Warnings Issued by CICC and DICT Regarding False Hacks

Recent warnings were issued by CICC (Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center) and DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) about false data breach data posted on dark web forums. They reiterated how folks in the community should exercise caution especially about several fake eGovPH hacks in several anonymous posts.

According to CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos, much of the posts seen in breach forums was nothing but a fake hack claim made to defraud other members in the community by stating they have data from the eGovPH app. They also specifically identified a user with the handle GR3GGM3RC3R who did this.  Meanwhile, DICT's Undersecretary for E-Government David Almirol assured the public how the app is protected from these because of several security features they implemented during its inception. The app has encruption, eGovChain security, and attached keys for what data it has, and if someone claims to have hacked it, and doesn't have that key, their claim wouldn't be legitimate.

For those who don't know, Breach Forums gained fame for cybercriminals and hackers who are into trading stolen data. Often using anonymized platforms, they use it to steal personal data. The user identified was banned recently and wasn't able to provide proof of said eGovPH hack. The place is also known for ransomware attacks, and these agencies warn folks who might fall prey with the false news.

This warning is issued by CICC's Office of the Executive Director, Alexander Ramos.

Office of PNP Chief Marbil Issues Statement on False Information in Social Media

Recent pronouncements, malicious attacks on social media has gotten the office of the PNP Chief Rommel Francisco Marbil worried where they insinuate removal of rice allowances for PNP personnel and having them donated to persons deprived of liberty. These are being strongly denied, unfounded and baseless as there have been no directives from their office, nor do they have plans to do so. These moves have been orchestrated to discredit the PNP Chief who has been working hard to restore reputation through smart methods. They say these are outright lies, fabricated, made to malign his policies.

PNP Chief Marbil is not using the word WAR in addressing operations in substance abuse, as he doesn't want to be associated with human rights abuse in the past. His office has noted essential reforms as of recent:

Mass formation and Flag Raising (15-20 minutes)

Personnel should be present and operational at 8am sharp 

Prohibit the use of cellphones while on patrol

Simplification of personnel compliance 

New UPER Criteria

Finish 70 percent of warrants and wanted individuals

No favoritism in promotions and assignments

Non exclusivity of promotions

Restriction of Police Community Relations

Non re-assignment of PNP personnel facing cases on their previous units

Meetings to be conducted online to maximize time for unit commanders

No changes for one month

Removal of 24 hour duty for personnel

They also deny the inclusions of inverted crawls in the PNP Physical Fitness Test. They also deny false information about donation of allowances as CIP, CDP, and rice subsidies are automatically added on regular salaries.

Respondents are forewarned that such accusations and lies will not be tolerated, and a thorough investigation is being done. People found at fault will be sanctioned.

He also urges the public to be vigilant and only believe verified information. Trust that the PNP under Chief Marbil and his office will serve and protect you, the Filipino people, with professionalism and integrity.

DICT Launches Tech Workshops with Huawei Philippines

Looks like the Department of Information and Communications Technology just made headway wit their workshops this year. They are hosting this for government employees from various agencies and it's all about the 6 emerging technologies, of which 700 participants have joined in. This has gone from June to November of 2021 and has covered important subjects such as 5G Networks, the Digital Economy, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing and Cybersecurity among others.

Assistant Secretary Alvin Navarro has lauded the DICT and Huawei Philippines for holding this in the country. He adds "Cybersecurity has indeed affected us and we need to work together to make sure our personal information and identity remain safe amidst the threats and risks around the world."

Huawei's VP Daniel Guo congratulated the teams for holding a successful run. DICT also presented Huawei a certificate of appreciation for hosting the event and sharing their technical know how about the topics in the workshops. This is a really good partnership. If you want to know more about it, you may follow HuaweiTechPH on Facebook for updates about their efforts too.

Intelligent World 2030 Report Released by Huawei

Tech giant Huawei has released a report based on data gathered over 3 years with academics, customers, industry partners drawn from workshops they've organized including the UN, World Economic Forum and the WHO. The report contains a forecast of sorts using quantitative and qualitative analysis in order to see what's on trend in the next few years. This would hasten industries to identify and discover opportunities in the ICT sector and see where it could apply much of its products in the coming years.

It was discussed by David Wang tje current Executive Director and President of ICT Products and Solutions for Huawei during his keynote speech at the Intelligent World 2030 Forum in Shenzen, China. It was witnessed by industry partners and discusses about how ICT would solve problems and challenges of future tech, what direction to take in communication networks, digital power and automotive solutions. This is part of Huawei's pursuit of a connected and intelligent world which they deem is arriving at a fast pace.

The report includes directions for exploration specifically on health, food, the way we live and transportation. It states the ability to tackle potential health problems by using medical data, the use of IoT and AI devices and make it a way of prevention. They also see a future in vertical farms, 3D printing actual food, zero carbon buildings, aircrafts to take our travel ways to a so called "third space". They also have high hopes for AI and how it goes beyond digital and physical limits, with the help of more innovation in software, architecture and advancements in semiconductor technology, it's going to be possible.  

Aside from that, there will be more empowerment in the digital space hastening low carbon footprint, gains in tech of renewable energy, increase in electric vehicles plus autonomous driving in many places around the globe. Huawei prospects much of these happening in China first, then elsewhere in the globe. Visit their site huawei.com/en/giv for more information about it.

Dingdong Dantes for Amazing Earth

It's a documentary series from BBC but in the Philippines, it will be narrated by premier actor, GMA Primetime King and host Dingdong Dantes. The press conference was hosted by Arianne Bautista and to start off, they wanted us to know that they are making this as their newest infotainment content in GMA.

In the series, we will get to know quite a numbered of endangered species, how they live, survive in different places, even in the city. They are also inserting interviews of subject matter experts, people who are on the ground at the marine protected sanctuaries. 

He says "This would have been a project for Betong but he was so bust in out of the country shows hence me on the show. This is going to show stories of animals, our environment, we are not alone and there are tons of things we need to discover. We co exist with animals, they live and breathe like us and we need to clean up our own act. This is like what I do in teleseryes but it has a different fulfillment in delivering a message through this narrative. Like the viewers, I am learning with them as well, I become entertained and informed. As for directing Marian, I don't want to do that because she's big, I know her capacity as an actress. I am not sure yet on when that will be done, but she is loved by her previous directors because she doesn't have any qualms about her craft. She's unbelievable. I received flowers from her, and we'll spend our few days in Palawan soon."

He adds "As a narrator, it has been done in BBC and shot in 5 years, we need to interpret this and make it our own - and I think we did that. The aim is to make this experience for a family every Sunday at 6:10pm. This had a lot of firsts, they employed 4K videos so all the details can be seen clearly. On June 24 I'll be in Singapore, there will be other Kapuso artists with me too. There are plans of another series, something to be done this year. We also have plans to do two movies, but don't have details yet. We'll announce as soon as we get word. As for the show, our interviewees tell their own stories. We are very excited to bring you this June 17 an Amazing Earth."

So for those who would want to have fun while learning a lot, make this Sunday a special day with your family and friends by watching worthwhile videos on Amazing Earth at 6pm. You've missed him I'm sure so this would be a good thing to watch before you head on to next week. Your kids would become genius too LOL!

KUMAGCOW

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Bridgestone Teaches More Filipinos About Tire Safety

You've probably heard of the brand a couple of times since they're very involved in the sports cars industry or have probably seen it in the streets of Manila once or twice in your lifetime being used as radial tires of cars or jeepneys whatever the case may be. It looks like they're upping the anté this time and figured to address one of the most important part of the Filipino motorist's life, and that's safety. Bridgestone Philippines' Ms. Ruby Gan says "Hindi na pwede ang pwede na!" (which literally means "It's not okay to be just okay!") a standard that is mostly uttered or brushed off by Filipinos. Bridgestone feels we deserve the best and if it's just mediocre, we definitely do not have to just accept it as is. They tell us how it is important to have quality tires because as per statistics, there are tons of accidents that have been caused by poor quality tires and this has got to stop. You've probably seen it increase quite rapidly in the rainy season where buses even cars go off route or fall into ravines and cause death. It's not a lauging matter, so they've also launched a Free Tire Check Service Program at Bridgestone Philippines which you can now access through http://www.bridgestonetires.com.ph/tire-center so you and I could get educated about tire safety, a thing that they hope would address lack of tire knowledge. They are doing this for free!

Now you've got a place to ask for motoring concerns, driver safety, and know how your tires can get you better mileage, make your car fuel efficient, and lessen your carbon footprint. They also have videos and tons of material that can make you a tad more educated when it comes to tire safety, accesible on the internet anytime of the day. 

Here are some videos which you can check out while you're at it!

You may visit their website http://www.bridgestonetires.com.ph or follow their social media channels @BridgestonePH on IG and Twitter. Take that leap and be better on the road and show those Bridgestone tires out there!

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Bucket List: To See Spain!

As you can probably tell by my name, I have Spanish lineage. I've attempted to trace our family tree and the last bit I got is that we hail from Valencia. It's a long story. Valencia is the third largest city after Madrid and Barcelona. A few days ago, we were invited to a dinner party over at Manila Peninsula and see product updates about Spain. I didn't know countries could come like a product but when I listened to their people a couple of nights ago, it all made sense. I've got to go to España!

Arturo Ortiz, Director of Spain Tourism Board side by side with Ms. Vien Cortes, Market Analyst from the Spain Tourism Board.

The National Tourism Office of Spain and Embassy representatives provided information that would highlight the best from their country. It all boils down to our affinity to culture and our historical ties. We could not just throw away what's common between the Philippines and Spain so they are really banking on that. 

Spain's aggressive stance in the tourism industry didn't just come overnight, because as of now their yearly tourist arrivals amount to around 58 million. It definitely provides a chunk of their economic and business activities and since there are untapped Asian cities like Manila plus our other neighbors, we would be something that they have found interest especially in the religious - pilgrimage tour sector since our countries ties involve Catholicism. Their churches and real deal saintly locations doesn't only provide sustenance to the spirit, but even awe struck you with architecture spanning ages you weren't born or thought about yet, that long. Aside from that, they've also got one of the most modern art, architecture and engineering centers in the world! I was pretty close to booking a ticket when they showed Madrid. Then when we were also told about other regions in the country, I envied the lady who spoke about the Andalusian region where she showed some parts of Córdoba, Granada, Jaén, Málaga and Seville. She hasn't even started yet because as she was telling us about the places, she went in and dosed us with Spanish Gastronomy!

 

This is my kind of Paella! =)

There must be a hundred of these concoctions that are similarly called in Filipino and Spanish cooking but yes, Spain does have their own gustatory pleasures in and around Madrid. Their Paella no matter what way or form it goes just looks so good. Each region much like ours have their own version. Meaning that goes the same with Ensaymada, Adobo, etc. I also envy their wine and olive oil sources especially when they treat EVOO with such regalness since they never would want to put it elsewhere (not even on a pan) but on a plate!

Ms. Lisa Dinh, Business Development Manager for International Marketing & Tourism, 

El Corte Ingles

Then this gorgeous lady right here also told us something husbands would never appreciate. Spain is actually lethal for shopaholics! They've got hundreds of shopping malls and arcades in Spain that would be the perfect venue to swipe your cards. They've got one of the biggest tax exempted shopping venues in the world. They've got a system to get refunds for most retail shops and all you have to do is fill up the appropriate forms for it. If you're looking for original labeled bags, they bet you can even get it cheaper in Spain than in other European countries since it is duty free! Now that's a shopping haven you wouldn't want to miss!

The Spanish Ambassador Jorge Domecq

Ambassador Jorge Domecq proudly says that there are around 54,000 Filipinos who visited Spain last year and they are gunning to increase that this 2014. Spain has it all and all you have to do is take a look at this bright spot in Europe once more. I've always wanted to go and see if there's a Bueno clan in that part of the world, who know's I might just get the chance to do that this year!

 Since we needed to immerse ourselves further with what Spain has to offer, we got our dancing shoes ready for a spirited Flamenco dance!

I did actually get to experience Flamenco when I was a kid (I kid you not!) and it's one of the most exhilarating dances I've ever done. If you wish to see more of Spain, watch this!

 

Viva España!

P.S. Oh if you're looking for flights, go with Qatar Airways. I've seen their lounges and it's like a five star hotel. You've got to stay there a bit if I were you! LOL 

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Exemplary Social Media Practices for Public Service

Social Media has become quite a tool for public and private entities. In the last US election alone, there have been remarkable scientific studies over influences, mentions and popularity verified and supported with analytics technology so one can see or even in a way predict the one to get the presidency. The technology as become quite advanced that they actually use listening tools and see a direct correlation with the outcome and they have not been able to see This goes the same with the use of social media with public and private services. Whilst private companies keep mum on most situations (to keep their name spotless), the public sector in the Philippines has quite efficiently made better use of it by harnessing these channels and making it more efficient to deliver news, personal views, opinions and updates all in real time.

Take JV Ejercito for example. When a fire broke out in San Juan City a couple of years ago (I think it was the one in N.Domingo), he directly appealed for what was needed and made sure everyone was informed of the situation. It was easy to ask for additional firetrucks, supplies and issue statements to media even if he was too busy working on it. He took time working with his team, assessing the situation and tell the people what they were up for. It was easier and he could tell right then and there what everyone had to do. He also got his posts cross posted on Facebook so whichever medium was being used by his constituents, they had first hand information from the Mayor himself. Yes, you might think it's a dangerous feat to have the person himself and not the assistant/secretary to do the responses but he made it a point to make engagements very personal. Wouldn't you want to know what your local government official is doing all these years in office perhaps? Exactly! His Klout score is high; and the social influence he gets off that is something to admire. Klout has its own way of computing for influence across different social media channels and if you continuously have high ratings on this alone, you know how your message runs across to other people vis-à-vis constituents.  

He's also an avid supporter of the FOI (Freedom of Information) bill and he has said his sentiments quite a lot. This includes how important it is to give the public more access to records of government transactions but still have it in line with constitutional guarantees of freedom for information. Now that is a necessity for every single one of us; of course including netizens. Our opinions matter; and if the laws of the land do not protect you or anyone in particular who publishes it here or online then what constitutional guarantee do we have at all? Understanding how the world works nowadays prove to be a little complicated for most of the old ones in the government (don't get me wrong but there are a lot of them right?) who only thinks of ineffective policies of the yesteryear's constitution. I wouldn't want to name names because you probably know who they are. Just like JV Ejercito, MMDA is doing one heck of a great job at this department.If you see anyone close to their interactions and efforts across the web, then it's probably worth to get to know them better.

We ought to choose those who only know how important and effective how social media is at this day and time. It's our generation, and we need it now more than ever. The Philippines deserve all the nice things it's been achieving; and I wouldn't want to see it go to waste because we'll just fall back again on deaf ears and not those who listen and take time to answer the people directly. If we harness this medium and have that efficiently be used for the greater good of the people, we'll have a better country; and a better version of ourselves in the long run. Wouldn't that be a cool Philippines?

IBM's Smarter Storage Solutions

When you notice your hard drive is about to become 100 percent capacity you always run around in circles and feel you're about to lose it. Now just imagine that same time when you tried to partition  your drives the first time you bought your laptop or desktop computer and looked helpless seeing it wasn't enough space you allocated for your files and you can't do anything about it and had no where else to back up files. Your pathetic attempt to put everything on USB drives and DVD was laughed upon by your peers because they know it would take you hours upon hours to do that and make it one of the most unproductive days at work. Your network administrator suddenly took out the whole network down so he can backup your office files and you go way past your deadlines, truly not a fun situation to be in.

All along, it should have been an enterprise level system that should have handled all of these for you. IBM as part of their smart computing initiatives, announced a new approach in planning, designing and managing big data infrastructures that utilizes their energy efficient, smart and intelligent software and hardware storage solutions that minimizes legwork in strategical ergonomic processes. Seen in the photo above, Jeff Barber, the Vice President for Mid Range Storage, Systems and Technology Group for IBM explains that the data we are gathering from an enterprise and corporate standpoint are increasing exponentially. The Asean region alone utilizes a huge chunk of these storage requirements and the only way you can cope up with this is by smart systems that has the intelligence and efficiency of handling this big data. We were shocked to see the numbers but it looks like they've got that covered. With things that can understand and automatically manage your data for you even in several brands that would normally not work together, the IBM Smarter Storage can run with your evolving infrastructures which even in some way future proof your systems. Now isn't that smart? 

If you know about Watson and the wonderful things he did for championing Jeopardy, that's exactly what they are going to be implementing in these storage systems. The proper management of data via virtualization, de-duplication, automated (even multilevel) tiering and cataloging can't be done by other known systems but IBM has that on their sleeve. You should check out these services that can complement your existing storage systems and have that enhanced via Intelligent Storage Service Catalog (ISSC) and utilize Cloud Systems (which in my books is inevitable) via IBM SmartCloud Services for Storage that can improve your data backup, manage massive quantities of data even in real time. 

Check out what they can offer over at http://www.ibm.com/storage or follow them on Twitter @IBMStorage for more information.

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Simplify Computing: IBM PureSystems

Mr. Scott Firth, Director for Systems Software Marketing and IBM Virtualization shows the next era of IT through IBM PureSystems.

Last night while I was writing this article I was thinking of something complicated to press on the keyboard because this was a pretty technical discussion. I guess I was missing the point right from the beginning; because in a nutshell IBM is making things simpler. 

Running any IT infrastructure would require a lot of resources. Software, hardware components plus virtual storage through clouds and other media. This entails a lot of money and corporations; no matter how big or small they are, need all the help they can get. IBM knows this and they are rolling out a new, simpler era of computing via their new "expert integrated systems" which would make life easier for you and me. This would integrate all IT elements, both physical and virtual. This is a new enterprise computing model which would simplify and minimize resources needed to set up and maintain whilst running your businesses. 70 percent or more of budget allowances go to this particular function. Imagine how much that would cost in a larger scale. This is where IBM PureSystems come in.

Karl Wee Lead of Strategic Business IBM Asean Software Group, Scott Firth Director for Systems Software Marketing and IBM Virtualization and Sang Yoong Yi Country Manager for IBM Systems and Technology Group answering questions from the press.

IBM invested around $2 Billion for R&D and acquisitions over four years in order to achieve this feat. Imagine a world where key functions no longer need to be done over and over again. It is possible now by merely simplifying these processes with actual software that contains these things; in which some are free and some can be purchased much like an in house "conceptual app store" for IBM. You can literally make things work in minutes, often out of the box.

The new PureSystems family boasts of three advances in managing IT infrastructures.

“Scale-In” System Design: With PureSystems, IBM is introducing a new concept in system design that integrates the server, storage, and networking into a highly automated, simple-to-manage machine. Scale-in design provides for increased density – PureSystems can handle twice as many applications compared to some IBM systems, doubling the computing power per square foot of data center space.

Patterns of Expertise: For the first time, IBM is embedding technology and industry expertise through first-of-a-kind software that allows the systems to automatically handle basic, time-consuming tasks such as configuration, upgrades, and application requirements.

Cloud Ready integration: Out of the box, all PureSystems family members are built for the cloud, enabling corporations to quickly create private, self-service cloud offerings that can scale up and down automatically.

This has in effect changed a lot in the computing landscape. With its thrust also touching on cloud technology and using that platform to generally also simplify processes, this would be something that ordinary people can actually use to maintain resources. Later on, they could make data accessible to any place and have it with the right amount of security too. When asked about other vendors selling hardware/software components similar to PureSystems, Scott Firth and Karl Wee affirms IBM is different because they have a more wholistic package. It's a tougher cookie to bite these days but the selling point is indeed the convenience in setting it up and maintaining it with a single press of a button using the right software/applications. In the long run, this is pretty good investment and can save enterprise/corporations millions of dollars.

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IBM's Initiatives and the 2011 CIO Study

IBM in it's continued love for investing a lot in research and development added another feather in their hat last September 1, 2011 at the Press Briefing held at the Mandaluyong Ballroom, Shangrila Makati. I was excited since this was in the line of the programs I was running for my day job and true enough I had some great inputs from experts in the industry who had experience from the ASEAN, Philippines and US perspective. This study was conducted over a four month period from October 2010 to January 2011. I learned a couple of things specifically on the roles of CIO's (Chief Information Officers) and how it is essential in the structure of a corporation.

Mr. Giuseppe Bruni, ASEAN Business Sales & Delivery Executive, IBM Strategy & Transformation, IBM Global Business Services talked about the importance of CIO's as resulted from the 2011 CIO Study. The ASEAN perspective was somewhat different from what the Global perspective is but there are quite a number of similarities. "With technology becoming both an enabler of competitive advantage and embedded in every facet of the enterprise, the role of the CIO has never been more essential." says Mr. Bruni.

CIO's play an important part in running companies. It shows on the technology and innovation that they bring to the table. CIO's must think business first just like the CEO's. In their centennial year IBM is bringing to the table a research that includes the best CIO's in the US and elsewhere in the world. They wanted to show the importance it plays in the structure and survival of the complex organization you are in. They initially gave importance to the CIO position in the 50's and 60's. Almost all these critical positions and its studies were started by IBM at that time. Today they take Business analytics and other significant studies to another level. They started interviewing real deal CIO's from different companies and started asking about three key takeaways.

- How the CIO's role become fundamental
- How CEO's and CIO's way of thinking should be very closely aligned
- How to be successful and how CIO's need to identify and communicate their mandate weather it would be to have leverage, expand, innovate, pioneer it or transform.

It was a pleasure to also meet Mr. Rodney Regalado, Country Executive for Global Technology Services, IBM Philippines gave a small talk about how this study reflects in the Philippine Market. He also gave a funny anecdote about so called government experts that were not quite experts at all. I beckon more studies on the regional perspective should be done so it would reflect the real comparison between local conditions and those which has been done by first world countries. We'd be able to see where they are succeeding and we are failing. I'd like to make that a point of comparison so to speak.

They sampled around 3018 CIO's around the world to get this data with the mandate that not one is better than the other. Rodney Regalado of the C-Suite Study Series campaign mentioned some basic facts on what this data actually means for the local Philippine market. The services business in the Philippines is where IBM eventually wants to play. They want to make and support infrastructure, give importance to basics and immerse people in situations that can add value on current businesses. It was really enlightening for people like me in the Programs Management field.

Mr. Cort Isernhagen, Vice President, IDC giving us a few ideas what to ask in the press briefing. He asked a couple of hypothetical questions about the industry's insights and the impact of this study to various existing public and private corporations.

IDC a third party firm who works in analysis and market research said that they make stern conclusions on studies about how corporations would be able to use these fields to create products quickly and what similarities the CEO and CIO should have in order to achieve it. It's one of the ways that a corporation would be able to add value to "current services" and know the industry per ce so they in return can support more and over deliver. They advised me to try and show more value even if the client corporation doesn't need it even on a very limited project such as IT infrastructure projects.

Giuseppe Bruni, ASEAN Business Sales & Delivery Executive, IBM Strategy & Transformation, IBM Global Business Services; James Velasquez, President and Country General Manager, Rodney Regalado, Country Executive for Global Technology Services, both from IBM Philippines, and Cort Isernhagen, Vice President, IDC

They predicted that the Philippines is more focused on the basics right now but will veer away in the next few years specially in the banking and mobile communication industries. CIO's and CEO's should be aligned in this integral transition. IBM realizes that business intelligence and analytics will continue to stay as top priorities for businesses and industries. CIO's must stay pro active and IT must be presented as a "cool" thing again. This is still part of IBM's goal of a Smarter Planet!

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IBM Shows a World of "Smarter Computing"

Imagine a world where computers and servers are no longer required to be updated manually or be environmentally harmful at any given state. One that would be energy efficient, requires less space and had more bang for the buck powerful computing power than ever before. This has been one of IBM's goal since their inception of a world with Smarter Computing. This is one that would literally change the face of information technology by leaps and bounds. They already have achieved remarkable advancements in this field as we learned about it from the IBM Technology Expo 2011 last May 17.

Have you heard of Watson? Nope, not the one with Sherlock Holmes. If not, watch this!

You see, IBM just has shown here how a specialized super computer (that is not connected to the world wide web) and how it would be able to compete with the best minds in the world for this game. Watson can come up with a lot of things which includes a) an answer, b) gauge how confident he is about the answer, c) the capability to learn about it, d) analyze and understand human speech no matter what you want it to mean and e) say the actual words for the answer. The billions of dollars they have spent on research and development has achieved so much in a short amount of time. They even used Power7, a next generation server processor which succeeds the Power6. IBM had several sites in different countries to work and make a "Petascale Supercomputer Architecture" that can do quadrillion rate jobs in a short amount of time. This is possible by doing techniques and strategies in parallel computing. These new generation of Blade Servers are faster, smaller compared to the other big predecessors of the IBM Power Systems.

This is how DeepQA thinks. The power behind Watson.
(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Mr. Steven Seah, Smart Analytics Leader of the Systems and Technology Group for IBM in ASEAN explained the things WATSON can do. If you think about the possibilities that these servers can do in other applications such as medicine, nuclear management, ATM, file storage and other utilities for enterprise scaled businesses; the outlook is very promising. Imagine the return of investment for many corporations that continue to use bigger racks, space and carbon footprint requirements when they use just a few of these instead. Costing wise and strategy wise this is the way to go. Take a look at what it can eventually do for Cancer research:

With IBM Power 7 Systems it can handle different forms of Analytics, Data Warehousing and increased throughput. It can compare and analyze millions of pages and get almost the same amount of questions for it.

Mr. Eugene Bay, the Power Systems Manager for IBM in ASEAN talked about how they led the market these past few years because of some systems that were not supported by other vendors; like the Oracle Solaris OS for the UNIX platform. They have been able to dominate the market because of these blunders. It still employs the same but improved cooling systems they had with the Power 6 series. They used Chilled water instead of Air in order to get it up to 4000 times more efficient in cooling. It's better for the environment. The noise is not much of a concern and they could probably have things to aesthetically remove that pretty soon too. Insider information seems to indicate there will be Power 8 in the works and that again would have monumental changes in the information technology landscape as IBM has done in the past. Making this and have an OS that would be able to accommodate two architectures or more would take a lot of resources to achieve. Think of what it can do with Mac if it had Power7 on it. That would count around 8 cores a chip then two of these chips per module with two modules and 4 SMT threads a chip it could blow your mind into smithereens just doing the math. They told me never to fear advancements in technologies like these if I think that this would require less manpower requirements because they would just be assigned to other productive tasks later on. Life would be easier and less strenuous for what it's worth.

I'd like to take this bit to thank a few people from IBM for inviting me last May 17, 2011. You made me go back to school again at this day and age ha-ha! Thank you to Country General Manager James Velasquez, Mr. Owen Cammayo and the beautiful ladies from IBM Philippines, IBM ASEAN and External Relations for everything.

Congratulations to IBM for spending a lot on Research and Development on this; you have done well!

L-R IBM Philippine General Manager James Velasquez, Mr. Steven Seah, Smart Analytics Leader of the Systems and Technology Group for IBM in ASEAN and Mr. Eugene Bay, the Power Systems Manager for IBM in ASEAN
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