The Hindu Business Line : Changing the way we work and play

IBM India's Web 2.0 initiatives were showcased recently at its lab in Bangalore. Its services arm Software Labs and research division IRL have joined forces to build traction for such cutting-edge technology usage in enterprises here.

After the Web site builders and applications that help you design your blog online in minutes, there is now an application that will let you pull small bits of code together, add a dash of information and make a Web-based application that will work forever. It will continue to run itself, draw data and process it according to instructions (in plain English) from you.

QED Wiki

The Quick and Easily Done Wiki (QED Wiki) tool allows PC users with minimal technical knowledge to create a Web-based application. Without any coding, you can now enhance your business applications by using the information on the Internet. A warehouse manager can use QED Wiki to plot shipping data using Google Maps, add real time weather information from Accuweather.com, then supplement it with internal inventory data to have an efficient tracking and understanding of goods movement.

IBMers are using this tool to create a site as a rural development initiative. By mashing up information from ISRO on land and water usage, weather forecasts and irrigation, crops from agriculture research sites, a Web site can be created that will generate information on which crop to grow and when to sow. Such valuable information can then be disseminated using mobiles (as an SMS), radio, television or even kiosks and voice response systems. It can be sent to suppliers of fertilisers, academics, farmers and other end users who will benefit immensely from this information analysis. Still in infancy, the project will be ready in a few months' time, said its developers.

Many Eyes to IT

Another free service online is a knowledge management initiative called ManyEyes. Go to http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes.

Many Eyes brings vigour into bland numbers by using histograms, bubble charts and pie charts.

Want to show your friend exactly why Dhoni is in the team? Instead of reeling out his statistics, compare him with other cricketers in a graph.

Wikis, blogs, user interfaces, workflows for feedback, dogtagging (sharing bookmarks within a company), etc, are being developed at IBM.

So do Indian firms approach IBM for help in leveraging these new technologies and trends?

"No, with disruptive technology, it usually follows a push model. We go to companies to introduce concepts that are new and being used worldwide," says Harish K Grama, Vice-President, IBM Software Lab.

IBM recently helped Bharti to test-pilot a service to a select number of consumers, to obtain feedback before deciding to roll it out.

Connections

Is Orkut blocked in your office? No matter, just switch to your company's own social networking site.

IBM's Lotus product line (which began with SameTime instant messenger) has now added a social networking component called Connections. Most of the work in Lotus Software is being done out of IBM's Pune lab, says Rajesh Patil, Senior Technical Staff Member, Lotus Software, IBM India Software Lab.

Launched in India last month, Connections can be used by enterprise users who already own licences of Lotus. IBM uses Connections internally and some other Indian firms are experimenting with it. Connections encourages corporate blogging, initiating joint activities and projects and even discussions amongst colleagues. Over 4 lakh employees are already using this service within IBM, of which 15,000 are in India.

An IBMer who uses this regularly pointed out a unique feature called mapping, which performs a diagrammatic search. Say you are into motoring.

With this, you are directed to the nearest motorcycle enthusiast. You learn more by interacting with your colleagues at the other side of the world, and get to know them as persons, thus building better work relationships.

"These will lead to innovation within a company. Users can share ideas within a company, find experts in a subject, surfing profiles of users and discovering similar interests," says Patil.

Leveraging virtual worlds

From socialising to gaming, IBM labs are also leveraging virtual worlds such as Second Life to expand its brand's reach.

IBM entered Second Life early this year and has seen visitors from America and Europe. However, Indians entering Second Life will find the business centre vacant, due to the time difference.

"We plan to appoint Asian employees to man the business centre by the end of August. Then, Indians too will be able to visit the centre and interact with our personnel," informed Harriet Ip, Media Relations, IBM Research, Development and Innovation, APAC, IBM Singapore Pte.

Meanwhile, IBM has linked this virtual world with reality.

Home automation projects linked with Second Life make science fiction and futuristic movies sound real. With the necessary electronics, you can log into Second Life, make your character walk into your 3D home, and give an instruction to turn your TV on, and Lo! your plasma TV at home comes alive.

With a lot of coding, some existing home automation circuitry and the graphical platform of Second Life that can be designed to resemble your real life home, and the real you, many interesting activities can be realised. Like having a virtual press conference, or remote monitoring hospital ICUs, traffic management, etc. Sounds unreal, but it will be a reality soon.

"Virtual reality will soon become the way our minds are designed, the way our eyes view the world," says Pankaj, who works on this project.

IBM is also planning to create its own 3D virtual world, where players will represent real world users who will meet executives, discuss work, hold conferences, all within the game.

This is still in the concept stage, but such ideas will bring about a paradigm shift in the concepts behind work and play. All part of the Web 2.0 revolution.

preethij@thehindu.co.in