Today, I took some time to analyze more carefully what happened at the IBM Connect 2014. Yes, I know, it’s a bit late to do so, but I’ve been really busy those 10 last months!

In short, here are the keywords : Cloud, Big Data, Social business, Analytics, OpenStack, Mobile, SoftLayer…

And behind those words : a giant technology stack and massive investments.

Now what ? Are things getting simpler? Not so sure.

First, as an engineer, I really had to scratch my head to understand most of the slides I’ve read, and, worst, I realize that IBM has just « offered » us a nice bag of brand new Legos (that we will have to rent monthly). In short, if you are not a developer, it’s impossible to understand what is simpler now, and, if you are a developer, you still wonder what is simpler… but you are nearly sure you will pay for it.

Is it really normal that I have to read 30 slideshares of 50 pages each to approximately understand what they expect to do with their BigDataMobileAnalyticsSocialCloud?

Of course, IBM has to take position on the « big five » IT trends of the next decade, but, on the other hand, all we need is something simpler and cheaper. Is it so difficult to understand?

In fact, thank you IBM, because the 2014 edition of IBM Connect has reinforced my conviction that we really need a service like The-Data-Box!