IBM's Smarter Planet Evolves From Vendor-Push To Market-Pull

IBM has been promoting its Smarter Planet concept--instrument the world's systems, interconnect them and make them intelligent--for several years, but it has always seemed to be more vendor push than customer pull. However, this week the company is making several product announcements at the Pulse conference in Las Vegas, and while the news appears to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the concept seems to be resonating with customers.

"When they first started talking about it, it was the typical marketing idea," says analyst Rick Sturm, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). "First, talk about it, then deliver it... [and] IBM has delivered a lot." Between the recession, data growth and the growing concern about green, or at least the "rock-solid benefits behind being green," the market has converged on this concept, he says. "I'm very impressed that they have over 500 customers speaking at the event."

Customers are indeed "getting it," states another analyst attending the event, Rich Ptak, of Ptak, Noel & Associates, partially because of the improvement in IBM's messaging and partly because of work IBM has done with customers, which has led to them having real live customers that can show and tell what a Smart Computing solution looks and acts like. "Also, the crashed economy and growing complexity of IT is making more efficient and effective computing compelling."

There are a number of factors contributing to this transformation from marketing concept to real-world needs and solutions, notes IBM. There will be 1 trillion connected devices by 2015, and 30 billion RFID tags this year, on everything from water mains and train tracks to traffic signals and hospital equipment. As sensors, RFID tags, smart grid networks, client devices like smartphones and tablets, and 4G wireless networks continue to proliferate, a new stream of data is emerging that can be used to drive more data-based decisions.

Big Blue says that we've reached the tipping point with the amount of instrumentation, smart devices, RFID, processing bandwidth and power at the right price point. There's also a sense of urgency to really streamline operations and be more competitive, and at same time save energy.Among IBM's announcements are analytics software (Netcool/OMNIbus) for monitoring telecommunications, transportation or any network that distributes data; software (Intelligent Metering Network Management) that monitors and manages smart meters networks for energy, water and gas utilities; software (Real-Time Asset Locator for Healthcare) that helps hospitals locate and monitor clinical and biomedical equipment in real time; and smarter buildings software that helps organizations optimize buildings' energy and operational efficiency.

Sturm says there was nothing dramatic or earth shattering in the announcements, but that's OK. "I think what was significant was the consistency of their messaging. There wasn't any big news, but that wasn't a bad thing. Companies that flip their messages every 18 months are just inconsistent."

Ptak was more impressed with IBM's product announcements. "It's hard to pick just one because they all represent significant delivery of capabilities that IT has been promising for years and which were delivered at great expense and effort or were incomplete."

Based on his telecom background, he thought the traffic analysis offering was great. "A major problem that will only get worse is not only how to handle the exploding volume but also how to be able to generate revenue from it without alienating customers used to 'free' services. Key to figuring out how to do that is having lots of accurate data on customer behavior."

He adds that the dashboard just touches on the importance of having a status reporting mechanism that facilitates fast, accurate, actionable decision-making when things are going wrong. "Too often, inadequate analytics fail to deliver all possible information available from the data."Both analysts agree that while IBM doesn't have this space to itself, it is way ahead of the alternatives. "HP, Oracle-Sun, etc. are pushing the same idea with different words but less coherently while they try to establish a viable and vocal installed base," says Ptak.

It's a new area, and vendors are trying to grab their piece of the market. But wanting to and being willing to invest the resources for success are not the same thing. "HP would come to mind as somebody trying to play in this space. I don't think they have their story told as well yet as IBM," said Ptak.

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