The picture is deceiving isn't it - especially for a tech site, but now that you're here, sit down for story time and enjoy this news bit.

Today, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and IBM Australia & New Zealand Managing Director, Glen Boreham announced a new global R&D lab to be based at the University of Victoria. The deal creates 150 jobs, the major reason behind it is the NBN.

The new R&D lab will open in Q1 or 2011.

At the University of Melbourne, Gillard made the announcement. The lab will be the first IBM lab to combine both R&D into a single operation, it's aim to accelerate progress toward a smarter planet. More specifically, it will focus on areas such as water management, transport in urban centres, natural disaster management, smart electrical grids and more.

The lab is expected to bring more benefits to Victoria, not just including the 150 new researcher positions over five years, 38 of those being PhD students.

$22 million of funding has been committed over five years, with the Victorian government also contributing.

Gillard claimed the Labor Governments investment into the National Broadband Network (NBN) was one of several factors to which IBM chose Australia for this new lab.