IT Consortium Explores Need for Service Innovation

A new IT consortium was recently launched to raise awareness of the need for service innovation and to increase the level of funding for services research. Dubbed the Services Research and Innovation Initiative, participating companies include IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and EMC, among others. The consortium held its first symposium last week in Santa Clara, CA with approximately 200 IT professionals attending. Speakers included Geoffrey Moore, author of "Crossing the Chasm" and "Dealing with Darwin"; Sophie Vandebroek, president of Xerox Innovation; and Irving Wladawsky-Berger, vice president of Technical Strategy and Innovation for IBM. J.B. Wood, president and CEO of the Technology Professional Services Association, one of the key sponsors of SRII, told attendees that over the last eight years, the U.S. IT sector has become significantly more service-oriented, rather than product-oriented.

For more on the symposium:
- see this eWeek article