IBM is committing to bring 500 jobs to a new, 100,000-square-foot, state-owned computer information technology center in Buffalo to train future and current industry workers and to create cutting-edge software.
According to an article in the local news, IBM has also agreed to a separate endeavor to become the first corporate technology member of the recently announced New York Genomic Medicine Center, a $100 million new partnership between a genome research facility in Manhattan and the University at Buffalo’s center for computational research.
At a news conference Monday, it was announced that IBM will be the anchor tenant in a new partnership development with SUNY College of Nanoscale Engineering in Albany.
IBM’s new facility is expected to open in Buffalo by early 2015 and is the latest in a series of economic development plans in Western New York.
Buffalo has done a fair job of luring IBM to come here with some $55 million in state funding going toward the project. An additional $30 million will go for the purchase of various software, computers and servers.
The goal is to create around 500 jobs in three to five years time and IBM is reportedly putting an emphasis on recruiting software engineer and research graduates from Buffalo colleges.
Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer, said the new facility will “create new opportunity for Buffalo developing the next generation of software in growth areas like mobile, cloud and analytics.”
Author: admin
WNY CIO Summit: Enterprise Data Breach
There’s been so much in the news lately about major enterprise organizations being hacked and your information is sold to the highest bidder. With the Target breach alone, how many of you had credit cards involved in the hack?
These are major organizations who should, by all rights, be prepared to handle these breaches and they got caught unprepared. So how does your organization stack up?
Join Gary Dischner from IBM and Cindy Gregoire, TxMQ Middleware Practice Manager as they walk you through how to better prepare your company and form a perimeter of protection around your most sensitive data.
Event Title: CIO Summit: Enterprise Data Breach
Date: Wednesday February 12, 2014
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Location: UB Center for Tomorrow
Register today!!
Photo credit: Stockmonkeys.com under Creative Commons License
IBM Plans to Acquire Lenovo Servers
Lenovo and IBM have entered into a definitive agreement in which Lenovo plans to acquire IBM’s x86 server business. This includes System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and associated software, blade networking and maintenance operations. The purchase price is approximately US$2.3 billion, approximately two billion of which will be paid in cash and the balance in Lenovo stock.
IBM will retain its System z mainframes, Power Systems, Storage Systems, Power-based Flex servers, and PureApplication and PureData appliances.
The agreement builds upon a longstanding collaboration that began in 2005 when Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC business, which included the ThinkPad line of PCs. In the period since the companies have continued to collaborate in many areas.
IBM will continue to develop and evolve its Windows and Linux software portfolio for the x86 platform. IBM is a leading developer of software products for x86 servers with thousands of products and tens of thousands of software developer and services professionals who build software for x86 systems.
For more information on this acquisition, read the full announcement.
WNY CIO Summit: Register Today!
WNY CIO Summit – Enterprise Data Breach
When: Wednesday, February 12, 2014, 8:00 a.m.
Where: University at Buffalo – Center For Tomorrow
Register Now
How much could an enterprise data breach cost you? Are you prepared to handle the repercussions, potential lawsuits and class action suits that may be included in the fall out?
Join TxMQ selected WNY area CIO’s for a candid conversation about how how you can protect your business from an Enterprise Data Breach.
Have questions about CIO Summit: Enterprise Data Breach? Contact Tom Grimm – TxMQ, Inc
What's Worse Than Being Robbed?
What would you say is worse than being hacked? My answer is “not knowing” who hacked you. Without having any idea of From where, By whom or Why, some companies have trouble even determining what was stolen when today’s pirates only copy the information and leave it in place. I have coined these types of attacks as “in-place attacks!” These are hacks where the target does not even know anything is missing so no security measures are taken after the fact.
For example, someone takes your wallet out of your jacket at a party. They copy your credit card and address from your driver’s license. They then return everything back to your coat pocket without you knowing that it was ever missing. Your account could be wiped out without you even knowing you were robbed.
In the case of Target being hacked, authorities are now still trying to figure out who hacked the large retailer. A 17 year old? The Russian mob? They have figured out the how. They know the why. They almost know the location from which it was done. But there are still many questions that remain. Was that the only intrusion? Are there other access points? Are they safe now? The fact that the Target stock price has yet to regain its strength demonstrates that consumers are wondering the same thing.
As embarrassing as this incident is for Target, it gives businesses today a “heads up.” How secure is your online commerce site? Do you truly have a grasp on your vulnerabilities? When was the last time you had a 3rd party assessment done, end to end? Have you securely closed all of your “windows and doors” in your infrastructure? How long would it take you to know that you were a victim of an in-place attack?
At TxMQ we have specific skills on governance, security and eCommerce that will allow you to build a new system or “harden” an existing one. We also offer assessment services where we can help you identify current gaps.
What do you think?
TxMQ: Learn more!
DataPower Appliances Nearing End of Life
As with any hardware, software or appliance purchase you make, it has an associated Maintenance End of Service and Hardware End of Life program. Right now the DataPower machine types 9235 ( XS40, XI50, XB60, XM70, XA35, and XM70FC ) are nearing this first initial ‘Standard Maintenance End of Service Date’. The end date on the service maintenance is 3/31/2014. If you want to get ahead of the game and get the most out of the next models, let TxMQ help you with your upgrades to the newer machine models.
By upgrading to the newer machine models, you will be taking advantage of the latest high performing appliances. The XI52’s and XB62’s go from 4 GB of memory to a whopping 24 GB(7198) or 96 GB ( 7199 ) of memory. The usable hard disk space is drastically larger as well, allowing you to store more logs and files on the appliance. That goes from a measly 70 GB of usable storage to an awesome 300 GB ( 7198 ) or 600 GB (7199) of usable space that you can leverage for your own needs.
Let’s not forget to mention all of the extra interfaces that the new machines now have access to. On the 7199 appliance (XI52 and XB62) there’s a total of 10 X 1 gigabit interfaces. Then there’s the 2 X 10 gigabit Interfaces for those companies that can really let the data flow. The 7198 ( XG45 ) appliance has a total of 6 X 1 gigabit interfaces and 2 X 10 gigabit interfaces.
The newer models have a Standard Maintenance End of Service Date in 2018, so if you upgrade now you can take advantage of the full lifespan that this has to offer and help avoid unnecessary maintenance premiums.
TxMQ has the experience and expertise you need to make sure your DataPower environment is up to date and that you are getting the most out of your appliances and infrastructure. Contact Wendy Sanacore or give us a call (716) 636-0070 (229) for all of your DataPower Appliance, Hardware and Software needs. We would be glad to hear from you.
(Photo courtesy of Kevin Dooley)
Portal Development Geek Alert – CES is upon us!
GEEK ALERT! CES is almost upon us. Can you believe its the 47th year? Everything from 3D TVs where you don’t need glasses, to “Dick Tracy style” watch phones, to the latest gaming consoles, CES is sure to introduce an entirely new wave of pervasive devices.
Question: How can companies keep up with ever increasing ways to access information? Answer: Enterprise portals which have pervasive extendable foundations. It’s all in the planning. TxMQ’s Portal Development practice has skilled experts in this area. TxMQ …find out more!
Email Wendy Sanacore for more information about TxMQ’s Portal practice, today!
Here’s a cool ramp-up story from CNET: CES 2014: We’ll take you there.
Latest News And Musings From IBM's iSeries 5 (i5)
With the advent of the Power Systems from IBM, the traditional iSeries (AS/400) and pSeries (AIX) have now merged into a single hardware platform presence. The AS/400 – iSeries – i5/OS (whatever you want to call it) is now 25 years old and that’s a long time running in the technology world. Experts over the years have always promised the demise of the iSeries with whatever new flavor is on the market. This post a couple of years ago by the Info-Tech research group dispelled several myths surrounding the potential demise of the iSeries: Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong?
All of these are true and growing stronger with each passing release and technology update. The “green screen” is still in existence but IBM and business partner ISVs have been expanding the delivery methods that include:
- WebSphere
- Tomcat
- Apache web server
- Lotus suite
- DB2/i Web Query
- iSeries Navigator for the web
- Development tools including JAVA, C/C++, PHP, etc.
- ERP software advancements; SAP, Oracle/PeopleSoft/JDEdwards, etc.
Several items on this list have been with the iSeries for many years, yet many people have never knew about those capabilities. With the latest technology release, IBM has upgraded and improved many web-development areas – JAVA, ARE (application runtime expert), free-form RPG coding, plus several hardware feature improvements including:
- Smaller form factor for SSD drives. Both 387 and 775Gb drives.
- New 1.2Tb 10k RPM SAS drive
- Higher level of cache on SAS Raid adapters
- Continued SQL improvements for DB2/i.
The future of technology is the ever-changing presentation of information to the consumers – iPhone, Droids, tablets, etc – by way of the ability to process data, analyze it, turn it into information, and then present it to consumers in whatever “omni-channel” they choose. IBM and iSeries will continue to flourish and grow with more integration, more big data processing, maximum u-time, and one of the highest TCO in the market place.
TxMQ can help support your hardware needs. Look to us as a full-service solutions provider, from Power System and iSeries sales to support. Call Miles Roty, 716-636-0070 (228) or email [email protected] for more information.
A Quadruple Play For IBM On-Premises Applications
As industry focuses more and more on a move toward cloud, IBM is certainly not neglecting the On-Premises needs. Way to go IBM!!! Gartner recently scored IBM as the “Quadrant Leader” in four significant areas: On-Premises Application Platforms, Mobile Application Development Platforms, On-Premises Application Integration Suites and Application Services Governance.
You will hear a lot of this buzz at the upcoming IBM Connect (January) and IBM Impact (April) conferences. Come to TxMQ to understand the full significance of this achievement.
To learn more, you can download each of the Gartner Magic Quadrant reports here:
Breach Etiquette: Target's Responsibility
Just as retailers were in the throes of the holiday madhouse, Target – the second largest retailer in the US – was breached. Forbes recently posted an article outlining seven lessons that could be learned from the way Target handled the situation.
The link to the Forbes article is here – Target’s Worst PR Nightmare: 7 Lessons From Target’s Well-Meant But Flawed Crisis Response – but what do you think?
What I always find surprising in these cases in which consumer portal sites are breached/hacked is that there’s always so much talk about how to handle the consequences. But what about an explanation of what will be done to prevent this from happening again? The same issue happened last year with the PlayStation Network, when millions of credit-card numbers and customer information was exposed. Another scenario was the ObamaCare website: The site went down because it wasn’t properly architected and stress tested. We heard a lot about “why” but not a lot about the “what” is being done to prevent it from happening all over again.
Obviously, when you open your business to the world, you’re now exposed to a world of attacks. You can only do your best to prevent a hacker’s attack. However, your best must include an ongoing and robust test plan, executed by an experienced team that keeps up with the latest technologies, methods of attacks, and the ever-changing demographics of user communities and methods of access.
TxMQ has expert infrastructure architects, portal architects and load-testing expertise to help companies address these issues through cost-effective, consulting engagements.
Find out more. Email our consulting leaders in confidence, [email protected], for more information.
