Extreme Blue Explained

IBM Extreme Blue
Company Type:	Internship Program
Foundation:	1999
Founder:	David Grossman, Jane Harper, Ronald Woan, Sean Martin, Morris Matsa
Location:	15 active, 18 total See List
Area Served:	World Wide
Parent:	IBM
Url:	https://www.ibm.com/training/badge/ibm-extreme-blue
Current Status:	Active

Extreme Blue is one of IBM's internship program for both graduate and undergraduate students; it also serves as a placement opportunity for future IBM employment due to the significant effort put into placement of the interns.

History

Extreme Blue was created in 1999 by David Grossman, Jane Harper, Ronald Woan, Sean Martin, Morris Matsa.^{[1] [2]} It began at the Lotus Software site in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2003, Extreme Blue participants filed 98 patents.^[3]

In 2007, 10,000 applications were received for 92 positions in the U.S.; over 10,000 students applied for 220 positions worldwide. At the 2008 National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) award ceremony, the UK Extreme Blue program received the "Over 250 Employees – Short term placement" award.^[4] In 2009, according to an Extreme Blue manager, over 10,000 applications were received for fewer than 50 US positions.

Since its inception, the program has expanded to include 15 active international locations.

Projects

Extreme Blue uses IBM engineers, interns, and business managers to develop technology and business plans for new products and services. Each summer an Extreme Blue team also works on a project. These projects mostly involve rapid prototyping of high-profile software and hardware projects. Publicly released projects include the following:

• AmalgamR (2009) amalgamates social information from multiple sources, including Twitter, and displays relevant and timely group-based information.^[5]
• BreadCrumbs (2009) is an iPhone application that scans grocery food barcodes and gives consumers information such as ingredients, manufacturing history, and product recall alerts with the use of food traceability servers.^[6]
• SMS for Life (2009) fights malaria in Africa by utilizing cell phones, texting and web mapping technology to track and manage antimalarial drugs.^{[7] [8] [9]}
• exSEL (2007) is an end-to-end marketing tool which provides a virtual tour and allows virtual interactions with the exhibits in the IBM Solutions Experience Lab.^[10]
• SiSi Say It Sign It (2007) converts from spoken English directly into British Sign Language which is then signed by an animated digital character or avatar.^{[11] [12]}
• Peridot (2004) checks web sites for broken links and assist in updating them. IBM applied for two patents^{[13] [14]} on this technology.^{[15] [16] [17] [18]}
• GameGrid (2003) created a distributed computing MMOG based on the open-source version of ID Software's Quake 2 first-person shooter.^{[19] [20]}

Laboratory locations

North America

In 2004, there were 44 Extreme Blue teams in North America.^[21] In 2002, there were 101 interns in North America from 42 schools.^[22]

• IBM Almaden Research Center located in San Jose, California, USA (2000-current)
  • 4 teams in 2009
• IBM Silicon Valley Lab located in San Jose, California, USA
• Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA^[23] (1999–2004)
  • Debut location of Extreme Blue
  • Did not host EB in 2001.
• Raleigh, North Carolina, USA (2002–current)
  • Started 2002^[24]
  • Lab manager:
    • (2006-current) Ross Grady
• Austin, Texas, USA^[25] (2001-current)
  • Started 2001
  • Lab manager:
    • (2015-current) Marjean Fieldhouse
  • Technical lead:
    • (2015-current) Matthew Glover
• Montreal, Quebec, Canada^[26]
• Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• Toronto, Ontario, Canada

South America

• São Paulo, Brazil

Asia

• Beijing, China
• Bangalore, India (2004–?)
  • Started in 2004 with 9 students in 2 teams^[27]
• Delhi, India (2010–current)
  • Started in 2010 and is currently active.
• IBM Haifa Research Laboratory located in Haifa, Israel^[28]

Europe

• Dublin, Ireland
• Cork, Ireland
• Böblingen, Germany
  • 3 teams in 2002^[29]
• Brussels, Belgium^[30]
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Uithoorn, Netherlands
• La Gaude, France
• Hursley, United Kingdom
• Zürich, Switzerland
• Rome, Italy

External links

• • UK Extreme Blue Blog

Notes and References

1. Scott Kirsner . Kirsner: Big Blue Reinvents Internships . Wired . August 4, 1999.
2. Web site: John PatricK . Extreme Blue . July 15, 2003.
3. Web site: James Watson . Students swap beach for the lab bench in IBM internship scheme . Computing . 23 Sep 2004 . 2009-12-21.
4. http://mattwhitbourne.blogspot.com/2008/03/ncwe-awards-extreme-blue-wins-over-250.html NCWE Awards: Extreme Blue wins 'Over 250 Employees – Short term placement Award'
5. Web site: Mike Cassidy . Cassidy: Looking at the Valley through fresh eyes . San Jose Mercury News . August 14, 2009 . December 4, 2009.
6. News: Richard Macmanus . IBM Debuts Food Traceability iPhone App . The New York Times . October 26, 2009 . December 4, 2009.
7. Web site: Zachary Wilson . Are Your Interns Saving the World? IBM's Are . Fast Company . 15 Dec 2009 . 21 Dec 2009.
8. Web site: Saving Lives with SMS for Life . IBM . 14 Dec 2009 . 21 Dec 2009.
9. Web site: Mitch Wagner . SMS Project Fights Malaria in Africa . InformationWeek . 15 Dec 2009 . 21 Dec 2009.
10. Web site: Extreme Blue . . 21 May 2014.
11. Web site: IBM Research Demonstrates Innovative 'Speech to Sign Language' Translation System . IBM . 12 Sep 2007 . 2009-10-14.
12. News: Geoff Adams-Spink . Technique links words to signing . BBC News . 15 September 2007 . 2009-10-14.
13. US. 7290131. 2007-10-30. Guaranteeing hypertext link integrity. IBM. Beynon. Margaret Ann Ruth. Flegg. Andrew James.
14. 20040267726. application. US. 2004-12-30. Hypertext request integrity and user experience. IBM. Beynon. Margaret Ann Ruth. Flegg. Andrew James., since abandoned.
15. Web site: EISENBERG . ANNE . For Missing Web Pages, a Department of Lost and Found . NYTimes . 21 May 2014 . October 21, 2004.
16. Web site: Broken Links No More? . 24 September 2004 . Slashdot . 21 May 2014.
17. Web site: Twist . Jo . Web tool may banish broken links . . 21 May 2014 . 24 September 2004.
18. News: Students swap beach for the lab bench in IBM internship scheme. Forbes .
19. Web site: Cool projects . IBM . 21 May 2014.
20. Web site: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bethenco/ibmsj06quake.pdf . www.cs.berkeley.edu . https://web.archive.org/web/20100728054412/http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bethenco/ibmsj06quake.pdf . July 28, 2010.
21. Web site: Igor Jablokov, Program Director, Speech & Multimodal Technologies, IBM Pervasive Computing . SpeechTechMag . 21 May 2014. August 2004.
22. http://www-913.ibm.com/employment/us/extremeblue/bio/2002_us_interns.html
23. Web site: Extreme Blue History . IBM . 2001 . 2009-12-08.
24. Web site: Dynamic places . 2002 . PDF . Oct 12, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20020222084155/http://www-913.ibm.com/employment/us/extremeblue/location/index.html . 2002-02-22 . ... Raleigh, North Carolina – New ...'.
25. http://www-913.ibm.com/employment/us/extremeblue/location/index.html
26. Web site: IBM Canada jobs - Student opportunities. www-03.ibm.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20090208121117/http://www-03.ibm.com/employment/ca/en/job_3.html . February 8, 2009.
27. Web site: Abhinav Singh . First Extreme Blue internship programme in India . Express Computing . 2009-10-12 . Bangalore, India . https://web.archive.org/web/20091012170903/http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20041018/market09.shtml . 2009-10-12 . dead .
28. Web site: IBM Haifa Takes Four Technion Students to the Extreme . . 21 May 2014.
29. Web site: Extreme Blue: Top talent puzzle at IBM . . 21 May 2014.
30. Web site: IBM Recruitment - Students - Extreme Blue - Belgium/Luxembourg . October 7, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110713001242/http://www-05.ibm.com/employment/be/extremeblue/student.html . July 13, 2011.