.KEYWORD prial
.FLYINGHEAD THE PALMPOWER INTERVIEW
.TITLE PalmPower interview: inside IBM’s pervasive computing strategy
.FEATURE
.SPOTLIGHT FIGPAIR A
.SUMMARY On November 1, 2000, Palm, Inc. and IBM announced a new relationship to develop enterprise solutions together. Given that IBM is the "Big Kahuna" of enterprise computing companies, we thought it’d be fascinating to learn how IBM views handheld computing in the enterprise. We’re thrilled to be able to bring you David Gewirtz’ in-depth, exclusive, very open interview with Jon Prial, Director of Marketing and Strategy for IBM’s Pervasive Computing Division.
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
On November 1, 2000, Palm, Inc. and IBM announced a new relationship to develop enterprise solutions together. Given that IBM is the "Big Kahuna" of enterprise computing companies, we thought it’d be fascinating to learn how IBM views handheld computing in the enterprise. We’re thrilled to be able to bring you David Gewirtz’ in-depth, exclusive, very open interview with Jon Prial, Director of Marketing and Strategy for IBM’s Pervasive Computing Division, pictured in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A IBM’s Jon Prial
.Q DG
Help our readers get to know you better. Can you tell us about your role at IBM?
.A JP
As the marketing executive responsible for Pervasive Computing at IBM, I really have two roles. The most important, or the broader role, is to help IBM, as a company, ensure that we’re focused on delivering pervasive computing solutions from all parts of IBM. Just as IBM focused on the Internet a few years ago with the creation of the Internet division to ensure that all parts of IBM were leveraging these new Internet technologies, the formation of the Pervasive Computing Division in 1998 recognized that we want all parts of IBM to really look at and take advantage of this explosion of new device types and make sure that all business areas are really focused on leveraging this part of their overall solutions strategy.
.Q DG
Let’s dive in for a second and help our readers understand the concept of pervasive computing.
.A JP
We view pervasive computing as an extension of e-business. For years now we’ve been working with our customers, helping them leverage Internet technologies–whether it’s Internet, intranets, or extranets–and merging them with existing IT (Information Technology) infrastructures to reach to their customers, their employees, their suppliers, and their distributors in new ways. And what’s happening is we have an advent, an explosion, of new device types showing up now. We want to make sure that we continue to work with our customers to focus on extending these e-business applications to be a new class of device.
.CALLOUT Pervasive computing is, in reality, pervasive e-business: leveraging new technologies such as a wireless infrastructure and the emergence of new devices to enable a whole new class of applications.
.Q DG
It’s easy to get confused by the buzzwords. Do you consider e-business another term for e-commerce (like Amazon.com, for example)? Or do you consider e-business a broader topic?
.A JP
E-commerce really is a subset of e-business. E-business, to IBM, is a much broader approach to integrating all the aspects of a company’s business, and leveraging some of the new technologies to be able to do that integration.
.Q DG
So, e-business is, in effect, another way of saying "computers in a business world."
.A JP
It’s really computers in the business world leveraging new Internet technologies. That’s really the key. We have been very much focused on helping customers improve their business processes, focusing on the key elements such as customer relationship management, supply chain management, and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions. And when you start to leverage the Internet technologies and you can reach out to both your partners and your employees in new ways, you really begin to look at the applications in a new light. This is what e-business is all about. And pervasive computing is, in reality, pervasive e-business: leveraging new technologies such as a wireless infrastructure and the emergence of new devices to enable a whole new class of applications.
.Q DG
So, for example, if my server goes down, it can find me when I’m in the bathroom at a Wal-Mart.
.A JP
How to handle that question (laughs). The question really might be, what are some of the new aspects of pervasive applications? Really, application characteristics are changing to acknowledge the immediacy of information access. It’s no longer an issue of going to a tethered device and making an Internet connection, but wherever you are, with every device, you have immediate access to information. Also, it acknowledges the mobility of the person. The application would acknowledge that you are somewhere. We did an application with Swiss Air, for example, where people on their Web phones (though this may not be directly relevant to the Palm device it certainly can be done on devices such as the Palm VII) can check into their flights without having to wait at the check-in line. The future, of course, is going to include applications that know where you might be and having an application focus on location-based services. An application can do something different based on the knowledge of where you might be.
.Q DG
We’ve started hearing about smart phones that automatically transition from ringing to vibrating in quiet zones, like a theatre. Is this what you mean by location-based services?
.A JP
Absolutely. For example, Palm is one of the elements enabling new classes of devices enabling new communications between devices. We’re seeing many new technologies, but the location-based service is slightly different from what you describe because you have an advertising flavor. You might get an ad based on where you are because you choose to get it. Perhaps a yellow pages search where you’re looking for certain types of restaurants, and you might get an ad saying "Oh, by the way, just around the corner is a place that you might very well be interested in." Or you are in a store and you’re shopping and you say, "Let me find competing stores; show me something within a few miles." And it does it automatically for you.
.Q DG
We played around with the Starbucks Coffee Store Locator on the Palm VII. I was in Connecticut recently and wanted coffee. The solution wasn’t perfect though, because I needed to find out what my ZIP Code was (which wasn’t a feature of the Coffee Store Locator) before the Coffee Store Locator could tell me where the nearest Starbucks was. I really just wanted it to tell me how to find caffeine.
.A JP
Yeah! But the application would work much better with location-based information. It’s just not available yet. We did an application that was more critical than the Starbucks finder. It was a Heineken application. We had the beer finder.
.Q DG
Guess it depends on your poison. Right now, my personal poison seems to be Ben & Jerry’s Festivus (a holiday for the rest of us). It’s outrageous, mixing brown sugar ice cream with cinammon spice and gingerbread. It’s so good. The best I’ve ever had. It’s kind of dangerous.
.A JP
I’ll have to write that down.
.CALLOUT The Palm Computing platform is a clear market leader, one of the most identifiable brands in the pervasive computing space. Our relationship with Palm is helping us develop solutions specifically to and for Palm platforms.
.Q DG
Before I get too carried away, let’s talk about the relationship you just announced with Palm, Inc.
.A JP
The relationship with Palm we recently announced focuses on extending the Palm platform into the enterprise. We’re focused on forming an IBM Global Services competence centered on developing mobile e-business solutions based on the Palm computing platform and the IBM Software infrastructure. Let me make that a bit clearer. For us, e-business applications are reaching out to land on this new class of devices. The Palm computing platform is a clear market leader, one of the most identifiable brands in the pervasive computing space. Our relationship with Palm is helping us develop solutions specifically to and for Palm platforms.
.Q DG
What kinds of solutions would be the types that IBM would be expert at providing in this area? Also, please clarify that when you say solutions, you’re offering a custom solution as distinguished from off-the-shelf products, right?
.A JP
A little bit of both, but for the most part, I think it shouldn’t be thought of as a consumer buy where you’re going to go into an electronics store or a Palm.net site and download an application for your Palm device. This really is focused on the IT organization and the end-user organization within our customers–our mutual customers (Palm and IBM). We’re rolling out a set of applications for a broad group of users. So it’s not all one-time engineering projects, per se, but it really is a replicated solution in the hands of many.
.Q DG
So it might be the same kind of customer who would buy a Lotus Notes solution.
.A JP
Yes. Now, it could be a business-to-employee application. So, obviously, we extend our Domino Mail system to Palm platforms. But we also, for example, could do a business-to-consumer application. One of our most successful applications was with a shopping chain in the UK. For Safeway UK, we developed a shopping application that runs on the Palm computing platform where users have full shopping lists on Palm units and can select desired foods. They also have sale promotions sent to them and they can shop. They can connect the Palm device up to Safeway UK and place an order. Again, it’s leveraging the immediacy of things, someone who needs to get milk and chicken. You don’t have to order on the spot; you can hang onto what you’ve chosen and eventually, when you’re ready, you send your order up. A key to that, leveraging our e-business thought, is that it’s not merely a shopping application, but it is also a business intelligence application. Everybody doesn’t get the same shopping list. They get a shopping list based on their shopping habits. Therefore, Safeway is able to deliver a very tailored personal shopping experience on the device.
.Q DG
So I’d get a lot of meat, 20 different kinds of coffee, and Festivus (the holiday for the rest of us)! That would be good. I’m gonna need to spend more time at the gym.
.A JP
There you go. So that’s the key. That’s the e-business thought if you kind of pull the pieces together.
.Q DG
I see how that’s an Internet solution, but I’m not sure why that makes it a mobile solution. Couldn’t I sit down at my desktop at home and decide what I wanted to buy for dinner?
.A JP
Absolutely. The key to the solution is that of device independence. Although we acknowledge and are very excited to be working with Palm, we recognize that there are many different types of devices that the user could be working from. Our ability to support a transaction on a classic PC browser or hitting one of these pervasive devices, from Palm platforms to data-enabled cellular phones, are all part of the IBM solution.
.Q DG
Tell me more about IBM solutions.
.A JP
We create a Quick Start engagement that brings application-specific information and all the necessary infrastructure for both the hardware and services for complete solutions. For example, we have a retail shopping solution that any one of our customers might be interested in. And we will create with a base shopping application and deliver a number of IBM WorkPads that are based on Palm, Inc. technology along with the services of the application, for a complete solution to a customer.
.CALLOUT What we’re doing today, in terms of the commitment of our service as skills to the Palm OS platform, has not been done with any other vendor.
.Q DG
Why don’t we take a look at your relationships with other handheld vendors and see how they relate to Palm. Do you have other relationships with other vendors of the same category or style as the one you have with Palm?
.A JP
We don’t actually. We make sure that all of our key technology runs on many platforms. Both IBM and Palm are excited about the possibility of working with each other. Therefore, what we’re doing today in terms of the commitment of our service as skills to the Palm OS platform has not been done with any other vendor.
.Q DG
What made you select Palm as the starting place?
.A JP
The prevalence of Palm today and the applicability of that device to new applications, such as the shopping application, coupled with IBM’s experience in the enterprise space makes it a real, very complimentary relationship for both companies to deliver complete solutions into our mutual customer set.
.Q DG
This is a charged question, but I’ve got to ask it
