The business of technology

Legacy Transformation

2010-07-26T09:06:00.008+02:00

Legacy ... or is it?

The Macmillan dictionary has two suitable/interesting definitions for legacy in this context:

something such as a tradition or problem that exists as a result of something that happened in the past; and/or
something that someone has achieved that continues to exists after they stop working or die.

Generally when people in the IT business refer to legacy they are referring to an older generation application or system that: should be replaced as it is can't meet current business requirements or is technically outdated (costly/difficult to maintain). I have also heard the term legacy applied to infrastructure (networks, platforms etc) but this is less common as most technologists tend to focus on application.

What I hope to capture here are some thoughts and ideas regarding legacy (or enterprise application) transformation. The internet is full of methodologies and approaches for achieving this, and I won't bore myself by regurgitating this, but rather capture some key ideas and challenges.

Utopia

So here it is ... the Utopian view of "legacy" transformation.

Build an integration layer (whichever suits your fancy ... or a combination of ... service oriented-architecture, message oriented middleware, enterprise services bus, message brokering, ...).
Define the business (transactional and structural) and technical services.
Insulate the "legacy" and deliver the service.
Build a few additional services, perhaps extending the legacy function.
Build a business process management layer (with associated workflow).
Orchestrate the services.
Link into a new shiny user interface, partner or other channel..

And if you achieve this you can renovate "behind the service" allowing you to replace legacy systems, as and when required. The service is therefore a mediator or facade.

"Everything changes"

The biggest problem with this answer (assuming there is a question) isn't the solution but rather how people tend to go about realising it. There is a fundamental mindset that the past is wrong and that the people that built those solutions were naive or bad at what they did; and that we now know the answer and will build the future. Brilliant! or not, as I am fairly sure (having spoken to several senior engineers) that they felt similar in the past.

If there is one thing that I have learnt that is more important that all other lessons, it is that everything changes. An application implemented today is soon relegated to legacy. A methodology that is guaranteed to improve quality/productivity/value will be modified or replaced in the future.

Therefore, smart organisations are those organisations that focus on building a core capability that enables them to adapt to change. Subsequently these organisations will manage those assets that are important irrespective of the underlying technology.

Service Imperfect

Defining perfect business services is as much an art as it is a science. Service granularity is a topic that promotes a lot of intellectual debate ... so I won't get into it. However, irrespective of what services you specify you soon find yourself in the very real problem of realising/building those services.

Therefore a magic (the art) middle-ground exists between what business want and need and what you can deliver.   Can the enterprise applications deliver the function that matches that service or does the service need to be "course" and meet the availability of function?

Do you spend a lot of money renovating the enterprise applications to meet your requirements or do you deliver what is available?

Can you break into the middle of a legacy workflow or do you have to trigger the start of it and accept the outcome? Can you monitor/report on the status of the legacy workflow?

The mythical enteprise business process layer

Looks phenomenal on a layered application architecture diagram. However this is really difficult (read expensive) to achieve.    One of the big challenges relates somewhat to my ramblings on services. The reason for this is that many legacy and/or enterprise applications have workflow and business process included within the application. Unpicking this is very costly and seldom, if ever, delivers the business value need to fund the project.

So assuming that you have to deal with multiple process/workflow/bpm engines you need to figure out if it makes sense to promote one of these to enterprise level.   If so, how will you manage transactions and will you need to "integrate on the desktop" using portal technology? How will you monitor status across these engines especially with long-running transactions?

A possible solution

Ultimately if you protect what is important and externalise as much of this as possible you will find yourself in a good place. This includes data/information, business rules and calculations.

Solution components and patterns that help address this include canconical message models, meta data management, master data management, rules and calculation components/engines.

However, achieving this level of enterprise-wide harmonisation (even for a single component) is expensive and few achieve it. Rather applying domain architecture principles and tackling those areas that you can control is infinitely more achievable.

Applied this means determining which area you control (start, stop, change direction) when it comes to designing and implementing a solution and then focussing on that. This could be a vertical (department for example) or a horizontal within the enterprise.

Now the big downfall is that enterprises have to contend with multiple standards, formats etc. However, because this is a known it means that it can be managed by design. Bridging/translating data formats (for example) becomes a core capability and by default the organisation learns to manage change. Interfacing between partners and applications falls into a similar bucket ... you get the idea.

The big "gotcha" is investment - it does mean that the investment case needs to be realised on a smaller business scope; but the reality is probably closer to this than those business cases that have an enterprise wide adoption assumption.

So what does the architecture look like?

Well this is where it gets really fun. If you are focussing on the management of change and your response to it, then you can begin to imagine what this looks like.    Think domains. Think service delivered and contracts. Think measurement and reporting. Think blackbox and component paradigms.

Ideally select a domain where you can slice deep into the organisation whilst keep it as narrow as possible. This will allow you to touch on as many solution elements and layers and therefore tackle risk sooner rather than later. However, take a horizontal domain or component domain works as well.

But more on this later.

Brainstorm: Getting on with Green

2010-04-13T13:52:00.002+02:00

Brainstorm printed a great article in their physical magazine on Green and accompanied it with this online piece. I had the chance to talk to Samantha regarding IBM's Eco-Efficiency Jam and our view on rethinking "Green".

Despite the multitudes doing not much, a number of companies have risen to the challenge and gone green

While you’d be forgiven for thinking that green IT is never going to happen (and let’s be realistic – will IT ever be really green?), some companies have taken the gap and started on green projects, green buildings, green data centres and green organisations.

GijimaAST’s new head office in Midrand is a green building, although as there are several buildings involved, the word ‘campus’ is probably more appropriate.

Jan Smit, DCS business unit executive driving green IT at the company, says that Gijima has engaged with green IT and is busy establishing sustainability around not just green IT, but how organisations can reduce their carbon footprint, be more environmentally friendly and adapt to the pressures around global warming.

“Nobody’s really doing it,” he agrees. “We’re all talking about it and how good we are but no one has gone out and said, ‘Here, we can prove it’. So we’ve started a business unit for it and said we’ll go green, become environmentally friendly and use that experience.”

Net App has revamped its data centres to good effect. Giancarlo Scaramelli, NetApp EMEA IT field services manager, who is part of the ‘Net App on Net App’ program that deals with the company’s internal IT, says that by working aggressively to make its data centres as efficient as possible, the company has saved 40 000 kWh per month.

“We started retro-fitting our older data centres and building new ones with green in mind. The only way to do it was to take a holistic approach, and not just look at what we do (storage) but the whole centre.

“We started in the California data centre. The temperature was often far too low – we needed to work out the optimal operational temperature and so we’ve gone from 11 degrees to closer to 23 degrees. This saves a lot of energy because the need for cooling has reduced. We also looked at whether or not we need to cool the air all the time. In California we can use free air cooling 70 percent of the year.

“Many data centres were designed years and years ago. We still see centres with raised floors, which require pressure to get cold air to the ceiling, so we decided to do it the other way and pump cool air in from the top and let it fall naturally to the floor.”

Installing plastic sheeting, like that used in supermarket coolers, to separate hot aisles and cold aisles proved an inexpensive way to keep air flows apart.

Global view

While many see green as a CSI initiative, or at best a cost-saver, IBM CTO Clifford Foster has a slightly different approach: “People seem to have a fairly narrow view and quickly revert to talking about is a processor green or efficient, where the way I like to look at it is if you work on the assumption that green is doing more with less, i.e. how can we have a positive impact on the environment and the bottom line by doing more with what we have, then green certainly has ROI. You have no need to buy more, which has a direct and equal impact on the environment, or at least less impact.”

In January, IBM convened a Global Eco-Efficiency Jam – a massively-scaled online discussion centred on this strategic, business-critical issue. The Jam enabled senior representatives to co-operatively determine the best actions that can be taken to meet goals for a sustainable future. For 51 hours, thousands of public and private sector sustainability leaders pooled their knowledge and experiences through a series of focused discussions on Green Infrastructure, Sustainable Operations, Intelligent Systems, and Raising the Bar.

It’s something IBM, which started its green initiatives in the ‘80s, takes seriously.

“There’s a wide spectrum of options here,” Foster says. “If you look at the entire dimension of an organisation, even from a data level, if you are managing information and data in your enterprise well (through deduplication, archiving historical information and so on), it requires less storage to keep it. As you move up the stack, the same starts to apply, so you can buy less, and less is manufactured. If you look at applications working on the data, if those are more efficient, you can reduce the processing required, need less processing cycles and have an equal impact, and that goes on and out.

“Look at servers, data centres, the actual building the data centres reside in. Go up the food chain and look at how the organisation can optimise internally, and optimise with trading partners. It becomes a most compelling case for green IT as well as directly impacting effectiveness of the organisation,” he states. And he’s right too.

Engineering News: As urbanisation gathers pace, African city managers are urged to adopt technology

2010-04-06T18:29:00.002+02:00

Engineering News published this great article on the presentation that I delivered at the IDC Africa CIO Summit - linked and copied here for reference.

By 2050, city dwellers are expected to make up 70% of the earth’s total population and Africa has the opportunity to build intelligence into the infrastructure of its cities, says information technology services and solutions provider IBM chief technology officer for sub-Saharan Africa Clifford Foster.

“Africa has the opportunity to learn from the rest of the world’s mistakes and build ‘smartness’ and intelligence into its infrastructure. Cities are the microcosm of all the significant challenges and opportunities facing the planet,” he says.

There are a number of ways to infuse intelligence into cities and make them smarter. Smart telecommunication can enable cities to interconnect systems and lay the groundwork for longer-term economic growth. This includes smarter traffic systems, healthcare systems and food systems.

Foster says that smart transportation could improve transit experiences, reduce congestion and limit the effect of transport on the environment. Road user charging, electronic fare management and transportation information are examples of smart transportation in cities.

He points out that smart healthcare can provide opportunities to improve healthcare quality, accountability and sustainability. Health information exchanges can allow more time for treating current illnesses than the current system does, which is based on medical histories, and consumer portals can allow customers to proactively manage their own health.

Smart energy and utilities can provide opportunities to manage energy supply and demand smartly. Smart grids can detect and pre-empt problems and possibly reroute energy flow, and smart water management could detect water leakage and loss as well as contamination. Foster says that all buildings should also be built to consume energy better.

Further, cities can nurture their most valuable resources, their citizens, by using smart education, such as smart classrooms, which make remote educa- tion more interactive, and smart administration.

Citizens and communities can be protected by smart public safety systems that turn data into insight. Crime data aggregation, emergency management integration and smart surveillance are a few examples of how cities can become safer environments. He says that smart government services can also be implemented to infuse intelligence into needed services, stimulate economics and save taxpayers time and money. This will promote government accountability and integrate service delivery.

“From an African perspective, it is cheaper to implement these technologies when building infrastructure than installing them later on. One should consider how to embed intelligence into a system when building is first taking place,” Foster concludes.

Smarter Cities at the IDC Africa CIO Summit

2010-03-17T14:36:00.000+02:00

I was fortunate enough to present at the Africa CIO Summit again this year and have included my presentation (sans video) in this post.

Last year I discussed IBM's Smart Planet Strategy and how technology could enable this vision. In addition I discussed the role that technologists and strategists had in changing the way that we work and live.

This year I discussed Smart Cities as it is in cities that we find a "system of systems" where key systems interact in a unique way. I focused on examples from around the globe and how this could be applied to Africa.

Smart cities foster v1

View more presentations from Clifford Foster.

Tackling the corporate “skills” challenge

2010-03-10T22:50:00.010+02:00

There are two different, but related, issues that require addressing when tackling the so-called “skills shortage” and “skills challenge”.

The first area is addressing the skill and experience level of people currently within an organisation; and the second area is meeting the capacity or demand for people with a specific skill set and experience level.

Skill and experience

This is the easy part and subsequently most organisations focus the majority of their effort on solving this problem. Organisations improve the skill and experience level of their resources through training interventions and providing the right project/work experience. It is worth noting that it is far more difficult to do the latter (project/work experience) as it requires organisations to take a slightly longer-term view of their workforce requirements.

Resources can be up-skilled and cross-skilled and this is certainly a viable strategy as it allows resources to move into new areas, which creates a gap at the lower skill area that is easier to fill. This is akin to succession planning although it is managed at a group level and not an individual level.

Capacity

Understanding the capacity problem starts with understanding what the gap is and will be. This gap is the result of what the organisation anticipates they will need per major skill/profession area (to meet current and future demand) versus what the organisation currently has at its disposal. Thereafter it is necessary to apply a workforce strategy to determine what percentage of this gap should be permanently hired versus contractors and partners.

The strategy for closing this gap should include defensive (retention) and recruitment/attraction approaches. From my perspective, the most effective retention strategies are those that focus on career and profession development. This is supplemented by meeting hygiene requirements (salary, benefits) and very importantly providing a “sense of belonging”/community involvement.

The other element of addressing capacity requirements is recruitment (in conjunction with securing contractor and partner agreements for that aspect of the workforce). However, if hypothesis is true, and there is a shortage of adequately skilled resources in the market, then we need to tackle this differently as it is not cost effective to over-pay for candidates - at least not as a general rule.

Transformation

This is where it gets really interesting as the only option is to actively transform the current and potential workforce. Let’s looks at both of those elements.

Transforming the current workforce means growing your existing resources to create capacity at the bottom of the career ladder and recruiting/training junior people to fill the gap. I believe that this is the long-term intention of our government as it is through this type of transformation that we will provide the country with the professionals it requires to be globally competitive.

Transforming the potential workforce is far more difficult. Corporates and other professional organisations work closely with tertiary education organisations to ensure that the workforce of tomorrow is adequately trained and employable. However, the tertiary education organisations themselves have to work closely with secondary and primary education organisations to ensure that they have an adequate pool of candidates to train for employment by the pubic and private sector.

This means that the supply chain extends to primary schools and as such it is important to support and actively participate in education programmes at every level within our country or region that we operate.

Event Processing for a Smarter Planet

2010-03-05T22:55:00.008+02:00

A Smarter Planet

You've heard it before but it warrants repeating: Every natural and man-made system is becoming instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. We now have the ability to measure, sense and monitor the condition of almost everything. Furthermore, people, systems and objects can communicate and interact with each other in entirely new ways. This means that we can respond to changes quickly and get better results by predicting and optimising for future events.

That's the good news but there are challenges.

Today, more than ever, organisations are under pressure to leverage a wealth of information to make more intelligent choices.

Volume of data: Data volumes are expected to grow tenfold in the next three years. This is driven by the proliferation of end-user devices, real-world sensors, lower-cost technologies and population growth.

Velocity of decision-making: The market demands that businesses optimise decisions, take action based on good information and utilise advanced predictive capabilities - all with speed and efficiency.

Variety of information: With the expansion of information comes large variances in the complexion of available data - very noisy with lots of errors and no opportunity to cleanse it in a world of real-time decision-making.

Shift in what we analyse: Enterprises need a broader, systems-based approach to the information they examine and optimise. Stream computing and event processing capabilities are enabling the analysis of massive volumes.

Event Processing

Event processing provides us with an approach to leverage this wealth of information for competitive advantage and for the betterment of people

An Event: Any signal indicating that a change of state (of the business, real-world or other domain) has occurred or contemplated as having occurred.

Simple Event Processing (SEP): Simple event processing is not a new concept. SEP provides functions to detect and respond reactively to a single source, or homogeneous event type.

Complex Event Processing (CEP): Detect and respond reactively to patterns among like or related events, missing events and aggregate events. CEP supports high volumes of homogenous events within a predictable time and order.

Business Event Processing (BEP): Extends CEP and provides a graphical, non-programmatic user interface that allows business users to manage event processing logic themselves. Supports high volumes of heterogenous business events and complex patterns that occur in no particular time or order.

Event processing is complementary to SOA

SOA is an approach to modelling your business, and hence IT, as a set of reusable activities or services. Services are then orchestrated or composed into coarser services, processes or application. SOA communication is typically (or perhaps narrowly understood to be) implemented as request/response pattern.

Event processing adds an asynchronous pattern to SOA components and services. These patterns are complementary. Services can emit events and consume events. The event processing itself is performed as an extended capability of an ESB.

Conclusion

Event processing, and especially business event processing, begins to deliver on the "Utopian ideals" of real-time analytics and business-configured processing.

This is big ... and it going to get a lot bigger.

Event Processing Overview

Mind the Gap

2010-03-01T12:41:00.009+02:00

Change

Businesses are experiencing rapid disruptive change, driven by such shifts as internet-enabled businesses; collapsing time; globalisation of markets and business configurations; social and economic imperatives; financial uncertainty, and changes in industry boundaries and structure.

This is leading to new business styles such as on-demand, value ecosystems, collaborative networks, and the globally integrated enterprise; which in turn place very different demands on operations and IT.

As Wytenburg states "the greater the degree of complexity in an environment, the more various, dynamic, and unpredictable are those situations“. We have moved away from a known single future, away from even from a range of possible futures, to a truly ambiguous future. There are too many permutations of possible architectures for such an uncertain future.

Significance

As with all uncertainty we need to focus on the "architecturally significant" elements - in this situation it refers to those elements of an organisation that will enable success in a future where the pace of change is accelerating.

Osterwalder's Business Model Ontology provides a good solution context for considering what is significant. I would add an additional component though that I will call "The Core".

The Core

The Core extends the ontology proposed by Osterwalder by adding an additional Core element associated to Core Capabilities. The Core that refers to that differentiating aspect of an organisation that transcend products and services, as is traditionally defined as “core business”. It is not an idealised construct but the tangible essence of an organisation that includes the key people, their vision and values.

In this context the Core combines (a) Vision with (b) People. Initially the people are those that formulated the vision for the organisation. These people lead the organisation and are the solid aspect thereof. The core (of the organisation) can, and probably should, be extended during the life of an organisation.

Key Capabilities

Within this construct, the key capabilities of the Core are those that position an organisation architecturally for an uncertain future:

Manage core values and value streams: At the heart of what allows an organisation to adapt while maintaining some consistency in the eyes of its key stakeholders (customers, partners, investors, employees). They are internal beliefs which guide the decision-making and behaviour of the organisation.
Shed and Attract: Agility is a key attribute of future business which has resulted in a marked shift from a 'loyalty/purpose' based business context to an 'opportunity' based context. As this trend continues, businesses who have a core competence to shed and attract will be able to maintain their competitive position over those who are less able to do so.
Communicate: There is a requirement for richer communication with all stakeholders, from employees to customers. The ability to establish trust through one's actions and communicate that and a vision for the future will differentiate the winners from the losers.
Sense and Respond: This is the ability to detect change and respond rapidly to it. Included in this capability is the ability to manage "future uncertain" through scenario planning and management.
Manage Information: Managing master data and information is critical to the decision-process and is a core ability, without which organisations will flounder.

The Gap

It is important for organisations to "mind the gap" when they shed components of their businesses that are better delivered by a supplier or through the network. This gap exists between the formal contracts between components, which is often covered by the good nature, professionalism or natural instincts of people within a business.

As business components become increasingly logically and physically seperated it will become increasingly important to understand whether the sum of the contracts equals the whole; and whether the whole still delivers what people are accustomed to. Managing that difference will be crucial.

ITWeb: Sci-fi meets society

2010-03-01T11:55:00.004+02:00

And the second article by Lezette (ITWeb):

Sci-fi meets society

As artificially intelligent systems and machines progress, their interaction with society has raised issues of ethics and responsibility.

While advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics have brought improvements in fields from construction to healthcare, industry players have warned of the future implications of increasingly “intelligent” machines.

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, executive dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, at the University of Johannesburg, says ethics have to be considered in developing machine intelligence. “When you have autonomous machines that can evolve independent of their creators, who is responsible for their actions?”

In February last year, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) held a series of discussions under the theme “long-term AI futures”, and reflected on the societal aspects of increased machine intelligence.

The AAAI is yet to issue a final report, but in an interim release, a subgroup highlighted the ethical and legal complexities involved if autonomous or semi-autonomous systems were one day charged with making high-level decisions, such as in medical therapy or the targeting of weapons.

The group also noted the potential psychological issues accompanying people's interaction with robotic systems that increasingly look and act like humans.

Just six months after the AAAI meeting, scientists at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Switzerland, conducted an experiment in which robots learned to “lie” to each other, in an attempt to hoard a valuable resource.

The robots were programmed to seek out a beneficial resource and avoid a harmful one, and alert one another via light signals once they had found the good item. But they soon “evolved” to keep their lights off when they found the good resource – in direct contradiction of their original instruction.

According to AI researcher Dion Forster, the problem, as suggested by Ray Kurzweil, is that when people design self-aggregating machines, such systems could produce stronger, more intricate and effective machines.

“When this is linked to evolution, humans may no longer be the strongest and most sentient beings. For example, we already know machines are generally better at mathematics than humans are, so we have evolved to rely on machines to do complex calculation for us.

“What will happen when other functions of human activity, such as knowledge or wisdom, are superseded in the same manner?”

Sum of parts

According to Steve Kroon, computer science lecturer at the Stellenbosch University, if people ever develop sentient robots, or other non-sentient robots do, we'll need to decide what rights they need. “And the lines will be blurred with electronic implants: what are your rights if you were almost killed in an accident, but have been given a second chance with a mechanical leg? A heart? A brain? When do you stop being human and become a robot?”

Healthcare is one area where “intelligent” machines have come to be used extensively, involved in everything from surgery to recovery therapy. Robotic prosthetics aid people's physical functioning, enabling amputees to regain a semblance of their former mobility. The i-Limb bionic hand, for example, uses muscle signals in the remaining portion of the limb to control individual prosthetic fingers.

More “behavioural” forms of robotic medical assistance, such as home care robots, are also emerging. Gecko Systems' CareBot acts as a companion to the frail or elderly, “speaking” to them, reminding them to take medication, alerting patients about unexpected visitors, and responding to calls for help, by notifying designated caregivers.

According to Forster, daily interaction with forms of “intelligent” machines is nothing new. “We are already intertwined with complex technologies (bank cards, cellphones, computers), and all of these simple things are connected to intelligent machines designed to make our lives easier and more productive.

“The question is not 'should' we do this, we already do, but how far should we go?” He adds this question is most frequently asked when one crosses the line of giving over control to a machine or technology that could cause harm.

While the advent of certain technologies, such as pacemakers, or artificial heart valves, or steel pins inserted to support limbs are generally beneficial, explains Forster, their progression could bring complexities.

“These are all technologies that make life better, and are designed to respond to environmental changes in order to aid the person in question. But, if my legs, arms, eyes, ears and memory are replaced by technologies, the question is when do I cross the line and stop being human and become a machine?”

Sun Microsystems founder William Joy is one of the industry's more outspoken critics of people's increasing dependence on technology, and warns in a 2000 Wired article: “The 21st-century technologies – genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics – are so powerful that they can spawn whole new classes of accidents and abuses.

“Most dangerously, for the first time, these accidents and abuses are widely within the reach of individuals or small groups. They will not require large facilities or rare raw materials. Knowledge alone will enable the use of them.”

Drones to decision-makers

Another area of contention regarding the increasing involvement of “intelligent” machines is in military applications. A recent US mandate requires that a third of its military forces be unmanned – remote controlled or autonomous – in future. While this could significantly reduce the number of human casualties in fighting, it also raises fears around autonomous machines' power to drop bombs and launch missiles.

Some argue that giving robots the ability to use weapons without human intervention is a dangerous move, while others say they will behave more ethically than their human counterparts. While these realities are still a way off, they have raised concerns over what is considered ethical behaviour.

The AAAI writes in a 2007 issue of AI Magazine that there's a considerable difference between a machine making ethical decisions by itself, and merely gathering the information needed to make the decision, and incorporating it into its general behaviour. “Having all the information and facility in the world won't, by itself, generate ethical behaviour in a machine.”

Clifford Foster, CTO of IBM SA, says ethics is something that has to be tackled across industry, with various people, including the public, collaborating to make sure policies are in place. “You can't advocate responsibility to machines. There are certain cases that present opportunities for technology to assist, such as telemedicine, but then it may be necessary to limit this to certain categories, with final decisions resting with professionals.”

In addition, as machine capabilities increase from automated mechanical tasks to more high-level, skilled ones, it calls into question their competition with humans in the workforce. “I think we've been staring one of the simplest ethical issues in the face for a few centuries already, and we still haven't reached consensus on it,” says Kroon.

“How do we balance the need of unskilled people to be employed and earn a reasonable living with the benefits of cheaper industrialisation and automation?” He adds the issue will only get more glaring in the next few decades, as the skill level needed to contribute meaningfully beyond what automated systems can do increases.

“Things like search engines have already radically changed how children learn in developed countries. If we simply dumb down education, that would be a pity,” notes Kroon. “We need a generation of people who can utilise the new capabilities of tomorrow's machines, rather than a generation of people who can contribute nothing meaningful to society, since any skills they possess have been usurped by machines.”

ITWeb: AI comes of age

2010-03-01T11:50:00.005+02:00

First of two articles by Lezette (ITWeb) on Artificial Intelligence that I contributed to:

AI comes of age

The focus of artificial intelligence (AI) research has undergone a shift – from trying to simulate human thinking, to specific “intelligent” functions, like data mining and statistical learning theory.

Steve Kroon, computer science lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, says, in the past, people were enthusiastic about machines that could think like people. “Now, many researchers figure the challenges of the present day are things we need 'alternative intelligence' for – skills that humans can make use of, but don't have themselves.”

The best examples of these “alternative intelligence” fields, notes Kroon, are data mining and machine learning – using advanced statistical analysis to find patterns in the vast amounts of data we're confronted with today.

“That's not to say research isn't being done on human-like AI, but even tasks like speech recognition and computer vision are more and more being seen as tasks that will yield to statistical analyses.”

In the 1950s, researchers began exploring the idea of artificially intelligent systems, with mathematician Alan Turing establishing some of the characteristics of intelligent machines. Consequently, work on AI spanned a wide range of fields, but soon developed an emphasis on programming computers.*

“In the past, there was a lot of research on rule-based systems and expert systems,” notes Kroon. “But now, we're faced with areas where there's so much data, that even the experts are at a loss to explain.”

The triumph of these methods, according to Kroon, is that they're discovering things the experts aren't aware of. “Bio-informatics is a great example of this; analysing the data leads to hypotheses, which the biochemists and biologists can attempt to verify, so this new knowledge can help in the development of new medication.

“We're seeing the shift from computation as simply a tool for use by the researcher to validate his hypotheses, to computation being used to generate sensible hypotheses for investigation – hypotheses humans would probably never have found by manually looking at the data.”

Information generation

Artificial intelligence has become so ingrained in people's daily lives that it has become ordinary, says professor Tshilidzi Marwala, executive dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, at the University of Johannesburg.

“Fingerprint recognition is now a common technology. Intelligent word processing systems that guess words about to be typed are now common. Face recognition software is used by security agencies – the situation has shifted to more advanced and realistic applications,” he states.

“We're already seeing automated systems for so many things in our daily lives,” notes Kroon. He adds that people are reading and remembering facts less than they did a generation ago, relying instead on being able to look up information on the Internet, whenever they need it.

“Combine that kind of technology with things like recommender systems and location-aware tools, and soon you'll have a constant stream of information relevant to you, available for your consumption as you need it.”

A project exemplifying this trend is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) SixthSense prototype, a gestural interface that projects digital information onto physical surfaces, and lets users interact with it via hand gestures.

“When I look around and see how many people are now using mobile smartphones instead of the desktop computers of a couple of years back, and this SixthSense technology they've been prototyping at MIT, I get the impression that 'augmented intelligence' is going to be a big thing in coming years,” says Kroon.

Everyday AI

AI has become such a part of our daily lives that it has become ordinary.
Web search technologies are widely seen as an application of AI, he adds, with Wolfram Alpha being a prominent example. The “knowledge engine” answers user queries directly by computing information from a core data base, instead of searching the Web and returning links.

“Its premise was that people want answers to questions, not just a list of links. And I think they're right, but there's a long way to go before this is powerful enough to dethrone the classical search engine approach,” states Kroon.

“Understanding the question being asked, and trying to infer context for that question, are difficult challenges in AI before one can even start to construct an answer to the question,” he adds.

Another development in this direction is the new “social search engine” Aardvark, recently acquired by Google. “Aardvark uses machine-learning techniques to understand social networks, and then provides answers to a user's query by passing it on to people that its system believes are the best to answer the query,” explains Kroon.

“So, in this model, Aardvark's 'AI' is simply responsible for teaming up a person with a question and someone who can give that person a good answer. This sort of system works well when you're looking for more personalised responses, like hotel and restaurant recommendations, as opposed to the impersonal information typically served up by a regular search engine.”

Mind over matter

Clifford Foster, CTO at IBM SA, says AI offers significant ways of handling the explosion of data in the world. This follows from the use of computers to simulate intelligent processes, and understanding information in context, notes Foster. “This can be applied in a number of areas, such as a recent system to predict and understand the impact of anti-retrovirals on HIV patients.”

The vast amount of information being generated, and the need to process that information in near real-time, to prevent problems from happening, is simply too much for humans to compute fast enough, explains Foster. “So, if you give machines the ability to analyse and respond to this data, it fundamentally changes the way we manage and use information.”

He points to applications, such as orchestrating traffic lights according to traffic flow at various times of the day, or medical diagnoses for people in remote areas.

“One of the biggest healthcare challenges in Africa is limited access to medical professionals. But if a person could present their problem to a computer capable of understanding the symptoms, it could search medical data banks for related content, ask additional questions for greater accuracy, and provide an informed diagnosis, which could then be passed on to a professional.”

Foster believes investment will continue in areas where AI improves people's lives. “It's become less about trying to replicate the brain and more about complementing the way we connect with the world.”

For example, trying to clone the kind of processing involved in catching a ball, with the need to calculate the trajectory of the ball, activating the correct muscles to catch it, and absorbing the impact of the catch, requires a phenomenal amount of computing power, notes Foster, but it's not very useful.

“For a long time, people were confined by the idea that AI must simulate the human brain, but where's the value in that? A programme that can aid people in solving problems, whether it be running their data centre, or managing traffic flow, or reducing the mortality rate, is much more valuable.”

Marwala argues that intelligent machines will always be created to perform a particular or handful of functions. “An intelligent machine that performs many tasks is as elusive a concept as 'the theory of everything', but the adaptation and evolution of a machine performing a specific task is perfectly possible.”

Foster believes the intersection of technology, business, and people is where AI research is going, and where it can have most impact. “Using intelligent systems to get things quicker to assist in areas such as healthcare and education could have a profound impact on society, and change people's lives in ways they never thought of.”

ITWeb: Eco jam sparks green thinking

2010-02-04T07:54:00.003+02:00

Thanks to Lezette from ITWeb for this great article on IBM's Eco Jam.

Eco jam sparks green thinking

In a world facing unprecedented demands on scarce resources, consumers and businesses will have to revolutionise the way they use, monitor, and manage information.

This was one of the key messages emerging from IBM's Eco Efficiency Web jam last week, which saw thousands of business leaders and industry experts from around the world exchanging ideas around efficiency and sustainability.

Clifford Foster, IBM's CTO for sub-Saharan Africa, says the eco jam fits in with the group's Smart Planet agenda, which involves identifying scarce resources and finding a way to better manage them. “Smart Planet is about making better use of the resources we have available, for the benefit of the environment, people, and organisations' competitiveness.”

According to Foster, the jamming concept allows for the gathering of as many viewpoints as possible, so contributors can pool their knowledge through themed discussions, in a drive to encourage collaboration in tackling the world's eco challenges.

Foster says the main goal is to stimulate discussions between people who have never connected before.

”Think of it as forums or wikis on steroids, with people sharing ideas to generate new lines of thought.”

According to Foster, a total of 925 client companies from 45 countries participated in the Web-based brainstorming event, with more than 2 000 posts on six key themes, including renewable energy, sustainable technologies, regulation, and green infrastructure.

“While we're seeing an unprecedented demand on water and energy supply, at the same time, there's an interesting trend in technology, which puts us in a better position to manage this demand,” notes Foster.

“One is instrumentation – by putting sensors on everything, we can detect, for example, water leakages, or contamination, or where water is being used in factories and houses, in real-time. If we connect this information to services such as disaster management and healthcare, we can make intelligent decisions, preventing problems before they happen.”

Connected intelligence

By connecting various streams of information together, says Foster, organisations and consumers can move towards predicting events, making smarter decisions, and ultimately doing things differently. Working more efficiently will also see a reduced impact on the environment.

“If we want to tackle the mega problems, such as non-renewable energies and the Smart Planet agenda, these solutions touch on so many organisations and interested parties that you need everybody to want to play,” explains Foster. He uses smart shipping as an example, with the numerous groups involved – from the manufacturer of the goods, to the customer, to the freight and shipping companies, to government from a revenue perspective.

“To solve the big problems, we need to look at things from an info-sharing perspective. In many cases a lot of the information needed to make more proactive decisions resides in a metaphorical island. Until you get companies to share information and look for trends and complementary solutions, we're not going to be able to mine data for the insight needed to do things differently,” he argues.

Foster cites a case in China, where IBM implemented a smart metering system at Dong Energy, consisting of sensors on the entire energy network to detect outages in real-time. “With the way the energy network is configured, you can then re-route energy around the faulty area, and substantially reduce outages in networks,” he explains.

“Energy outages impact everybody – they impact production, an organisation's productivity, and people's lives, and cost money.” Foster adds that smart metering in houses and businesses is an effective way of reducing this impact, as it costs a lot more to fix a problem than to manage it.

“From a consumer perspective, imagine a house where you can see the power usage on single dashboard, which tells you what the energy consumption is at different times of the day, and which appliances are actually consuming energy. Then you can make more intelligent decisions about when you switch appliances on or off. It's pretty important to people to have better understanding of how to better use available energy.”

Changing focus

Foster says the discussion he was driving during the jam was how to change the perception of the green agenda from one that just focuses on the environment, to something that makes good business sense.

“If you use less energy, your goods cost less, which means higher profitability. At the same time, using less energy not only costs less, but allows you to store energy for off-peak times, which makes more energy available to citizens at a decent price. So there's a positive impact for people and business.”

Going forward, Foster anticipates a holistic approach to resource management. “I foresee sustainability being baked into the metrics and executive agenda at all organisations, as a way to measure themselves, and the people running the business unit. This will happen more and more as government starts putting in regulations.”

From a technology side, Foster says effective monitoring of information will have a profound effect on the amount of energy houses and businesses save. “Every single appliance and device is going to be smart and aware enough to measure its own energy consumption, and communicate that data so it can start up or shut down when required.”

He adds that SA is well situated to take advantage of this development. “Prepaid energy meters are a well-established energy device in the country, and the next generation of these will not just be about switching off when you run out of credit, but actually being able to decide whether you switch off at certain times of the day, or switch off automatically.

“If you take that technology into businesses, we'll see a profound reduction in energy demand, apart from the actual devices using less energy.”

He adds that the recession has served as an important catalyst for change. “In a period of excess, everything is cheap, and people don't really think about how they use resources. But the age of excess is over. The facts are that the demand on resources we have is outstripping supply, and have to use it more efficiently.“

From an African perspective, says Foster, there are a different set of challenges focusing attention on resources. “Eskom does not have enough energy to meet demand, and it's forcing us to think about things differently. Innovations are born in areas where we have these kinds of challenges, and Africa is a breeding ground for these kinds of innovations.”

2010 Predictions

2010-01-27T09:04:00.003+02:00

ITWeb's Biz Beat Newsletter carried this article on my predictions for 2010 and beyond:

Today, a new instrumented, intelligent, and interconnected world, a smarter planet, is emerging that offers great promise for addressing some of the our most pressing problems. It also creates an entirely new set of business and technology issues that will need to be considered.

Organisations need to rethink their security strategies and implement fine-grained control of each resource they want to protect. In addition, organisations will have to implement a multi-tiered containment approach to prevent one breach from disrupting the entire organisation. Businesses need to implement far-field detection strategies and tools to prevent problems from happening before they occur.

Cloud computing will increasingly be part of an innovative computing approach that will create and meet the needs of a more dynamic infrastructure, allowing organisations to respond to the opportunities and challenges of a smarter planet.

The world's transition to a services economy has been in the making for the past three decades. A standardised IT factory or services factory is emerging to enable consistent high-quality delivery of services. These factories will enable an adaptable, intuitive interface to the service consumer, where a positive experience is engineered and delivered, along with the planning and anticipation that goes into excellent exception handling.

Backstage, consistent delivery is enabled through standardisation, automation, and learning systems for continuous improvement.

The next generation of data analytics is emerging, which will enable organisations to analyse information in near real-time. It is increasingly possible not only to help a decision-maker identify possible actions to choose from, but also to evaluate those options. After the decision is made and acted upon, its outcome must be monitored and the accuracy of the predictive models evaluated.

Applications that respond to the opportunities of this new world exhibit requirements that are much broader than those found in traditional applications. Hybrid systems architecture is emerging that combines general purpose functionality with specialisation, to drastically improve the system characteristics needed to support these new applications, at comparable cost.

ITWeb: SMS for Life

2009-12-17T09:38:00.005+02:00

A fantastic success that has generated a lot of media interest - this one from ITWeb

Tech giants fight malaria
IBM, Novartis and Vodafone have teamed up with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership to fight the spread of malaria in Tanzania.

The companies have started a five-month pilot called SMS for Life to help 135 villages and over a million people living in remote areas of Tanzania.

SMS for Life is a system which uses cellphones and Web sites to track the supply of anti-malarial vaccines coming into the country.

IBM CTO Clifford Foster says IBM's role in the partnership came about through its internship programme called Extreme Blue; a joint collaboration between local universities and their students.

The IBM team identified the need in Africa for a system that can manage the inventory of anti-malarial drugs, in order to make sure there is enough medication to help those with malaria.

Broader outlook
The pilot project, which started this year, is due to run until February. After that, Foster says the project will be assessed by the Tanzanian government and is expected to be expanded into other areas. Foster notes that the main objective, based on the success of the project, is to roll it out to the rest of Africa.

“Its one of those situations where innovation has risen out of need to solve a real problem,” he says. “The technology is cost-effective and is having a real impact on peoples' lives.

“Going forward, IBM will provide the project management using the IBM Lotus cloud-based solution in the support and execution of the project to make sure that the support services are executed at a low cost.”

SMS for supply
Vodafone's role, in conjunction with MatsSoft, was to develop a system in which healthcare staff in remote hospitals receive automated SMS messages prompting them to check the supply of anti-malarial drugs so they do not run out of the vital medicine.

Using toll-free numbers, staff reply with an SMS to a central database system hosted in the UK, providing details of stock levels, and deliveries can be made before supplies run out at local health centres.

Senior health officer at Tanzania's ministry of health and social welfare, Winfred Mwafongo, says the system has resulted in improvements in hospital inventory management systems in 19 rural health facilities in one district alone.

Fighting back
According to IBM, Tanzania has around 5 000 clinics, hospitals and dispensaries, but at any one time, as many as half could potentially be out of stock of anti-malarial drugs.

Designed as a public and private partnership leveraging the skills and resources of several companies, SMS for Life could have far-reaching implications for existing health systems worldwide. Several other African countries have shown interest in the project.

The mosquito-borne disease causes nearly one million deaths in Africa each year, mostly among pregnant women and young children, and many people die because they simply lack quick access to vital medication.

SMS for Life

2009-12-02T12:01:00.004+02:00

I am truly impressed by the SMS for Life pilot - it demonstrates how the smart use of technology can have a profound impact on the lives of people in Africa.

Background
The first phase of a joint IBM, Novartis and Vodaphone initiative, called SMS for Life, has been delivered in Tanzania.

One million people die from malaria each year in Africa and this initiative will help to ensure that people can get the life-saving drugs they need. The project uses a combination of mobile phones, SMS technologies and electronic mapping to track and help manage the supply of drugs.

The solution
The idea is to report stock levels of anti-malaria drugs using weekly SMS messages. The information is then displayed in tables, graphs and on Google Maps, and email alerts are generated for health facilities which are out of stock of any of the drugs being tracked. Supply chain coordinators then use this information to determine how best to resolve the stock issues.

Early findings in the first district to go live indicate out-of-stock levels at more than 55%, confirming initial assumptions.

The solution, which may even appear trivial in the developed world, is actually ideal in its African context and meets the needs of those for whom it has been designed. "And now we have the makings of a successful pilot, we could see this solution rolled out across much of sub-Saharan Africa over the next few years", believes Peter Ward of IBM. "That really would be a great result for everyone involved!"

Additional information
Rollback Malaria article

ITWeb: Thinking smarter in the cloud

2009-12-02T11:40:00.002+02:00

Alex Kayle posted this write-up post the recent ITWeb Cloud Computing Conference

Organisations are spending up to 70% of their IT budget on simply keeping the organisation running, and this has serious financial implications for the business.

Clifford Foster, CTO at IBM sub-Saharan Africa, explored the synergies between cloud computing, software-as-a-service, virtualisation and service-oriented architecture, during yesterday's ITWeb Cloud Computing conference in Bryanston.

Foster called for businesses to think smarter about managing their technology differently, in order to keep up with the exponential growth of data. “The world is changing and is becoming increasingly instrumented.

“We have about 33 billion RFID tags sold globally. We are gathering information in real-time and everything is becoming interconnected. We have four billion mobile subscribers, two billion Internet users, and we have a trillion interconnected devices.”

Solving problems
Foster pointed out that cloud computing is capable of helping organisations solve many of their business problems: “We have information generated and managed on such a scale so we can prevent problems before they happen, prevent power outages, and water contamination.”

Foster said IDC research reveals that 85% of computing capacity stands idle in computer centres, which results in a waste of energy resources. He added that cloud computing brings cost benefits to IT, as the hosted environment is provided on a pay-per-use basis as a services contract.

“Cloud computing is not new. However, cloud computing involves a paradigm-shift that catalyses many existing technologies and approaches.

“Cloud computing is an infrastructure management and services delivery methodology. We are truly at the point

ITWeb: Cloud computing evolves

2009-11-20T14:21:00.004+02:00

A recent write-up done by Alex as an introduction to my presentation "How I explained cloud computing to my wife" next week.

The solution harnesses the synergies of SaaS, SOA and virtualisation.
Cloud computing is enabling technologies such as SaaS, SOA and virtualisation, says Clifford Foster, IBM CTO for sub-Saharan Africa.

Cloud computing is a paradigm rather than a new technology; however, it is driving SaaS, SOA and virtualisation in new ways, says Clifford Foster, IBM's CTO for sub-Saharan Africa.

During the upcoming ITWeb Cloud Computing 2009 Conference, on 24 November at The Campus, Bryanston, Foster will provide an overview of the synergies between cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS), service-oriented architecture (SOA) and virtualisation.

“Cloud computing extends the SaaS model to deliver other services on multiple payment options from the more typical SaaS model to a pay-as-you-use payment model. SOA fits naturally within the cloud paradigm, although it should be noted that it isn't a prerequisite.”

He adds that through virtualisation, applications are separated from physical resources, which provides benefits such as improved resource utilisation and system stability.

Evolving the cloud
According to Foster, cloud computing is evolving from proprietary and monolithic clouds to open standards-based and large-scale clouds.
Click here

“These open clouds will provide a range of standards-based services that will provide individuals and organisations with a range of options, offering differing service levels at respective price points. Cloud computing is evolving to include private clouds (within the organisation's firewall) and hybrid clouds (combination of private and public).”

Foster points out that some of the benefits of cloud computing is improved resource utilisation, reduced costs, ease-of-use and flexibility as users have access to the services they want without needing to own them or know where they are run.

In addition, complexity is reduced as the applications are bundled with the other software components required to execute them.

Foster adds: “However, it must be noted that cloud computing must be carefully considered based on an organisation's specific requirements, as not all services are suitable for delivering in the cloud.”

Original article here

Smart Client

2009-11-06T13:24:00.004+02:00

Just a quick post that links to an interview that Ruben Goldberg (Classic FM) conducted with myself on the announcement that we made regarding our Smart Client.

Smart Client was announced by IBM and Canonical that combines Lotus productivity and collaboration tools with Ubuntu Linux. The base package is available from free download and it provides a cost effective (and open) alternative to expensive office application and operation systems that require fairly high powered desktops.

Link here

I see your 6 feet and raise you another 12

2009-10-26T15:07:00.007+02:00

Walking around the neighbourhood recently I was astounded to see how high the walls are being built around this residential complex.

I don't proclaim to understand what has resulted in this level of fear but to the casual observer it seems as if these residents are imprisoning themselves. Actually I can think of some prisons that would be proud of security like this.

I guess it is a result of following the approach of ensuring that your property is less desirable than your neighbours' - i.e. making it more difficult to enter than their properties are. But this takes "keeping up with the Joneses" to new levels. It could also have the unintentional result of making your property more desirable, as curiosity with what lies behind those walls could result in the problem occurring that it was built to prevent.

As South Africans we understand that crime is a major issue that we have to deal with; together with the social conditions that result in crime. I am just not sure that this is the answer ....

Is South Africa falling behind in the telco market?

2009-10-08T11:27:00.006+02:00

I read so many telecommunication success stories in East Africa that it makes me wonder if South African is falling behind in this space. If not now then perhaps it is a question of when?

Examples abound ... the rest of Africa is picking up pace since the commissioning of Seacom and will accelerate when TEAMS goes live.

Kenya
I read with great interest that Safaricom has contracted Alvarion to implement a WiMax broadband network in Kenya. The WiMax network will connect urban and rurual users.

WiMax is an excellent alternative to ADSL if implemented properly. Think of WiMax as copper-in-the-sky connecting to the closest exchange and you get the picture.

Uganda
When I was in Uganda earlier this year plans were already underway by the Ugandan government to build a fibre optic network across the country connected to Seacom.

Rwanda
Rwandatel signed a deal with Seacomm a month or so ago providing their user base (3G and ADSL) with fast international access.

Likely
South Africa will most likely fall behind our Sub-Saharan cousins in the broadband market, whether it be in the price, access or service domains.

This isn't a problem but an opportunity that the rest of Africa is grabbing. Overall this is great news for the continent as the welfare of all countries in Africa impact one another.

Africa Innovation Centre Cape Town

2009-09-18T13:30:00.004+02:00

A Satellite
We opened our second AIC (Africa Innovation Centre) yesterday (17th September 2009), this time in Cape Town. The opening of this AIC is approximately a year after the opening on the first centre in Johannesburg. The Cape Town AIC is a satellite to the centre in Johannesburg, which operates as our central hub.

I envision an ecosystem of connected AICs that leverage a shared pool of resources (people and technology) across the Sub-Saharan region - delivering innovative solutions and support to our partners and clients.

Smart
I believe that the Innovation Centres offer an ideal facility for building the type of solutions required to realise a vision of a Smarter Planet.

Firstly we use the centres to develop the required skills; secondly we support our clients and partners in building their own solutions; and lastly we are jointly able to prototype and test the latest technologies that spur innovation.

I am looking forward to the launch of the next centre ...

Press coverage
ITNewsAfrica – IBM launches another Africa Innovation Centre

Reuters – IBM Launches New Cape Town Africa Innovation Center to Help Fuel Skills Growth in...

Trading Markets – IBM opens Africa Innovation Center in Cape Town

IT Online – IBM extends Innovation Centre to Cape Town

ITWeb – IBM opens CT innovation centre

South Africa Info – IBM's second Africa innovation centre

ITNewsAfrica: IBM commits to Africa

2009-09-16T13:58:00.001+02:00

IBM’s Chief Technology Officer, Clifford Foster, has reiterated his support for business development in Sub-Saharan Africa saying it’s an important market for his company.

Speaking to ITNewsAfrica.com recently, Foster noted that despite the global economic meltdown IBM has shown its commitment to the continent evidenced by its investments across Africa and its recent opening of offices in Nairobi and Lagos.

“ The economic meltdown has impacted on many but for us we have shown resilience through the opening of offices in Nairobi and Lagos, we’ll continue to invest in Africa as a matter of fact we are connected to sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

The Technology supremo at IBM further explained that his organization has faith in Africa hence the graduate programme which they have established to recruit young professionals and expose them to culture and life at IBM.

“Our graduate programme is meant to show young graduates what it is like to work for IBM,” Foster noted

Upon his appointment in November last year, his stated priorities were to drive innovation through the company’s African Innovation Centre (AIC) and to establish various partnerships with universities across the continent; an initiative he is passionate about.

“My focus for 2009 will be on driving the AIC concept further into Africa. This is not a South African-centric statement; IBM will be tapping into innovation wherever it happens.”

True to his word, the Fortune 500 IT company expanded its operations in Kenya from sales and marketing offices to a fully fledged operation, in order to capture growth in the East African region.

Upon being asked what IBM was doing regarding cyber crime ahead of 2010, Foster, said they were working on a number of projects with the South African government without going into specifics.

“With 2010 coming, we are working on a number of projects, we have technology that can process vast amounts of data in real time. I’ am unable to give you specifics but what I can say is that it can be anything even border controls,” he explained.

IBM has been operating in Africa for nearly six decades and has invested more than $US120 million in the last two years as part of its strategy to focus on the world’s growth markets.

Its investments include a Johannesburg-based Africa Innovation Centre -which has a software solutions lab- cloud computing capability and a banking centre of excellence. Also, IBM has donated a Blue Gene Supercomputer, which is located at Cape Town’s Centre for High Performance Computing, to be used for research by institutions across sub-Saharan Africa.

Original article here

What's in a petaflop?

2009-09-15T11:02:00.007+02:00

Peta-what?
This question came up today - what's a petaflop? I had to remind myself as it isn't something I discuss every day.

A petaflop is a thousand trillion flops or floating point operations per second.

IBM's RoadRunner is the world's fast super computer and was designed for a peak processing capability of 1.7 petaflops and a sustained 1 petaflop of processing. It was built at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA.

Where to from now though?

IBM and a group of nuclear physicists are planning a 20 petaflop machine (nicknamed Sequoia) for the US Department of Energy computer.

Sequoia will be used for nuclear safety calculations and nuclear explosion simulations. In addition it will be used for climatic modeling and other branches of science that use predictive modeling.

I came across this interesting graph that shows the performance of supercomputers over time, with RoadRunner at the 1 petaflop mark (that's the 1,000,000,000,000,000 data point).

In essence a machine like this enables more simulations to be run in the same amount of time, which increases confidence in the resulting predictions.

Pigeon faster than ADSL in South Africa

2009-09-10T08:14:00.003+02:00

I read about this article yesterday and it would be so funny if it wasn't a reflection on the sad state of affairs in our broadband market ... ok it is funny.

This is the story
A staff member of The Unlimited was so frustrated with the speed of their Telkom ADSL connection that he came upon the idea that it would be faster to send the data (to their head office) using a pigeon.

Yesterday they put the theory to the test and sent a four gigabyte package using both options: pigeon and flash-drive vs ADSL. The ADSL download had only completed 4% of the download by the time the pigeon reached their head office (in KZN).

Obviously
This isn't a true reflection of the ADSL connection as there is a limit to how far the pigeon can fly and the further the distance, the better the ADSL download would have performed ... however it is hilarious.

Thank goodness for competition in this market as we have alternatives for backhaul and the "last-mile" (hub to curb). Pity there is only one provider of fixed line though as wireless, WiFi, WiMax etc are always going to be subjected to some degree interference.

On a positive note - consider how far we have come in four years - dial-up and ISDN were the norm when I left for the UK in 2005.

MyBroadband: IBM’s solution to SA’s congested traffic

2009-08-25T10:44:00.003+02:00

An article by Tom Manners after our discussion on Smart Planet solutions.

IBM’s solution to SA’s congested traffic

Better data processing is the key to using resources, like infrastructure and water, more efficiently says IBM.

IBM Chief Technology Officer for Sub Saharan Africa, Clifford Foster believes that Africa is better positioned to harness advances in infrastructure technologies than first world countries allowing them to operate more cleaning and efficiently.

Traffic congestion, according to Foster, is a good example of how data interpretation can resolve a problem.

In Stockholm, Sweden IBM monitored a number of ingoing and outgoing roads into the city and then applied the data to a management system which in turn reduced congestion by 20%.

South Africa, with its incoming SANRAL open road tolling system, could also become a success story. Foster suggests that by using the data compiled by such a system, authorities could better organise traffic flow during peak hour times in Johannesburg.

According to IBM the key to improving the utilisation of resources, like our roads, is effective data management.

“Bringing data to a central point is essential for South Africa,” explains Foster, in this way it can be interpreted and used to maximise existing infrastructure.

Original article here

ITWeb: Green gets smart

2009-08-24T09:44:00.004+02:00

Write-up from the Green IT presentation last week:

“The way to address that opportunity is not in an isolated fashion. You get the biggest bang for your buck by looking at the entire value chain.”

Smarter planet
Foster explained that organisations are in a position to measure information on a scale never seen before, and that the cost of measuring devices, mainly transistors, has dropped to almost nothing. “We can sense and see the exact condition of practically anything for very little cost.”

This is coupled with a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected, according to Foster, evidenced by the explosion in telecommunications and the growing number of mobile phone subscriptions, which stands at around four billion worldwide. “People, systems and objects can communicate and interact with each other in entirely new ways,” he explained.

“Once all the information is collected, and you've connected it all together, then you're producing vast amounts of information in real-time. This is where the third concept comes in – you can make intelligent decisions,” argued Foster.

He explained that intelligent decision-making involves using the information gathered to determine how to prevent problems from happening before they occur. “It's not about doing things at month-end, or after they have happened; if you can detect what's happening in real-time you can prevent power outages on the energy grid, and wastages in terms of energy and water consumption. We can do things fundamentally differently.

“With this amount of intelligence and processing power being embedded in devices you wouldn't have thought of as computers a while ago, there's no reason why any device, person, process, or organisation can't be digitally aware, connected, and smart,” Foster added.

“Then it's a case of how to use all of that to impact your green agenda, and how to reduce costs, improve operational efficiencies and bring new products to market quicker.”

Less is more
Foster outlined three considerations in moving towards a more sustainable and cost-effective business, the first being how to do more with less. “Don't just look at one aspect; look at everything in the organisation.” According to Foster, this includes applications and data, information technology, real estate and facilities, building infrastructure, and energy management.

Another consideration for businesses, said Foster, is the need to be more responsible. “Organisations are being challenged to account for the environmental and social impacts of their activities. It starts with a clear strategy in terms of what the green agenda is, and having a governance model that sits at the forefront of the organisation, to measure and monitor processes.”

He added that companies need to consider the implications of their suppliers' and manufacturing activities on overall costs. “You cannot just assume that your trading partners are green, you have to ask for green credentials and measure what they do if you claim greenness in terms of regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations.”

Thirdly, said Foster, organisations need to be more efficient. “You need to look at building smart systems and practical applications. Intelligent systems gather, synthesise and apply information to change the way the entire industry operates.”

He cited US Department of Energy figures that show 67% of energy is lost in transmission. “Imagine if you could detect an error before it becomes critical, and send people out before the impact of the problem becomes consequential.”

Foster believes the possibilities have only just begun, with the vast amounts information being collected in real-time offering huge opportunities. “The implications of living in a socially, technologically, and economically connected world are being felt more profoundly now than ever before.”

Original article here

MMOGs vs MMORPGs

2009-08-05T14:29:00.004+02:00

Background
In 2007 I completed a study on why collaboration works in online gaming. I provided a summary in my blog called Learning from Collaborative Play in MMOGs. The study highlights why games are superior in almost all ways in enabling collaboration as compared to conventional online collaboration tools.

G or RPG?
Last night I was lying in bed and contemplating why MMORPGs (massively multi-player online role-playing games) are generally more successful than MMOGs (massively multi-player online games). The answer is relatively simple and comes down to how players associate with their avatar (business speak) or character (game speak).

Gamers invest a lot of time and effort in developing their characters in role-playing games. In a game like WOW (World of Warcraft) you level your character from level one to level eighty, whilst continuously enhancing your character's skills, attributes and gear/clothing. Compare this to a game like DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) where you can choose your character before you play and just as rapidly discard it (when some unique twists).

Furthermore, in WOW, a lot of players spend considerable time and effort ensuring that their character "looks good". A lot of the most desirable items that you can acquire for your character are not only those items that have the best "stats" (skill enhancing points/statistics) but those that look the best. In addition there are many vanity items like extra clothing and pets.

Ego-enhancing
MMORPG players associate with their characters and these characters become an enhancement of their selves. This makes the game very sticky and is probably one of the major reasons why WOW remains so successful even though the game engine is quite dated versus some of the competition.

Walk around (with your character) in one of the major cities in WOW and you will notice that there are a lot of people socialising or merely standing there showing off their gear/clothing.

The better your clothing and gear; the better you are as a player (difficult to acquire items); and by association the better you are.

The Protocol and the House that Tweets

2009-07-27T11:57:00.000+02:00

An IBM'er, Andy Stanford-Clark, has wired up his house to the Internet. He installed sensors on several household objects that enables him to measure what is happening in his home. Andy can measure electrical consumption and monitor security amongst others. He is also able to start and stop those appliances, as well as switch lights on and off.

Furthemore, Andy has also rigged up a number of these sensors to push their information to twitter (andy_house). Using twitter you can monitor he can monitor his electrical consumption and monitor what is happening in the house.

Underpinning this is the MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) protocol. MQTT is a platform-agnostic protocol (recently celebrsating its 10-year anniversary) that supports communication with networked objects, like sensors. MQTT is available in sever integration products, including IBM's Websphere Message Broker.

Another example of an MQTT deployment is a project that IBM did with St. Jude Medical Center. The Merlin system communicates enables home monitoring of patients implanted with cardioverter defibrillators and pacemakers.

We are well on our way to realising the "Internet of Things".

It's alive ....

2009-07-23T08:41:00.006+02:00

A big congratulations to all those involved in the planning, investment of, and the commissioning of the Seacom submarine fibre-optic link.

This is big news, especially for east Africa that has had to rely on satellite back-haul for so long.

Now lets make sure that this wholesale broadband gets to consumers and businesses at an affordable price.

Joule and Smart Transportation

2009-07-22T11:32:00.004+02:00

Did you know that Optimal Energy has developed a proto-type electrical car? I seem to have missed this .... it debuted at the Paris Motor Show in October of 2008 to international acclaim.

Joule is a a zero-emission vehicle that is approximately five times more energy efficient than petrol or diesel vehicles. Joule is battery operated and recharges from any electrical source. Furthermore, Joule’s lithium-ion batteries are recyclable and contain no heavy metals.

Joule is a six-seater passenger car with a range of 400 kilometer, a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds, and a top speed of 135 km/h. Production will take place in South Africa and the venture is in conjunction with the Department of Science and Technology.

Joule's interior and body was designed by Keith Helfet, who is famous for his designs of Jaguar’s F-type concept and XK220.

This is a great example of how South Africa is helping to reduce pollution. Couple this together with less less congested motorways and we are onto something massive. The proposed Open Road Tolling System by South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), together with initiatives like Gautrain, could be the foundation of a future smart transportation system.

Now we add in some intelligence like the system that is being developed by Garmap and Netstar that collects real-time information from over 50000 cars to determine congestion. This information is then transmitted to users and displayed on a mobile using an on-screen map. Users will then be in a position to manage their travel to reduce congestion and the environmental impact thereof. Pretty damn smart :)

What we now need to do is to bring this all together to ensure that we have a transportation network that reduces the impact on the environment, improves productivity, and improves the lives of people in South Africa.

This is achievable - we just "need to want it".

Green and Beyond

2009-07-17T11:36:00.008+02:00

I think that we can all agree that the economic downturn and ecological reality of living in a globally integrated world has required us to rethink our approach to doing business. It is also fair to say that the approaches of the past are not sustainable and that the impact thereof on the environment can not continue unabated.

The challenge we have to accept is to reinvent how we do business, not only to survive and grow, but also to achieve the goals of conservation and pollution prevention.

I think that there are three primary questions we need to answer.

How do we do more with less?

We should build green infrastructures that take out cost and improve the efficiency of our assets and infrastructure. We must strive to maximize the efficiency of what we have; reduce the ecological footprint thereof; whilst providing the platform for business growth without adding to what we have.

How can we be more responsible?

We should build sustainable solutions that focus on increasing efficiency and abating the environmental impact of processes, products and people. There are significant benefits to measuring, monitoring and streamlining processes across the value chain. The difficult is that we can not achieve the full potential of these solutions if we work in isolation. Improvement s across the value chain will yield the most significant benefits.

How can we be more efficient?

We need to build solutions that are able to make intelligent decisions based on the wealth of information available across an entire industry. For example, we are able to use predictive analytics for water management; automate, monitor and control two-way flow of energy from power plant to plug; and build optimized transportation systems.

Let’s talk

What it takes is a willingness of stakeholders across the value chain to collaborate, share information and aspire to build a smarter planet.

edit 22/07/09: I was interviewed on this concept of Green IT - refer to the second half of the following podcast by FinWeek

On a slightly different topic

2009-06-22T16:39:00.005+02:00

Just come back from a couple of days in Livingstone, Zambia, where we had a truly wonderful time.

I will try to summarise the experience in one sentence (which will not do it any justice): From sundowners on the sundeck of the Royal Livingstone; to G&Ts on the Zambesi with hippos for company; to abseiling and gorge swinging in the quarry; to cold showers next to the Victoria Falls; I had the time of my life (one of them at least).

So where is the technology you ask? Or the business? Well … the camera continued to work despite all the water from the Falls and a US dollar doesn’t buy you very much there.

Fin24: Smart new ideas

2009-05-29T15:36:00.003+02:00

Simon Dingle wrote another good article on Smart Planet that I have copied and linked here.

Smart new ideas
MOST will agree that the human species could be doing things a lot more efficiently and productively. Problems such as water shortages and traffic jams shouldn't exist.

We waste a lot of energy, time and money doing things that should be achievable with less overhead. And we have fantastic technologies that could help with problems, but most of them are focused on military affairs, or turning a buck.

Think beyond day-to-day business and immediate threats, consider the long-term problems we face as a species and the need for cohesive action is clear.

The global downturn has forced us all to take a step back and reassess the way we do things - how we think about work and interaction, and what really matters.

IBM has a new initiative it calls Smart Planet which will underpin all the technology giant's future developments. The idea is that our most fundamental problems can be solved if we work together, combine efforts and share assets.

If we do this, we can converge our technological achievements and ideas to produce solutions greater than the sum of their parts.

'Billions for the better'
IBM spends more money on research and development than any other private company in the world, and will spend $6bn on research and development this year alone. It invented the hard drive, networking and countless other technologies that surround us today.

Now the firm is looking at the bigger picture in terms of global challenges, using its vast resources and ecosystem of partners to solve everything from the most rudimentary and fundamental problems to complex aspirational challenges.

Says Clifford Foster, chief technology officer of IBM South Africa: "Smart Planet is IBM's strategic agenda going forward. It is essentially saying that key drivers are changing the way we see systems needing to be built. Technology can play a role in solving our problems whether it be in healthcare, water provisioning or just about anything else.

"There are three key pillars here. One is in the fact that the world is now digitally aware, with sensors being installed in motor vehicles, waterways and just about everywhere else. The world is also interconnected, and here Africa has a great story to tell with bandwidth projects under way.

"And thirdly, it is about being able to make intelligent decisions based on information provided in near-real time. Smart Planet is about bringing these things together and taking advantage of our instrumented, interconnected and intelligent world," he explains.

Smart marine solutions
An example of a Smart Planet solution can be found in Ireland, where the SmartBay Project has been created to monitor wave conditions, marine life, pollution levels and other factors in and around Galway Bay.

The project uses a kind of electronic buoy to monitor everything from fish in the bay to chemical consistency of the water. The buoys are solar powered, and the data they capture form part of a cohesive system that will be used by everyone from private fisheries to emergency workers and port authorities to monitor the bay in real time.

Foster says the Smart Planet way of thinking is, in part, about sharing infrastructure and systems instead of everyone trying to own and control their own, separated systems.

He uses the example of CCTV cameras installed in cities which can be used to advise on traffic flow, respond to emergencies, control crime and even monitor conditions for road maintenance. The key is in being able to share the actual cameras.

The objects being developed by IBM and its partners to aid the Smart Planet agenda include everything from next-generation circuitry to microscopic membranes used to clean water.

"Using technology to solve our real problems is not something IBM can do by itself. We are working with governments, clients and business partners to make these things happen," says Foster.

There are countless examples of Smart projects aimed at Africa's challenges, but they depend on having governments and other parties on board. Foster says IBM has been welcomed by stakeholders, and that discussions are under way to implement solutions.

The original article can be found here

Working to improve the lives of Africans

2009-05-21T16:44:00.005+02:00

I was very impressed with Eric Cantor and his presentation on AppLab.

AppLab, a Grameen Foundation initiative, builds solutions in Africa that enables people to use phones and other mobile devices as to improve their lives and livelihoods.

They have linked up with MTN's Village Phone solution to extend the reach of their offerings beyond the penetration achievable by working with handset owners. For your interest; Village Phone is a solution where an entrepreneur in a village invests in a phone and then resells voice and data, thereby creating a viable business whilst delivering a valuable service to the community. Applab is extending the data aspect of this to deliver additional services that are focussed on alleviating poverty, improving healthcare, improving agricultural yields and providing people with access to market information.

In addition AppLab has been training and supporting local entrepreneurs to serve as information and communication hubs for value-added services. This addresses some of the language and literacy issues that are based when delivery technology-based solutions.

An AppLab application that caught my imagination was a solution that assists farmers in identifying banana diseases and helping them to take corrective action once diagnosed. Where this gets really interesting is that they gather information (GPS and photo) from the farms in the region and then collate this data for the benefit of all farmers. Farmers are then in a better position to understand where this particular disease is spreading and whether they are at risk.

Great stuff!

Safaricom goes Green

2009-05-21T09:29:00.003+02:00

Margaret Githiri, Power Systems Manager, at Safaricom was explaining how the unreliable energy grid and high cost of diesel used to fuel generators has driven their move to green energy.

Safaricom are currently powering 115 of their 2000 sites using a hybrid power solution combining wind, solar, batteries and generators. When energy from wind is down they switch to solar and batteries. The batteries can keep the site powered for seven hours before they have to switch to generators (assuming that the wind turbines and solar panels aren’t generating energy by this time).

Safaricom are predicting significant cost savings despite the high initial CAPEX outlay to install this equipment. Maragret has estimated a payback of less than two years and there is the added benefit of reduced Co2 emissions.

Lastly Safaricom have come up with an innovative solution to helping rural mobile users that don’t have access to power to charge their phones. They installed charging booths at their stations where users can charge their phones for a small cost. This has had an additional benefit, and solved another problem, as communities are protecting the base stations themselves. They have seen a significant reduction in diesel theft and damage where this service is provided.

More innovation in Africa! Well done Safaricom.

The Lake Victoria Project - Saving the lives of fishermen

2009-05-20T14:22:00.003+02:00

I found out today about the GSMA’s (GSM Association) Development Fund project for Lake Victoria.

GSMA, Zain and Ericsson are in the process of upgrading and extending the existing networks in the Lake Victoria region to provide 30km of mobile coverage around the lake in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

Power is always a challenge in Africa and I understand that the sites are powered by a combination of solar energy and hybrid diesel/battery systems.

The network provides a location-based positioning system that enables emergency authorities to triangulate the mobile signal of fishermen in distress. The GSMA and Zain are working with not-for-profit organisations to establish a rescue coordination service to provide assistance to lake users.

The project is also providing additional value-added-services to users including weather services and real-time market prices, which will help boost the earnings of fisherman as they will be able to find the best prices for their catch.

This is what I mean when I say that “Innovation happens where the need is the greatest”!

Mobile Monday

2009-05-20T14:18:00.003+02:00

Mobile Monday’s CEO, Jari Tammisto, explained how their volunteer organisation brings mobile industry visionaries and influencers together to drive cross-border cooperation.

Jari provide some interesting insights in mobile evolution and how young people are driving developments and adoption in mobile. User generated content has made 3G a truly viable technology. Additional services around entertainment, communication and social network are being developed rapidly as a result of this important population grouping.

Regarding advertising; he explained how peer-to-peer is an important addition to traditional marketing with 60-70% of purchasing decisions being based on word-of-mouth.

Jari touched on several other important points, including how network operators need to focus on ensuring that their products are easily understood and easy to pay for, in order to drive consumer retention and intimacy.

More important than these insights to me was learning about the Mobile Monday organization. I am seeing more and more volunteer organizations like these (TED is another great example) nurturing innovation and breaking down the boundaries that exist between stakeholders.

Innovation Excellence at Digital Africa

2009-05-20T08:25:00.004+02:00

I enjoyed my first day at the conference.

What struck me is the passion and enthusiasm of the delegates – and the list of delegates is impressive: ministers and ministerial delegates from many African countries (incl Niger, Tanzania, Egypt, Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Zambia, Sudan), CEOs, CIO and CTOs.

I think that the quality and variety of the attending delegates is what makes events like this successful (or not). Whilst I have had the opportunity to present to a broad spectrum of executives from across Africa before, this is the first time that I have had the opportunity to engage with them at such a personal level. I also believe that one of the key differentiators is that this event was not run in South Africa. The mere fact that this event is being held in Uganda has influenced who has attended and given the event a far stronger African feel.

So the first day: I kicked off the Innovation stream with my presentation on Innovation in Africa. The message was simple – transform invention into innovation – using technology to solve some of the really big problems facing us in Africa. This was followed by several others presentations including an insightful view on the need to “Light Africa” by Lynne Gallagher, the CEO of Telecom/Telematique.

The formal day finished with a very interactive panel discussion on regulation, policy setting and standards in the telco industry.

Onto the evening: we were treated to Gala Dinner were I met up with some fellow CTOs. Strangely enough the conversation quickly turned into a discussion on motorbikes when we discovered that we had a shared passion in less conventional means of transport.

All in all … it was a good day.

Bandwidth for Africa

2009-05-19T12:28:00.004+02:00

I had a fascinating discussion with WIOCC who are a major shareholder in the EASSy submarine cable. The cable is due for commissioning June next year (approximately a year after the SEACOM cable).

EASSy, like SEACOM, has multiple landing points along the eastern coast, from South Africa to Sudan. Thereafter the cable connects onwards to Europe, the Middle East and the USA.

What impressed me with EASSy is that the network is configured as a two fibre pair collapsed ring. Normally a cable cut between nodes would split the network into two. This wouldn't happen with a collapsed ring architecture as only one would be pruned from the network in the case of a cable cut in shallow water (as the ring integrity is built into the deepwater cables). A deepwater cut would still result into a network split but this is unavoidable as a true ring architecture is not possible due to coastline geography.

It will be interesting to see what effect price competition and regulation will have on end-user consumption. Multiple submarine cables will directly impact wholesale pricing, but consumer pricing will be dependent on the backhaul and “last mile” infrastructure and solutions. The most promising "last mile" solutions are HSDPA and WiMAX. I use WiMAX with great success as it provides an experience very similar to ADSL (ADSL is not available in the area that I live due to lack of available cable).

As WIOCC state in their marketing literature … “Businesses and consumers in east and southern Africa are about to experience a revolution”.

Digital Africa

2009-05-18T23:26:00.006+02:00

I am in Uganda at the moment, typing this from my hotel room. My reason for being here? I am attending and presenting at the Digital Africa Summit.

Uganda
Flying into Uganda I was treated to a fantastic African sunset over Lake Victoria. In my opinion there is little in this world to rival the beauty of Africa at dusk.

This is my first time in the country and I had a fascinating journey from Entebbe Airport to the resort on Lake Victoria just outside Kampala. It was dark by the time we go onto the road but it seemed as if the country had just come alive. Every road had been turned into an African market to meet the needs of the Ugandans. The night was awash with people, lights and colours. Business was loud and brisk; from barbers to tailors; from butchers to internet cafes. I can’t wait to compare this experience with Uganda during the day.

The conference
I was enticed to present at this conference as the organisers have focused on “excellence driving positive change”. The theme is upbeat and I am hoping for an energising experience.

Another aspect that interested me is the format – each speaker has 20 minutes to convey their message and there is plenty of time set aside for meetings and networking. I think that the concept will work well as it can be tiresome to listen to hour long presentations all day.

My message
I will be conveying a simple message: Innovating in Africa. My 20 minutes will be spent on conveying the importance of innovation in Africa and why innovation can solve some of the really big problems facing the continent.

I will discuss how inventions in instrumentation, interconnectivity and intelligent decision making can be used to build innovative solutions for Africa. Essentially this means building sense-and-respond systems on a scale never possible before.

Africa is uniquely positioned to leapfrog many of the technologies implemented by developed economies, and to use the emerging technologies and architectures to improve the lives of people living here.

techsmart: Intelligent Society

2009-05-13T21:59:00.004+02:00

I enjoyed this article by Thomas Mckinnon on an Intelligent Society published in techsmart.

Interconnections and instruments
Much of his writing (edit: he is referring to Thomas Friedman) concerns the idea of an information society. Wikipedia defines an information society as “a society in which the creation, distribution, diffusion, use, integration and manipulation of information is a significant economic, political, and cultural activity.” The world in which we currently exist exhibits large pockets of this knowledge economy- with the world’s wealthiest states dominating it.

For the development of a knowledge economy we not only need to live in an interconnected world, but also an instrumented world. A world in which every object is a platform for collecting data, from cellphones, to microchipped household appliances and anything else into which we can embed a transistor and from which we can mine data.

To many an instrumented and interconnected world equals an information society.

Intelligence
Last year a number of companies such as Microsoft, Cisco Systems and IBM recognised the fact that it is not enough to live in a world that is just instrumented and interconnected.

IBM’s chief executive, Samuel J. Palmisano, put all the pieces together in a speech delivered on 6 November 2008 that highlighted the need for a more “intelligent” society, what IBM has coined a “Smarter Planet”. Without intelligence, interconnection and instrumentation could actually lead to poor decision making or even indecision- the current global recession being a potential example.

Thus Friedman’s metaphor of a Flat World exhibits some of the same shortcomings the myth of a flat earth displayed when it was debunked around the 3rd century BC (although still a powerful means of conceiving interconnectedness in isolation ). In a world of “1 billion transistors”, “a trillion networked things” and data that is intelligently mined and analysed the world is conspicuously three-dimensional. Thus competitiveness is the sum of interconnectedness, instrumentation and intelligent decision making based on sound data.

South Africa
Clifford Foster, Chief Technology Officer at IBM SA, expressed in an interview with TechSmart the belief that “Africa has an opportunity to leap frog the development process Europe and the developed world had to follow.” The reason for this is that countries with developed infrastructures will have to retrench or re-develop existing infrastructure- at huge costs- while we are currently still developing our infrastructure. He went on to say, “If we act quickly insuring our country and continent is instrumented, that our water supplies have cheap $1 dollar sensors in place, that we develop smart grids etc.- then we are implementing for the future and will become more competitive.”

A demonstrable solution
A demonstrable smart solution in SA is Guateng’s Open Road Tolling System under the auspices of SANRAL. The ORTS seeks to alleviate congestion and to an extent the emission of CO2 (bidding is still underway for the project). By charging drivers rates based on the time of day and area in which they are travelling according to information garnered from RFID tags embedded in vehicles or video captured from gantries and connected to a monitoring system, SANRAL can intelligently manage and monitor traffic.

Thought leadership
While a number of companies seek to offer such solutions IBM believes that it can offer a total solution based on its expertise in hardware, software and sophisticated analytical tools. For the time being however Big Blue sees itself as a thought leader on the issue of an intelligent society by opening up a conversation on smart grids, transportation, health and more issues. While the benefits of an intelligent society speak for themselves for the potential citizens of such a society- resource and maintenance efficiency and cost benefits not the least of which- the benefits for the company that can provide the instruments, connections and ultimately the intelligence (in what may yet be the most unashamed move towards vertical integration in history) are no less obvious.

You can read the original article here.

Metaverses

2009-05-05T12:58:00.002+02:00

A social tool?
Currently we think of metaverses like SecondLife as a communication mechanism that allows people to interact and collaborate for pleasure and decision-making. The environment is definitely richer and more engaging than a telephone call or email. Some people would even argue that it has advantages (beyond financial) over communicating in person. This may seem foreign but there is a generation of people that naturally gravitate to this medium.

Other uses
We have used metaverses for a range of communication and collaboration activities with great success. However, it doesn't need to end there. Metaverses are a great tool for learning, simulation, rehearsal and roleplay activities. It provides a tool for developing skills that are difficult or costly to execute in real life. This would probably have to be complemented with real life training and experience in certain situations.

Visualising whats there
This is where is gets really exciting. Imaging visualising the real-world in a metaverse and then using that information to aid decision-making. This could include business processes and manufacturing.

But take this one step further and we can visualise the real-world ... the "internet of things". With more and more of the world's devices becoming smart and connected, there is no reason why we could not represent this information in a metaverse. The ability to manage and manipulate information in three dimensions is exceptionally powerful and natively intuitive.

I can see a not-too-distant-future where we represent energy grids, natural water systems and traffic (amongst others) in metaverses. Consumers, operators and decision-makers will use these tools and information to make better decisions and make them quicker.

Makes good business sense, doesn't it?

Tying 3 concepts together (cloud, SOA & virtualisation)

2009-04-29T15:19:00.005+02:00

Tying these three concepts together is easy, and hopefully clear, when depicted graphically.

Obviously this isn't the only option available, and it is highly simplified, but it works well at a conceptual level.

Access where and when you want it

2009-04-24T00:47:00.006+02:00

Tired in Dubai (so excuse the grammar)
It is 02:45am in Dubai and I still have another two hours before my flight departs back to South Africa. I am tired but appreciating the fact that I can sit at a Starbucks, drink my espresso and make use of the free internet access.

It was a similar situation at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul - free internet access with the coffee that I had paid for. This is a little misleading as you can actually sit anywhere and avail yourself of the free connectivity; but it is so much more pleasurable to have a decent cup of coffee at the same time.

So why the ramble? Well I am tired and bored. Reason enough. However, I was reflecting on how tremendously powerful it is to have access to information where and when you want it.

And as always I think about how this can work in Africa.

Challenges
There are several challenges in realising something similar in Africa, foremost of which are infrastructure, devices and literacy.

The infrastructure is coming - just look at the new submarine cables and the expansion of cellular companies across the continent.

The most dominant device is, and will continue to be, a phone rather than a personal computer. Cost is an important driving factor as is computer literacy.

A solution

Voice will remain the killer application for some time and therefore the technology that most excites me in this arena (wrt Africa) is the concept of a SpokenWeb. Here people can interact (in the language of their choice) with voice sites navigating voice links. The interaction models include publish and transact models.

Imagine sitting at a cafe in Nairobi and phoning a local voice site to gather information about your travels and publish your blog via voice. Naturally the "traditional" Web 1.0 and 2.0 applications and interactions will be available but the penetration will be significantly greater with voice and voice technologies.

The important difference with this concept is that the technology-based solution is design and deployed in a manner that truly meets the needs of the community and users.

In summary
It is always smart to remind ourselves that we should find solutions to problems rather than finding problems for our solutions. This applies to Africa as much, if not more so, than anywhere else.

A different way of looking at Africa

2009-04-23T13:21:00.005+02:00

Came across these interesting maps at worldmapper.org.

The ICT data is slightly outdated (2002) but the overall impression is compelling.

Land Area
This map changed my perspective of Africa's land area in relation to the world.
Internet Users 2002
I love this map - it shows the massive potential within Africa.
Cellular Subscribers 2002
It would be great to have a current and projected (2012) map for cellular subscribers.

Cloud Computing vs Virtualisation

2009-04-22T13:49:00.005+02:00

Another fairly common question - and worth answering as it is quite topical.

Both have a common objective of abstracting what you want to do from where it is done. There are some fairly clear differences though.

Cloud Computing is a deployment architecture as I previously mentioned. From a consumer's perspective it means that the user is not aware (philosophically speaking) of where the service is executed (i.e. could be in any data centre, on any server, anywhere in the world as long as the SLA is met).

Virtualisation by contrast is a term describes the decoupling of software from hardware (at its simplest level). The term can be employed more widely to refer to any level of abstraction, including data centres. Decoupling software enables a business to make deploy-time and run-time decisions about where to deploy a software stack. Benefits include resource maximisation, eg server consolidation, and resilience by moving a software stack between machines as and when required.

These terms and concepts will intersect as a service deployed within a cloud could be part of an application software stack that is virtualised on a hardware/resource stack.

Ideally the cloud platform itself is virtualised, in order to scale quickly, which many argue is a key characteristic of a cloud platform.

FinWeek: Rethinking the planet

2009-04-16T16:48:00.000+02:00

Simon has written a great article on Smart Planet that was published in Finweek, a top South African business publication.

You can view the full article online.

Green is Green

2009-04-15T09:17:00.004+02:00

Energy costs are fast becoming the largest data centre operating cost, whilst up to 85% of computing capacity sits idle in distributed computing environments. Datacentres are physical structures that require tremendous amounts of power and cooling in order to operate and it is easy to see how improving this can translate into “greenbacks” for the organisation.

Baseline
From my perspective there are several key areas that organisations should tackle, but first and foremost, it is critical for themto implement a system to measure and track energy use. This will provide the baseline for driving a strategy to reduce energy consumption; reduce the impact on the environment; and improve operational efficiency.

There are some key enabling technologies that should be considered as part of an overall energy efficiency programme; and those that most impress me the most are virtualisation, cloud computing and purpose-built data centres.

Virtualisation
Virtualisation, both server and storage, is probably the fastest and easiest way to drive energy efficiency. The concept is a simple one: Maximise available resources (processing and storage), whilst “switching on” new resources when they are required. The separation of virtual machines/resources from physical machines/resources is implementable today and the business case proven.

Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is an interesting element in this overall story. Whilst we are still in the early stages of cloud maturity and adoption, it is definitely worth investigating. A cloud is essentially a pool of virtualised computer resources that we access as services.

The cloud platform is green by design as it dynamically provisions, configures, reconfigures, and de-provisions servers as needed. This separation (as with virtualisation) of what we want to process versus where it is processed provides us with the opportunity to maximise processing efficiency and drive green computing.

Data Centres
Now onto the actual data centre itself as the benefits of scaling a datacentre diminish if it is too large and requires too much energy.

There is an optimal efficiency that can be reached in a datacenter by matching the machines to the building (or vice versa). We can attain maximum efficiency by optimising all of the components that reside in the physical building, and monitoring power and heat with sensors that feed back into the systems management capability.

We can take this one step further by designing data centres with the type and load of processing in mind. This is the concept of a purpose-built data centre and not the current paradigm of adding servers and cooling to an existing building. There may be even be a variety of different types of datacenters, based on their respective purpose, within an overall network of processing capability.

So green is green; from an eco-friendly and economic perspective.

Building a Smarter Planet in Africa

2009-04-09T11:18:00.006+02:00

I am very passionate about IBM's Smarter Planet strategy and how we as technologists can use IT to solve some of the really big problems facing us within Africa.

However, this isn't just an eco-friendly make-over.

It is a dual agenda of reducing the impact that we have on the environment whilst maximising the benefit we can derive from available resources to drive business profitability whilst have a positive impact on society. Phew!

As such I wanted to share the video that I composed as an introduction to the speech that I delivered at the IDC Africa CIO Conference.

I hope that you enjoy it!

The Sixth Sense

2009-03-25T12:57:00.002+02:00

I believe that the future of personal computing is starting to become clear.

Wearable computing .... forget that! This is about integrated computing!

If you haven't seen this video yet then I recommend that you look at it now. Forget the slight clunky nature of the device and imagine what is possible.

Enjoy.

ITWeb: IBM looks to save water

2009-03-23T16:14:00.002+02:00

IBM is pumping more than $6 billion (R57.9 billion) a year into researching technologies, which – it believes – will help alleviate water shortages in countries around the world. IBM Sub-Sahara Africa CTO Clifford Foster says the initiative is aimed at starting discussions with heads of states on issues such as water contamination and shortages.

"Regardless of industry or geography, smarter water management is an issue faced by every business and government on the planet," says IBM Big Green Innovations VP Sharon Nunes.

The development of IBM's smart water offerings is a result of IBM's Big Green Innovations initiative, a company statement says. The initiative, which was announced in October 2006, as part of IBM's $100 million (R965 million) investment in 10 new businesses, has concentrated its efforts on water management, alternative energy and carbon management.

“In SA, we plan on finding opportunities for the private industry to participate in our water management initiative,” says Foster.

Developing new technologies

The computing company has been working on various water management projects around the world, Foster says. This includes collaborating with The Nature Conservancy to build practical Web-based tools for river basin management, and also IBM's Smart Bay sensor, which monitors wave conditions, pollution levels and marine life.

The Smart Bay system is the result of collaboration between IBM and the Marine Institute of Ireland. The system provides real-time information to stakeholders in the Irish maritime economy, runs on a cloud computing platform, and is able to predict water conditions critical to those stakeholders.

IBM plans to spread information collected on water conditions and contamination to African stakeholders using technologies such as mobile phones, which are predominant on the continent, Foster says.

“We have started discussion with African heads of state about introducing our instruments to detect water quality and contamination. The point of this all is to lessen the impact of water crises on the environment as a whole.”

Original article

techsmart: IBM’s smart water solutions

2009-03-16T16:18:00.002+02:00

Thinking about water

IBM unveiled its smart water portfolio of services and technologies today at the World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

The smart water portfolio forms part of IBM’s larger Smarter Planet strategy in which the company intends to encourage the development of more intelligence driven societies by more effectively using instrumented and interconnected devices.

"Regardless of industry or geography, smarter water management is an issue faced by every business and government on the planet," said Sharon Nunes, Vice President for Big Green Innovations at IBM. "Without sufficient insight into near- and long-term factors affecting your water supply and usage -- complex issues such as access, quality, cost and re-use -- you increasingly run the risk of failure."

IBM also announced a water filtration breakthrough with the development of a new membrane which can more effectively remove salts and toxins from water supplies.

An excellent example of a demonstrable smart water solution in action is the SmartBay sensor system, which monitors wave conditions, marine life and pollution levels in Galway Bay, Ireland. The system, which runs on a cloud computing platform, provides real-time information to interested parties in the Irish maritime economy and is able to predict water conditions critical to those parties.

Clifford Foster, CTO at IBM South Africa, believes that the promise of a smarter planet offers South Africa, and Africa as a whole, the opportunity to leap frog the development processes that Europe and America followed by moving directly to the use of smarter technologies. While this won’t be a cheap process he believes that it will be far cheaper to implement these technologies while building infrastructures rather than having to overhaul infrastructures down the line, as the developed countries will have to do.

original article

Cloud Computing vs SOA

2009-03-04T09:47:00.002+02:00

I am often asked what is the difference between these architectures or whether Cloud Computing is replacing SOA (Service Oriented Architecture).

Let's remind ourselves:

Cloud Computing is a deployment architecture that abstracts what we want to do from where it gets done. In addition a cloud is a pool of virtualised resources that ideally offers exceptional scalability.
Service Oriented Architecture is an architectural style at the application architecture or even enterprise architecture level. SOA is fundamentally about building services that when composed deliver a rich application or business process.

These two worlds can and will intersect ... when a service is deployed in a cloud it becomes a cloud service.

eSports … the future of live sports?

2009-03-02T13:43:00.006+02:00

Just Imagine
Can you imagine playing a video/electronic game and being paid for it?

Can you imagine big brands like Intel and Adidas sponsoring electronic gaming competitions and teams?

Can you imagine supporters following electronic sports teams and paying to view the competition?

Can you imagine people betting on the outcome of competitive electronic games?

Can you imagine that a gamer or gaming team could have the celebrity status of a professional footballer/football team?

Now couple that with a gaming industry that is now bigger than DVDs, box office, movie rentals, books and music and you have a recipe for massive growth and success.

Now stop imaging and start believing because it is happening.

What is e(lectronic)Sports?
eSports is a term used to describe the playing of electronic games competitively, either at a professional or amateur level.

eSports leagues and tournaments are organized where teams and individuals compete against each other for an ever increasing pot of prize money and prestige.

Typically eSports are based on first-person shooters but is expanding into sporting and other genres.

eSports are played over the Internet or to reduce latency issues they will be played over local networks at gaming events (sports stadiums of the future). Spectators can view the event on video screens at the event or over the Internet.

Currently some of the biggest eSports platforms host games like Counter-Strike, Halo, Warcraft III, Quake, FIFA (football); and the exceptionally successfully World of Warcraft mmog(massively multiplayer online game).

If you want to explore this a little more then head over to SK Gaming.

The change and the potential
Most parents of teenagers or pre-teens can see it happening … we have a future generation of arm-chair sportsmen.

A new generation of businesses are spawning to support eSports and the demand for resilience are no less important to those involved in eSports than we currently demand from financial institutions.

Perhaps even more demanding as gamers have often been born with a joystick, gamepad and mouse in their hands. They will demand sub-50 millisecond response times and require the platforms that they interact with to handle millions of concurrent (yes I know I said that) transactions and users. They will demand that the games are fairly played and that security is tight to prevent exploits as well as protect their online privacy.

Love it or hate it but the world is changing and those that embrace this change can build new innovative business models and personal wealth from it.

Will your child be the Tiger Woods of eSports?

iWeek: IBM wants more African investment

2009-02-04T17:33:00.002+02:00

The momentum is there .... surely some interesting times.

Working in Africa

2009-01-28T13:01:00.008+02:00

One of the overriding reasons for returning to South Africa was the opportunity to make a real difference, not just in South Africa but Sub-Saharan Africa. Lofty ideals I know but if we don't believe that we can make a difference as individuals then we should do the proverbial "pack your bags and go home".

There is so much to do in Africa and not enough people to do it. This gives us the platform to drive real change as individuals and organisations, which makes Africa a very attractive place to work.

... and change is happening! I was amazed to see how much the country had changed in the three years that I was away. Everywhere you look there is development - roads, telecommunications and social. The roll-out of telecommunications networks across Africa will change the continent forever. Large multi-nationals will follow the telco and cellco companies and competition like we are seeing in South Africa will make it so much more affordable.

But remember, don't expect a developed country/continent (infrastructure included). This country and continent are developing by definition; which is both positive (there are opportunities) and negative (it takes longer to get some things done).

Technologically speaking, much of Africa has the opportunity to leapfrog the developed world. Unencumbered by decades of legacy infrastructure and technology, African organisations can rapidly low cost and smart solutions. Contrast this with my experience abroad where a lot of my time was spent adapting architectures and technologies for brownfield* environments. Africa must surely have many of the remaining greenfield sites to be found anywhere.

Lastly I would like to add that we have a responsibility as individuals and organisations to ensure that this change happens in a professionally positive way.

* The redevelopment of existing urban, suburban and rural properties already served by infrastructure including "brownfields" sites, that are or may be contaminated, stimulates growth and improves a community's economic vitality. Development in existing neighborhoods is an approach to growth that can be cost-effective while providing residents with a closer proximity to jobs, public services and amenities.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
http://www.realtor.org/sg3.nsf/pages/brownredev?OpenDocument

What is a Distinguished Engineer?

2009-01-26T17:26:00.003+02:00

I have been asked this question many times and decided to put some thoughts down onto "paper".

Firstly some facts (as at time of writing): There are about 400 Distinguished Engineers (DEs) within IBM's global technical community of almost 200,000 people (of a total of almost 400,000 people employed by the organisation).

Being recognised as a DE is the top technical achievement in IBM apart from IBM Fellow.

A DE is a technical executive and is promoted to that position for outstanding technical contributions and leadership. There is no single career path to becoming a DE as every DE is unique. Some people are promoted to DE as a result of being prolific inventors or patent holder. Others are globally recognised experts in their respective fields, contributing to their clients' success and IBM's growth.

DEs are integral members of their units' executive teams, demonstrating leadership to these units and across the company by consulting with management on technical and business strategies and their implementation. They often have operational responsibilities for large, complex technical projects, and may have line management responsibility as appropriate.

So all DEs are unique but everyone has a passion for IBM, it's technology and it's people.

I myself was recognised as a DE in the early part of 2008, which was the realisation of a long-term goal and something that I will always value deeply.

ITWeb: IBM wants innovation for Africa

2009-01-26T15:38:00.002+02:00

The local arm of technology giant IBM is hungry for more African investment, which will be driven out of the South African office.

The company has placed a large emphasis on the African market over the last two years, investing $120 million in those operations. “IBM has an innovation agenda, which we plan on taking through to the rest of Africa with our partners and clients,” says newly-appointed IBM SA CTO Clifford Foster.

He says the company is best placed to drive the concept through its African Innovation Centre (AIC), based in Johannesburg. Foster says IBM SA, as the headquarters of Sub-Saharan Africa, will be responsible for driving growth in the area.

“This traditionally was handled by the company's European divisions, and will now be taken on locally.”

IBM will implement AIC concepts at the University of Nairobi, setting up a laboratory there by early 2009, and possibly in one or two other African countries, such as Nigeria, later in the year.

Big Brother?

Foster says one of the focuses for this year will be to promote IBM's concept of the “smart planet”.

The idea is to have all the available devices with function and value connected. “There are many field devices in the world at the moment, acting individually. Mobile phones, traffic cameras and RFID tags are all being used for their own specific implementations.”

Foster says the idea is to link these devices through the growing infrastructures available locally and in Africa and drive intelligence between them. He points to a case in Stockholm, where the city is using traffic cameras and monitoring systems to reroute traffic. “It has been extremely successful.”

According to Foster, systems like this will become more valuable in Africa as the countries' economies grow. He says one application could be in SA for the coming 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Smart approach

Foster admits the continued global economic situation has curbed spending; the applications of the “smart planet” need not be promoted as a commercial venture. He adds that the concept can be used in various projects, including monitoring of water systems, electricity supplies – specifically with the ever-present electricity shortage locally.

“Emerging markets will still need to spend money on fixing the issues they have. In SA, for example, people will have to spend money to fix the electricity crisis and why not spend it on a solution that will help make smart decisions and make better use of the resources we have?”

According to Foster, these concepts can be tailored to suit whatever problem, or business process that needs to be addressed.

The company is also approaching the African market with a more culturally sensitive hand, adds Foster. “It is no longer acceptable to go to Africa with a South African ideal. We are looking to leave behind things like skills transfer and working with countries to promote innovation that will work for each place.”

Original article

Channelwise Africa: Predictions

2009-01-15T09:19:00.002+02:00

iWeek: Innovation Safari

2008-12-12T09:26:00.000+02:00

IBM's new technology champion will be driving growth in Africa and harnessing the bright ideas of university graduates

COMPUTING GIANT IBM is on the hunt for big game in the African market, "the last truly untapped growth market" for the ICT sector. To this end, it's spent about $120-million (about R956.6-million) on its African operations over the last two years. This investment has produced an African Innovation Centre (AIC), a cloud computing centre, and an IBM Business Continuity and Recovery Services facility, all based in Johannesburg, and resulted in the donation of a $1.5-million Blue Gene supercomputer to the Meraka Institute.

To crown it all, IBM has now created a post for a chief technology officer for Sub-Saharan Africa. Clifford Foster, a South African recalled from a stint with IBM in the UK, is the first to take on this challenge, which entails driving Big Blue's R&D initiatives and investment in the region.

TAKING UP THE CHALLENGE
"The reason I came back to South Africa from the UK is to take up the role. I'm excited about its scope - I feel I can make a difference," he says, in contrast to the UK, "where IBM is a well-oiled machine".

Foster says he started his career as a 12-year-old hobbyist programmer, worked his way up to enterprise architect and management consultant, eventually becoming an IBM distinguished engineer (there are only about 400 out of nearly 400 000 IBM employees worldwide).

"Although as CTO I will have a number of roles, my focus is going to be Africa, and driving innovation throughout Africa. It's not a case of IBM making innovation happen, because innovation is already happening in the region - ideas are often borne out of a need in a particular geography. The question is how can IBM support this innovation by providing the necessary infrastructure, mentorship and new solutions to take it to the next level," explains Foster.

IBM will provide much of its support to parties to this innovation - be they private, public or academic - through the AIC. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the company's strategy is to get university graduates more involved in a formalised innovation process.

NURTURING BRIGHT SPARKS
To this end, Foster is driving several projects: the creation of extreme blue - or speed - teams, which means bringing students into IBM's labs, setting them up with a project manager and mentor, and getting them to develop an innovative concept, bring it to fruition, and possibly even patent their technology. "This hasn't been done in South Africa before," he says of the plan which should be unveiled in mid-2009.

Secondly, IBM will be extending its cloud computing offering, the first client deployment being the University of Pretoria. Foster intends expanding this service to other SA universities so that they, in turn, can offer a more service-oriented approach to research.

Thirdly, IBM will be taking its AIC concept to the University of Nairobi, setting up a laboratory there by early 2009, and possibly in one or two other African countries, such as Nigeria, later in the year.

Finally, given the success of previous ventures into Second Life, IBM will be unveiling a Second Life island for Sub-Saharan Africa in January. This island will provide a venue for virtual collaboration, and the universities of Pretoria and KwaZulu-Natal will be the first centres enabled to build and deliver projects in a virtual world.

Foster acknowledges there will be challenges in the pursuit of innovation.

"If I had to pick a single challenge that's going to be fundamental to our programme, it's being able to harness the skills available at the universities on the continent, and mentoring and nurturing them," he says.

"Similarly, how do we recognise and nurture innovation that's already happening and how do we as IBM support them. After all, IBM South Africa is now the headquarters for IBM in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is responsible for nurturing the growth potential that IBM sees in Africa," concludes Foster.

Original Article

From Generalisation to Specialisation?

2008-12-11T14:15:00.006+02:00

Introduction
I am a big believer in the importance of managing boundaries versus controlling the internals. This works for business and technology. We have been compentising electronics, software and technology in general for a long time. In a similar manner organisations have transformed, or are in the process of transforming, from silo-based to process aligned, to being component/capability modelled and implemented.

The reason for this transformation is applicable to technology and business: Scarcity of resources. A scarcity in business resources (or a need to divert those resources from operations to innovation for example) will drive a discussion on business reengineering and outsourcing; in the same way we will find that a scarcity in, or commoditisation of, computing resources will drive the specialisation of technical components. It is my belief that an era of unprecedented growth in processing capability enabled by CMOS scaling has driven the current generalisation in technology - but more on that later.

Benefits

Component substitution. If the boundary is well-managed, using a contract that specifies the qualities of service and interaction, then a new component can be implemented as long as it provides the same set of interoperability services.
Component relocation. If the component manages it's "own internals" then it isn't bound (or at least less so) to a common infrastructure with the consuming component. This principle has driven a lot of out-sourcing thinking i.e. re-engineer the boundary and then relocate the function.
Reduction in complexity. It is easier to manage the boundaries than to manage the entire ecosystem. If the component manages its own internals against the agreed qualities of service in the contract then we achieve simplification and a subsequent reduction in cost.

Challenges

Duplication of function. There is the possibility that function is duplicated, which can result in an increased cost to business. We can counter this by providing components focussed on the provision of services to other components i.e. the common functions are grouped into a component (with the other relevant assets and resources) to provide the "duplicated" function.
"Mind the gap". If the ecosystem isn't well defined then there exists the possibility that the sum of component services is less than the whole or what was expected. For example - an outsourced HR operation may perform the HR functions well but the human element of caring for employees could disappear.
Blackbox vs Whitebox. Is it sufficient to consume a service or do we also need to know how that service was produced? Does a consuming component have the right to know how the service or product was produced? For example: was it produced using ethical labour practices? Is it sufficient to specify this in the qualities of service? How does this impede on the right of an organisation to execute its business in a manner free of external control?

Applied to technology
As a previously mentioned, I believe excessive resources drive generalisation but we are now in a transition era where CMOS-scaling following Moore's Law is reaching the limit of what is technically viable (vs technically feasible, which it still is). The power and cooling of semiconductors is become excessive when compared to the benefits achieved. We will have to leverage a range of new innovations to continue delivering the system level performance we have become accustomed to until the replacement technologies (nanotechnology and quantum computing) are mainstream. We will have to innovate the way chips are packaged, the architecture of the systems built with them and the software that runs on them. Furthermore, we have to optimise more than just the semiconductor technologies, but also the architectures and software that surround them.

We will see another drive towards specialisation - specialisation of computing nodes; specialisation of components within datacenters; and specialisation of datacenters themselves. There is a common thread that drives this specialisation - and that is the power and cooling of these components, as well as the complexity of managing them, has caused business to hit the wall!

Component specialisation
I believe that a technical component, specialised in this way, would exhibit the following characteristics:

Well managed cluster of resources that have a lot of the capabilities that you would normally find in systems management (workload optimisation, availability, restart, recovery etc) but, internal to itself.
The component would present a very simple interface for the consumption of services.
Contracts specified for each interaction between components. The component contract would include service qualities as well as the services themselves. These qualities would include aspects of latency as well as the usual set of non-functional requirements.

Choreography and Collaboration
As we move up the stack; one of the biggest issues to solve in my own mind what is the best architectural model for collaboration: hierarchical or peer-to-peer. Most of our control systems are hierarchies, whilst effective they introduce a strict top-down control structure – each level of control is further decomposed into subsequent choreographies. This can result in a brittle architecture where a single weak-link can cause the system to fail – as well as introducing dependencies that are difficult to replace.

An ideal situation would be peer-to-peer where a consuming component request a set of services, based on the desired qualities. These services are then delivered by the best-matched candidate, who in itself requests services. This results in an ecosystem of service provides and consumers.

The ecosystem may in itself display characteristics of the hierarchical architecture, but this would be by consequence rather than design.

Granularity, Ecosystems and Cross-border Operation
Another question on my mind is whether all components are equal or whether components need to be matched within an environment than enables their communication and collaboration. A real world example would be: the semiconductors within my mobile phone collaborate to deliver a composed set of services. The phone uses these services to provide another set of services. Multiple phones collaborate to enable communication within an environment that transports the cellular signal. Therefore components seem to exist within an ecosystem that enables their communication at a specific level of granularity.

What characteristics would the ecosystem display?

The ecosystem would enable communication, or at the very least transport of that communication content.
An ecosystem could provide a set of base services that enable components to locate each other, as well as common services like naming.

Is the ecosystem therefore just another component? Hmmm …..

Conclusion
I believe that the time has come (again) for purpose built components optimised for designated tasks.

newstoday.co.za: IBM puts $6 billion into research

2008-12-11T10:49:00.000+02:00

IBM is investing $6 billion into research for next-generation technologies such as quantum computing, nanotechnology and data centres.

This is according to Clifford Foster, CTO of IBM Sub-Saharan Africa, who presented a global technology outlook at the ITWeb Technology Roadmaps 2008 conference, held at the Campus, in Bryanston, yesterday.

Foster says: “The world is in a transition era. Advances in core IT will enable companies to improve performance and reduce costs. The fastest and most effective systems will be those that are designed with processors, subsystems and software – all designed in concert.”

According to Foster, IBM has nanotechnology and quantum computing running in its labs and these technologies are expected to be in operation and available to the public by 2020. It's now all about containing the costs of the technology.

Foster believes the emergence of broadband wireless networks will drive a transformation in businesses as more enterprises will move to mobile devices. He adds that, in the developing world, innovation is being born out of need.

Original article

ITWeb: IBM looks to the future

2008-12-10T09:13:00.000+02:00

IBM is investing $6 billion into research for next-generation technologies such as quantum computing, nanotechnology and data centres.

This is according to Clifford Foster, CTO of IBM Sub-Saharan Africa, who presented a global technology outlook at the ITWeb Technology Roadmaps 2008 conference, held at the Campus, in Bryanston, yesterday.

Foster says: “The world is in a transition era. Advances in core IT will enable companies to improve performance and reduce costs. The fastest and most effective systems will be those that are designed with processors, subsystems and software – all designed in concert.”

According to Foster, IBM has nanotechnology and quantum computing running in its labs and these technologies are expected to be in operation and available to the public by 2020. It's now all about containing the costs of the technology.

Mobile innovation
Foster points out that the liberalisation in telecommunications will change the playing field. “Open standards are being driven by an entire wireless ecosystem where the network and infrastructure provider dictates what application the user has access to. But with the emergence of wireless broadband we see a new player – a wireless content and service provider that is driving it.”

Foster believes the emergence of broadband wireless networks will drive a transformation in businesses as more enterprises will move to mobile devices. He adds that, in the developing world, innovation is being born out of need.

Several countries, such as Kenya, are experiencing a mass adoption of cellphones as subscribers use their phones to transfer cash payments because of the lack of accessible banking.

New trend
Another emerging trend Foster highlighted is that enterprises are increasingly adopting and seeing financial benefits from using social networking technology, Web platforms and real world networks. He believes information-centric Web platforms will become more dominant from 2009.

“We are seeing a development of eco-systems being developed around central applications such as Salesforce. This is an entire eco-system of users and application developers maintaining and enhancing the applications on an ongoing basis.”

Foster notes that World of Warcraft, which has over 12 million subscribers, has a mass community, which continuously evolves aspects of the game. In this way, Web platform communities are being given more control and drive the direction of how the applications should be developed.

He says this is an opportunity for enterprises to leverage their business. “A typical concern for many businesses is that using social network technologies opens up their data to the eyes of their competitors. Collaborative intelligence gives an organisation the ability to monitor and support the ongoing contribution of its community and to determine the value coming back into the business.”

Original Article

ITWeb: Blue Skies

2008-12-08T09:07:00.000+02:00

Blue Skies
Clifford Foster is a software engineer. He built his career in consulting, engineering and technology companies in South Africa, and then IBM took him to a wet and grey London.

He's excited to be back in SA and not only because of the sport and incredible weather. “There are so many opportunities here it's a matter of knowing where to focus,” says Foster. “An example of this is M-PESA, which is a mobile phone to mobile phone cash-transfer service that's working in Kenya. We're involved with Safaricom in this project, which will have one million customers by January 2009.”

You can hear Foster's enthusiasm as he talks about technology that changes life experiences. In Kenya, the lack of conventional bank branches and credit machines in rural areas leaves people with few options of transferring money. Before mobile payments became a reality, the only choice people had was to send money via the post office or to use friends or relatives who were travelling in the direction you wanted the money to go, and ask them to deliver the money for you. This made things difficult because the post office in Kenya charges high rates, many people don't have a permanent address so wouldn't have access to this option. Sending money with personal messengers can be slow and unreliable.

Spider's web
“I think visually. I stand in front of a white board and start drawing when I have problems. I think in terms of a network. Every time when I hear something new I find the idea latching onto another part or idea. Much like a spider's web.

“What attracted me back from the UK was not just the opportunity of working in this country, but the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. The real challenge is knowing where to focus the majority of my energy. Every time I talk to someone, a new opportunity arises. So the real quest is finding where best I help IBM leverage capability to realise these kinds of opportunities. The question is how to make communities and countries self sufficient and to drive innovation so it is enabled and empowering, rather than directed top down.”

Foster's role in South Africa focuses on three core areas. Firstly, Foster needs to ensure Big Blue is recognised as the top ICT company to work with in South Africa and that IBM nurtures innovative concepts and projects in this region. Then he has to ensure IBM continues to attract the right people in a region with significant skills shortages. “There is a lot of demand and right now demand is outstripping supply of some of the skills required to drive technology initiatives. This is all about enabling passion and ensuring people who work here have brilliant careers, and that they are happy and satisfied.”

Create excitment
“Leadership is about inspiring. It is not management. Management is the responsibility for the day-to-day activities of individuals. Leadership is about inspiring through example that others are passionate about following.”

One of Foster's dreams is to create another world-class innovation centre for Africa, outside of SA. IBM launched its Africa Innovation Centre in the company's Sandton offices in June 2008, and promised to increase investments in the sub-Saharan Africa region by at least $120 million during 2008 and 2009. IBM's innovation programme emphasises the participation of a multi-disciplinary base of Africans – spanning thought leaders in government, the academia, and business – in an open, collaborative format with a global perspective.

“The best advice I was ever given changed my career quite fundamentally. It was from a mentor and leader who said to me: 'Quality at source.' This person was ruthless at ensuring that everything I produced was of an incredibly high quality. This is something I carry with me and hope to instil in the people I work with.

“An important part of our role in this region is to support universities, business partners and clients to nurture and mature robust solutions, and by so doing make a strong and positive contribution to this region's economy,” says Foster, adding that technology can help drive development and growth through information. “The link between ICT and development is through information. Information sharing is one of the greatest catalysts for the formation of communities and a hub for innovation. A robust infrastructure is a precursor to this. If you look at the expansion of telecoms throughout Africa, this gives the means for innovation, and is a catalyst for communities to develop, to grow new businesses. It enables innovation that gives rise to new business opportunities. Technology is the mechanism that makes all of this happen.”

Original Article

Innovation

2008-12-01T16:00:00.005+02:00

Introduction
Something that I am increasingly asked is what do I mean when I say that I am looking to foster innovation across Africa. To answer that I like to refer to IBM's Annual Report of 2003 - where the chairman states that "Innovation is not just an invention. It's what results when technical invention meets business insight. And it crosses fields of study, as well as industries". And when you couple that quote with a belief that innovation is confined to research laboratories but is equally (if not more) like to appear just about anywhere, especially where the need is the greatest, then you know that Africa is the place where it will happen!

Innovation in Africa
Look at the M-PESA offering from Safaricom (http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=228), which is a mobile phone to mobile phone cash-transfer service. The lack of conventional bank branches and credit card machines in rural areas leaves people with few options for transferring money. Prior to this mobile cash transfer system, the choice was to send money via the post office or to send money via individuals who were travelling to the desired destination. However, the post office charges high rates, and many people do not have a permanent address. Personal messengers can be both slow and unreliable. M-PESA has changed all that! Technical invention + a lot of business insight = innovation.

The Way Forward
What I hope to accomplish is the establishment of innovation centres or hubs across Africa. These centres should strive to link the entire ecosystem of academia, businesses, business partners and government.

The common objective would be to provide an environment that fosters innovation. An environment that enables the active flowing of ideas, managed through a well defined process (innovation management process), that links innovators with business mentors and research partners (collaboration and partnering), to increase the chance that ideas becomes reality. Lastly, we need to provide the platform that makes this all work. This platform includes the technological enablers (infrastructure, software services etc) with the business integration thereof.

The Technology
I can't predict what technology will always be required to support each innovative idea but I know that it must include the following:

Infrastructure provisioning to "making space" on the servers to host the application. Possibly delivered as a cloud service to reduce the end-user deployment complexity.
Software services, especially those that enable collaboration. IBM's BlueHouse is a good example of something in this space.
Platform services that make the underlying software stack easily available, from databases to messaging and integration.
Application components. Once again these could be delivered as a component service for easy integration into a mash-up or more tightly integrated. The Google Maps API is an example of what can be achieved.

The idea behind the technology is simple: Make it easy to use; make it quick to integrate to; and use the technology to enable collaborative innovation.

Making it Work ... How?
Innovation is alive and happening ... we need only support it. This isn't only a business imperative but a social imperative. This continent is alive with possibility and I for one am thrilled to be here.

The Times: Trading Places

2008-11-29T10:45:00.000+02:00

IBM has appointed Clifford Foster as chief technology officer for IBM Sub-Saharan Africa. Foster has been with IBM for seven of his 17 years in the IT industry, highlighted by his experience in the financial services sector working on projects and an assignment to IBM UK’s consulting business.

Foster joined IBM in 2001 and has since grown within the company to become a distinguished engineer.

In his role as chief technologist, Foster will help devise and create new research and development initiatives and investments in Sub-Saharan Africa, a key growth market for IBM. He will help clients, government agencies, universities, business partners and others understand the full scope of IBM research and innovation initiatives.

Original article

itnewsafrica.com: New IBM CTO to prioritise innovation in Africa

2008-11-25T09:10:00.001+02:00

IBM’s newly-appointed Chief Technology Officer, Clifford Foster, has put Africa on his priority list, saying that he will focus on driving innovation through the comapany’s African Innovation Centre (AIC) and various partnerships with universities across the continent.

Outlining his vision after his appointment was announced, Foster said, “My external focus for 2009 will be on driving the AIC concept further into Africa. This is not a South African-centric statement; IBM will be tapping into innovation wherever it happens, foster its growth and turn these ideas into key business concepts.”

The company will, in January 2009, unveil its Second Life island for Sub-Saharan Africa, while Universities of Pretoria and KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, will be the first centres enabled to build and deliver projects in a virtual world.

IBM will also unveil its second AIC lab, in Nairobi, Kenya, at the beginning of the same year, while Foster will also drive the creation of “speed teams” in universities across the country.

This concept will see students – partnered by an experienced professional – devise an innovative concept and create a program to manage and implement their concept. The project will be unveiled in mid 2009.

IBM has built a cloud at the University of Pretoria to help further its research agendas on cloud computing and he seeks to expand cloud computing services to other universities.

Foster will also work closely with universities to drive a ’services science’ approach to learning.

“This is a key area in universities like Oxford, where there is a drive towards applying services thinking into the curriculum. The University of Pretoria has now included a services-driven course as part of the curriculum in Graduate School.”

“I have to look at how do I grow and develop self-reliant individuals within the space of IBM infrastructure, of course.

“How do I attract the right people through innovation – develop skills and promote the resources we’ve tapped into?” added Foster.

He also announced that emphasis will be put on the nature of innovation in Africa, which will see IBM look at ways of tapping into wider knowledge areas.

“A lot of innovations in Africa cannot be dreamed in a lab. Someone needs to be faced with those particular challenges to devise such innovations. It isn’t always about the latest emerging technology, but it’s also about the small, ubiquitous innovations which change the way people work and live. It’s about making those ideas a reality.” added the company executive.

Original Article

ITWeb: Innovation is key for IBM in 2009

2008-11-25T09:03:00.000+02:00

Newly appointed CTO of IBM Clifford Foster will focus on driving innovation through its African Innovation Centre (AIC) and partnerships with universities across Africa.

Speaking after the announcement of his appointment, Foster outlined his vision, saying: “My external focus for 2009 will be on driving the AIC concept further into Africa. This is not a South African-centric statement; IBM will be tapping into innovation wherever it happens, foster its growth and turn these ideas into key business concepts.”

First off, will be the unveiling of its Second Life island for Sub-Saharan Africa, in January 2009. The Universities of Pretoria and KwaZulu-Natal will be the first centres enabled to build and deliver projects in a virtual world. IBM will also unveil its second AIC lab, in Nairobi, at the beginning of the year.

Another key project Foster will drive in 2009 is the creation of “speed teams” in universities across the country. This concept will see students – partnered by an experienced professional – devise an innovative concept and create a program to manage and implement their concept. The project will be unveiled mid-year 2009, says Foster.

Cloud computing is another key focus. IBM has built a cloud at the University of Pretoria to help further its research agendas. Foster aims to expand cloud computing services to other universities. Foster will also work closely with universities to drive a 'services science' approach to learning.

“This is a key area in universities like Oxford, where there is a drive towards applying services thinking into the curriculum. The University of Pretoria has now included a services-driven course as part of the curriculum in Graduate School.”

Foster acknowledges some key challenges he will face in his new appointment, saying: “I have to look at how do I grow and develop self-reliant individuals within the space of IBM infrastructure, of course. How do I attract the right people through innovation – develop skills and promote the resources we've tapped into?”

While most of IBM's focus for 2009 will be on innovation in higher education, Foster emphasises that the nature of innovation in Africa will see IBM look at ways of tapping into wider knowledge areas.

“A lot of innovations in Africa cannot be dreamed in a lab. Someone needs to be faced with those particular challenges to devise such innovations. It isn't always about the latest emerging technology, but it's also about the small, ubiquitous innovations which change the way people work and live. It's about making those ideas a reality.”

Original Article

ITWeb: IBM appoints new CTO

2008-11-22T08:56:00.000+02:00

IBM has named Clifford Foster as its chief technology officer for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Foster has 17 years' experience in the IT industry and has worked at IBM since 2001. In his role as CTO, Foster will help IBM devise and create new research and development initiatives and investments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He will also be charged with helping IBM clients, government agencies, universities, business partners and others understand the full scope of IBM research and innovation initiatives.

“Clifford is going to become a champion for IBM technologists in the region to share in IBM's research and development successes, and help them lay a foundation in which to cultivate and grow their own local research and development initiatives. He will make sure the region benefits from innovation occurring around the world,” said Mark Harris, GM of IBM Sub-Saharan Africa.

IBM opened its first Africa Innovation Centre earlier this year and Harris hopes Foster's appointment will increase innovations from the centre, and other facilities such as its Integrated Delivery Centre and Business Continuity and Recovery Services centre.

“Our technical colleagues in growth countries around the world are absolutely critical to IBM's future, yet their technical communities are still relatively young,” notes Foster. “It is up to us to ensure the experience and expertise of our research, development and innovation technologists in local markets gets shared across all of IBM in all countries for the benefit of our clients, economies and communities.”

Original Article

Cloud Computing

2008-10-08T12:17:00.004+02:00

The exact definition of cloud computing is being hotly debated.

However, I include the following key concepts:
(1) A Cloud - no surprise there
(2) Cloud Services
(3) Cloud Applications
(4) Cloud Computing Platform

A cloud is a pool of virtualized computer resources (servers, storage etc). The Internet is the most obvious example and some say that this is the only cloud. I prefer to think of this as a public cloud.

A cloud service is the interface to cloud application's functionality delivered using open standards. The cloud application has therefore been extended to be accessible through the cloud.

A cloud computing platform dynamically provisions, configures, reconfigures, and de-provisions servers as needed. Servers in the cloud can be physical machines or virtual machines.

Enterprise Cloud Computing
We differentiate this from cloud computing to denote the difference between the public cloud (aka Internet) and how cloud computing can be leveraged by enterprise clients within their own IT infrastructure.

The basic value proposition for the enterprise client is that they maintain control over business critical data, applications and processes while providing cloud-like user experience to their employees, partners and customers and while leveraging their existing legacy IT investments.

Cloud Computing vs Grid Computing
Cloud computing environments support grid computing by quickly providing physical and virtual servers on which the grid applications can run.

Cloud computing should not be confused with grid computing. Grid computing involves dividing a large task into many smaller tasks that run in parallel on separate servers. Grids require many computers, typically in the thousands, and commonly use servers, desktops, and laptops.

Characteristics and Benefits

Capital expenditure is minimised as infrastructure is not owned by the user; rather it is shared by multiple users.

Services are paid for typically as a subscription, usage-basis or other mechanisms like advertising

Potential to reduce the total cost of ownership but this assumes that users understand their current financial position.

Skill requirements are reduced as the service is provided as a fully-managed offering that is service level driven according to required performance, reliability and scalability.

Environmentally-friendly as shared resources amongst users allows for improved utilization and efficiency of the infrastructure.

Device and location independence enabling users to connect wherever and using their device of choice.

Reduced time-to-market as businesses will be able to adopt new services quickly for pilot usages and then scale quickly to a global scale.

Risks and concerns

Shortage of skills could limit future growth. Students need to understand principles even as they experiment with the technologies of today. That way they’ll easily adjust to the technologies of tomorrow.

We still need to define and develop certain standards and technologies to support on-demand provisioning and configuration of integrated “virtual systems”. This will require protocols that allow users and service providers to discover and hand off demands to other providers, to monitor and manage their reservations, and arrange payment.

Data and security concerns and a general fear in relinquishing their data and information to the cloud.

Learning from collaborative play in MMOGs

2007-07-03T10:59:00.001+02:00

Introduction
Definition: Massively Multi-player Online Games (MMOGs)

MMOGs are relevant (as tracked by MMOGCHART.COM and shown in the graph below)
If we believe that online collaborations work (which I do)
Then studying MMOG collaborations is relevant.

MMOGs connect hundreds of thousands of players simultaneously in persistent worlds where they engage in collaborative activities to have fun.

Development
Character and skill development are central to MMOG collaboration.

Motivation = fun + development of characters

This development is in the form of:

Skills
Equipment (armour, weapons, gold)
Experience
Reputation

This enables player to tackle bigger challenges, with bigger rewards

MMOG Learning: MMOGs have implemented a strong model for aligning effort and success to reward and development (measurable)

Finding Each Other
Finding the right people to work together solves half of the problem. Working together as a group is important and players can easily find others based on their:

Skills and characteristics

Communities they belong to

Where they are at the moment (a point in time)

What they need to, or want to, accomplish

MMOG Learning: Easily finding people based on their skills, experience and what they are working allows effective teams to be created.

Innovation and Learning
MMOG players have a lot to learn. For example in fantasy-based MMOGs they have to learn:

Spells

Quests and tactics

Navigating hostile territories

Communities provide the most important resources for learning. The player, or group, coordinates these resources to solve problems. The resources aren't controlled by another party, rather the community manages this knowledge. For example:

Rating of knowledge and guides published

Communities point members to the most useful information

This has resulted in:

A just-in-time learning ethos that allows players to learn what they need, when they need it.

A culture of sharing, as it is mutually beneficial.

MMOG Learning: Communities provide the most important resources for learning, available when the player needs them.

So what have we learnt?

Collaboration doesn't always happen naturally. MMOGs have shown as that If we want to promote collaboration then the following should be in place:

Individuals need a mechanism to find others easily, based on a range, and several dimensions, of criteria

Communities will develop where there are shared interests, challenges and goals.

These communities will become the custodians of knowledge, enabling "just-in-time-learning" as they innovate and collaborate to solve challenges

The solving of these problems (or execution of a collaborative task) should lead to an individual's development (or reward)

Everyone needs to benefit (I know that this may seem cynical)

... whilst having fun!