Posted by John Patrick on Mar 30, 2010 in
Energy,
IBM 
The months of January and February were busy ones at IBM with a flurry of announcements in hardware, software, services, acquisitions, and strategic alliances. See the list of the current press releases in the extended part of this posting and an index for prior months here. The major focus of the company is on a “smarter planet“, but underlying that is IBM Research. Much of what happens in the lab finds it’s way into the market as a solution to a problem.
One of the key problems facing all parts of the world today is the economical and clean production of energy. Solar energy in particular has seemed elusive for decades but progress is being made. In fact there may be breakthroughs on the horizon. IBM is not the first company you think of when it comes to solar energy — unless you look at the key challenges at hand and compare them to the core skills IBM has in the areas of microprocessor technology, materials science and manufacturing. Just last month IBM announced it has built a solar cell that set a new world record for efficiency and holds potential for enabling solar cell technology to produce more energy at a lower cost. Comprised of copper (Cu), tin (Sn), zinc (Zn), sulfur (S), and/or selenium (Se), the cell’s power conversion demonstrates an efficiency of 9.6 percent. That may not sound like much but it is 40 percent higher than what was previously possible.
“In a given hour, more energy from sunlight strikes the earth than the entire planet consumes in a year”, says Dr. David Mitzi, who leads the team at IBM Research that developed the new solar cell. In spite of this, solar cells currently contribute less than 0.1 percent of the electricity supply. The issue is cost. If solar energy can achieve a cost per watt comparable to conventional electricity generation, the world will be a different place. It is one of the great challenges and IBM is laser focused on it.
At some point the technology IBM researchers have pioneered may end up on the surface of the shingles on our homes and the roof of our cars.
Complete index of IBM Happenings
Tags: energy, IBM, IBM Research, solar, solar cell
The Lehigh Unniversity Engineering Advisory Board meets a few times per year and at least one of the meetings focuses on a strategic issue opportunity. The meeting held earlier this month was held in Washington, D.C. and focused on U.S. electrical energy generation,
transmission, distribution, storage, and consumption. One of the EAB members is Judy Marks who is an executive at Lockheed Martin and she was kind enough to have her company host our meeting. On arrival night we were fortunate to hear a short lecture on the future of fighter jet aircraft at the Lockheed Fighter Jet Demonstration Center in Arlington. Even better was that each of us got to spend some time in F-22 and F-35 flight simulators.
The Lockheed Martin (with partner Boeing) F-22 Raptor is a single seat, twin-engine fifth-generation fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. The simulator was dumbed down and many of the questions that EAB members asked of the fighter pilot who assisted us were appropriately sprinkled with “unclassified” answers. Even the unclassified specifications were mind-numbing. As a pilot I know a little bit about aviation but not much about military jets. The flying experience in the simulators was incredible. Pull back the stick and the F-22 goes up — straight up if you tell it to. At a cost of $143 million each it should be spectacular!
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is also a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine stealth fighter but additionally is “multi-role” — it can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air defense missions. I flew in the simulator for the short take off and vertical-landing variant of the plane. In addition to the amazing flying capabilities it can land on an aircraft carrier vertically. As I was bringing it down, it adjusted itself to land right next to another F-35 that was on the carrier deck. The F-35 is intended to become a Joint Strike Fighter and deployed by numerous countries around the world. At a mere $83 million each it is much more affordable than the F-22!
The meeting turned serious first thing in the morning — a deep dive by the Engineering Advisory Board along with leading experts from government, industry, and Lehigh faculty researchers in energy, advanced materials, and systems research. The goals were to assess future needs in integrated energy systems, evaluate technical and intellectual niches at Lehigh relevant to these needs, and envision a bold developmental roadmap toward a world-class energy systems research center. Lehigh has a lot of depth in key areas that are fundamental to energy systems and the brainstorming at this meeting was designed to trigger ideas to leverage the available skills. When I was an electrical engineering student 40+ years ago there were two curricula options — power systems or electronics. The latter had a bit more glamour for many. Energy (power) systems may take the baton.
It almost goes without saying how important and massive the global energy challenge is. Clearly it warrants a full range of energy systems research activities for years to come, incorporating technologies ranging from a smart electrical grid to advanced energy generation and storage; from sensing, networking and power electronics, to integrated communication and decision support architectures and technologies that support a smarter, more efficient, more resilient, and better integrated energy system. The “smart” part of the grid has to go from top to bottom — including at the consumer level where smart meters and smart appliances will enable consumers to know what energy they are using and to make informed decisions on when it is best to utilize energy.
Implementing the “smart grid” is easier said than done. There are many different standards and protocols in use by utilities across the country — some would say a hodgepodge. It reminds me of the early days of the Internet. My grandchildren were born after the Internet was well established but those of us old enough to remember know how many competing networks there were in the early 1990′s — SNA from IBM, AppleLink from Apple, DecLink from Digital and dozens of others. The Internet Architecture Board of the Internet Engineering Task Force pulled together a set of standards that superseded all other networks and became *the* network. A similar effort is now underway under coordination of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It was nostalgic to read and even if you only read the table of contents you will get an appreciation of the potential. See the NIST Framework and Roadmap for smart Grid Interoperability Standards. It is standards that make the Internet global and efficient. Likewise the smart grid standards will make it possible to predict and prevent power outages and ensure efficient transmission, distribution, storage, and utilization of energy no matter how it was produced. The need for the smart grid is great and the clock is ticking. Lehigh is gearing up to provide critical research and graduates to help move things forward.
Posted by John Patrick on Mar 2, 2010 in
Media,
People,
Travels 
It was a privilege to be able to be at the opening ceremony In Atlanta (1996), Nagano (1998), and Sydney (2000). (Lots of pictures in the travel section in the patrickWeb photo gallery). The ceremonies get more extravagant each year and you have to wonder how they are going to top it the following year. This year in Vancouver was no exception — it was a marvel.
The Atlanta Olympic Games was the beginning of e-business for IBM. A member of our team built an experimental ”ticket server” to see if we could actually sell tickets to the Games online. At the time it was the largest e-commerce site on the Internet. The first commercial customer for the technology followed later that year — it was L.L. Bean.
The athletes who compete to win or lose by a small fraction of a second are truly incredible. The other thing about the Olympic Games that gets more incredible each year is the advertising. Some tell me I am in the minority on this but I think the advertising is over the top. When is enough enough?
An analysis of “the tapes” would likely show the following as the most repeated phrases of the Games.
Coming up
We’ll be right back
When we come back
After the break
Right after this
Stay with us
Years ago I had the privilege of sitting next to Bob Costas at a dinner. What a nice and very sharp man — who looks much younger than his 58 years. When I heard him say “stay with us” it seemed he was inwardly saying “I know you have already seen all of these ads dozens of times and could recite them word for word and I also know that you are likely going to the kitchen or lavatory while they are playing even though consultants who “measure” viewers are telling the advertisers how many millions of people are “watching”. On the first Friday night, NBC ran 20 minutes worth of ads during the 9pm hour. In spite of this it is projected that the network will lose $250 million on the coverage it provided.
If they could have sold one out of each two minutes instead of “just” one out of three, would they have? Is there snow in Canada? The model is clearly broken. What is the solution? I do not claim to have the precise answer but I am confident it is not more minutes of advertising or more cost of goods sold to be born by consumers in order to prop up the existing outdated model. The new model will be based on the Internet and “power to the people”.
Boxee may hold the clue. The idea is to have a small box (or a chip in your DVD player or TV) that runs software from Boxee. Boxee acts like TV Guide” — it is a single interface to all forms of video including movies you make yourself, YouTube, Vudu, Netflix streaming, and all the channels of network and cable TV as we know them. The viewer decides not only what to watch but, if the content is not free, then the viewer decides how to pay for it. This is necessary because there will definitely continue to be content that is not free. NBC hauled a lot of robotic cameras and crew up to Vancouver at a cost of millions. They have to recover that somehow.
So how might you pay? One way is to watch the barrage of droning advertisements like today. Another model is to pay a fee per view. Instead of watching three hours of Olympic Games + ads from 7 – 10 on channel X, you pay $2.99 and watch the two hours of Olympic Games from 8 – 1- on channel Y. For 99 cents you watch the 6 PM news at 6:40 and get 100% news. Another model might be that if you are willing to provide some personal preferences you get the full hour including the ads but the ads are tailored to things relevant to you based on your profile. There are many variations on the “power to the people” theme. Stay tuned.
Posted by John Patrick on Mar 1, 2010 in
Energy,
IBM 
After thirty-eight years at IBM, it was hard to cut the cord. One of my self-appointed duties as an e-tiree has been to post news clips of things going on at the company. Fortunately, there is a lot going on there! I post what I call “IBM Happenings” more or less once a month. Not sure if I will do this forever but people seem to find it useful. Click a thumbs up or down after the postings to let me know what you think. There is an archive of the news clips since I began posting back in 2004.
IBM reports 2009 fourth-quarter and full-year results
IBM announced fourth-quarter 2009 diluted earnings of $3.59 per share
compared with diluted earnings of $3.27 per share in the fourth quarter
of 2008, an increase of 10 percent.
http://www.ibm.com/investor/4q09/press.phtml
IBM advances Social Everywhere strategy
IBM previewed new enhancements with IBM social collaboration software,
IBM Lotus Quickr and IBM Lotus Connections that will help organizations
improve efficiency and increase collaboration.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29233.wss
IBM to acquire National Interest Security Company, LLC
IBM has signed a definitive agreement to acquire National Interest Security
Company, LLC to further strengthen IBM’s ability to deliver advanced analytics
and IT solutions to the public sector.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29225.wss
IBM accelerates cloud computing with LotusLive
IBM announced the expansion of its LotusLive collaboration platform through
a new R&D pipeline from IBM Research and plans to open the LotusLive suite
to new partners.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29210.wss
IBM unveils resources for software partners
IBM to acquire Initiate Systems
IBM unveils new POWER7 systems
IBM announced new POWER7 systems designed to manage
the most demanding emerging applications, ranging from smart
electrical grids to real-time analytics for financial markets.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29315.wss
IBM analytics drives revenue for service providers
IBM SPSS predictive analytics software is helping clients gain
deeper insights into subscriber preferences which will improve
customer retention, call center interactions and marketing campaigns.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29420.wss
U.S. selects IBM to modernize procurement system
The U.S. General Services Administration has awarded IBM
a contract to modernize the system that federal agencies and
their suppliers use to source equipment, supplies, IT
and telecommunications services.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29436.wss
Daehan Steel selects IBM for transformation initiative
IBM has signed an agreement with Daehan Steel Co., Ltd.
to embark on the second phase of the company’s
enterprise-wide business transformation project.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29426.wss
IBM details integrated service management strategy
IBM announced an enhanced strategy to help clients maximize
benefits of virtualization with integrated service management by
focusing on four key priorities: consolidation, management,
automation and optimized delivery.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29480.wss
