Green Data centres are of increasing importance to companies as energy prices continue to increase, storage and processing demands growing, at times in unpredictable ways. Data centres of all sizes need to be more flexible, resilient and scalable to meet the demands of a globalised business environment.

Alongside IBM clients in their journey to achieving Green Data Centres, IBM focuses on the three key challenges of controlling cost and service delivery (rising costs of operations, explosion of data and information volumes, increasing complexity of deploying new applications and solutions), ensuring business resiliency (availability and increasing compliance requirements) and security (assets as well as information) and managing energy demands (rising costs, power and thermal management issues, environmental compliance and governance). By focusing on Green Data Centres, IBM and their customers are working to reverse the trend of 70% of IT budgets being used operationally.


For a funny video on Green Data Center click below, I am sure you will enjoy the video

It is heartened to see the ever-increasing number of clients differentiate from their competitors through innovative and non-traditional applications to develop on-line communities driving customer loyalty and insight into the marketplace. In 2009, I see even more will harness the power of social software.

Be it a blog, wiki or social network, these Web 2.0 and web-based technologies provide access to link partners, customers, suppliers into end-to-end business service based processes seamlessly, allowing companies to innovate their business models internally and bring this to their customers through different channels with new interaction paradigms. In addition to connecting with the younger generation (Gen X & Y) who are more comfortable with the newer interface paradigms, Web 2.0 allows companies to get ideas, feedback from employees, partners and customers. Older employees/customers can also share experiences on such platforms. Another attraction of technologies such as blogs and communities is the ability for companies to identify and locate in-house expertise. IBM’s Lotus Connections for example, has more than a directory of employees; it helps their clients connect their employees across countries, identifying in-house subject matters to help solve customer issues.

In Singapore, the National Heritage Board bridges the past and present with an integrated social software suite from IBM. Built using IBM WebSphere, Lotus and Information Management technology, the new MyHeritage Portal brings heritage to the desktop, opening up a new era in collaborative, social computing. Importantly, leveraging new technologies, the NHB created a unified online portal for the public to access, embrace heritage and culture.

For a video description of WEB 2.0 click on video below:

Various market analysts predict Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to continue to gain steam in 2009. Springboard Research for instance, estimates Asia’s SOA market (excluding Japan) to reach US$2.2 billion by 2010. IBM concurs with this outlook as it is particularly in today’s era of unprecedented change that organisations need agility to adapt rapidly.



In Singapore and Asia Pacific, the demand and general awareness of SOA is growing dramatically,market research shows that 90% of organisations (across Asia Pacific and industries) have either started their first or are planning to start their first SOA project in the next 12-18 months.

For a layman video of what SOA means to them, click below: