(via IBM)
With the plethora of companies on the market today grappling over market demand for mobile devices and seamless interconnectivity, it’s no surprise IBM wants a piece of the pie. What is surprising, however, is that IBM decided to drop $3 billion dollars on the development of its Internet of Things platforms. IBM isn’t the only shop in town, however, and will have to compete with some of the biggest names in the industry, like Google and Apple, for top spot.
IBM made its announcement this past Tuesday and plans to begin developing five of its Internet of Things product lines, including Smarter Planet, Smarter City, SoftLayer, Bluemix and Watson. The initiative to stay on the forefront of the emerging technology isn’t new, but it does represent a renewed commitment to remain a force with which to be reckoned in the digital dimension.
IBM has an innovative range of IoT initiatives. Its brands Smarter Planet and Smarter City strive to create digital hubs of the best urban technological practices and advancements of peoples and cities around the world. Through its new investment, IBM hopes to enhance these platforms through better IoT technology. The specifics as to how remain unnamed, but we could see an application platform for mobile devices on the horizon.
SoftLayer is another novel take on the IoT sector. It works as a data collecting and processing platform that takes in data from all types of devices, including jet engines, weather sensors, pacemakers and smartphones, and analyzes it, producing comprehensive updates on the status of a particular system or network of devices. SoftLayer will be enhanced as well through the new IoT investment, and may be particularly useful for pilots and aviation safety teams to foresee potential issues with a plane’s jets, electrical system or unexpected weather problems, among other useful implications.
It seems IBM’s strategy regarding the IoT is to shotgun its initiatives to see which will take hold. Perhaps that’s why the other two technologies on the radar for the new development project are not in consumer products but in technology platforms for developers and researchers. Bluemix is IBMs Platform as a Service and IBM hopes application developers will select IBM hardware and software for future initiatives. IBM’s comprehensive data analysis giant – Watson – is also intended for the behind-the-scenes market. Watson can compile information from all across the internet to give researchers the answer to any trivia question of their dreams. This could potentially make any development project easier, as specific information is allegedly readily available at your fingertips, minus the search engine ads.
IBM has plenty competition, however. Although HP warned developers and consumers of security vulnerabilities in the Internet of Things, its popularity is growing, and the technology giants of the world have noticed. Google, Apple, Intel, Cisco, General Electric, Siemens and Hitachi have also launched IoT initiatives, and IBM may have to better focus if it’s going to compete. The company did announce a new partnership with The Weather Company (owner of The Weather Channel), who will be relying on its hardware and potentially its Cloud platform for better weather-detecting technology. Time will only tell, however, if smaller successes like this will become a trend.
C
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