IBM goes in Deep

1999-05-28

On the 24th May, IBM announced it was spending $29 on an initiative it is calling the Deep Computing Institute. Deep computing is the flipside of pervasive computing – just as we expect that computer-ettes will be embedded in everything that can take a power cable (and probably a few things that can’t), so will there be the megacomputers which push the limits of technology to solve computational problems currently way beyond our reach.

As with most research initiatives in the past, there is unlikely to be one big benefit. Rather, there will be lots of smaller benefits – new technologies which can be build into existing models, new standards, approaches and architectures. Either way IBM should be applauded for investing in programmes which will be of benefit to the whole IT community, not just IBM.

(First published 28 May 1999)