Vorige week heeft IBM's CEO Sam Palmisano de nieuwe strategie van IBM, e-business on demand, aangekondigd. Aansluitend komt IBM's PC divisie met een nieuwe strategie: THINK. Think staat aan de basis van een totaal nieuwe aanpak in de PC-markt. Deze aanpak stoelt op het credo "Innovatie doet ertoe". Het is gericht op de inzet van technologie en innovatie om klanten te helpen bij hun zakelijke uitdagingen ? zoals het beheersen van de kosten van het uitrollen en migreren van systemen, het verbeteren van de up-time en het mogelijk maken van veilige draadloze netwerken. IBM annonceert vandaag ThinkVantage Technologieën die bijdragen tot het gebruikersgemak en het beheer van PC's.
IBM TECHNOLOGIES TO MAKE PCs THAT THINK FOR THEMSELVES
In Era of "e-Business on Demand," New IBM PC Strategy Defines Landscape of
Needs, Not Speeds
Paris, Nov. 4, 2002- IBM today announced "ThinkVantageTM Technologies," a set of PC solutions designed to help customers address a fundamental problem with personal computers -- with all the advances in speed, graphics and storage capacity, PCs still require too much time and money to configure, maintain, upgrade and repair.
Some analysts estimate that 80 percent of the cost of a PC is in managing and supporting systems after its initial purchase. ThinkVantage Technologies are new hardware and software tools available today that help customers drive down these information technology (IT) support costs. They provide new innovations for real business advantage, such as simplifying the deployment of wireless networks, or helping to make PCs more secure. ThinkVantage Technologies are at the heart of a new "Think" strategy from IBM that points toward a future where PCs will be able to automatically diagnose and fix problems.
"We are now entering a new phase in the evolution of personal computing," says Fran O'Sullivan, general manager of IBM's personal computing division. "The first phase was driven by faster processors, bigger storage, new operating systems. The second phase was driven by operational efficiencies -- the PC as a commodity. This new phase will be driven by the ability to embrace open industry standards and provide innovation on top of them to solve real business problems. IBM creates innovative technologies, and we help our customers apply them to transform what they do and how they do it."
ThinkVantage Technologies show IBM's commitment to research, innovation, patents and development in personal computing. ThinkVantage Technologies being announced today include
-IBM RapidRestoreTM PC, a software tool preloaded1 on IBM PCs that can restore previously saved data and applications after a software failure. -Embedded Security Subsystem, a system of both hardware and downloadable software available on select models, based on industry standards, that helps protect valuable data. -ImageUltraTM Builder, a toolkit for IT departments that helps them reduce the number of software images they support. -System Migration Assistant, a software tool that simplifies the transition from old PCs to new ones. -Access Connections, which frees up people from worrying about how to configure their systems and switch between different environments, regardless of what kind of "connection" they're using -- wired or wireless, home, office or elsewhere. -Access IBM, a one-button method of putting people in touch with automated service and support.2
IBM's New "Think" Strategy in Personal Computing
As the first offerings in IBM's new "Think" strategy, the new ThinkVantage Technologies demonstrate characteristics to be extended across an entire family of Think offerings that will start being delivered to the market early next year. These include new ThinkCentreTM desktop PCs, a new line of ThinkVisionTM displays, Think Accessories, and Think ServicesTM offerings. All will be developed with IBM's industry-leading design commitment to the concept of a meaningful combination of form and function, called ThinkVantageTM Design. IBM has won more design awards in the last two years than all other competitors in the category combined.
This new "Think" strategy aligns personal computing with IBM's e-business on demandTM agenda announced on 30 Oct. That agenda addresses customers' needs for computing as an "always-on" utility, able to respond in real-time to stepped-up demand from their markets. Four characteristics define the
e-business on demand operating environment. It is integrated, enabling
dynamic transaction and process integration across the enterprise; open, enabling applications, processes and systems to interact seamlessly; virtualized to take advantage of unused computing capacity, easily managed and variable in cost structure; and autonomic, highly responsive to the conditions placed on it, wherever and whenever.
E-business on demand requires a new, integrated, end-to-end IT operating environment for business. The PCs that fit this new infrastructure will need to be simpler, more secure, and more resilient, and they will also require fewer resources to deploy, manage and support.
Toward Autonomic PCs
In addition to the ThinkVantage Technologies announced today, IBM demonstrated several completely new technologies developed at IBM Research laboratories in collaboration with PC product developers. All point toward a future landscape in which PCs diagnose and fix themselves, a part of IBM's investment in autonomic computing. They include Client Recovery and Rescue, which would help people recover data and continue some operations even after a catastrophic PC failures such as a broken hard drive. Another is Distributed Wireless Security Auditor (DWSA). DWSA allows PCs in the same location to work together to detect dangerous "rogue" security risks in wireless networks, saving hours of manpower. And a third, Instant Connections, automatically detects wireless and wired networks and configures the PC to work with them, saving people from having to remember server addresses and wireless protocols.
IBM expects to introduce some of these innovative technologies in 2003.
About IBM
IBM, the world's largest IT company, has helped customers innovate for business advantage for more than 80 years. In October, IBM announced a company-wide initiative to develop the industry's broadest range of autonomic computing capabilities, integrated across the computing environment. For more information about IBM's new "Think" strategy in personal computing, see http://www.ibm.com/think/thinkplace
Notes
IBM, ThinkCentre, ThinkVantage, ThinkVision, Think Services, ImageUltra, RapidRestore, and "e-business on demand," are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
1. IBM RapidRestore PCs is preloaded on many IBM PCs and downloadable for others; it will be preloaded on all IBM PCs beginning in late November. 2. Requires Internet access account; not included.
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Met vriendelijke groet, with kind regards
Anouk Bikkel
IBM Communications
Johan Huizingalaan 761, 1066 VH Amsterdam
Tel +31 (0)20- 513 4612; Fax: +31 (0)20 6177600 Mobile+31 (0)6 20435155; e-mail anouk_bikkel@nl.ibm.com