IBM has named six employees as 2010 IBM Fellows. The technical honor, announced in late May, acknowledges industry-leading innovations and collaboration with clients and business partners worldwide, according to the company. Accomplishments by the six honorees range from work on business analytics to breakthroughs in microprocessors and mainframe product development.
James C. Colson (Software Group) — Colson pioneered an industry-wide movement toward “fit-for-purpose middleware” that allows customers to tailor their middleware and applications whether running on servers, desktops, mobile phones or other embedded devices. This work provides customers with a choice of independent open platforms and Web technologies as well as more flexible computing options.
Jeffrey A. Frey (Systems and Technology Group) — As one of the founding architects of IBM’s System z Parallel Sysplex operating system, Frey has had a long history of innovations with IBM. Most notably, he helped advance the IBM System z operating system and middleware to help clients leverage their mainframe investments. Other work by Frey is in the areas of autonomic systems management, dynamic resource provisioning and goal-oriented resource management. He is currently responsible for the ongoing architecture and design of IBM’s next-generation mainframe.
Alfred Grill (Research) — Recognized for his contributions in microelectronic advances and manufacturing, Grill’s most notable achievement is his work in semiconductor interconnect technology. This advancement allows IBM to embed insulating materials into the wiring of microprocessors for faster information extraction and improved chip performance. Grill has contributed more than 100 inventions and developments in wiring insulating materials to the semiconductor industry, which have also become industry standards.
Subramanian Iyer (System and Technology Group) — Recognized for his sustained innovations in semiconductor technology, Iyer led the development and implementation of embedded DRAM technology, which is a dense memory that can be fabricated on high-performance logic chips. Iyer and colleagues also developed on-chip programmable electrical Fuses, a technology that allows chips to “self repair.” He also led the development of IBM’s 45 nm CMOS technologies.
Anant D. Jhingran (Software Group) — Jhingran is recognized for his ongoing contributions to IBM’s Information Management business. His work helped IBM lead in business analytics, data warehouse, and search and e-commerce software, as well as helped clients unlock business information natively with his introduction of Web 2.0 technologies. Jhingran, however, is best known for defining and bringing out the first version on IBM’s Data Warehouse, which includes several of his innovations, such as mining and core data warehouse capabilities. As one the technical leaders within IBM, Jhingran is also helping to define the middleware platform for cloud application delivery.
Charles Johnson (Research) — Working on microprocessor design and architecture, Johnson was technical leader behind a four-year project that resulted in the first processor to break the 1GHz barrier. His innovations have also expanded the bounds for microprocessor, semiconductor and packaging applications. Currently, Johnson is working on the architecture of the next-generation wire-speed processors and modular 3D design techniques for building IBM’s next-generation systems.
