More on IBM's Supercomputer

Last Friday, I had an article on IBM's new supercomputer run in The Motley Fool. One reader questioned my choice of listing Affymetrix as a competitor. It was a fair question and I responded that because Affymetrix was involved in trying to establish genetic links to a variety of diseases for the purposes of drug discovery, I felt IBM's use of its new supercomputer to the same ends could adversely affect Affyxmetrix's business.

The reader responded with the following:

"Affy is all about enabling people to acquire genomic data. IBM's foray into life sciences is about enabling people to manage the huge data sets that come with biological analysis. We are similiar in that we both want to enable resolution of complex biological problems. However, we are steering clear of developing computing power for complex analysis. IBM is more of a technology enabler than a competitor to Affymetrix. The genomic information that our products yield can be fed into thier machines and software to help scientists come up with answers to complex questions."

It is important distinction and I thought it was worth sharing with my readers.