IBM: Accurate or Confused about Agility?
October 5, 2010
I seem to have been flooded with IBM information and client requests for data about IBM. I am baffled. I don’t pay too much attention to IBM. At age 66, my fond memories of my first computer class can be easily sullied by a few go rounds with IBM ServeRAID and other darned exciting IBM software.
Mostly because of the headline “Why Is IBM Declaring War on Cisco?”, I read the Register’s interesting article. The main idea is that giant IBM is picking on Cisco, a company which is working hard to pump up its revenues, diversify, and become a big player in rich media. I think the odds are against Cisco. (See “Seven Cisco Vulnerabilities.”) The main point of the Register’s article struck me as:
IBM’s networking strategy has been poor.
With the shift from on premises and unlimited spending for IBM’s engineering services, IBM has to find new ways to make money. With a revenue of $100 billion or so, getting growth that moves the top line is not an easy task. The Register’s write up makes clear that IBM may be making decisions that are tough to figure out. I know that IBM baffles me.
The company is a mix of open source and proprietary systems. The company has old technology and new technology. In short, the situation reminds me about one of those wacky Psychology 101 case studies. A dog or pigeon gets caught trying to cope with two inputs and behaves in a manner that shows an inability to make a choice. I forget the name of this behavior, but IBM seems to want to be everything, just like in the good old pre-DOS and Bill Gates days.
Interesting premise, and I think that IBM, like SAP, warrants close observation. I keep flip flopping between brilliant and confused, just like a poor lab pigeon or goose.
Stephen E Arnold, October 5, 2010
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