About IBM Rational

We at IBM—and I personally—have deeply valued our relationship with Chatham House over many years. And I am particularly grateful for the format of today's event—for the opportunity to engage in substantive discussion with a gathering of such distinguished and forward-thinking leaders from around the United Kingdom, Europe and the world.
By a smarter planet, we mean that intelligence is being infused into the systems and processes that enable services to be delivered; physical goods to be developed, manufactured, bought and sold; everything from people and money to oil, water and electrons to move; and billions of people to work and live.
Enormous computational power can now be delivered in forms so small, abundant and inexpensive that it is being put into things no one would recognize as computers: cars, appliances, roadways and rail lines, power grids, clothes; across processes and global supply chains; and even in natural systems, such as agriculture and waterways.

All of these digital devices—soon to number in the trillions—are being connected through the Internet. Some call this the "Internet of Things."
Lastly, all of that data—the knowledge of the world, the flow of markets, the pulse of societies—can be turned into intelligence, because we now have the processing power and advanced analytics to make sense of it all. With this knowledge we can reduce cost and waste, improve efficiency and productivity, and raise the quality of everything from our products, to our companies, to our cities.
We began this conversation in November of 2008. Of course, as we'll all remember, the world financial system was in free fall, and most companies and markets were pulling in their horns and seeking shelter. At IBM, we decided to go forward with our point of view because we believed it was—and is—a pragmatic agenda for forward-thinking leaders. It's not an inspirational vision, but rather a practical way to address the kinds of problems that were seizing the world last year and that still command our attention—from jobs and energy to the environment and the systemic problems of global finance

We believe in this. And because we believe these solutions are within reach for business and society, we have committed the resources of the IBM Company to making smarter systems a reality in every part of the world. In the year since we began this conversation, we have learned a great deal. I would like to share some of that with you this evening, and to offer a perspective on the year and decade ahead.