History of IBM Research 2002
IBM Research invented a prototype 9-ounce portable computing device, Meta Pad. This is part of IBM's research to explore how humans interact with computers and defines the technologies needed for future pervasive devices. To make Meta Pad so small, IBM researchers pulled the power supply, display and I/O connectors out of the computer core -- leaving processor, memory, data and applications. Components removed from the machine become accessories, allowing the individual users to decide how they want to use the device -- it can be transformed into a handheld, desktop, laptop, tablet or wearable computer in seconds, without having to be rebooted.
IBM's On Demand Innovation Services (ODIS), the services arm of the Research Division, allows our customers access to a discrete team of researchers who specialize in high-end business transformation and technology consulting. This group works with IBM's Business Consulting Services to bring a wide array of IBM Research innovations, tools and expertise directly to customers. ODIS marks a major shift in the research agenda of the entire IT industry because it's the first time that services will benefit from long-term, exploratory research just as material, physical and computer sciences do.
IBM announced the world's smallest working silicon transistor. With this transistor IBM was able to push silicon to limits on a molecular scale not previously achieved. At six nanometers in length, this new transistor was at least 10 times smaller than the state-of-the-art transistors in production today. The Consortium of International Semiconductor Companies in its 2001 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors projected that transistors had to be smaller than 9 nanometers by 2016 in order to continue the performance trend. IBM was the first company to make working transistors below that gate length. Scaling to this new molecular level demonstrated that the basic transistor concept still functions at this size. Continued innovation will be required to simultaneously achieve high performance and to manage power density and heat dissipation.
IBM Research demonstrated the industry's first self-diagnostic tool that could automatically monitor 802.11 wireless networks and report security problems in real-time. The Distributed Wireless Security Auditor (DWSA), which runs on desktop and laptop computers, can monitor wireless network security and report to the central back-end servers minute by minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. DWSA is the next generation of Wireless Security Auditor, which was introduced previously this year. Researchers have extended the tool, making it more autonomic by adding self-sensor and self-diagnosis features. Running as a lightweight process on wireless clients in an enterprise, DWSA can quickly report wireless infrastructure security issues to system administrators.
Using an innovative nanotechnology, IBM scientists demonstrated a data storage density of a trillion bits per square inch -- 20 times higher than the densest magnetic storage available today. IBM achieved this remarkable density -- enough to store 25 million printed textbook pages on a surface the size of a postage stamp -- in a research project code-named "Millipede". Rather than using traditional magnetic or electronic means to store data, Millipede used thousands of nano-sharp tips to punch indentations representing individual bits into a thin plastic film. Although this unique approach was smaller than today's traditional technologies and can be operated at lower power, IBM scientists believe still higher levels of storage density are possible.
