IBM, Dell and OMG launch Responsible Computing Initiative

A new IBM and Dell-backed consortium, which aims to restore trust in IT and help firms develop sustainable development goals, has been launched by enterprise tech standards body Object Management Computing.

The Responsible Computing Initiative – which was announced last week at Internet of Things Solutions World Congress at Barcelona’s Fira – claims to help firms navigate their way through everything from combating AI bias to improving sustainability in data centres.

The initiative is being managed by Object Management Computing – part of Object Management Group (OMG), which has created and managed enterprise integration standards for enterprise for more than 30 years.

The Responsible Computing initiative’s two founding firms – IBM and Dell – are inviting other tech companies to join them in using a framework that they have developed over a two-year period, designed to set out responsible corporate policies in areas such as infrastructure, code development and social impact.

IBM fellow Rashik Parmar, who worked on the initial idea, said in an IBM blog that the blue chip firm had listened to more than 100 CTOs and CIOs and captured their concerns and anxieties.

According to OMG’s executive vice president Stephen Mellor (who is also CTO of OMG’s affiliated Industrial Internet Consortium) the underlying concerns from industry leaders were focussed around “how we can use technology in a responsible manner.”

He added: “Have you ever seen a request for a proposal, for example, that had a requirement for power consumption? I never have, but these days when we are trying to be more careful about how we consume energy that’s not an unreasonable thing to be thinking about. We need to start asking ourselves: What is it to be responsible?”

Based on these early conversations the new consortium has identified several key areas that it wants to address.

These include ensuring data centres are designed and operated with an emphasis on efficiency and sustainability. There’s also a focus on Infrastructure – monitoring the energy usage of products and technologies and ensuring the ethical disposal of waste.

Other areas include choosing code, technologies and innovations that optimise environmental, social, and economic impact.

And, in the realm of data and AI, the initiative wants to ensure that practices are established that ensure that the safe use of data and that address the bias and discrimination in uses of artificial intelligence.

The initiative is now inviting other tech firms to join so that they can “leverage combined technical expertise in a neutral environment and solve larger problems that transform IT teams into responsible computing organisations”.

Responsible Computing is part of the OMG consortia – which also includes CISQ; IIC; Digital Twin Consortium; BPM health. They develop and manage standards across lots of different enterprises and were responsible for developing the communication protocols for the international space station as well as the receipt fuction for a grocer’s point of sale. They also developed a common language for IoT manufacturers to use under the IIC consortia.