IBM Impact 2012 Focuses on the Mobile Enterprise

With research as the overall theme of its Impact 2012 conference here, IBM unveiled its first-ever Mobile Foundation, a comprehensive portfolio of software and services designed to help organizations capitalize on the proliferation of mobile environments, including laptops, smartphones and tablets. Building on its recent acquisition of Worklight, the new foundation furthermore expands IBM's strategy to provide customers with a mobile platform that spans application development, integration, security and management. For instance, using the IBM Mobile Foundation, an airline can transform the way it interacts with its clients by establishing a secure two-way relationship with mobile applications. Airlines can use these new types of applications not only to keep clients apprised of their travel plans and current weather conditions, however also to send push-notifications to alert them if there are changes or opportunities for upgrades. This is all made possible by deep integration into the airlines' back-end systems and relevant cloud computing services. The IBM Mobile Foundation is targeting a $22 billion market opportunity in other words expected to grow to $36 billion in 2015. In an IBM survey of more than 700 CIOs, about 75 percent of respondents said they are embracing a mobile strategy because a flexible workplace delivers a 20 percent improvement in employee productivity. The CIOs said they are significantly reducing the cost of doing business by decreasing dependence on email, improving social collaboration and adopting cloud technologies to reach mobile workers. Here, eWEEK looks at some of the highlights from the show. 

Line from Isaacson

IBM's Weick takes a line from Isaacson and admonishes the 8,500 attendees that they can all succeed with IBM's new hardware and software innovation, saying: "Don't be afraid, WE can do it."

IBM's new Mobile Foundation portfolio helps enterprises manage and secure their mobile applications in a world of laptops, smartphones and tablets.

The IBM Mobile Foundation

IBM's Marie Wieck announces the IBM Mobile Foundation, which is a comprehensive portfolio of software and services designed to help organizations capitalize on the proliferation of mobile environments, including laptops, smartphones and tablets.

Jason McGee, distinguished engineer and chief architect, WebSphere cloud computing, IBM Software Group, discussed some of the features of the new system.