Getting real is a theme that just about everyone at this year’s BigDataNYC 2015 event is getting behind. IBM got real with its investment in Spark and its development of Power8 processor technology.

It’s just “the tip of the iceberg,” according to Randy Swanberg, distinguished engineer for IBM Power Systems. In an interview with John Furrier and Dave Vellante, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, Swanberg revealed some of the “meat” behind Power 8 and IBM’s stance on open development balanced with proprietary innovation.

Spark and Power8

IBM got real with its commitment to Spark early on. Swanberg explained that Spark solves the “typical problems” of Hadoop, such as disk I/O and reiteration. IBM leverages this advantage by implementing it on its Power8 systems. These systems see three times the performance over the x86 architecture. This gain, among many, allows IBM to take best advantage of Spark, which has its “fundamental value” in its ability to create pipelines of data. This wholly allows large sets of data to be effectively and efficiently analyzed with implications on nearly every industry.

Identifying changes

IBM is into “identifying disruptive technology that’s changing the industry,” according to Swanberg. Linux, he mentioned, is one of those very technologies that IBM supported that’s done just that. Additionally, IBM wants to “[identify] open technologies,” which Linux is yet also an example of. “Embracing open on the software front and the hardware front” is at the core of IBM’s future vision of innovation, and it appears as though it has struck a balance.

Watch the full video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of BigDataNYC 2015.

Photo by SiliconANGLE