By Jeff Gerhardt
The Linux Show
The first keynote address for the new Enterprise IT Week
conference highlighted the future of Linux and open standards in
the enterprise, even though the topic was not the main focus of the
address.
Gail Whipple, the Vice President of Digital Media at IBM’s
Global Services group was given the nod to deliver the first
keynote address, a presentation was filled with a combination of
flowery platitudes on IBM’s vision of the future of Digital Media
in an “on demand world.” There were plenty of real world examples
of existing IBM clients that were gearing up for that future.
Examples, such as how The Coca Cola Company is digitizing every
graphic and piece of marketing literature used in the last 80 years
as a library of availble marketing materials for distribution and
licensinjg channels around the globe.
But, from my standpoint, what was really interesting about
Whipple’s presentation was her constant reference to open standards
and Linux.
Whipple stated, “IBM is committed to the use of open standards
technology such as Linux and the Open Grid standards to make the
technology broadly available. We are also committed to licensing
and data encription as a means of securing IP.”
In a conversation after the presentation, Whipple told me “The
Digital Media Group at IBM works very closly with Dan Frye and the
IBM Linux group to help push those standards.”
This could not be any clearer. More and more, nearly every day
segments of IBM become sold on Open Technology and make public
commitments in that direction.
From the trenches…