Stuff To Blow Your Mind Smart Talks with IBM: How Infrastructure is Powering the Age of AI
Jan 29, 2025
Ric Lewis, IBM’s Senior Vice President of Infrastructure, shares his insights on how critical hardware advancements, particularly in GPUs, are driving the AI revolution. He highlights the fascinating applications of AI from banking to local businesses, emphasizing its transformative potential. The discussion touches on the importance of infrastructure in leveraging data, the unexpected resilience of traditional hardware amid cloud dominance, and the nuanced future of AI in collaboration with various industries. Lewis's extensive experience spotlights the balance between innovation and established practices.
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Retirement Interrupted
- Ric Lewis was a few years into retirement when IBM offered him a position he couldn't refuse.
- This led him to return and oversee a vast portfolio, embracing the golden age of IT.
Golden Age of IT
- Three factors drew Lewis back: the IT industry's golden age, IBM's talented people, and its existing AI work.
- He felt IT's current impact on all businesses was too significant to miss.
Mainframe's Flourishing
- Lewis was surprised by the mainframe's unexpected flourishing and IBM's underappreciated innovation.
- He discovered the mainframe business was thriving due to growing transaction demands and had advanced AI integration.