SQ: What is IBM's network-centric vision?
Wladawsky-Berger: IBM's vision is the promise of universal connectivity; it's a vision in harmony with the Internet culture. We share the Internet community's passion to see people connected to the world and the world connected to people. Networks will transcend distance and time -- lowering the boundaries between markets, between cultures, and between individuals -- as people generate content and intellectual value and others come seeking it.
The Internet has the potential to extend the reach of every enterprise to the remotest corners of the world. But the promise can be realized only by solving some tough technical problems and devising sophisticated application solutions. Solving tough problems and building solutions for customers is what IBM is all about.
SQ: What are customers looking for in this area?
Wladawsky-Berger: Many of them want to know how to exploit the content, the intellectual resources, residing in their existing IBM systems. With all their rows, columns, and tables, databases may seem mundane; they're necessary, but not necessarily exciting.
But think of what they contain: Bank records, insurance information, securities portfolios, airline schedules, inventory records, health records, travel records, credit card records, and demographic data -- all critical business information waiting to be tapped into. Making this content available amounts to opening up our customers' transaction systems. As those systems open up, our customers can reach many more millions of people than they do now.
SQ: What will it take to "liberate" this information?
Wladawsky-Berger: Helping customers connect to the Internet will require technology, but services may prove to be even more important. Customers need consultants, professional services, systems integration -- brain power and skills -- to move their content from existing systems out onto the Internet.
We've established Internet consulting practices with the methodologies and tools to help customers transform their businesses. Beyond these general practices, each of our specialized industry marketing organizations worldwide will field consultants who can translate NCC into value for customers in specific industries.
SQ: What Internet technologies does IBM bring to the table?
Wladawsky-Berger: The type of technologies that will open up this customer content are precisely those IBM is good at -- scalable servers and software, systems management, plus industrial strength reliability. What's new is the glue to attach it to the Net.
We're in the process of enabling all our database and transaction products to connect to the Internet. Working with Lotus, we're delivering a number of Internet server and browser solutions that run across our platforms, and we're porting Java to run across them as well. Applications developed with our VisualAge product -- a development environment using object-oriented technology and visual programming techniques -- will also be able to run on the Web.
Lotus Notes, particularly Release 4, will be the centerpiece of application development capabilities. Everyone is well aware of Lotus' leadership in collaborative applications, but Notes is Internet-enabled as well.
SQ: So, how do companies make money using the Internet?
Wladawsky-Berger: They make money by opening up and leveraging their existing content. In the world of the Internet, it's simplicity itself. Content creates demand, demand creates access, access creates transactions, and transactions create demand for systems, software, services, and virtually everything we produce.
SQ: IBM CEO Lou Gerstner said last year that 25 percent of IBM's 1996 research and development budget would be devoted to Internet solutions. What technologies and solutions will you be focusing on?
Wladawsky-Berger: We're working on everything from electronic cash to remote systems management that provides automatic software upgrades through the Internet. As you can imagine, much of the research effort involves security and control that permits cryptographic signing and sealing, and provides proof of mailing. So that, when you send your E-cash to the IRS, you can prove it.
We're also working on ways to create an analog of a meeting room in cyberspace where participants can share data and collaborate. And we're looking to combine sophisticated search algorithms with our high-performance parallel computer (the SP) and our InfoMarket product to create a comprehensive index of the entire Internet that can be refreshed hourly. Other efforts involve mobility and remote access.
SQ: What Internet products will IBM introduce over the next year?
Wladawsky-Berger: Product announcements have already started. Our Server Group recently announced Internet servers across all our platforms, and our Software Group recently announced the IBM Software Servers, seven different integrated servers that run across multiple operating systems and that have common installations and interfaces.
The vision we share with the rest of the Internet community -- of connecting virtually everyone -- is deceptively simple to articulate. But beneath the vision lie complexities that must be understood and dealt with. It's not something a couple of people working in a garage can deliver.
In the final analysis, customers want Internet solutions, not piecemeal technology. They want technology integrated with their existing systems to extend their reach, expand their range, and improve their competitiveness. That's always been IBM's strong suit. The way we put it all together is what will set us apart.