The IBM stand at GITEX 2005 (Hall 3-Stand C3-1) will showcase a number of highly advanced innovative solutions that have won prestigious awards from industry bodies across the world. Having earned 3,248 U.S. patents in 2004 that extended its run as the world's most innovative company to twelve consecutive years, IBM is highly committed to research and development and maintains its leadership position by consistently providing innovative technologies to its customers across the Middle East.
“Every year IBM has something new and special to show at GITEX, something straight from its global research laboratories that allow visitors to take a glimpse into the technologies that will be made available in the future. This year, we are showcasing innovative technologies that have been uniquely deployed in several vertical segments around the world,” said Takreem El-Tohamy, general manager, IBM Middle East, Egypt and Telecom. “IBM is innovating constantly and continues to lead the world in technology research and development. The results of our commitment to innovation mean that new ways of thinking and acting are open to businesses in the region to drive competitiveness, value and growth.”
IBM is the only technology company that has an R&D facility in the Middle East. Based in Cairo, Egypt, the Technology Development Centre (TDC) was launched in 1984 and today has more than 400 developers working within the region for the region. The centre provides different levels of support services for Linux, including Arabisation, customer application development, system support, outsourcing, consulting and training. The TDC is also currently working on speech recognition technologies, e-learning utilities with DRM-protected content, 3D scanning and visualisation tools among others. Over 99% of its services are delivered to IBM labs and customers in the USA and other world regions.
GITEX 2005 visitors will be able to see demonstrations on a number of IBM technology innovation showcases:
IBM Blue Gene Solution- IBM Blue Gene ranks today as the number one and number two supercomputers on the TOP500 list along with three other entries in the top 10. The Blue Gene Solution is the result of an IBM supercomputing project begun over five years ago, dedicated to building a new family of supercomputers optimized for bandwidth, scalability and the ability to handle large amounts of data while consuming a fraction of the power and floor space required by today’s fastest systems.
The world’s fastest supercomputer is installed at the Department of Energy’s/National Nuclear Security Administration’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Soon, Blue Gene will achieve an astonishing 367 peak teraflops when a 64 rack system with over 130,000 IBM PowerPC® processors is completely installed in the third quarter of 2005. The DOE entered into a partnership with IBM in funding research and development of this machine in 2000 in order to explore designs for highly cost-effective computers.
New York Stock Exchange Handheld-The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the world’s largest equities market, requires extreme reliability, and the Securities Industry Automation Corporation determined that only IBM could deliver a product to meet these needs. The result: TradeWorks — a new system for processing buy-and-sell orders on the trading floor. As part of the system, IBM designed 3000 custom handhelds that traders use on the trading floor. This handheld product was included in I.D. Magazine's 2005 Annual Design Review of the best in product design.
Hub Project with Orange-Orange, a large cellular network services provider, came to IBM for business and technology consulting. IBM Design Consulting Services evaluated Orange's product and services offerings and created a number of new ideas based on new experiences for its customers. Last year, Orange selected IBM software and services to give its 50 million mobile phone customers the ability to sign on to accounts only once to securely access different mobile services or Web sites, such as instant messaging, location-based services, games, online banking and e-mail.
Health Wireless Healthcare Solution-The IBM m-Health Wireless Healthcare Solution comprises a set of wireless, patient vital-sign-monitoring devices. A patient's critical health statistics are automatically measured, stored and transmitted to a database during daily routines, emergencies, hospital stays or the treatments of chronic illnesses. Additionally this system is well suited for data gathering and reporting during clinical trials for new pharmaceuticals. The IBM m-Health Wireless Healthcare Solution won a Silver Award in the 2004 Industrial Design Society of America competition, sponsored by Business Week magazine. It was also awarded a 2005 Product Design Award by the Industrie Forum, the most prestigious design competition in Europe.
Digital Music Players-A manufacturing company in China sought a way to differentiate its music players and minimize manufacturing costs while differentiating its products in an over-saturated market. IBM designed a variety of new MP3 players that delight customers in a highly commoditized market. These devices are simple and easy to use, incorporating innovative solutions to usability issues. The designs appeal to buyers because of gender, cultural and lifestyle references. The IBM MP3 player concepts were awarded a 2005 Product Design Award by the Industrie Forum, the most prestigious design competition in Europe.
Collective Intelligent Brick – CIB – Ice Cube- The joint development project between different research centres in Europe and the US resulted in this super dense storage server, consisting of 3 x 3 x 3 storage bricks results in a total capacity of 27 TB – a unique feat. This innovative design couple with new technology will open the door for immense storage capacities and innovative products.
