The alphaWorks process consists of the following phases (each section is detailed below):
- Attracting technology submissions from the IBM global researcher community
- Assessing the business case for each new technology
- Unveiling emerging technologies on the Web for free downloading and trial
- Gauging and incorporating developer feedback
- Matching promising technologies with market and product opportunities
Attracting emerging technologies
IBM’s eight research laboratories (Yorktown Heights, New York; Zurich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; Beijing, China; Haifa, Israel; New Delhi, India; Austin, Texas; and Almaden, California) provide the source technologies for alphaWorks. Participation in the alphaWorks process is voluntary, and it provides a way for researchers to gain visibility or "fast track" priority for new technology projects. IBM Research has been successful in part because of the relative freedom researchers have in pursuing topics of interest. In recent years, with the help of alphaWorks, IBM has been working to tie expertise in pure science with the realities of the marketplace.
Assessing the business case
Working with developers, product development teams, and marketers, emerging technology ideas are screened and business briefs are created to highlight the uses and benefits of a technology. In addition to assessing the potential of a given technology in the market, the alphaWorks team works closely with IBM Intellectual Property attorneys to accelerate legal review and clearances for promising technologies that are deemed worthwhile for submission to the developer community.
Unveiling emerging technologies via the Web
alphaWorks makes technologies available for downloading, 90-day trial, and evaluation. Emerging technologies available on the site range from Web Services to Java to Collaboration and Messaging.
Gauging developer feedback
The key to alphaWorks’s success lies in a simple proposition: Each of the groups that alphaWorks serves (IBM Research, the developer community, and IBM product groups) are highly motivated by content produced and communicated by the other two groups. alphaWorks offers significant advantages over traditional market research by soliciting feedback at the earliest point in the development process from a highly targeted circle of leading professional developers. This, in turn, helps IBM develop products with features based on actual user requirements. In addition to content and commercial opportunities, alphaWorks provides developers with a community environment, which includes moderated bulletin boards and access to online tutorials and articles.
Matching promising technologies with opportunities
alphaWorks communicates developer feedback on its alpha technologies back to the researchers as well as to appropriate product groups that may benefit from the new technology. Many "alpha" technologies have been incorporated into IBM brands or have created unique licensing opportunities. Additionally, the success of alphaWorks has garnered interest from IBM development managers, who have begun submitting their "wish list" of features to enhance their products. The symbiotic nature of these relationships continues to feed the growth of the process.
alphaWorks is fundamentally transforming IBM’s go-to-market process. The company that first defined e-business is now demonstrating the power of the theory through alphaWorks, the "New Blue" mindset.
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