Anniversary Event

IBM Haifa Labs Inaugurate New Building and Celebrate 30 Years of Excellence and Innovation On May 25 - 28, the IBM Haifa Labs celebrated 30 years of hi-tech leadership and officially inaugurated their new building on the University of Haifa campus. The festivities combined entertainment, technology, food, and learning to create a memorable occasion (click here for slideshow). The festivities were launched Saturday night, May 25, in a joint dinner with the University of Haifa Board of Governors, which by coincidence also marked the opening of its 30th meeting. The opening ceremony was moderated by former Voice of Israel radio anchorman Oded Ben-Ami. Speakers included Mayor of Haifa Amram Mitzna, University President Prof. Yehuda Hayuth, Board of Governors Chairman Prof. Manfred Lahnstein, IBM Israel General Manager Meir Nissensohn, and IBM Haifa Labs Director Dr. Michael Rodeh. The ceremony concluded with the presentation of the University's Humanitarian Award of Merit to Israel's Magen David Adom. Distinguished guests included Ambassadors to Israel from Poland and Romania. Israeli vocalist David Daor provided the evening's entertainment as his 'heavenly voice' filled the venue with his popular songs, such as "Voice from Heaven", "Guard the World, Child" and "All the Stars are Falling." On Sunday, May 26, the Haifa Labs opened its doors to an Expo featuring 35 projects that represent the Labs' technological achievements over the years. The day opened with coffee and pastries in the courtyard of the main entrance. Throughout the morning, more than 100 invited guests from industry, academia, government and the press, together with hundreds of IBM staffers, met with project representatives who demonstrated and discussed their work. Posters and demos were positioned throughout the building to give guests the opportunity to enjoy the architecture and sophisticated design of the new building. One of the guests, Prof. Yitzhak Yaakov, heads medical imaging at Tel Hashomer hospital, has been a development partner with IBM Haifa for 25 years. He instigated the ultrasound project in the mid-1980s and continues to work on teleradiology and filmless medical imaging with IBM. "My entire department is IDMR (IBM Haifa's Integrated Digital Medical Records). We began working on this project nine years ago and today we don't use any film," said Yaakov. "Today was a great opportunity, in terms of internal impact. It was wonderful to see what is going on throughout the Labs," said IBMer Amnon Ribak, as he demonstrated the State Hermitage Museum Project-a multimedia kiosk developed by IBM Haifa for museum visitors. "The Expo also gave newer employees a look at some of our older projects. Besides, it's nice to be able to mingle a bit." During the day, a dozen journalists from the Israeli press corps met with Prof. Rodeh, who described the history and diversity of the Labs' work and revealed one of the Labs' latest achievements—iBoot, which enables diskless computers to work entirely off of remote servers via the Internet. Members of the University of Haifa's Board of Governors joined the Lab for an American-style Bar-B-Q lunch in the courtyard, followed by Prof. Rodeh's presentation on the Computerized Planet. Cellcom CEO Yaakov Peri presented a special seminar for IBM employees on the future of wireless communications. He said that Israeli use over three times more mobile phone air time (average of 350 - 400 minutes per month) than American users (100 -120 minutes). Peri, former head of Israeli Security Services (Shabak), predicted that in the next generation of mobile phone technology, data use will increase dramatically, eventually surpassing voice use, which will decrease. Peri was introduced by Nissensohn, who recalled how, as head of Human Resources for IBM Israel at the time, he had been privileged to participate in the initial work negotiations and signed the contract offers for IBM Haifa's founding director, the late Josef Raviv, and Rodeh, among others. The festivities concluded with refreshing sorbet from Dr. Leck and entertaining street theater by Berosh Chutzot theater troupe. On Tuesday afternoon, May 28, families were invited to a Technological Family Day, featuring arts and crafts workshops, games of logic led by Berosh Tov, a gymboree for tots, and 'fishing' in the courtyard fountain. Older children enjoyed demonstrations of some of IBM Haifa's homegrown technology, such as Hebrew Speech Recognition and the State Hermitage Museum Kiosk. Families had their pictures taken for custom-made photo key rings. The weather was perfect for lounging on cushions and mats spread out over the lawn and imbibing in abundant goodies throughout the courtyard. One of the actors from Berosh Chutzot entertained kids of all ages with street theater in the courtyard as the grand finale.