IBM and the Seeds of Revolution

Another member of the IBM VC advisory council, Richard Frank, CEO of Darby Overseas Investments, is a former managing director of the World Bank and a sort of "dean of VCs in Latin America," notes Clark.

Other VC firms that have agreed to join the council include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Hummer Winblad, 3i and U.S. Venture Partners.

Meanwhile, IBM also plans to directly help developers in emerging markets -- specifically China, India, Russia and Brazil -- create applications based on open standards by vastly expanding the classes it offers them.

Instead of having to wait weeks and then traveling to attend classes at IBM's "innovation centers," the company is offering free virtual mentoring classes within a matter of hours, taught in real time by IBM architects in developers' native languages, explains Mark Hanny, IBM's vice president of independent software vendor and developer relations.

The move is focused on helping to accelerate the development of applications based on open technologies such as Linux.

Not surprisingly, that could translate to more sales for IBM, whose hardware and software products often serve as the foundation for such applications. Last quarter, IBM sales in China, Russia and India grew 23%.

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