Interop: IBM Opens Social Software Research CenterInterop: IBM Opens Social Software Research Center

At the Interop technology conference and exhibition in New York Wednesday, IBM announced that it has opened a research center in Cambridge, Mass. dedicated to developing collaborative applications and other types of social software.

"Web 2.0 is giving us the capability to deliver brand new paradigms of collaboration," said Bob Picciano, IBM's general manager for Lotus and WebSphere Portal products, during an Interop keynote presentation at which he announced the plan.

IBM's Center for Social Software will host research into how workers can best use Web 2.0 applications—such as blogs, wikis and enterprise mashups--to better communicate and collaborate with each other. "This is about people and driving better business outcomes," said Picciano.

The Center will also offer a corporate residency program, under which businesses can send employees to work side-by-side with IBM researchers. Dow Jones and Thomson Reuters are the first companies to participate in the program.

"The next generation of Web tools has the potential to significantly enhance our ability to understand and communicate what is happening to patients in the real world," said William Marder, senior VP for for research at Thomson Reuters' healthcare unit.

IBM said the Center will house collaborative research with representatives from the academic, scientific, and biotechnology communities.

Speaking at Interop, Picciano said Web 2.0 tools can play a large part in helping workers deal with information overload. "This has a profound effect on organizational productivity," said Picciano, who noted that recent studies have shown that workers spend up to 70% of their time on the job looking for information.

IBM's Center for Social Software is part of the company's Tomorrow at Work initiative, under which Big Blue is researching and developing technologies that will align with new workplace trends and cultural changes. "It's about connecting people," said Picciano, who spoke before a packed room of several hundred Interop attendees at Manhattan's Javits convention center.