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IBM Watson and SAP HANA: face/:off?

By | March 10, 2011, 6:00am PST

Summary: IBM’s Watson Jeopardy play generated a lot of interest. In back channels, questions started to arise: what if Watson and SAP’s super fast in-memory HANA technology could come together? What might that mean? The SAP Run Better Tour pit stop in Boston provided a perfect opportunity to test that theory. Over lunch, I tee’d up Vijay [...]

IBM’s Watson Jeopardy play generated a lot of interest. In back channels, questions started to arise: what if Watson and SAP’s super fast in-memory HANA technology could come together? What might that mean?

The SAP Run Better Tour pit stop in Boston provided a perfect opportunity to test that theory. Over lunch, I tee’d up Vijay Vijayasankar, IBM associate partner and fellow SAP Mentor with Vishal Sikka, executive board member driving advanced technologies.

In fairness to Vishal, Vijay and I put in a smidgeon of advanced planning and only gave Vishal 1 minute to prepare for this shoot.

To his credit, Vishal immediately tried to put IBM on the back foot, criticizing the Watson/Jepoardy methodology. Unfazed, Vijay came back with solid answers….and then we got to the meat of the conversation.

Check out what I believe to be one of the most entertaining yet subtly illuminating conversations around advanced technologies I have witnessed in a very long time.

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Dennis Howlett has been providing comment and analysis on enterprise software since 1991.

Disclosure

Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett is committed to maintaining the independent and opinionated stance that his writings are well known for and does not enter into contracts that would limit his freedom of expression in any way. However it is important in the interests of full disclosure to inform readers of those relationships so they can form their own judgment. This page therefore lists all Dennis Howlett’s current business relationships.

Dennis’s consulting arrangements occasionally bring him into direct or indirect business relationships with some of the companies about which he writes, and/or their competitors. Where such a relationship exists, it is disclosed at the end of any article that references the company concerned.

Dennis owns AccMan, an independently produced blog covering the professional services market, primarily focused on Europe. It is currently sponsored by selected TextLink Ads and named sponsors in the ‘Sponsored Content’ block.

He is a member of Enterprise Advocates, a loose association of consultants, and analysts who are concerned with the buyer side of the buy-sell enterprise relationship.

He is a paid contributor to IT Counts, a site dedicated to discussing technology issues as they related to ICAEW members. He also advises ICAEW on certain aspects of its member outreach programs.

He is an SAP Mentor and participates in SAP Mentor webinars. He has recently produced a guide for SAP resellers wishing to record customer videos. Other than as disclosed here, Dennis maintains no business relationship with SAP and is not financially rewarded for his role as a Mentor.

Dennis maintains relationships with a range of end user organizations and in all cases is subject to non-disclosure agreement. He has no current ‘paid for’ relationships with ITC vendors except as disclosed above although certain vendors comp travel and expenses claims. For the benefit of doubt, T&E reimbursement is a common practice among European based writers. It is often the only way we can attend important events. Even so it doesn’t impact our analysis of what vendors have to say. If you believe otherwise then feel free to ignore what is written here.

Except as mentioned above, Dennis has no other investments in any tech industry participants. This page last updated 23rd February, 2010.

Biography

Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett has been providing comment and analysis on enterprise software since 1991 in a variety of European trade and professional journals including CFO Magazine, The Economist and Information Week. Today, apart from being a full time blogger on innovation for professional services organisations, he is a founding member of Enterprise Irregulars and an investor in a European start-up. Prior to, Dennis was technology and tax partner in a British firm of Chartered Accountants for 10 years. Prior to that held various senior finance roles across a broad range of industries.

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RE: IBM Watson and SAP HANA: face/:off?
markm@... 12th Mar 2011
Very impressive and timely exchange -- thanks.

Mark Montgomery
Founder & CEO
Kyield
http://www.kyield.com
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RE: IBM Watson and SAP HANA: face/:off?
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