IBM Extreme Blue Program

The Extreme Blue Program is an incubator for talent,technology and business innovation. Through the program,interns have submitted over 270 patent disclosures (Sept 2005), helping to create solutions or key clients and bring-to-market the next generation of IBM products.

Extreme Blue challenges project team of technical and MBS interns (along with their technical and business mentors) to Start Something BIG in just 12 weeks by developing new high growth businesses starting with a promising idea, market, or technology. Its core attributes are the cool projects, innovative teams and dynamic places.

Cool Projects

• Challenging projects related to IBM's emerging business opportunities
• Team members are responsible for setting project goals, as well as following through to meet these targets
• Project results have a direct impact in the IT industry; for example, one of our summer 2000 teams helped establish an industry standard.
• Project results prove that technology is a good investment for IBM and our customers; for example, the APS project made it possible to optimize a customers' IT environment at the lowest possible cost-- through precise data collection and analysis of critical system resources, and is currently in use with GM, FORD, Enterprise, ATT, and others
• Some interns file invention disclosures for patents in just 12 short weeks for ideas resulting from their project work.

Innovative Team (People)

• Teams are comprised of a unique model - 1 business (MBA) and 3 technical (CS) team members.
• All teams have IMB technical and business mentors representing IMB's top visionaries and scientists.
• Each team is supported by a 5 person lab staff.
• Highly skilled teams work in a passionate and diverse high performance environment fostering small and focused teams that accomplish ambitious goals.
• Interaction with other interns and IBMers provide a great learning experience and dynamic environment
• Teams are exposed to both business and technical speakers to obtain skills to help jump start their careers

Dynamic Place (locations)

• What began in 1999 as one lab with 25 summer interns now serves 12 IBM labs worldwide.
• 3 US lab locations: Raleigh, NC; Austin, TX; San Jose, CA
• We offer a fun, leading-edge work environment. Interns sit side by side in their project teams with other project nearby making ideas easy to share.
• Lab locations are among some of the most desirable places to live.
• US labs all offer free housing (summer)

All candidates must apply online: ibm.com/extremeblue

As a general rule, we look for high potential candidates with advanced skills, experience and a passion for business and technology. Ideally, these are students that have already Started Something BIG!

IBM is focused on hiring top talent upon graduation. As a result, priority is given to candidates who are within 12 months of their graduation date.

The following qualities are ideal. While we evaluate each applicant based on individual characteristics, the process is extremely competitive and having these qualities will greatly increase a students chances.

Ideal EB Candidate - Technical

Technical interns enjoy the opportunity to work on a challenging project and create innovative technology for the IT industry.

Required:

• Be enrolled full time at an accredited University's Bachelors or Masters Degree program in Computer Science or Computer Engineering (will consider others degrees if candidates have software development experience).
• Minimum of 6 months software development experience (programming in Java, C++, C) in an commercial, research or open source setting (equivalent of 2 semester internships)
• Minimum GPA of 3.0 (or 3.75 on a 5 point scale)
• The ability to turn ideas into reality working closely with others in teams
• Specific experience in emerging area related to our project portfolio (i.e. web services - servlets/J2EE/XML, autonomic computing, grid computing,database internals, pervasive computing, embedded systems, Linux, human computer interaction,etc.)
• Active contribution to professional communities (i.e. Open Source,LUG, IEEE, ACM, NSBE, SHPE, SWE, AISES,UPE, HKN, etc...)
• History of giving back to the technical community through teaching, mentoring and tutoring related experiences

Dates
Summer (End of May - Mid August)

US Locations
Austin, TX; Raleigh, NC; San Jose, CA

**Students are requested to apply in their country of residence. Opportunities abroad are on an exception basis only, when skills are not available at a local country level.

Current International Locations:

• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Bangalore, India
• Beijing, China
• Boblingen, Germany
• Dublin, Ireland
• Hursley, United Kingdom
• La Gaude, France
• Ottowa, Canada
• Toronto, Canada

Team Makeup
Summer:
3 technical interns
1 MBA inter

Approximate # of Intern Openings Available

• United States
  Summer: 18 MBA interns, 54 technical interns (6 project per site)
• EMEA
  Summer: 13 MBA interns, 39 technical interns
• China
  Summer: 5 MBA interns, 16 technical interns
• Canada
  Summer: 2 MBA interns, 6 technical interns
• India
  Summer: 2 MBA interns, 7 technical interns

Application Procedure

Complete online application at ibm.com/extremeblue. All application received are screened for consideration by Extreme Blue staff. Candidates are typically notified via e-mail within 24-72 hours of application if they are not a match or if they will move on to the next stage of the assessment process (the Screening Interview).

Placement Focus

Extreme Blue's goal is to place 100% of all eligible interns into full time positions following graduation.

Consideration of International Students for U.S. Opportunities

Opportunities for international students will be extremely limited, following IBM's guidelines that candidates must have an advanced degree in a critical skill area, with a minimum of 1 year relevant work experience following their undergraduate degree in order to be considered. Because of this, business candidates requiring sponsorship will not be considered. Technical candidates requiring sponsorship are considered on a limited basis if a skills shortage within U.S. candidates is determined.

Housing

Housing is currently provided to U.S. Summer interns only. US candidates are also eligible for relocation assistance if they live 50 miles or more away from an Extreme Blue lab. Additional housing information varies by country.

Additional information

Students can find more information about Extreme Blue on the website at ibm.com/careers or contact us at exblue@us.ibm.com