October 04, 2022, 07:15 PM EDT

“We can‘t be essential unless our partners are skilled in our products and confident in going to their clients with our products and selling them with us and for IBM,” IBM channel chief Kate Woolley said.

IBM has started giving registered members of its PartnerWorld program access to the training, badges and enablement IBM sales employees get along with a new learning hub for accessing materials.

The expansion is part of the Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant’s investment in its partner program, IBM channel chief Kate Woolley told CRN in an interview.

“We can‘t be essential unless our partners are skilled in our products and confident in going to their clients with our products and selling them with us and for IBM,” said Woolley (pictured), general manager of the IBM ecosystem.

[RELATED: Channel Chief Kate Woolley: ‘No Better Time To Be An IBM Partner’]

Partners now have access to sales and technical badges showing industry expertise, according to a blog post Tuesday. Badges are shareable on LinkedIn and other professional social platforms. IBM sales representatives and partners will receive new content at the same time as it becomes available.

“This is the next step in that journey in terms of making sure that all of our registered partners have access to all of the same training, all of the same enablement materials as IBMers,” Woolley told CRN. “That’s the big message that we want people to hear. And then also in line with continuing to make it easier to do business with IBM, this has all been done through a much improved digital experience in terms of how our partners are able to access and consume.”

Among the materials available to IBM partners are scripts for sales demonstrations, templates for sales presentations and positioning offerings compared to competitors, white papers, analyst reports and solution briefs. Skilling and enablement materials are available through a new learning hub IBM has launched.

“The partners are telling us they want more expertise on their teams in terms of the IBM products that they‘re able to sell and how equipped they are to sell them,” Woolley said. “And as we look at what we’re hearing from clients as well, clients want that. … Our clients are saying, ‘We want more technical expertise. We want more experiential selling. We want IBM’ – and that means the IBM ecosystem as well – ‘to have all of that expertise and to have access to all the right enablement material to be able to engage with us as clients.’”

The company has doubled the number of brand-specialized partner sellers in the ecosystem and increased the number of technical partner sellers by more than 35 percent, according to IBM.

The company’s exact program changes have led to improved deal registration and introduced to partners more than 7,000 potential deals valued at more than $500 million globally, according to IBM. Those numbers are based on IBM sales data from January 2022 to August.

Along with the expanded access to training and enablement resources, Woolley told CRN that another example of aligning the IBM sales force and partners was a single sales kickoff event for employees and partners. A year ago, two separate events were held.

“I want our partners to continue to feel and see this as a big investment in them and representative of how focused we are on the ecosystem and how invested we are,” she said.

WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / October 17, 2022 / During the National HBCU Week Conference convened by the U.S. Department of Education and the White House, IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced its collaboration with 20 Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) to help them establish Cybersecurity Leadership Centers.

With 500,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S., the need for expertise is critical: According to a exact IBM Security study, insufficiently staffed organizations average $550,000 more in breach costs than those that state they are sufficiently staffed.**

"Collaborations between academia and the private sector can help students prepare for success. That's especially true for HBCUs because their mission is so vital," said Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President, IBM Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG. "The Cybersecurity Leadership Centers we're co-creating with Historically Black College and Universities epitomize our commitment to the Black community and STEM education; it also builds on our pledge to train 150,000 people in cybersecurity over three years."

IBM will collaborate with the following 20 HBCUs across 11 states to co-create Cybersecurity Leadership Centers, helping to create talent for employers and opportunities for students. (Six of these collaborations were previously announced in May*)

• Alabama - Alabama A&M University, Talladega College, Tuskegee University

• Florida - Edward Waters University, Florida A&M University

• Georgia - Albany State University, Clark Atlanta University*

• Louisiana - Grambling State University, Southern University System*, Xavier University of LA*

• Maryland - Bowie State University, Morgan State University*

• Mississippi - Alcorn State University

• North Carolina - North Carolina A&T State University*, North Carolina Central University

• South Carolina - South Carolina State University*, Voorhees University

• Texas - Texas Southern University

• Virginia - Norfolk State University

• West Virginia - West Virginia State University

Story continues

Through IBM's collaboration, faculty and students at participating schools will have access to coursework, lectures, immersive training experiences, certifications, IBM Cloud-hosted software, and professional development resources, all at no cost to them. This includes access to:

• Cybersecurity curricula: IBM will develop for each participating HBCU, a customized IBM Security Learning Academy portal - an IBM client offering - including courses designed to help the university enhance its cybersecurity education portfolio. In addition, IBM will continue to deliver access to IBM SkillsBuild.

• Immersive learning experience: Faculty and students of participating HBCUs will have an opportunity to benefit from IBM Security's Command Center, through which they can experience a highly realistic, simulated cyberattack, designed to prepare them and train them on response techniques. Moreover, HBCUs' faculty will have access to consultation sessions with IBM technical personnel on cybersecurity.

• Software: Multiple IBM Security premier enterprise security products hosted in the IBM Cloud

• Professional development: Forums to exchange best practices, learn from IBM experts, and discover IBM internships and job openings

About IBM Education

As part of the company's Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, IBM's education portfolio takes a personalized, diverse, and deep approach to STEM career readiness. IBM's pro bono programs range from education and support for teens at public schools and universities, to career readiness resources for aspiring professionals and job seekers. IBM believes that education is best achieved through the collaboration of the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors.

IBM SkillsBuild is a free education program focused on underrepresented communities, that helps adult learners, and high school and university students and faculty, develop valuable new skills and access career opportunities. The program includes an online platform that is complemented by customized practical learning experiences delivered in collaboration with a global network of partners. The online platform offers over 1,000 courses in 19 languages on cybersecurity, data analysis, cloud computing and many other technical disciplines - as well as in workplace skills such as Design Thinking. Most important, participants can earn IBM-branded digital credentials that are recognized by the market. The customized practical learning experiences could include project-based learning, expert conversations with IBM volunteers, mentors, premium content, specialized support, connection with career opportunities, access to IBM software, among others. As of February 2022, IBM SkillsBuild operates in 159 counties and is supporting 1.72M learners since its launch.

About IBM Security

IBM Security offers one of the most advanced and integrated portfolios of enterprise security products and services. The portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM Security X-Force® research, enables organizations to effectively manage risk and defend against emerging threats. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security research, development, and delivery organizations, monitors 150 billion+ security events per day in more than 130 countries, and has been granted more than 10,000 security patents worldwide. For more information, please check www.ibm.com/security, follow @IBMSecurity on Twitter or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog.

* Announced in May 2022
** Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022, conducted by Ponemon Institute, sponsored & analyzed by IBM

Media Contact:

Ari Fishkind
IBM Media Relations
fishkind@us.ibm.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from IBM on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:
Spokesperson: IBM
Website: https://www.ibm.com
Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: IBM

View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/720635/IBM-Teams-With-20-Historically-Black-Colleges-and-Universities-to-Address-Cybersecurity-Talent-Shortage

Founded in 1911 as a Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, International Business Machines (IBM) needs to keep its finger on the pulse of the development of information technology not to be ousted by younger tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. With the advent of the internet, IBM needed to widen the spectrum of its products and services to retain its strong position in the tech field. Although the company lost its dominance, having only a 5% market share in 2021, as opposed to 68% shared by Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, it has many spectacular achievements to its credit. IBM holds more patents than any other technology company and takes pride in employees who have earned five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, five National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. And it had been the top tech company for longer than any of the titans dominating the market now. 

Also called “Big Blue,” IBM indeed has an impressive pedigree. After starting to produce hardware at the beginning of the last century, it thrived in this business for decades and became the leading provider of mainframe computers worldwide. IBM’s gross income had inexorably grown in the last part of the twentieth century, expanding from $14.450 billion earned in 1975 to $71.940 billion made in 1995. The company’s revenue skyrocketed to the record level of $106.9 billion in 2011, after which it has steadily been declining amidst its transition into new technologies and lines of business. To move with the times and survive the competition from other tech titans, IBM gradually shifted its focus from hardware to software and services. It began to devote more energy and money to cloud-based services and cognitive computing. IBM focuses now on offering primarily network services, application services, cloud services, digital workplace services, business processes and operations, technology consulting services, and AI services. IBM Watson, a cognitive system capable of answering questions posed in natural language, has become the company’s high-visibility offering in the technology field. IBM has a strong faith in Watson, promoting the system as a benevolent digital assistant that would help hospitals, offices, factories, and farms. The company’s white paper referred to Watson as “the future of knowing.”

To see how well IBM has prepared for, what it calls, the new age of understanding, study the statistical data presented below.

Sources: IBM, Wikipedia

October 05, 2022, 12:00 PM EDT

“No matter how our partners are focused or how they‘re going to market, we want our IBM technology to be going to market with them,” IBM channel chief Kate Woolley said.

Opening to partners training and enablement resources usually reserved for IBM’s own employees is an example of how the company is investing in partners and becoming easier to work with, channel chief Kate Woolley told CRN in an interview.

And while the IBM Consulting division continues its own investments with its ongoing purchase of services businesses, those investments pose no conflict to partners, said Woolley, general manager of the IBM ecosystem.

“As we think about IBM with IBM Consulting and IBM technology, we want our partners – no matter how our partners are focused or how they‘re going to market, we want our IBM technology to be going to market with them,” Woolley said.

[RELATED: IBM’s Cloud Acquisition Charge Continues With Dialexa]

On Tuesday, the Armonk, N.Y.-based technology giant started giving registered members of its PartnerWorld program access to the training, badges and enablement IBM sales employees get, along with a new learning hub for accessing materials.

Partners now have access to sales and technical badges showing industry expertise, according to a blog post Tuesday. Badges are shareable on LinkedIn and other professional social platforms. IBM sales representatives and partners will receive new content at the same time as it is made available.

“This is the next step in that journey in terms of making sure that all of our registered partners have access to all of the same training, all of the same enablement materials as IBMers,” Woolley told CRN. “That’s the big message that we want people to hear. And then also in line with continuing to make it easier to do business with IBM, this has all been done through a much improved digital experience in terms of how our partners are able to access and consume.”

CRN also asked Woolley about IBM’s exact acquisition spree of services businesses – including Dialexa in September, Neudesic in February and Bluetab Solutions and BoxBoat in July 2021.

Although IBM spun off its managed infrastructure practice into a separate, publicly traded company called Kyndryl, the remaining IBM Consulting wing remains a big part of IBM’s business. IBM reported consulting revenue of $4.8 billion in its latest quarterly earnings, up from $4.4 billion from the same period a year prior.

“I don‘t see conflict versus IBM consulting,” Woolley said. “I honestly don’t see that conflict. I think we want to be going to market with all of our partners regardless of what motion they‘re taking it through.”

Here’s what else Woolley had to say.

Manhattan congressional candidate Mike Itkis has released his own sex tape online to highlight his campaign platform. 

Throughout his campaign, Itkis has been vocal about issues he aims to tackle. One of those issues is a ‘sex positive’ approach that focuses on decriminalizing and legalizing sex workers.

Who is Mike Itkis?

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Mike Itkis moved to New York City in 1979, where he received his education.

As per his official website, Itkis studied a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering at Cornell University and completed his Master of Business Administration at Baruch College, also in New York. Itkis also studied a Masters in information security and a Veterans Program for Politics and Civic Engagement.

His skillset helped him land jobs in top companies such as IBM, Societe Generale, Bank of NY, and Merrill Lynch.

Moreover, Itkis has also been a major in the US Army reserve as well as a cyber operations officer; Signal Corps officer; Russian linguist; and civil affairs specialist.

He has released his own tape

One of the main issues Itkis’s campaign focuses on is a ‘sex positive approach’ and he has released his own tape as part of his campaign.

He told City & State New York: “If I just talked about it, it wouldn’t demonstrate my commitment to the issue. And the fact I actually did it [created the tape] was a huge learning experience and it actually influenced items on my platform.

“I’m very much an introvert. I’m kind of a nerd who doesn’t like to be the center of attention if I can avoid it. But I thought the issues I’m trying to address are so important… I wanted to have my issues talked about in some way.”

Other issues his campaign focuses on

Other issues Mike Itkis’s campaign focus on include cyber security and ending the war in Ukraine.

The cyber security issues focus on creating a safe environment and maintaining a balance between security and privacy.

Other issues call for having a clear political objective to ensure the war in Ukraine comes to an end.

In other news, What position is Markiplier's podcast on Spotify charts as creator vows to join OnlyFans?

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Program to prepare, certify and position Latinos for the future through tech ed and job skills

Oct 14, 2022 (3BL Media via COMTEX) -- SOURCE:IBM

DESCRIPTION:

WASHINGTON, October 14, 2022 /3BL Media/ - The Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) announced today its collaboration with IBM (NYSE: IBM) which includes leveraging IBM SkillsBuild - a free education program that helps students and adult learners develop valuable new skills and access career opportunities in technology fields - by providing digital content, personalized mentoring, and the experiential learning they need to gain technical, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving skills. The program will be offered for FREE to HHF Network, is completely digital, and includes IBM-branded digital credentials that are recognized by the market to create direct pathways to tech jobs. The effort will be open to high school students, college students, young professionals, and adult learners.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

IBM Corp. is making some big changes to its data storage services, announcing today that it will bring Red Hat Inc.’s storage products and associates under the “IBM Storage” umbrella.

The aim, IBM said, is to deliver a more consistent application and data storage experience across on-premises and cloud infrastructures. It’s a big move that will see IBM Spectrum Fusion data management software adopt the storage technologies of Red Hat’s OpenShift Data Foundation as its new base layer.

Even more interesting, perhaps, is that the open-source Red Hat Ceph Storage offering will be transformed into a new IBM Ceph storage offering. IBM said this will result in a unified, software-defined storage platform that’s better able to bridge the architectural divide between data centers and cloud computing providers.

The computing giant said the move is in line with its software-defined storage strategy of a “born in the cloud, for the cloud” approach that will unlock bidirectional application and data mobility based on a shared, secure and cloud-scale solution.

IBM Systems General Manager of Storage Denis Kennelly said the shift is designed to streamline the two companies’ portfolios. “By bringing together the teams and integrating our products under one roof, we are accelerating IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy while maintaining commitments to Red Hat’s customers and the open-source community,” he insisted.

The company presented the changes as a big win for customers, saying they will gain access to a more consistent set of storage services that preserve data resilience, security and governance across bare metal, virtualized and containerized environments. More specifically, IBM is promising that customers will have a more unified storage experience for container-based applications running on Red Hat OpenShift, with the ability to use IBM Spectrum Fusion, which is now based on Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation. Doing so will provide higher performance, greater scale and more automation for OpenShift applications that require block, file and object access to data, the company said.

As for IBM Ceph, the company said this will deliver a more consistent hybrid cloud experience with enterprise-grade scale and resiliency.

Furthermore, by unifying IBM’s and Red Hat’s storage technologies, customers will be able to build a single data lakehouse on IBM Spectrum Scale to aggregate all of their unstructured data in one place. Benefits will include less time spent on maintenance, reduced data movement and redundancy, and more advanced schema management and data governance.

Industry watchers were united in their belief that the changes would be of benefit to customers. Steve McDowell of Moor Insights & Strategy told SiliconANGLE that today’s move makes a lot of sense because it enables IBM to leverage the storage strengths of both companies.

McDowell explained that although IBM Spectrum is considered to be one of the most comprehensive data management platforms around, its foundation predates the rise of cloud-native technologies. On the other hand, he said, Red Hat OpenShift was built from the ground up to support cloud-native workloads.

“IBM is evolving Spectrum Fusion to take the best of Red Hat’s efforts, and is using Red Hat’s storage software as the base for its IBM-branded products moving forward,” McDowell said. “It makes a lot of business sense for IBM to leverage R&D from Red Hat into its more traditionally proprietary systems. It also gives IBM an easy path to better serve the needs of containerized workloads.”

International Data Corp. analyst Ashish Nadkarni said the two companies are now “speaking with one voice on storage” and finally delivering on the synergies between them that were mentioned when IBM acquired Red Hat in 2019.

“The combining of the two storage teams is a win for IT organizations as it brings together the best that both offer: An industry-leading storage systems portfolio meets an industry-leading software-defined data services offering,” Nadkarni said. “This initiative enables IBM and Red Hat to streamline their family of offerings, passing the benefits to their customers.”

IBM also moved to reassure users of Red Hat’s open-source technologies that it will remain fully committed to them following today’s announcements. As part of the deal, IBM will take over Premier Sponsorship of the Ceph Foundation and, along with Red Hat’s teams, continue to drive innovation and development. Both IBM Ceph and Red Hat OpenShift will remain 100% open-source, the company added, and will continue to follow an upstream-first development model.

McDowell said today’s move would likely make some users nervous about the prospect of Red Hat’s technology becoming more proprietary over time. “IBM has been very careful since it acquired Red Hat in 2019 to keep Red Hat’s open-source business segregated from IBM’s branded offerings,” he said. “This is the first time we’re seeing IBM cross that that line, and it’s natural to wonder how blurred those lines will become.”

Still, McDowell said, he’s inclined to believe IBM’s promises as it has been very deliberate about keeping Red Hat’s storage technologies open-source.

“Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation and Ceph will still be available as they always have, though its evolution will undoubtedly be more strongly guided by the needs of IBM’s storage business,” the analyst continued. “Overall this is a net positive for IBM and its customers. It makes good business sense and there should be minimal impact to Red Hat’s existing community.”

IBM said the first storage solutions to launch under the new IBM Ceph Storage and IBM Spectrum Fusion banners will arrive in the first half of 2023, so users will have plenty of time to digest the changes.

Image: Red Hat