Stan Gibson

The most remarkable thing about Louis Gerstners recently published book, “Who Says Elephants Cant Dance,” may be the fact that he actually wrote it himself. Gerstner states explicitly there is no co-author or editor, so while one must assume that he received advice on the project and that someone eyeballed the final copy, there apparently […]

After a recent speech at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government, in Cambridge, Mass., in which he recounted his decision in the early 90s to change IBM “from a manufacturer to an integrator,” outgoing Chairman Lou Gerstner was asked a surprising and direct question by an IBM Global Services employee: “The format we use is […]

In reporting this weeks cover story, Jeff Moad and I spent several weeks interviewing IBM execs, customers and analysts. This digging unearthed two IBMs. There is the IBM that has “gotten it” with regard to open systems, multivendor interoperability, listening to customers and delivering value. This was especially clear in the instance of Mobil Travel […]

Its an inescapable fact: Hardware is no longer the unquestioned core of IBMs business. And yet, IBM executives say, under new Chairman Sam Palmisano, the company will not only remain in the hardware business but will also continue to invest in advanced hardware technologies for the foreseeable future. Whats the point? Is IBM bent on […]

Its hell, ending the year with a hangover, and as I write this, its not even New Years Eve yet. Oh, not that kind of hangover. The dot-com hangover. Its still there, like a headache that wont clear after three cups of coffee. Hangovers like this hurt your reputation. When youre in no condition to […]

Could Lou Gerstner and only Lou Gerstner have saved IBM? And was the only way of saving the company to keep it intact instead of breaking it up? Well never know, but its tempting to speculate as Gerstner cruises the country on a victory lap in the form of a book tour. His tome, “Who […]

Taking one last curtain call as his tenure comes to an end, outgoing IBM boss Louis Gerstner is going public with many recollections, observations and judgments as he promotes the memoir of his IBM years, “Who Says Elephants Cant Dance?” His single most important decision: whether to break up the company, a choice he was […]

Making do is becoming, painfully, business as usual. No ones happy about it, but most IT pros are gearing up for 2003 with a plan to stretch limited resources—again—while waiting for the economy to shift out of neutral. Some industries are more battened-down than others, with the landscape ranging from nuclear winter to temperate. Everywhere, […]

With no recovery in sight and little to inspire a technology revolution, IT managers are getting back to basics and trying to deliver whatever value they can to their organizations. Its a message that leaders of the tech industry say theyre getting loud and clear. “We have to understand the environment were in and operate […]

Michael Fleisher is Chairman and CEO of Gartner, Inc., the worldwide technology research company that boasts a 10,000-company clientele. Gartner is advising its clients to focus on their strengths during the current difficult economic environment and to invest prudently where opportunities are present. Like its clients, Gartner has been under pressure and its business is […]

ORLANDO, Fla.—A recovery for IT is not in sight; neither is the next big technology revolution. So the only thing to do is get back to basics and deliver what value you can to your organization. That was the message that emerged after the first day of Gartner Inc.s annual Symposium/ITxpo here. “Theres no compelling […]

ORLANDO, Fla.—Bandwidth thats becoming more affordable than computing will spur a return to distributed systems, including grid computing, over the next several years, said Gartner Inc. analyst Carl Claunch at Gartners annual Symposium/ITxpo here in his session titled “Gartner Predicts: The Future of IT.” Grid-based computing, in which a number of distributed systems are linked […]