to check out what our BPIC has to offer.
• The evening event featured a concert by Train.

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Please check back for part four (the final part). In the meantime, I’d love to hear your feedback. Please post your comments below.

Top Takeaways from the 2013 IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference – Part 3 was posted at Optimize IT. | http://www.datatrend.com/optimize-it

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.