Comments on: Investing in smarter infrastructure will create more than 949,000 new jobs in 2009

By: Adam Christensen

Adam Christensen — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:41:22 +0000

Rob, to answer your question, yes, building a smart grid would definitely cost more than than a one-time $10 billion investment. The $10B is a recommended initial investment for smart grids in the first year.
Based on the data the ITIL pulled for us, a $10 billion investment in smart grids each year for the first 5 years ($50 B total) would yield ~238K net new jobs.

By: Rob Neilley

Rob Neilley — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:31:20 +0000

Is there a way to see some specifics on how the $10 billion would be invested in each of the three sectors mentioned? I have read that building the SmartGrid would be significantly more costly than that.
A sincere thank-you to IBM for creating this forum, and for its efforts in our infra- and eco-structure.

By: André Hiroshi Nishimi

André Hiroshi Nishimi — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:23:05 +0000

I think that this is very very well aligned with what C.K. Prahalad said in the past. It was something like:
What you (and your company) is doing to attend the poor people? Almost 70% of the World Wide population lives with very few money. they want to buy good things, but we don’t “format” those things to make it “buyable” by them.
So, looking at the study above, I would dare to ask:
what IBM is doing to be ready to attend the small companies?
Small companies requires special type of things to be done to them. I really think that in the hardware field, we are “A OK”. In this field, we are good (dare to say, awesome).
But what about services? Can we see in the future a (really) Small company buying IT Delivery from IBM? May be, BTO? What about GBS? Are we ready for this?
As global companies are reducing (not in size, but in numbers, since more and more takeovers are happening every day), we really need to be ready to have less big customers and more small customers.

By: harpoonflyby

harpoonflyby — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:57:23 +0000

If the government can spot potential growth and implement big infrastructure and multiply returns in jobs and profit, then what is preventing private industry from seeing the light? What secret entrepreneurs does the federal government employ? And, what compels those folks to not make even more profit by building it on their own?
We owe gratitude to the government for inventing the internet, we can give them that. Which has created millions of jobs. But this was a byproduct of doing something else, which is what it is actually in the position to do – building a powerful military and stealing natural resources

By: Thomas Heimstaedt

Thomas Heimstaedt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:51:53 +0000

I read about the study with great interest. Unfortunately it only focuses on the US-market. Do you have comparable figures e.g. for Europe?

By: Adam Christensen

Adam Christensen — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:02:53 +0000

Tim, I certainly haven’t forgotten about your request. But thanks for the reminder even so! I’ll be in touch separately very soon.

By: Tim O'Reilly

Tim O'Reilly — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:06:11 +0000

I’d sure love to have Sam come to the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco April 1-3 to talk with me on the keynote stage about his ideas about smart grids, health IT, and the various other things talked about here. I’ve been reaching out via channels, but haven’t heard anything back. So I thought I’d ask in public!

By: Tim Washer

Tim Washer — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:02:49 +0000

coverage from the Wall Street Journal: “IBM Chief: IT Investment Will Create Jobs” http://tinyurl.com/7ovzfh

By: Chris Ensey

Chris Ensey — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:21:36 +0000

Christopher,
Thank you for posting this article. As an IBM’er it makes me very happy that our senior leadership is helping shape the reinvestment in our nations infrastructure and improve lives of Americans. Do we have anyone at that level advising the transition team on Cyber Security and contributing thought leadership in a format similar to the CSIS report? Especially in the area of protecting our current and future power/water/gas SCADA systems.
Regards,
Chris Ensey