What the IBM Layoffs Look Like
True story about IBM Global Services. I was working with a client that was integrating web services with another third party. IBM GS were responsible for managing third party's network.<p>Our client gave IBM the IP addresses to be white listed. They filled in a lengthy time consuming form that got sent through layers of IBM management till some ops team in India finally implemented the change one week later.<p>We started testing. It didn't work. We went back and forth for weeks. Finally we put a conference call together with all parties. Live on the phone we sent a series of SOAP requests over the wire. "Yes, we can see the requests", came the answer. We saw no response.<p>Finally whilst on the phone call, one of the IBM Tech's piped up.<p>"Did you want this traffic to go in AND out?", he asked.<p>"Well, HTTP traffic isn't going to be of much use if we don't get a response to our request you idiots", was the answer I wanted to give.<p>They pulled out the initial firewall request form. The request was to "allow traffic from our IP addresses in through the firewall to reach the client".<p>They took that absolutely literally, and nobody thought to question it. They also absolved themselves of any blame.<p>I detested IBM from that day on.