Extreme Blue

History

Extreme Blue was created in 1999 by David Grossman, Jane Harper, Ronald Woan, Sean Martin, Morris Matsa. It began at the Lotus Software site in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2003, Extreme Blue participants filed 98 patents.

In 2007, 10,000 applications were received for 92 positions in the U.S.; over 10,000 students applied for 220 positions worldwide. At the 2008 National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) award ceremony, the UK Extreme Blue program received the "Over 250 Employees – Short term placement" award. In 2009, according to an Extreme Blue manager, over 10,000 applications were received for fewer than 50 US positions.

Since its inception, the program has expanded to include 15 active international locations.

Projects

Extreme Blue uses IBM engineers, interns, and business managers to develop technology and business plans for new products and services. Each summer an Extreme Blue team also works on a project. These projects mostly involve rapid prototyping of high-profile software and hardware projects. Publicly released projects include the following:

• AmalgamR (2009) amalgamates social information from multiple sources, including Twitter, and displays relevant and timely group-based information.
• BreadCrumbs (2009) is an iPhone application that scans grocery food barcodes and gives consumers information such as ingredients, manufacturing history, and product recall alerts with the use of food traceability servers.[[File:Saving Lives with SMS for Life.jpg|thumb|Malaria Clinic in Tanzania helped by SMS for Life program, an Extreme Blue project]]
• SMS for Life (2009) fights malaria in Africa by utilizing cell phones, texting and web mapping technology to track and manage antimalarial drugs.
• exSEL (2007) is an end-to-end marketing tool which provides a virtual tour and allows virtual interactions with the exhibits in the IBM Solutions Experience Lab.
• SiSi Say It Sign It (2007) converts from spoken English directly into British Sign Language which is then signed by an animated digital character or avatar.
• PeridotPeridot (2004) checks web sites for broken links and assist in updating them. IBM applied for two patents on this technology.
• GameGrid (2003) created a distributed computing MMOG based on the open-source version of ID Software's Quake 2 first-person shooter.

Laboratory locations

North America

In 2004, there were 44 Extreme Blue teams in North America. In 2002, there were 101 interns in North America from 42 schools.

• USA IBM Almaden Research Center located in San Jose, California, USA (2000-current)
  • 4 teams in 2009
• USA IBM Silicon Valley Lab located in San Jose, California, USA
• USA Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (1999–2004)
  • Debut location of Extreme Blue
  • Did not host EB in 2001.
• USA Raleigh, North Carolina, USA (2002–current)
  • Started 2002
  • Lab manager:
    • (2006-current) Ross Grady
• USA Austin, Texas, USA (2001-current)
  • Started 2001
  • Lab manager:
    • (2015-current) Marjean Fieldhouse
  • Technical lead:
    • (2015-current) Matthew Glover
• Canada Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Canada Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• Canada Toronto, Ontario, Canada

South America

• Brazil São Paulo, Brazil

Asia

• China Beijing, China
• India Bangalore, India (2004–?)
  • Started in 2004 with 9 students in 2 teams
• India Delhi, India (2010–current)
  • Started in 2010 and is currently active.
• Israel IBM Haifa Research Laboratory located in Haifa, Israel

Europe

• Ireland Dublin, Ireland
• Ireland Cork, Ireland
• Germany Böblingen, Germany
  • 3 teams in 2002
• Belgium Brussels, Belgium
• Netherlands Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Netherlands Uithoorn, Netherlands
• France La Gaude, France
• UK Hursley, United Kingdom
• Switzerland Zurich, Switzerland
• Italy Rome, Italy

References

References

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2. James Watson. (23 Sep 2004). "Students swap beach for the lab bench in IBM internship scheme". Computing.
3. [https://mattwhitbourne.blogspot.com/2008/03/ncwe-awards-extreme-blue-wins-over-250.html NCWE Awards: Extreme Blue wins 'Over 250 Employees – Short term placement Award']
4. Mike Cassidy. (August 14, 2009). "Cassidy: Looking at the Valley through fresh eyes". San Jose Mercury News.
5. Richard Macmanus. (October 26, 2009). "IBM Debuts Food Traceability iPhone App". The New York Times.
6. Zachary Wilson. (15 Dec 2009). "Are Your Interns Saving the World? IBM's Are". Fast Company.
7. (14 Dec 2009). "Saving Lives with SMS for Life". IBM.
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12. "Guaranteeing hypertext link integrity".
13. "Hypertext request integrity and user experience".
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15. (24 September 2004). "Broken Links No More?". Slashdot.
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21. http://www-913.ibm.com/employment/us/extremeblue/bio/2002_us_interns.html{{Dead link. (December 2024)
22. (2001). "Extreme Blue History". IBM.
23. (2002). "Dynamic places".
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29. "IBM Recruitment - Students - Extreme Blue - Belgium/Luxembourg".