Bermuda is well on its way to becoming one of the world's top centres for information technology, according to an International Business Machines (IBM) executive for the region.

Gary Austin, IBM Canada industry executive for Bermuda and the Caribbean Region, was promoting the Smarter IT Decisions Conference, which will be held by BCS, IBM's Bermuda Agency, tomorrow.

Mr. Austin, who is responsible for all of the computer firm's activities for Government, the telecommunications, media and utilities sectors on the Island and provides thought leadership, global best practices and a transformation perspective to organisations looking to radically change their operations through the Internet and advanced technologies, said that Bermuda came 17th out of 70 countries in the E-readiness rankings 2008, according a white paper by the Economist Intelligence Unit in association with the IBM Institute for Business Value, published last October.

And he reckons that the Island already meets IBM's mandate for being instrumented, with sensors in objects such as cars, appliances, cameras and roads, but still needs to become fully interconnected, with systems and objects able to 'speak' to each other and produce 'oceans' of data, and intelligent, linking the instrumented and interconnected devices to powerful new backend systems that can process all of that information and advanced analytics capable of turning it into real insight, in real time.

"I think Bermuda is in a unique position because over the mobilisation of information technology, particularly around the green concept, it has proven it is going to be a leader in this," he said.

"And that is really a natural extension of its position in the IBM/Economist Intelligence Unit E-readiness rankings."

The half-day conference, which is the first part of two, with a further event planned for May 28, will focus on education, looking at how the public and companies can make smarter business and IT decisions for new cost savings and efficiency opportunities.

Mr. Austin said business leaders had the unique chance to transform the way the world works and address the issues of global climate change, energy, supply chains for food and medicine, and new security concerns ranging from identity theft to terrorism which had surfaced since the start of the decade.

More information at the fingertips would give bosses clearer insight into was happening in the markets.

The Smarter IT Decisions Conference will be held tomorrow from 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. For more information, contact Celina Florendo at 298-1298 or e-mail celina@bm.ibm.com