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I have plenty of criticism of the blockchain hype, but IBM does this for all buzzwords regardless of how useful the underlying technology is. It is all marketin

I have plenty of criticism of the blockchain hype, but IBM does this for all buzzwords regardless of how useful the underlying technology is. It is all marketing to get executives at large companies to cut large checks. Once those checks are cashed they drop everyone and move on to the next buzzword. The current buzzword is hybrid cloud. Which is awesome for IBM because most large companies already have some on-prem and cloud resources. So IBM inserts a bunch of people into existing processes and resources and claims credit for creating a hybrid cloud for their customers.

zzzeek 6y ago
Red Hat employee here. Contrary to your "inserts a bunch of people" characterization, IBM wanted to get into hybrid cloud so they acquired Red Hat in one of the largest tech acquisitions in history, and we create hybrid clouds for our customers. As we are part of IBM now, IBM is in fact providing hybrid cloud to its customers from start to finish in a substantive way. So there's really no comparison to be made to technologies for which IBM has not made substantive investment.
- jaywalk 6y ago
  I don't think the OP was claiming that IBM doesn't create hybrid clouds, because they clearly do. But "hybrid cloud" is definitely a buzzword right now.
  - zzzeek 6y ago
    Sure it's a "buzzword" but OP was claiming "Once those checks are cashed they drop everyone and move on to the next buzzword", as though IBM does not have substantive capabilities and investment in the hybrid cloud area. This is the opposite of reality. The phrase "inserts a bunch of people into existing processes and resources and claims credit " suggests IBM is not actually providing the service as well, also not the reality.
  - monsieurbanana 6y ago
    I somehow missed/forgot IBM bought Red Hat. Reading OP's comment, I certainly didn't had the impression we were talking about a 34 billion dollars acquisition.
  - adolph 6y ago
    Some buzzwords have stronger underlying value than others. Hybrid Cloud is very critical for orgs that want to migrate or partly use cloud resources, say for moving capital expense to operating expense or for burst uses, but don’t want two different tool chains. IBM/RH’s offer is more flexible then Azure Stack or pieces of Google like Anthos, but the flexibility comes at a higher cost. In any case, is buzzword but not the same variant of buzz as blockchain.
- bob33212 6y ago
  My Condolences. RedHat was an awesome company and helped make Linux and open source a success. I hope the bluewashing goes slow and you are able to have a good experience there for quite a while.
  - rsq32 6y ago
    One could argue it’s already finished. I was hearing almost identical versions of “no, really, IBM is serious about cloud and that’s obvious from buying us” about a month after SoftLayer closed their deal. I’m starting to wonder if that messaging is in the acquisition welcome packet because the similarities to what my SoftLayer friends argued is remarkable (implying the next step, if history is predictive, is for half of Red Hat to leave and IBM to rename cloud offerings again). I overheard that Rackspace exited the hybrid market entirely rather than accept IBM terms, which says a lot if true, but it’s watercooler chat and not worth much. It’s plausible because in an “architecture by strategic acquisition” endeavor one courts the cheap options first.
    - Sylamore 6y ago
      It always takes about 2 years for the corporate hegemony to take over a major acquisition, during which time they have been keeping the new staff under the impression that they bought them to change the acquirers culture not the other way around... then the real re-orgs start.
  - rubbsdecvik 6y ago
    Different Red Hat employee here, that said, this opinion is my own and I have no real authority to say anything beyond my experience. I, in my job, have a lot of contact with IBM folks now for obvious reasons, but I think it's a slow Red washing rather than the other way around. The independence of Red Hat is fiercely defended and is largely respected, even by IBM. I think we all want this to work as it is, rather than make huge changes, especially culturally.
    - tyingq 6y ago
      I'm sure RedHat can stave it off longer, but a fair amount of the Softlayer folks were optimistic at first too.
- neurotixz 6y ago
  I'm working on many projects with RedHat, and have heavily dealt with IBM in the past. I can definitely confirm that the IBM statement is true. Execs signed on many projects, and we were always stuck with a blue pile of unusable garbage at the end. For twice the price orginally agreed to... Working with RedHat as of today is still, well, working with RedHat. Highly competent people building things that will run well for a long time, and (so far) still at a reasonable cost. I do start to see some changes on pricing (high increases are on the horizon...), and more red tape around things that don't fit in the standard boxes. So i'm trying to decouple some areas from being fully dependant to more standardized/vendor agnostic models to keep options opened (mainly in container space).
- anewaccount2021 6y ago
  Give it five years
duxup 6y ago
Buddy of mine worked at a company who was tied to IBM closely. IBM was rolling out its first 'cloud' options and he was so excited to get some on demand type resources. IBM guys walked him through the process. Then he got an email that it would be a few weeks while IBM installed some more servers in their data center.... he looked closer and realized all his actions on the website was just generating emails to someone else who went and did the thing and emailed them back if they were done or not or had to wait. Later the process resembled an actual cloud solution, albeit a year or two behind everyone else in terms of features and workflow.
- coredog64 6y ago
  IaaS: Infrastructure as a ServiceNow ticket
- Sylamore 6y ago
  We had a meeting when I was with IBM where MCMP (https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSJP6K_191218/kc_welcome.html https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSJP6K_191218...) was introduced as the target front-door for all cloud project requests. The initial integration is literally just firing off ServiceNow tickets or emails to the appropriate work teams until further automation is created. The object being to train the end-users to go to the portal instead of contacting people directly or to go directly to the cloud vendor MCMP may be front ending.
- jacques_chester 6y ago
  Call it "lean startup MVP" and you should be able to raise a few million bucks.
- war1025 6y ago
  We interact with IBM from time to time at my work and in general they don't seem like the most competent people in the world. But also it varies quite a bit depending on which sub-group within IBM you are interacting with. The nice thing about IBM is that they have an army of lawyers and industry connections that a small company like mine can piggy-back off of now and again.
krona 6y ago
In terms of Hybrid cloud (launched in 2011 if memory serves) it's more of a 'connect the tech to the buzzword' process, one in which IBM assignes a buzzword to tech its had for decades. Same process with 'cyber' and 'cognitive computing'. IBM is too slow to actually develop anything ahead of the market without acquisitions.
- bonzini 6y ago
  Think about it, IBM 360 was basically an AWS Outpost 50 years ago!

zzzeek 6y ago

Red Hat employee here. Contrary to your "inserts a bunch of people" characterization, IBM wanted to get into hybrid cloud so they acquired Red Hat in one of the largest tech acquisitions in history, and we create hybrid clouds for our customers. As we are part of IBM now, IBM is in fact providing hybrid cloud to its customers from start to finish in a substantive way. So there's really no comparison to be made to technologies for which IBM has not made substantive investment.

jaywalk 6y ago
I don't think the OP was claiming that IBM doesn't create hybrid clouds, because they clearly do. But "hybrid cloud" is definitely a buzzword right now.
- zzzeek 6y ago
  Sure it's a "buzzword" but OP was claiming "Once those checks are cashed they drop everyone and move on to the next buzzword", as though IBM does not have substantive capabilities and investment in the hybrid cloud area. This is the opposite of reality. The phrase "inserts a bunch of people into existing processes and resources and claims credit " suggests IBM is not actually providing the service as well, also not the reality.
- monsieurbanana 6y ago
  I somehow missed/forgot IBM bought Red Hat. Reading OP's comment, I certainly didn't had the impression we were talking about a 34 billion dollars acquisition.
- adolph 6y ago
  Some buzzwords have stronger underlying value than others. Hybrid Cloud is very critical for orgs that want to migrate or partly use cloud resources, say for moving capital expense to operating expense or for burst uses, but don’t want two different tool chains. IBM/RH’s offer is more flexible then Azure Stack or pieces of Google like Anthos, but the flexibility comes at a higher cost. In any case, is buzzword but not the same variant of buzz as blockchain.
bob33212 6y ago
My Condolences. RedHat was an awesome company and helped make Linux and open source a success. I hope the bluewashing goes slow and you are able to have a good experience there for quite a while.
- rsq32 6y ago
  One could argue it’s already finished. I was hearing almost identical versions of “no, really, IBM is serious about cloud and that’s obvious from buying us” about a month after SoftLayer closed their deal. I’m starting to wonder if that messaging is in the acquisition welcome packet because the similarities to what my SoftLayer friends argued is remarkable (implying the next step, if history is predictive, is for half of Red Hat to leave and IBM to rename cloud offerings again). I overheard that Rackspace exited the hybrid market entirely rather than accept IBM terms, which says a lot if true, but it’s watercooler chat and not worth much. It’s plausible because in an “architecture by strategic acquisition” endeavor one courts the cheap options first.
  - Sylamore 6y ago
    It always takes about 2 years for the corporate hegemony to take over a major acquisition, during which time they have been keeping the new staff under the impression that they bought them to change the acquirers culture not the other way around... then the real re-orgs start.
- rubbsdecvik 6y ago
  Different Red Hat employee here, that said, this opinion is my own and I have no real authority to say anything beyond my experience. I, in my job, have a lot of contact with IBM folks now for obvious reasons, but I think it's a slow Red washing rather than the other way around. The independence of Red Hat is fiercely defended and is largely respected, even by IBM. I think we all want this to work as it is, rather than make huge changes, especially culturally.
  - tyingq 6y ago
    I'm sure RedHat can stave it off longer, but a fair amount of the Softlayer folks were optimistic at first too.
neurotixz 6y ago
I'm working on many projects with RedHat, and have heavily dealt with IBM in the past. I can definitely confirm that the IBM statement is true. Execs signed on many projects, and we were always stuck with a blue pile of unusable garbage at the end. For twice the price orginally agreed to... Working with RedHat as of today is still, well, working with RedHat. Highly competent people building things that will run well for a long time, and (so far) still at a reasonable cost. I do start to see some changes on pricing (high increases are on the horizon...), and more red tape around things that don't fit in the standard boxes. So i'm trying to decouple some areas from being fully dependant to more standardized/vendor agnostic models to keep options opened (mainly in container space).
anewaccount2021 6y ago
Give it five years

duxup 6y ago

Buddy of mine worked at a company who was tied to IBM closely. IBM was rolling out its first 'cloud' options and he was so excited to get some on demand type resources. IBM guys walked him through the process. Then he got an email that it would be a few weeks while IBM installed some more servers in their data center.... he looked closer and realized all his actions on the website was just generating emails to someone else who went and did the thing and emailed them back if they were done or not or had to wait. Later the process resembled an actual cloud solution, albeit a year or two behind everyone else in terms of features and workflow.

coredog64 6y ago
IaaS: Infrastructure as a ServiceNow ticket
Sylamore 6y ago
We had a meeting when I was with IBM where MCMP (https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSJP6K_191218/kc_welcome.html https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSJP6K_191218...) was introduced as the target front-door for all cloud project requests. The initial integration is literally just firing off ServiceNow tickets or emails to the appropriate work teams until further automation is created. The object being to train the end-users to go to the portal instead of contacting people directly or to go directly to the cloud vendor MCMP may be front ending.
jacques_chester 6y ago
Call it "lean startup MVP" and you should be able to raise a few million bucks.
war1025 6y ago
We interact with IBM from time to time at my work and in general they don't seem like the most competent people in the world. But also it varies quite a bit depending on which sub-group within IBM you are interacting with. The nice thing about IBM is that they have an army of lawyers and industry connections that a small company like mine can piggy-back off of now and again.

krona 6y ago

In terms of Hybrid cloud (launched in 2011 if memory serves) it's more of a 'connect the tech to the buzzword' process, one in which IBM assignes a buzzword to tech its had for decades. Same process with 'cyber' and 'cognitive computing'. IBM is too slow to actually develop anything ahead of the market without acquisitions.

bonzini 6y ago
Think about it, IBM 360 was basically an AWS Outpost 50 years ago!