...and interest that helps to determine the future development of the technology. Community interest has determined that many technologies on alphaWorks should be incorporated into existing IBM products, offered as new products or be opened up as open-source offerings.
Once a prototype has passed its first fitness tests, it then graduates to IBM developerWorks. Can you briefly explain this process?
Technologies have various 'graduation' paths through alphaWorks based on market interest. Some technologies, once they are more widely adopted, move on to developerWorks or various IBM products. Good examples of emerging technologies have moved to developerWorks are the Cell Broadband Engine technology which was premiered on alphaWorks several years ago.
With feedback and a growing user base, the technology was eventually moved on to developerWorks where a broader audience could engage with it and view content like articles, podcasts, wikis and blogs as the technology itself developed.
How do you react to your critics who say alphaWorks is just IBM's way of making sure it scoops up emerging talent before it has a chance to flourish in its own right?
Listen, alphaWorks is focused on presenting the best of the best in technology, getting user feedback and allowing the early adopter community to collaborate in driving these emerging technologies to become IBM products. We have successfully run this business for over 10 years and I think the proof is in the pudding.
How do you control the potential security concerns thrown up by bringing in externally originated code that may have embedded malicious elements inside it?
External data is only submitted in select SaaS offerings where users first accept a TOS (terms of service) agreement vouching for the origins and copyright of that material. IBM is vigilant in protecting the integrity of the technology and websites, so services, forums and other data points are policed to remove such material if it does occur.
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Does IBM retain the copyright for all work developed under alphaWorks if the prototypes were originally proposed by independent third-party developers?
IBM does not take a stake in any intellectual property developed by a third party that may be showcased through alphaWorks. Third parties retain all rights to their technology.
During your tenure so far, what 'achievements' have particularly stood out to you as exceptional technology innovations?
There have been numerous graduations from alphaWorks that have had a significant impact for IBM. Of note is Unstructured Information Management SDK (UIMA) which pioneered concepts and frameworks in semantics. This technology was launched on alphaWorks in 2004 and has since been incorporated into various IBM products including OmniFind. Aspects of the technology have also become open source and are now being offered through SourceForge.
Also the Cell Broadband Engine, autonomic computing and grid computing technologies are great examples of areas where there was not a lot of information and early adopter audiences needed education as well as tools to innovate with to determine the potential of these technologies. All have since been widely adopted and become more mainstream over time.
