IBM Creates $3bn Internet of Things Unit

IBM

by | Apr 1, 2015

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IBMIBM says it will invest $3 billion over the next four years to establish a new Internet of Things (IoT) unit, and that it is building a cloud-based open platform designed to help clients and ecosystem partners build IoT systems.

IBM’s work in Smarter Planet and Smarter Cities was based on practical applications of IoT in the enterprise and led to a broad set of products, ranging from water management to alleviating traffic congestion.

With new industry-specific cloud data services and developer tools, IBM plans to help clients and partners integrate data from an unprecedented number of IoT and traditional sources. These resources will be made available on an open platform to provide manufacturers with the ability to design and produce a new generation of connected devices that are better optimized for the IoT, and to help business leaders across industries create systems that better fuse enterprise and IoT data to inform decision-making, the company says.

IBM estimates that 90 percent of all data generated by devices such as smartphones, tablets, connected vehicles and appliances is never analyzed or acted on. As much as 60 percent of this data begins to lose value within milliseconds of being generated. To address this challenge, IBM says it will offer:

  • IBM IoT Cloud Open Platform for Industries: This platform will provide new analytics services that clients, partners and IBM will use to design and deliver vertical industry IoT solutions.
  • IBM Bluemix IoT Zone: New IoT services as part of IBM’s Bluemix platform-as-a-service will enable developers to integrate IoT data into cloud-based development and deployment of IoT apps. Developers will be able to enrich existing business applications — such as enterprise asset management, facilities management, and software engineering design tools — by infusing more real-time data and embedded analytics to further automate and optimize mission-critical IoT processes, the company says.
  • IBM IoT Ecosystem: Expansion of its ecosystem of IoT partners — from silicon and device manufacturers to industry-oriented solution providers — such as AT&T, ARM, Semtech and The Weather Company — to ensure the secure and seamless integration of data services and solutions on IBM’s open platform.

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