Natural Evolution?

Anyway, the best thing about the dog-and-pony show was hearing General Glass International CEO David Balik rave about how his solution provider, Tri-Bry Business Technology Solutions of Hoboken, N.J., helped hook him into the On Demand world.

Try-Bry layered a WebSphere implementation onto the company's existing iSeries server. So, all of the company's sales people and dealers have access to real-time prices and inventory information. "You really need to work through people on the ground-level," Balik advised prospective customers in attendance, pointing to his partner.

By the way, IBM took the opportunity to casually eke out several more Express offerings , including IBM Process Integration Solution Express and IBM Integrated Platform Express for Web Application Serving. Another, IBM Workplace Services Express is forthcoming.

Finally, those of you in the New York area might be inspired by the technology makeover going on over at the Museum of Modern Art, which its CIO Steve Peltzman casts as enabled by the On Demand philosophy. For those of you who live outside the New York tri-state area, MoMA has overhauled its facility and plans a grand reopening for Nov. 20.

Peltzman has likewise completely overhauled the museum's IT infrastructure. Among other things, the new building will feature nine 46-inch LCD screens in the lobby that will be treated like an art form, rather than just an informational meeting. It's also wired for wireless and Peltzman plans to take those ubiquitous audio-tour thingies into the visual age.