TrendIBM's billion dollar security push to transform Big Blue
IBM’s 2008 multi-billion dollar push into corporate security would offer end-users new and improved policy, management, and reporting solutions — but with its new security push, integration also has become critical within IBM’s own corporate structure, as it melds various product groups and structures to execute on its vision.
What do IBM and big game (say, a river hippopotamus) have in common? Both are not the most nimble or elegant or fleet of foot — but when they determine that they want to move in a certain direction, they bring a lot of heft to bear and and it is not easy to stop them. In the case of IBM, we are talking about the company’s multi-billion dollar effort to bolster security. At the time Big Blue unveiled its big security plans in November, it offered an indication as to how the money would be spent in developing new technologies and products. Enterprise IT Planet’s Sean Michael Kerner writes that the November announcement represents just the tip of the iceberg: The company’s new vision has broader implications which may well transform the nature of IBM itself. Kris Lovejoy, IBM’s director of corporate security strategy, outlined a number of the changes taking place at the company in its effort to make good on its sweeping goals in the security space. For one thing, she explained to InternetNews.com that she spent a lot of time this year talking to customers, ultimately coming away with better ideas about what drove security spending. “Most security technology that customers had been buying was because they had a compliance requirement,” Lovejoy said. Compliance was not the only factor, though. A number of security appliance purchases came about from business-line executives seeking to address specific problems. In some cases, those purchases took place outside of the traditional IT capital expenditure budgets. According to Lovejoy, the multitude of security products in the enterprise led a number of IT organizations to reassess their purchases. Increasingly, she said, they realize they have silos of capability in products they use — along with, in other instances, an inability to correlate data, as well as redundant costs. “Organizations want and need to simplify,” Lovejoy said. “They need to work with strategic vendors that will provide them with asset-based services. What we’re trying to do is take a look at our portfolio and take a look at our capabilities and make sure that what we offer meets business criteria.”
Kerner writes that among those criteria, IBM hopes to address the need for technology which is easily consumable. This is becoming important since it is not just traditional IT people that need and use security-related software and services. Integration has also become
