IBM PartnerWorld 2012: Cloud, Partners Take Center Stage

The VAR Guy finally touched down in New Orleans, replete with swampy weather, great food and an abundance of jazz. But our resident blogger hasn’t lost of focus of the rhythm — the IBM rhythm, that is. He’s got a few ideas on what Big Blue’s plans are for the IBM PartnerWorld 2012 opening keynote and the future of IBM’s outreach in general. Here’s the scoop from the Big Easy …

First off, The VAR Guy will get to hear briefly from Mark Hennessy, general manager for IBM’s global business partners, who will introduce the opening keynote, potentially discussing IBM’s vision for business partners in the future. The VAR Guy is set to have a one-on-one session with Hennessy, so he’ll be able to talk business practices, mobility and the ongoing evolution of the skills partners need to succeed in the channel. Our resident blogger looks forward to this.

But after Hennessy graces the stage, the first keynote deep dive will feature Jon Iwata, head of IBM Worldwide Communications. The focus? Predictable, but necessary: how IBM business partners can continue to drive growth in 2012, with a eye on cloud, analytics and burgeoning markets. Officially, Iwata will be talking about the “promise of a smarter planet,” which The VAR Guy believes will be primarily focused on cloud and associated technologies.

After Iwata, Jeff Jonas, chief scientist in IBM’s Entity Analytics group, will offer a somewhat metaphysical look at the global enterprise market with his discussion, “Big Data. Dep Analytics. New Physics,” which focuses on the change in enterprise intelligence. The VAR Guy is highly intrigued and expects an insightful look at the markets IBM continually attacks.

Also expected to speak is Rod Adkins, senior vice president of IBM’s Systems and Technology Group, who plans to focus on “smarter computing.” Our resident blogger believes Adkins’ speech will be a focus on both the software and technological aspects of what IBM is bringing to the market, including perhaps a quick look at the latest and greatest silicon chips coming from IBM.

Additional speakers will focus on IBM’s Smart Cloud, business analytics and how cloud technologies can fit into a business partner’s portfolio of solutions. The cloud is something our resident blogger has seen as a central focus for a growing number of vendors looking to penetrate the SMB or the enterprise. Because of IBM’s focus on MSPs and hosted services, The VAR Guy expects IBM to play up its cloud offerings, while enticing MSPs to hop on board.

The VAR Guy also expects to hear how IBM can be the central arbiter of all things software, hardware and cloud. Our resident blogger has been around the block a few times, so he’ll be watching closely on how exactly IBM plans on executing its plans as a juggernaut in the IT world, especially as various smaller technology vendors are flourishing in the channel.

The VAR Guy has set his alarm to be up bright and early and has a few additional one-on-one deep dives coming soon. Meanwhile, be sure to post any comments, questions or criticisms of IBM and our resident blogger will get to the bottom of it.