An early morning run with colleague Angela Migliaccio meant that I was a virtual attendee to this morning’s keynote. I noted with gratitude that Jason Silva tempered the pacing of his prodigious oratory skills – thank you!

Once more, connections were the order of the session. Big data as a rhythmic cascade of bits and bytes, akin to a rushing river. The mapping of circuits, feedback and information flow was applicable to both machines and humans. But now we have a challenge put to us: in the midst of this torrent of data, what must be done in the face of entropy?

Thermodynamics or Information Theory? We guess the latter.

Thankfully Steve Mills, IBM Superhero (and Senior VP), brought it back down to earth and translated for the rest of us mere mortals.

The good news he shared? The cost of computing has come down, making it economically effective to use IT resources in new ways. Even better? Clients can use what they already have – their data – keeping it where it’s already stored – on System z – and layer it with new analytic function on top. Great! Perfect timing, actually, in that IMS 12 was just certified as a data source on Cognos 10.2. This best practices article by Richard Tran, Kevin Hite, Nigel Campbell, and David Hanson can tell you more. Richard and Kevin can also tell you more at the IMS and IMS Tools pedestal at the Expo.

In two afternoon sessions, IBM Data Champion Steve Clanton from Caterpillar shared success stories on how Caterpillar has deployed IMS Synchronous Callout to improve application response. “In IMS, 5 seconds is an eternity,” he shared. Later, Curt Bergqvist presented on how Svenska Handelsbanken uses IBM WebSphere WTX and IBM WebSphere DataPower appliances to access IMS transactions. We love to hear how our customers integrate IMS assets across their portfolio. As Steve Mills stated, use what you already have and then layer. Sounds almost like fashion advice.

Speaking of that, would IBM Director of Industry Solutions and Marketing Farhana Alarakhiya tell me where I can purchase the shoes she wore today? Please??