IBM has launched a new humanitarian effort linked directly to our values and to promote our leadership in innovation that matters for the world. It is built upon the fact that at any given time, only a fraction of the processing power of the world's estimated 650 million personal computers is in use. So, we thought: What if this idle power that nobody is using could be tapped for humanitarian purposes, to help fight human disease, track killer storms or improve crop yields?

IBM’s answer is World Community Grid. In November 2004, Sam Palmisano launched World Community Grid as the world’s largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. World Community Grid uses grid technology to provide researchers with a readily available pool of computational power to solve complex problems, such as human disease, natural disasters and hunger. Importantly, World Community Grid is simple, safe and free to use. IBM, our CIO, and I all stand behind this effort.

Even more exciting – each of us can help. We can provide the power for this important research. Imagine the contribution the thousands of PCs in North America could make. That's why I'm encouraging each of you to participate in World Community Grid by downloading a safe program that, when your computer is idle, donates your extra computing power.

There are several ways to join:
You can go directly to the web site whether you're at home or on the IBM network, http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org.
To make it easy for you to join, World Community Grid is also now available via ISSI, where it can be found under the name: Agent/World Community Grid, (internal webpage removed for security reasons).
Finally, World Community Grid is currently being pushed to your desktop via EZUpdate this month. When you get the desktop notice that there is software for you to install, please click and proceed. While it will not install automatically, it can install in five minutes at a convenient moment for an employee. All that is required is for you to be online -- and have a willingness to contribute.

When you join as a member, I also ask that you please join the IBM Team. Doing so will enable us to track and report on the number of employees that are part of this important initiative.

I sincerely hope that you will join me by volunteering your PC's power. You simply can't put it to better use when you're not working on it. And, this is an opportunity to demonstrate IBM’s values at work by creating innovations that matter for our company and for our world.

I appreciate your time and consideration.