Does IT really matter? Have we reached the end of innovation in the Software industry? Kim Polese, CEO of SpikeSource, doesn't think so and makes a convincing case that the software industry is undergoing a revolution, which will create even further innovations. This is known as Web 2.0 and it is changing that way software companies are executing their business strategy. The second generation of the Internet is forcing these companies to transform their development, delivery and licensing models and to re-examine their core competencies.

The Internet is facilitating interoperability and collaboration at new levels and accelerating the adoption of open source software. It is the catalyst of a new ecosystem, which is realizing the promise of component reuse, interoperability and freedom with enormous upstream benefits. At the enterprise level, CIOs are promoting the use of open source solutions throughout the organization, which in itself presents new challenges. The same set of challenges is giving birth to a new service industry committed to delivering standard-based open source solutions and driving IT operational costs down.

So when the short sighted visionary turns off the lights and declares the end of innovation, true visionaries, like Kim Polese, stands up and proclaim a new beginning with endless possibilities and opportunities.

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Kim Polese was named CEO of SpikeSource in September 2004. Kim co-founded Marimba in 1996, and as President and CEO she led the company through a successful public offering and to profitability, before being acquired by BMC Software. Kim worked at Sun Microsystems and was the original product manager for Java, leading its launch in March 1995.

Kim earned a Bachelor's degree in Biophysics from U.C. Berkeley and studied Computer Science at the University of Washington, Seattle. She serves on the executive council of TechNet and on the board of the Global Security Institute and the University of California President's Board on Science and Innovation. Kim is a fellow at Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Engineered Innovation.

Resources:

• Web 2.0 Conference Site
• SpikeSource

This is a presentation delivered at the Web 2.0 Conference held in San Francisco, CA, October 5-7, 2004. Our thanks go to MediaLive International and O'Reilly Media, the producers of Web 2.0, for permission to bring you this session, one of many from Web 2.0 here on IT Conversations.

For Team ITC:

• Description editor: Jim Alateras
• Post-production audio engineer: Stuart Hunter