IBM Think conference explained

IBM Think
Status:Active
Genre:IT business
Frequency:Annual
Venue:Various
Online
Next:20–23 May 2024
Organizer:IBM

IBM Think is an annual business conference organized by IBM. Before 2018, IBM held similar business conferences under different names. Think is seen as a successor to World of Watson that was held in 2017.[1] The conference name is a reference the 'Think' slogan used by IBM.

History

2010s

2017 – World of Watson

IBM held a conference named World of Watson, centered around its AI products and Watson, a QA computer AI system in Las Vegas, on October 29 – November 2.[2] IBM delivered several speeches related to Watson's capabilities and its possible integration to health and business sectors, which were criticized 2 years later by IEEE Spectrum to be exaggerated.[3]

2018

IBM rebranded its World of Watson convention as IBM Think to be the company's flagship business conference that includes all major IBM products along with Watson.[1] It was held in Las Vegas, on March 19–22. The topics of the conference were mainly about blockchain, AI, data science, quantum computing and cloud.[4] IBM announced the creation of an AI assistant tool called Watson Assistant,[5] [6] and that they AI-enhanced some of their products such as IBM Cloud with the help of Watson, which was criticized by outsiders to not be practical despite years of development.[7] A partnership between IBM and Apple to enhance apps with Watson's AI was revealed as well.[8] IBM unveiled a 1x1mm chip reportedly compatible with Blockchain and as powerful as microprocessors of 1990s that they dubbed "world's smallest computer".[9] IBM also revealed IBM Q, a family of quantum computers that can be accessed via cloud.[10] Think Campuses, a trade exposition area were also introduced for the first time.[11] [12]

2019

The conference was held in Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, on February 12–15.[13] Topics included cloud, AI, data, analytics, infrastructure and more, a lot similar to previous year.[14] [15] IBM announced Watson Anywhere, allowing Watson AI tools to be used outside of IBM's own cloud services.[16] Harish Natarajan, a grand finalist in 2016's World Debating Championships, had a debate challenge with IBM's Project Debater and won against it while the debate showed state of AI's advancement.[17] [18] Several big customers of IBM had speeches in the conference as well, talking about the impact of IBM's AI/ML products and Power Systems had on their businesses.[19] This year also included a 4-day training program titled Think Academy that provided certification and hand-on lab experience to participants.[20]

2020s

2020

The conference was planned to be held in San Francisco again, on May 4–7. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was made online along with several locally hosted events and interactive sessions. IBM also put a ban on employees to not attend face-to-face conferences with more than 1000 people.[21] This time topics were heavily centered around AI, data, cloud, 5G and various open technologies that were developed under IBM and its subsidiaries.[22] [23] [24] IBM announced several changes to Red Hat, an open-source software and Linux company that IBM bought for 34 billion dollars a year ago,[25] Changes include shifting company's focus to hybrid cloud and 5G compatibility.[26] IBM revealed Watson AIOps, an AI tool to manage IBM built on Red Hat's OpenShift cloud computing software.[27] [28] Along with other topics, IBM Research unveiled its ambitious roadmap for quantum computing.[29] [30]

2021

Two online conferences were held for different regions, on May 11 for Americas and May 12 for APAC, Japan and EMEA. Topics of this year, albeit similar to the previous ones, were centered around hybrid cloud and AI.[31] [32] [33] During the conference, IBM has announced several new projects such as IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition, a commercialized version of IBM Mono2Micro and Watson Orchestrate, an AI assistant tool that is later renamed Watsonx Orchestrate and became a subfeature of Watsonx in 2023.[34] [35] IBM reported 120x increase in quantum processing speed of Qiskit, an open source quantum computing SDK maintained by the company, and revealed Qiskit runtime to enable traditional computer processing when its desired within the SDK.[36] IBM announced a 1 billion dollars worth of investment to its partnership programs as well.[37] [38]

2022

The conference was held digital and face-to-face in Boston, on May 10–11. Several other conferences in attendance were held in various cities around the world. This time the conference was centered around quantum computing, a field IBM started to be prevalent about along with other usual topics like AI and cloud. In the conference IBM announced its goal to achieve a 4,000+ qubit processor built with multiple clusters of modularly scaled processors.[39] [40] IBM also announced updates regarding Qiskit and company's growth in AI sector.[41] [42] [43] IBM also announced multiple partnerships with other companies including providing SaaS and Red Hat software to AWS, a rival cloud service provider.[44] [45]

2023

The conference was held in Orlando, FL, on May 9-11.[46] The conference was expanded to other regions via one day local events titled Think on Tour.[46] For the main conference, Think Forum was revealed as a platform for atendees to talk with tech business leaders, which shifted Think's definition as an expo to that of a forum.[47] The program of the conference included similar topics to previous years such as hybrid cloud, AI and automation and futuristic quantum computing talks.[48] IBM unveiled many new projects and products such as Watsonx, a generative AI tool and IBM Quantum System Two, a quantum computer.[49] [50] [51]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: IBM Think 2018 shows how Watson has gone wireless . 26 March 2018 .
  2. Web site: World of Watson – 2017 « the Kurzweil Library + collections .
  3. Web site: How IBM Watson Overpromised and Underdelivered on AI Health Care – IEEE Spectrum. IEEE Spectrum.
  4. News: Kofroth . Melissa . April 18, 2018 . Riding the AI Wave for the Next 25 Years – A chat with two clever fellows who attended IBM Think 2018 . Dun & Bradstreet.
  5. Web site: IBM offers up Watson Assistant, its answer to Amazon's Alexa . 2024-02-18 . CNET . en.
  6. Web site: Baig . Edward C. . IBM Watson unveils the AI-infused Watson Assistant. It's no Alexa or Siri . 2024-02-18 . USA TODAY . en-US.
  7. Web site: IBM roadmap of cloud, AI-enabled IT drives Think conference TechTarget . 2024-02-18 . IT Operations . en.
  8. Web site: 2018-03-21 . IBM and Apple announce new partnership to create smarter mobile apps IT World Canada News . 2024-02-18 . www.itworldcanada.com . en-US.
  9. Web site: Miller . Paul . 2018-03-19 . IBM just unveiled the 'world's smallest computer' . 2024-02-18 . The Verge . en.
  10. Web site: Bloomberg . Jason . IBM Bets Company On Exponential Innovation In AI, Blockchain, And Quantum Computing . 2024-02-18 . Forbes . en.
  11. Web site: Think 2018 | IBM . https://web.archive.org/web/20180101232748/https://www.ibm.com/events/think/ . 2018-01-01 . .
  12. News: Mathews . Kayla . The Most Exceptional Parts of Think 2018 .
  13. News: Russell . By Melia . IBM conference with registration of 30,000 makes move to Moscone Center . 2024-02-18 . San Francisco Chronicle . en.
  14. Web site: IBM Think 2019 coverage: Spotlight on data and AI analytics | TechTarget. Craig. Stedman. Enterprise AI.
  15. Web site: Soni . Virendra . 2019-02-18 . IBM CEO reveals three core areas for moving to Chapter 2 of digital transformation . 2024-02-18 . Wire19 . en-US.
  16. Web site: 2019-02-15 . Why IBM Is Untethering Watson AI Software from Its Cloud . 2024-02-18 . Data Center Knowledge News and analysis for the data center industry . en.
  17. Web site: Metz . Rachel . 2019-02-12 . IBM's fast-talking AI machine just lost to a human champion in a live debate CNN Business . 2024-02-18 . CNN . en.
  18. Web site: IBM's Project Debater loses debate but shows off AI prowess TechTarget . 2024-02-18 . Enterprise AI . en.
  19. Web site: Moorhead . Patrick . IBM Rolls Out Big Customers At Think 2019 Using AI, ML, DL On Power Systems . 2024-02-18 . Forbes . en.
  20. Web site: Think 2019 | IBM . https://web.archive.org/web/20190108021858/https://www.ibm.com/events/think . 2019-01-08 . .
  21. Web site: Chan . Rosalie . IBM cancels its biggest event of the year over coronavirus fears, as it makes a new rule that employees can't go to a conference with over 1,000 attendees . 2024-02-18 . Business Insider . en-US.
  22. Web site: Think 2020 | IBM . https://web.archive.org/web/20200227153237/https://www.ibm.com/events/think/ . 2020-02-27 . .
  23. Web site: IBM Think 2020: AI, security, COVID-19 news, trends and analysis | TechTarget. Kassidy. Kelley. Enterprise AI.
  24. Web site: Conklin . Audrey . 2020-05-05 . IBM hosts Think 2020 conference with focus on AI, 5G coronavirus solutions . 2024-02-18 . FOXBusiness . en-US.
  25. Web site: IBM closes Red Hat acquisition for $34 billion. Greg. Kumparak. July 9, 2019.
  26. Web site: IBM, Red Hat move users toward edge computing, 5G networks | TechTarget. Cloud Computing.
  27. Web site: Bajarin . Tim . IBM's Watson AIOps – A Killer App For CIOs . 2024-02-18 . Forbes . en.
  28. Web site: IBM's Watson AIOps aims to help networks run smoothly TechTarget . 2024-02-18 . Enterprise AI . en.
  29. Web site: IBM Think Digital 2020: Quantum Computing is a Game Changer for Enterprise . 15 May 2020 .
  30. News: Snyder . Alison . September 15, 2020 . IBM releases roadmap to quantum computing "inflection point" .
  31. Web site: Think 2021 | IBM . https://web.archive.org/web/20210331152247/https://www.ibm.com/events/think/ . 2021-03-31 . .
  32. Web site: Think 2021: AI and automation dominate IBM's growth strategy | Computer Weekly. ComputerWeekly.com.
  33. Web site: Moorhead . Patrick . IBM Think 2021– All In On Hybrid Cloud And AI . 2024-02-18 . Forbes . en.
  34. Web site: IBM Introduces Watson Orchestrate for Task Automation . 2024-02-18 . InfoQ . en.
  35. Web site: IBM Think 2021: Key Announcements . . 11 May 2021 .
  36. Web site: Greene . Tristan . 2021-05-11 . IBM Think 2021 kicks off with AI innovations and some interesting quantum news . 2024-02-18 . TNW Deep-Tech . en.
  37. Web site: Big Blue talks $1B partner investment at IBM Think 2021 | TechTarget. IT Channel.
  38. News: Horton . Christine . May 12, 2021 . IBM Explains How It's Spending $1 Billion on Partners .
  39. Web site: IBM pledges to push boundaries in quantum computer roadmap | TechTarget. Data Center.
  40. Web site: IBM promises a 4,000 qubit quantum computer by 2025: Here's what it means . 2024-02-18 . ZDNET . en.
  41. Web site: Russell . John . 2023-12-04 . IBM Quantum Summit: Two New QPUs, Upgraded Qiskit, 10-year Roadmap and More . 2024-02-18 . HPCwire . en-US.
  42. Web site: Think 2022 | IBM . https://web.archive.org/web/20220302084202/https://www.ibm.com/events/think/ . 2022-03-02 . .
  43. Web site: IBM Kicks off Think 2022 Conference, Convening a Worldwide Community of Clients and Partners .
  44. Web site: IBM Think 2022 Showcases Powerful Product Lineup, Partnerships, Sustainability and Skills Initiatives | TechChannel. June 2022 .
  45. Web site: IBM steps up its cloud partnership strategy with AWS deal | TechTarget. Cloud Computing.
  46. Web site: Think 2023 | IBM . https://web.archive.org/web/20230131023258/https://www.ibm.com/events/think . 2023-01-31 . .
  47. Web site: Boucher . Rachel . 2023-05-24 . IBM Think Starts Anew with a Personalized Flagship Experience . 2024-02-18 . Event Marketer . en-US.
  48. Web site: Kissling . Reynold . 2023-05-17 . A Recap of IBM Think 2023 . 2024-05-06 . TechChannel . en-US.
  49. News: Schwartz . Jeffrey . May 10, 2023 . IBM Reveals Plans to Offer IBM WatsonX Generative AI Platform . Channel Futures.
  50. Web site: IBM Debuts Next-Generation Quantum Processor & IBM Quantum System Two, Extends Roadmap to Advance Era of Quantum Utility .
  51. Web site: IBM Think 2023 – Recap and Highlights. May 26, 2023. www.wwt.com.

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