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So here we are at IBM Pulse 2009.

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It's another IT management podcast special this time with John Willis.

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So what did you think of the day one keynote?

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It was interesting, you know, the dynamic infrastructure.

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I mean, in one note, it's IBM doing what they do best, right,

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is trying to figure out the really big picture, right,

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and the idea of dynamic infrastructure,

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of starting to manage all the business assets

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and treating them as becoming electronic, you know,

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the brain of everything you're doing.

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I mean, I think that's really cool, and yet in the Maximo,

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I mean, that acquisition really made sense.

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Now, the reality is that, you know, a lot of the stuff they talk about

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with, you know, the utility organizations,

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they're not doing the smart, they're already doing that stuff themselves, right?

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So, and the truth of the matter is that, you know,

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I think that in a lot of ways it's a lot bigger piece than, you know,

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they're trying to buy.

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So it's a pretty big vision is what you're saying.

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Yeah, and, you know, maybe bigger than they've ever, you know,

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maybe this one could be their brick wall, you know,

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because it's one thing to talk about a large vision within IT,

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but then to try to take a vision that encompasses, you know,

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everything that we do in our daily life.

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So have you talked with people afterwards?

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Like, what are other folks saying?

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You know, the thing I ask, and I hit a couple of people after it,

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and it was the cloud, you know, and what you get classically from most of the customers

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I've talked to is that, yeah, I hear this cloud thing is really something we should be looking at.

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So, you know, I get the sense that really none of the really big customers that are really focused in

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on, you know, getting their job done today, which is monitoring, provisioning, you know,

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getting the data center, getting their IT infrastructure to have some meaning.

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You know, they're just, the cloud is just this thing that's hovering around there,

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and, you know, it's like, yeah, I have to learn about it someday, but.

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Right, and so what do you think about the way IBM talked about, like, cloud computing today?

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Well, I'm hoping they go a little deeper dive the rest of the week, like today and tomorrow,

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because, I mean, they're, you know, they gave no sense in that presentation

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that they really had a vision on the cloud, or what it really meant, or, I mean,

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if I go around the room and I ask all these people, what's your plan of cloud,

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and they're like, yeah, that cloud thing's something.

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I mean, at the very least, they should have set the stage and given their definition of what they think of cloud.

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Right, right.

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Well, there was one sort of worded definition that the stand-up people were giving, right,

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about virtualization, and I should have been, I think Doug McClure was recording it,

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so maybe we can figure out the tape on that.

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Yeah, yeah, no, and that was a standard, like, if it's low cost, then it's immediately available.

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Right, right.

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You know, the kind of utility aspect of it, but I think that they kind of brushed over,

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like, everybody assumes that everybody knows what the cloud is,

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and to me it sounded like they didn't know what the cloud was,

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and they're making this assumption that everybody else knows what it is, you know, so.

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Right.

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Well, have you seen any sessions that might, there's like a whole cloud track, right?

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How are those looking?

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They all start after lunch.

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There's a, I want to follow that whole track.

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There's like two or three today, there's even a box this evening,

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and then there's about four tomorrow, so I'm going to hit all those,

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and, you know, hopefully I'll have a better explanation of what I think IBM thinks the cloud is.

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Now, the one thing that I will say is that has some promises that T-SAN, the Tivoli Systems Automation Manager.

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Right.

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Which is, you know, sounds like that's being co-developed by some of their customers,

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and that is going to be this kind of today working on kind of the self-service provisioning of virtualization.

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But, you know, in a couple of discussions, it sounds like they're really close to just heading on maybe even things like Amazon Web Services and stuff.

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Oh, yeah, yeah.

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That would definitely be the excitement right there.

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So, yeah.

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So, I don't think we'll hear anything about that, but I'm expecting to hear a lot about the T-SAN today or tomorrow.

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That seems to be their first, at least Tivoli's first real cloud play.

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Right.

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And, again, I think it's more going to be the, you know, how do we do self-service provisioning, immediate provisioning, utility-based provisioning within the on-premise environment.

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So, do you have any other first-day impressions?

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Yeah, I was, you know, glad I didn't pay for the conference.

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No, I mean, so far, you know, it was painful, but, you know, I mean, now the reality check is that, you know,

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it was painful to sit through.

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In fact, the only useful presentation this morning, really, in my opinion, was the Harley-Davidson presentation.

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Right.

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I mean, other than that, you know, it's just the, you know, it's just this dog and pony every year.

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Here's where I make my friends.

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Now, the dog and pony every year, it's another story, you know.

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This year, it's dynamic infrastructure.

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Last year, it was something else.

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Can't we have something last more than two years?

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Right, right.

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If it's a really good idea, it should actually last more than a year.

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So, the ideas, the ideas stay the same.

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The names change.

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That's right, that's right.

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The guilty.

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That's right, yeah.

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I mean, on-demand, hey, you've been hit, you know what I mean?

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Whatever, yeah.

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But, yeah, well, why don't we just stick with that one?

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That was great.

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Yeah, I always liked on-demand.

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Yeah, yeah, let's stay with that one, so.

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In fact, what IBM now calls the cloud is what they used to call on-demand, which was their own message,

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and had differentiation, and instead, they got something clouded.

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And, in fact, if anything, that's when we should be circling back to the whole on-demand.

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Because now we actually have.

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They don't give a crap whether it's cloud or whatever.

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And we have the tools to finally deliver on-demand.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah, no, and I think that's the point, is that if you really want to tell a story, you're making up a story.

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Right, you know, you shouldn't have to come every year to a marketing blitz and campaign and music.

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If it's a good story, just tell me the story.

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I really don't.

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I mean, maybe some people like the tap dance and the, you know, the da-da-da-da, and now let's go back to the gin and the field, you know what I mean?

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I just.

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A post-news network?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I just want to hear.

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And I get the sense that other people sitting out there, I mean, it's somewhat entertainment, but they didn't come here to get, you know.

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Right, well, we'll have to check in with you when the cloud track chapters get told.

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Yeah, no, I think that, I mean, that's the bottom line, is once I get through the cloud tracks, then, you know, I'll have, you know, a lot to say.

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Well, fantastic.

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Well, we'll see everyone next time.

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So, John Willis, our man in the clouds.