Alan - Dublin Technical Intern Summer 2006

Tell us about your Extreme Blue experience?
I joined Extreme Blue as a third year student from Dublin Institute of Technology. This was the first opportunity for me to test my skills and abilities. I was excited and nervous before starting Extreme Blue. I was excited about working with cutting-edge technology and working with talented and motivated peers. Nervous as this was the first time my ability was to be tested.
Extreme Blue brings together both talented technology students and business students; it was interesting challenge not only to develop technical innovations but also to develop a business purpose for the project. The experience has taught me so much not only technically but how to work better as part of a team to collaborate and innovate.
Extreme Blue will go down as one of my best experiences; it offered me the opportunity to work on such cutting-edge technology as Cell BE processors, to work on cool projects, to meet so many new people.

Tell us about your Extreme Blue project and what your responsibility was in the project?
I am a Computer Science student and as such I was one of the technical members of the team. We were given the problem of applying BLAST algorithm to Cell BE technology, IBM's multi-core processor, famously in use in Sony's Playstation 3 and IBM Blade Servers.
The project was a particular challenge for me as I had limited experience with such technology but collaborating with teams from the US and Germany, made the learning curve a lot easier for the whole team.
The Summer flew by and after a few late nights, off we went to La Guade, Nice. This was the location of the Extreme Blue Expo 2006 where all the other teams met to show the results of their projects. We presented the results of our project and the 400% speed increase we had achieved from our efforts.

What is the project that you are working on now in collaboration with IBM?
As part of my final year project I completed the development of a Software Application which enables developers to easily integrate SAP into other SOA applications. This was achieved through the use of Web Services. During the course of the project I was collaborating with the Lotus Workforce Management team based in Dublin Software Lab.
The application I developed brings the concept of "Composite Business APIs," which enables the creation of true business services. Currently there are no commercial products that achieve this in such an automated fashion.
I would like to thank everyone from IBM who has given of their time and experience.

What will be your job role when you return to IBM?
I will be returning to IBM in early June to take a position in IBM Software Group as a Software Engineer, working with Lotus Workforce Management team as part of the Lotus Solutions organisation. I am looking forward to returning to work and to start working on new projects and to drive innovation further in IBM.

What other activities or hobbies are you involved in?
Life is not all about work, I enjoy a good balance between work and life. In my free time, I enjoy traveling, sports, and cinema. I play field hockey for a Pembroke Hockey club based in Dublin which takes up most weekends traveling to and from matches around Leinster.
I enjoy traveling and try to get away as often as possible, mostly around Europe but occasionally further a field when the opportunity arises.

What advise would you give to someone new to the organisation?
Joining a company the size of IBM can be a little daunting; I would advise them not to worry; everyone in IBM has been in the same place as you before and people are always willing to help.
You are part of a team; if you are having difficulties your team mates are there to help and managers are always there to talk and lend a supportive ear.