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Working through the dramatic decline and rebirth of the mainframe during the eighties and early nineties, Gururaj Rao distinguished himself as a key technical leader responsible for the S/390's resurrection. Now he is focused on solidifying the S/390's position as the backbone for e-business, at the same time articulating the long-term strategy for this highly-successful server.
Once considered "old iron," the mainframe is now experiencing a resurgence as large corporations need servers that can accommodate demanding e-business applications. Rao's vision and perseverance proved instrumental in bringing this workhorse back to center stage and returning IBM to its leadership position in this market. He has an uncommon ability to combine a competitive approach to research and product development, and he is acutely aware of industry competitors' strengths and weaknesses.
Shortly after joining IBM in 1978, Rao led the design and implementation of Systems Leadership functions aimed at differentiating IBM's mainframe from its competition. He was personally responsible for several functions and contributed to the high level design for the S/390 Parallel Query Server. Rao's team recently introduced the new S/390 G6 Server, which uses IBM's breakthrough copper interconnect technology, setting a new industry standard in semiconductors.
Prior to joining IBM, Rao was Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Rice University. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Mysore, India, his Masters from the Indian Institute of Science, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.
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Published Papers and Honors (Highlights):
"Design of the IBM S/390 Computer Family for Numerically Intensive Applications," G. S. Rao et al, IBM Journal of Research & Development, 1992.
"IBM S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server - G3/G4 Overview and Introduction," G. S. Rao et al, IBM Journal of Research & Development, p. 397, 1997.
1991 IBM Senior Technical Staff Member
1994 Member of the IBM Academy of Technology
1996 IBM Distinguished Engineer
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How do you see your area of research contributing to technology today?
We cannot predict the growth of e-business. Already we have seen unprecedented growth in consumer Internet usage, for example, and the rate of e-commerce. This phenomenon is relatively new to us but, keeping this in mind, we are building scalable servers to handle both current and future demands. This approach is now leading the industry into a new trend of architectural thinking: building smarter servers that will optimize themselves. This is key.
What do you believe will be the greatest technological change in the future?
We cannot underestimate the potential of deep computing, nor ignore the impact of a connected world and how it will lead to various sociological and political changes. Also, nature is a very complex creature. If we can build a better bridge between nature's capabilities and the ability of humans to emulate nature -- in other words, if humans can work on the same level as nature -- then we will see some very remarkable developments in the future of medicine as well as in technology.
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