For large servers Fibre Channel is the dominant storage protocol connecting huge storage controllers to these servers via a switched storage area network. On the other hand side Ethernet is the dominant networking protocol in all computer environments which is interconnected via a switched local area network. Maintaining and managing these two different networks is expensive and therefore a new protocol standard is emerging called Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). The goal of this new protocol is to use Ethernet as the physical infrastructure and run the Fibre Channel protocol over the Ethernet network. This new protocol has the potential to be the unified remote disk attachment and networking interface of the future. Circuit and speed improvements in the latest FPGA technology have been amazing. This opens the possibility to replace expensive and difficult to develop custom PCI Express Adapter cards.
In this Extreme Blue project the team should:
- extend existing concepts to FCoE
- define and implement a prototype in VHDL
- synthesize and test the VHDL to an existing FPGA prototype platform
- FPGA prototype platform will be connected to a workstation environment running FCoE tests under Linux
The Extreme Blue team will get coached in all technical questions by a team of IBM experts familiar with FCoE, I/O Architecture, FPGA implementation and Linux Device Drivers.
Required skills:
- VHDL / Verilog (basic skill)
- FPGA- or VHDL-simulation skills (basic skill)
- Networking or PCI protocol base knowledge
- Linux Device Driver skill (optional)
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Today's disaster recovery (DR) solutions for distributed (open) platforms are not perfect yet. They have different limitations which are for example hardware-related (e.g. lacking support of automatic I/O reconfiguration) or systems management aspects (e.g. how to handle site failures). An ideal DR solution provides a full range of functionality which allows customers to react to severe failure situations like node failures, site failures, storage system outages and even more, support for planned automation situations.
Currently, IBM has started different internal research and development projects to enrich open platforms with sophisticated DR qualities. Here, the focus is on IBM’s UNIX servers. One of these projects focuses on a conceptually new DR solution which will provide automated management capabilities for data replication and application recovery across multiple sites for planned situations and for disaster recovery. This new approach will be based on the existing products combining existing automation, high-availability and replication technologies. The idea for this extreme blue project is to consolidate the work of several projects and to initially demonstrate an approach for a sophisticated DR solution for IBM’s UNIX servers.
The Extreme Blue students will be required to familiarize themselves with the existing products and research projects including concepts of disaster recovery, high-availability, automation and replication technologies and develop a design for such a system. Consequently, a prototype has to be developed that demonstrates the approach for the DR solution.
Required skills:
Desired skills for the technical interns
- Creativity
- Developing skills for Java and C++ applications
- Perform software engineering (design, test, code inspections, advanced debugging)
- Develop solution architectures (develop technical designs with multiple modules)
- Develop J2EE applications (JSP, Servlets, XML, JDBC, etc.)
- Solid UNIX/Linux operation and administration skills, AIX skills desirable
- Fluent in English
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As of today there are a number of competing technologies such as Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash, and the Dojo Framework provided by the Open Source community to enhance the richness of the web browser user experience. These technologies compete in the market to provide the most compelling user experience and thus attract Web 2.0 user and development communities. These technologies are able to consume information from multiple sources, such as feeds, widgets, etc. By leveraging languages such as JavaScript, they add contextual menus, interactive animation, and more. However, these technologies are generally not standardized and some have browser specific dependencies.
Enterprise Portals aggregate applications to provide an integrated user experience while addressing the problems of security, connectivity, and user preference storage. IBM WebSphere Portal is the market leading Product for Enterprise Portals. The goal of this workgroup is to push the envelope in framework-based user interface design and implementation for Enterprise Portals.
During this project you will create a vision for a compelling, inviting, advanced, framework-based Web 2.0 user interface theme for Enterprise Portals. You will implement a prototype of this theme based on the Flash and Silverlight Frameworks for IBM WebSphere Portal, which provides an open and standards-based platform for Enterprise Portals. You will make use of the feeds, REST Services, and APIs provided by WebSphere Portal to demonstrate the flexibility and utility of your design. You will also demonstrate the advantages of using these frameworks within an Enterprise Portal environment.
an understanding of the relevant business scenarios in that space, and you will validate your insights using customer feedback. Furthermore you will analyze the competing user interface framework offerings and document their capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Finally, you will create a convincing presentation that documents your project results and allows you to advertise the project’s capabilities.
Required skills:
- Course of Study in Computer Science or a related field
- Creativity
- A high degree of motivation along with the ability to work in a team
- Good knowledge of English
- Familiarity with REST Services, Ajax, and other Web 2.0 concepts
- Familiarity with a Web 2.0 Framework such as Dojo, Microsoft Silverlight, or Adobe Flash
- Optionally: Programming skill in Java (Enterprise Edition) and JavaScript
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Context- and Situation-aware Workflows have been identified by industry and academia as an interesting new theme, significantly expanding the value proposition of traditional business processes, making BPM technology suitable for a multitude of new business scenarios. Context-aware Human Workflows are a special form of Context-aware Workflows, particularly focusing on the characteristics when involving people with business processes. When involving humans in business process, in particular the location of people becomes important. E.g., when a person enters a room a business situation can be detected triggering a business process; or people’s location is considered when assigning and re-assigning work to them. In general, Context- and Situation-aware Workflows contain domain-specific semantic information and thus exploit situation awareness to improve the coherence, context, and permissibility of information. Situation detection propagates semantic context to business processes, e.g., location awareness in a refinery is coupled with refinery processes reacting on gas leaks.
During this project you will create a description of a technical vision for Context- and Situation-aware Human Workflow scenarios based on IBM's middleware products, mainly WebSphere Process Server, WebSphere Premises Server and Lotus Sametime. You will develop an architecture to realize that vision, based on the before mentioned products, product extensions and additional capabilities. Finally you will create a prototypical realization of a subset of that architecture to demonstrate how a characteristic business scenario can be addressed, with particular focus on location aware resource allocation and the combination of business events and business processes.
To understand and assess the business value of Context- and Situation-aware Human Workflows you will gain an understanding of the relevant business scenarios in that space, and you will validate your insights using customer feedback. Furthermore you will analyze competitive offerings and document their capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Finally, you will create a marketing presentation that documents your project results and allows you to advertise the project’s capabilities and the potential of the technology of Context- and Situation-aware Human Workflows.
Required skills:
- Field of study: Computer Science, Business Informatics, Electrical Engineering or similar
- Creativity
- The ability to work in a team, as well as autonomously and self dependent
- Good English language skills
- Skills in the areas of Web Services, SOA and Business Process Management
- Skills in the areas of Distributed Systems and Business Events
- Programming skills in Java and Java Enterprise Edition
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