Big Blue loosens up
On the Web: IBM
By Frances Katz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Posted: Dec. 7, 1998
ATLANTA -- When it comes to the Internet, forget everything you ever knew
about IBM Corp.
Members of its Atlanta-based Web development team are not the
buttoned-down IBM workers of
yesteryear.
The 500-plus employees in the Telecommunications and Entertainment
Division work in
super-sleek offices decorated with bold artwork at workstations cluttered
with personal
belongings. To top it all off, they design Web sites for their clients on
-- horrors -- PowerMac's.
"We joke that we have ambulances waiting right outside in case anyone has
a coronary," says Jeff
Ramminger, the engineer who heads up this most unusual division of IBM.
The IBM team is responsible for some of the best event-oriented Web sites,
including the Masters
golf tournament and the Wimbledon, Australian and French Open tennis
tournaments. In 1999,
it'll add the Grammy awards and the Ryder Cup to its list of credits. It
also is doing a Web site for
Macy's with a Christmas theme.
IBM is an unlikely player in the Web design and development arena. Most
interactive shops would
kill to have IBM's big-ticket client list. With technology as its core
industry, IBM has been able to
expand its business to include Web development and electronic commerce.
Most interactive ad
agencies began life as Web development shops and expanded their businesses
to include
programming and other technical components.
"A lot of people come to IBM because we are a tech company," Ramminger
says. "The
technology is a means to the end, but we have to be clever about how we
implement it." IBM's
core business is manufacturing computer hardware, but the job of Ramminger
and his team is to
show off Web technology to its best advantage.
So far, they're doing rather well. The sites they've designed for the
Masters at Augusta National
and for Wimbledon were a sports lover's dream come true featuring
streaming video, real-time
leaderboards, virtual tours and real-time audio commentary.
Ramminger likes to think that great Web sites combined with great
technology are what makes the
IBM team successful.
"I'd like to think it's the whole package," he says. "You have to do a
good job of hosting. We are
committed to good response time -- my focus is to create an experience
that people will enjoy. We
see ourselves as a complement to TV. However, television is a produced
medium, but the Web is
a self-produced medium -- users can look at whatever they want to look at
whenever they feel like
it."
While providing a great experience for users is obviously one of IBM's
goals, Ramminger says
there are three main reasons for pouring so much time, effort and
personnel into the project.
"There are three benefits," he says. "First, we leverage the brand of IBM
by doing good event
Web sites. We are doing some pretty unique things and we want to be
perceived by both
Generation X and by baby boomer clients as folks who do good, cool stuff.
"Second, the people who typically view our stuff are potential clients for
our e-commerce
business, and the Web site components also appeal to IBM clients looking
for business solutions.
And third, the sites are also an incredible draw to get people to come and
work here."
There's no shortage of employees to staff the IBM telecommunications and
media division, which
also includes video and DVD divisions. The average employee in the
division is in the upper 20s
-- as opposed to the mid-30s companywide. "Atlanta is such a good place to
find talent,"
Ramminger says.
Staffers include area graduates as well as producers, art directors and
others who viewed IBM's
sites on the Web and liked what they saw. Prospective employees have sent
resumes from all over
the country.
Like the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., the IBM scenic "campus" on
Windy Hill Road
comes with not only a free snack bar but a massage therapist. Employees
don't have set hours,
and the facility runs pretty much on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis.
Being a sports fan or a
music freak isn't required for employment, but it clearly doesn't hurt.
IBM's Web sites were conceived as a way to draw attention and business to
IBM's hardware
offerings. The sites have been so well-received that the company continues
to focus attention and
money on their online products.
"We are students of what people do in the (online) event area," Ramminger
says. "When we see
the feedback we get for our sites, it means a lot."
--Happy Holidays! And the best of New Years...
<> tbyars@earthlink.net <> --============_-1298468837==_ma============ Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"
Big Blue loosens up
On the Web: IBM
By Frances Katz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Posted: Dec. 7, 1998
ATLANTA -- When it comes to the Internet, forget everything you ever knew about IBM Corp.
Members of its Atlanta-based Web development team are not the buttoned-down IBM workers of
yesteryear.
The 500-plus employees in the Telecommunications and Entertainment Division work in
super-sleek offices decorated with bold artwork at workstations cluttered with personal
belongings. To top it all off, they design Web sites for their clients on -- horrors -- <bold>PowerMac's</bold>.
"We joke that we have ambulances waiting right outside in case anyone has a coronary," says Jeff
Ramminger, the engineer who heads up this most unusual division of IBM.
The IBM team is responsible for some of the best event-oriented Web sites, including the Masters
golf tournament and the Wimbledon, Australian and French Open tennis tournaments. In 1999,
it'll add the Grammy awards and the Ryder Cup to its list of credits. It also is doing a Web site for
Macy's with a Christmas theme.
IBM is an unlikely player in the Web design and development arena. Most interactive shops would
kill to have IBM's big-ticket client list. With technology as its core industry, IBM has been able to
expand its business to include Web development and electronic commerce. Most interactive ad
agencies began life as Web development shops and expanded their businesses to include
programming and other technical components.
"A lot of people come to IBM because we are a tech company," Ramminger says. "The
technology is a means to the end, but we have to be clever about how we implement it." IBM's
core business is manufacturing computer hardware, but the job of Ramminger and his team is to
show off Web technology to its best advantage.
So far, they're doing rather well. The sites they've designed for the Masters at Augusta National
and for Wimbledon were a sports lover's dream come true featuring streaming video, real-time
leaderboards, virtual tours and real-time audio commentary.
Ramminger likes to think that great Web sites combined with great technology are what makes the
IBM team successful.
"I'd like to think it's the whole package," he says. "You have to do a good job of hosting. We are
committed to good response time -- my focus is to create an experience that people will enjoy. We
see ourselves as a complement to TV. However, television is a produced medium, but the Web is
a self-produced medium -- users can look at whatever they want to look at whenever they feel like
it."
While providing a great experience for users is obviously one of IBM's goals, Ramminger says
there are three main reasons for pouring so much time, effort and personnel into the project.
"There are three benefits," he says. "First, we leverage the brand of IBM by doing good event
Web sites. We are doing some pretty unique things and we want to be perceived by both
Generation X and by baby boomer clients as folks who do good, cool stuff.
"Second, the people who typically view our stuff are potential clients for our e-commerce
business, and the Web site components also appeal to IBM clients looking for business solutions.
And third, the sites are also an incredible draw to get people to come and work here."
There's no shortage of employees to staff the IBM telecommunications and media division, which
also includes video and DVD divisions. The average employee in the division is in the upper 20s
-- as opposed to the mid-30s companywide. "Atlanta is such a good place to find talent,"
Ramminger says.
Staffers include area graduates as well as producers, art directors and others who viewed IBM's
sites on the Web and liked what they saw. Prospective employees have sent resumes from all over
the country.
Like the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., the IBM scenic "campus" on Windy Hill Road
comes with not only a free snack bar but a massage therapist. Employees don't have set hours,
and the facility runs pretty much on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis. Being a sports fan or a
music freak isn't required for employment, but it clearly doesn't hurt.
IBM's Web sites were conceived as a way to draw attention and business to IBM's hardware
offerings. The sites have been so well-received that the company continues to focus attention and
money on their online products.
"We are students of what people do in the (online) event area," Ramminger says. "When we see
the feedback we get for our sites, it means a lot."
--
Happy Holidays!
And the best of New Years...
<<> tbyars@earthlink.net <<>
--============_-1298468837==_ma============--