IBM has been talking about our vision for a smarter planet for close to a year now- and working with thousands of clients - with great success and traction taking hold. Every industry is experiencing the benefits, and feeling the challenges, being presented by a smarter planet that is more instrumented, interconnected and intelligent.
An example is cloud computing: The economics driving cloud computing is not new technologies. Rather it is the combination of existing technologies with a focus on the end user. Virtualization drives higher utilization which lowers capital and operating expenses. Standardization also reduces capital and labor costs, while automation drives enhance user experience and automates many manual tasks to reduce errors and reduce the costs associated with managing an environment.