Semantic Web, rapid application development, data visualization, and health care applications are just some of the emerging software types being investigated by IBM's AlphaWorks division.
Established in 1996, AlphaWorks is a Web community for developers to preview and collaborate on emerging technology from IBM's research labs and turn them into commercial products. The IT giant claims much of AlphaWorks' activity is aimed at developing new software types and standards--particularly around open-source principles.
As senior software engineering manager of IBM's AlphaWorks, Laura Bennett oversees a team that is responsible for maintaining relationships with more than 2,000 IBM research scientists around the world. An ex-programmer herself, Bennett's vision for AlphaWorks is to extend the division's reach to a wider audience and extend the scope of software engineering as a whole. She wants to challenge the skeptics who see no value in the kind of conceptual-level programming AlphaWorks encourages.
ZDNet.co.uk caught up with Bennett at the IBM Rational User Developer Conference 2008 in Florida this week to find out what the men (and women) in white coats will be looking at next.
How and why did you move from a pure-play programming role into a research-focused area such as AlphaWorks, where so much of the technology you touch never sees the light of day?
Bennett: I actually started my career in IBM Research and thought I would at some point in my career circle back to work once again with our researchers. It is AlphaWorks' mission to help turn the technologies coming out of the research division into products, product features, or open-source contributions.
Many technologies that start out on AlphaWorks go on to be commercially available. So personally, I love the idea that I am part of a team that is responsible for helping to commercialize what is coming out of our
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