IBM made headlines in 2015 when it committed to spend $3 billion on its IoT (Internet of Things) strategy over the next several years, and this week reached a milestone in that journey with the opening of a new Watson IoT global headquarters in Munich this week. The $200 million center will provide a base for IBM researchers and partners, as well as give customers the ability to test-drive IBM's IoT platofrm, as Watson GM Harriet Green said in a blog post:
The work we will do will be some of the most advanced in the industry. Like the work we’re doing withAirbus and Schaeffler, using digital twins to transform their production process, from the design phase all the way through to their maintenance and servicing.
The concept of digital twins is the idea that through IoT data, you can create a complete digital representation of a physical object; a car, a jet engine, or a building, for example.
We can use these representations to understand and manage complex systems more quickly, more intimately. But to date, most companies have used digital twins for narrow, limited applications.
Some use them as an engineering solution – helping design the next generation of connected products. Others use them to improve operational processes like maintenance around a connected product. But at IBM, we see these digital twins spanning the entire product lifecycle – from designing to planning to testing to building to maintaining to servicing.
Some 1,000 IBM IoT researchers will be based at the Munich facility. The opening concides with IBM's Genius of Things events, which also provided an occasion for IBM to showcase a wide range of customer case studies. That's what's been lacking in IBM's IoT strategy to date, says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Andy Mulholland.
"Certainly IBM has, made a strategic commitment to investing in IoT, but actual detailed announcements on products, case studies and the like were not numerous," Mulholland says. "Today is the day that IBM Watson IoT suddenly goes really public with a slew of announcements, partners and customers all in one huge event aimed to show exactly what IBM's IoT division has been doing for the last two years."
"Its all here," Mulholland adds. "A strategy, points of view on the use of IoT and cognitive computing, and a set of capabilities in the form of products and applied solutions. If you are interested in the application of IoT to enterprises then IBM has just made available a lot of information that will be worth studying."
IBM also made a slew of news announcements at the event, including partnerships with Visa, Bosch, Nokia, Seebo and Vodafone, and customer wins such as SNCF French National Railway and elevator manufacturer KONE.
The partnership with VISA, which you can read about in detail here, is of particular interest. It will use Visa's Token payment services in conjunction with Watson IoT and allow any connected device to become a point-of-sale system—think beyond smart fridges that let you order more eggs and milk, to a fitness tracker device from which you can buy new running shoes or energy drinks.
Big Blue's big bet on IoT is part of its overall effort to drive revenue in new technology areas as its traditional storage and server businesses have suffered declines. The new center, along with the emergence of compelling case studies and partnerships will only help it tell a more convincing IoT story to customers.
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