IBM says its Watson IoT business is growing fast and as a result, it's pumping $200 million into the division's global headquarters in Munich:
The investment, one of the company’s largest ever in Europe, is in response to escalating demand from customers who are looking to transform their operations using a combination of IoT and Artificial Intelligence technologies. Currently IBM has 6,000 clients globally who are tapping Watson IoT solutions and services, up from 4,000 just 8 months ago.
The Watson IoT headquarters will be home to the first ever cognitive IoT Collaboratories – hands-on industry labs where clients and partners can work together with IBM’s 1,000 Munich-based researchers, engineers, developers and business experts to drive collaborative innovation in the automotive, electronics, manufacturing, healthcare and insurance industries.
IBM also announced a series of new Watson IoT capabilities, including an integration between Watson IoT and IBM Blockchain. An early customer is Kouvola Innovation of Finland, a logistics company which is using the pairing to track and monitor containers.
Other new Watson IoT offerings center on security services, the creation of natural language voice interfaces for connected devices, and a "cognitive IoT cookbook" aimed at developers.
IBM also announced three prominent new customers for Watson IoT: German automotive and industrial supplier Shaeffler; Aerialtronics, an aviation firm in the Netherlands; and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia.
The announcements come only days after SAP announced plans to invest €2 billion in IoT over the next five years, a sum that is on par with or even proportionally exceeds IBM's $3 billion IoT investment plan once you consider the size difference between the two companies.
It's not as if IBM's announcements should be seen as a direct response to SAP, which is a long-time partner on many fronts, however. Rather, it's a sign of the times for IoT and the enterprise.
"As it becomes clear that IoT is at the center of the market for technology in the coming years and not an add-on or an enhancement to current IT systems, all the major names are stepping up their investment levels," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Andy Mulholland.
IBM has been less keen to talk about IoT as a term than some of its competitors but as the focus of IoT moves towards AI it also moves straight into the IBM Watson play, Mulholland adds. Expect IBM to showcase as many of those 6,000 customers for Watson IoT as possible, given that many enterprises are still struggling to grasp what IoT means for their business, he says.
Meanwhile, IoT is expected to be a major focus of Salesforce's massive Dreamforce event, which occurs this week in San Francisco. Salesforce is pairing its IoT Cloud with Einstein, its recently announced AI technology.
24/7 Access to Constellation Insights
Subscribe today for unrestricted access to expert analyst views on breaking news.
