There seems to be room for some smaller fry too, judging by the alliances and/or products formerly purchased by IBM's partners in the deal. Integrator ACS, for example, has endorsed products from Mimosa and CA's XOsoft in the past. (See XOsoft Upgrades WANSync and Outsourcer Selects Mimosa.) Accounting system consultancy Crowe Chizek has an alliance with Avamar. Indiana-headquartered Haverstick Consulting has relationships with NetForensics, Packeteer, RSA, and Symantec.
If approved, IBM's work in Indiana could start in August 2007.
Table 1: IBM Partners in Indiana Government Contract
| Outsourcer | Description | Storage-related alliances or products formerly purchased |
| Affiliated Computer Services Inc./www.acs-inc.com | Integrator/outsourcer for largescale business applications | Mimosa, CA Xosoft |
| Alpha Rae Personnel Inc./www.alpha-rae.com | Indiana executive search firm | N/A |
| Arbor Education and Training/www.arboret.com | Workforce development consultancy specializing in training services to adults, dislocated workers, co-enrolled youth, and other special populations. | NA |
| Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC/www.crowechizek.com | Public accounting and business consulting, including risk assurance, risk management, benefit and tax consulting, and the like | Avamar, CA, Filenet, IBM, Microsoft, OnBase |
| Haverstick Consulting Inc./www.haverstickinc.com | Indiana-headquartered technology and business consulting services firm focused on public sector | Citrix, IBM, NetForensics, Packeteer, RSA (EMC), Symantec |
| Interactive Intelligence Inc./www.inin.com | Indiana-based contact center and IP telephony solutions provider | N/A |
| Phoenix Data Corp./www.phoenixdatacorporation.com | Healthcare administration technologies and services | N/A |
| RCR Technology/www.rcrtechnology.com | Indiana-based technology consultancy | N/A |
IBM is also at work in Texas, where the vendor, along with partners Xerox and Pitney Bowes, has won a seven-year, $863-million contract to revamp the Texas Department of Information Resources data centers. As in Indiana, IBM will be responsible for hiring 330 employees to work for the state in the process.
The Texas deal was signed on November 22 but won't take official effect until March 2007.
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
