[Sigbioinform-l] Sam Jaffee "Enter the Heavyweights" The Scientist 16[13]:44, Jun. 24, 2002

[Garfield, Eugene]

http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2002/jun/prof2_020624.html

The Scientist 16[13]:44, Jun. 24, 2002


The Scientist 16[13]:44, Jun. 24, 2002

    PROFESSION

    Enter the Heavyweights

    The world's largest computer companies climb into the
    bioinformatics ring 

   
    By Sam Jaffe

                              When Sun Microsystems and IBM announced
                              plans to target bioinformatics as a key
strategic
                              market, they sent shivers through the small
club
                              of bioinformaticians. So far, no one company
                              dominates the market, which consists of
                              dozens of small biotechs with competing
                              products and platforms. Would the arrival of
the
                              great whites mean the end of the guppies? 

                                The answer to that question has so far been
                              a resounding no. Instead, the big computer
                              companies might make it easier to work in
                              bioinformatics, rather than dominating the
                              market with deep pockets and massive sales
                              forces. Bioinformatics started out as the
domain
                              of a few computer nerds within pharmaceutical
                              companies and university campuses. Today, it
                              is an industry that employs thousands and
                              creates billions of dollars of revenue. Five
years
                              from now, according to the technology
                              consultancy, International Data Corporation
                              (IDC), it should be a $38 billion (US)
industry.
                              That kind of growth has attracted attention in
                              these times of economic sluggishness.
                              SmartMoney magazine recently listed
                              bioinformatician as one of the five best jobs
for
                              recent graduates. Several universities are now
    offering bioinformatics degree programs. 

      Fears that diversity and competition will end with the emergence of
Sun, IBM, and
    Hewlett-Packard, the world's three largest computer companies, have
proven to be
    unfounded. Indeed, thanks to changes in the computer industry, most of
the
    heavyweights (with Microsoft being the main exception) stress open
standards and, in
    some areas, open-sourced software. As a result, the giants' arrival
could increase
    market transparency and uniformity. 

      That uniformity in turn will make the process of becoming a
bioinformatician easier
    (obviating the need to learn about competing technology platforms in
order to master
    the basics) and potentially more rewarding. "These guys are the plumbers
of this
    industry," says Debra Goldfarb, an analyst with IDC. "Once all the
plumbing starts to
    work together, everyone else's job will become much more important." 

    Software Snarl 

    Currently, bioinformatics covers a jumble of competing technology
platforms that
    cannot communicate with each other. The market is awash with dozens of
    bioinformatics startups, and each hopes to become the industry standard
despite the
    absence of the financial weight required to dominate. Enter the big
three. 

      Of the three, IBM has probably invested more in the sector and grown
more quickly
    than its competitors. Jeff Augen, the worldwide director of business
strategy for IBM's
    life sciences department, says his unit employs more than 500 people,
and hundreds
    more throughout the company are indirectly supported by its sales. "And
we're hiring
    as fast as we can," he says. Most of the jobs available are on the
science side, as the
    information technology and sales jobs can be filled mainly internally.
"We want to hire
    the best in the field," Augen says. 

      Although the company makes most of its sales from software, hardware,
and
    services, it has also embarked on an ambitious project to do original
bioinformatics
    research. Its Computational Biology Center in Yorktown Heights, NY,
employs more
    than 80 people, many of them with PhDs in life science. The center will
soon have
    sole use of the world's largest and fastest computer, dubbed Blue Gene
by IBM. 

      Sun Microsystems is not out to match IBM's flashy research center, but
its life
    sciences division employs almost as many employees. Sun's biggest focus
is
    providing hardware, and sales rose between 30% and 40% last year,
according to Sia
    Zadeh, group manager for Sun's life sciences. "We're heading towards a
multibillion
    dollar revenue base in the next couple of years," Zadeh says. The third
company
    heavily invested in life sciences is Hewlett-Packard, thanks mainly to
its recent
    acquisition of Compaq, which had made life sciences a priority. No one
at
    Hewlett-Packard could comment for this article. 

    Open Data 

    Though these companies have a vested interest in selling proprietary
systems, they
    support common standards in the life-sciences community. Sun, for
instance, is a
    primary mover behind the newly formed Interoperable Informatics
Infrastructure
    Consortium (I3C), whose goal is to establish common protocols and
interoperable
    technologies for data exchange and knowledge management for the
life-sciences
    community. 

      IBM, which also belongs to I3C, has focused on Linux, the open-source
operating
    system software that allows programmers to see the source code and make
changes
    to it as well. The source code to Microsoft's Windows operating system,
by
    comparison, is encrypted, and any attempt to change it could land one in
jail. "We sell
    more Linux systems than anything else," says Augen, despite IBM's own
    closed-source operating system called AIX that it can sell, whereas
Linux is free.
    "That's what everyone wants." 

      Still, not everyone is pleased with the big companies' efforts in
open-source
    software. "Sun and IBM people can be found at standards meetings and
    interoperability efforts, but I don't see many of them actively
contributing to biospecific
    open-source efforts," says Craig Dagdigian, an independent consultant
and
    open-source programmer. Nevertheless, even though he often competes with
the big
    companies, he admits they have been more beneficial than harmful for the
industry. 

      I3C standards and operating systems like Linux will have tremendous
significance
    as the industry matures. "Right now, nobody can talk to anyone else,"
says J.W.
    Bizzarro, the founder of Bioinformatics.org, a nonprofit group that
hosts several
    open-source projects. "We're at a point where the big guys like Sun and
IBM can have
    a hugely positive impact by laying the pavement so that we're all
traveling on the same
    road." 
                    Sam Jaffe (sam.jaffe at verizon.net) is a freelance writer
in Philadelphia.



    The Scientist 16[13]:44, Jun. 24, 2002





       

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Eugene Garfield, PhD.  email: garfield at codex.cis.upenn.edu 
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