In a series of announcements, IBM dropped all sorts of news about several IBM Watson IoT executions and plans for the next few months.
There’s a lot to cover here, so let’s get into it.
IBM has announced what it calls a one-of-a-kind partnership with VISA to embed Visa token technology in the Watson IoT platform in order to enable connected devices to essentially become a point of sale. IBM said this makes it the first company to partner with Visa to monetize IOT.
“The Internet of Things is not only driving a more connected world, it’s changing the way we live, shop and pay by moving data and the point of sale to wherever the consumer wants it to be,” said Jim McCarthy, EVP, innovation and strategic partnerships, Visa. “With the power of Watson’s cognitive technologies and IBM’s leadership in IoT and security, they are the ideal partner to help us deliver secure payments to ‘virtually anywhere' and on the enormous scale of the IoT.”
Watson IoT has teamed up with Bosch to address challenges in updating connected devices. With Bosch IoT Suite services using the Watson IoT Platform, the companies said that manufacturers will be able to more securely and efficiently update IoT devices at scale.
IBM has linked up with Indiegogo and Arrow Power Entrepreneurial Innovation and IoT Growth to pair the Watson IoT platform and cloud services with services from Arrow Electronics and fundraising from Indiegogo to help companies in the IoT startup economy find strategic funding.
In the connected transportation world, the French National Railway will tap IBM Watson’s cloud platform to improve efficiency and safety for its 13.5 million passengers each day. The rail line will now be able to connect its entire rail network to gather real-time insights from train transmissions and link them to tracks and train stations, which will allow the company to manage equipment and improve the quality, security and availability of its trains.
“IoT is literally changing the world around us, whether it’s allowing businesses to achieve unimaginable levels of efficiency or enabling a washing machine to ensure we never run out of detergent. And behind this transformation are companies like Visa and technologies like IBM’s Watson IoT platform,” said Harriet Green, GM, IBM Watson IoT. “Collaborative workforces are at the heart of successful business. The challenge is bringing disparate teams together and then enabling them to be productive.”
IBM and Ricoh are working to make corporate meetings more efficient through new Watson-powered interactive whiteboards. These new cognitive-enabled interactive whiteboards use Watson intelligence and voice technologies to actively support people in meetings by responding to commands, taking notes and actions and even translating into other languages.
“Our goal is to provide employees and businesses with effective and smart tools that automate administrative office processes and empower people to focus on tasks and ideas that drive business value,” said Hidetsugu Nonaka, Corporate SVP, Ricoh. “Together with IBM, we’ve created the Intelligent Workplace Solution to revolutionize meetings. Instead of being a screen, the cognitive-enabled, interactive whiteboard powered by Watson will be an active participant capturing meeting notes and action items, and building bridges between employees at different locations. The new solution is poised to be a cornerstone of meetings today and in the future.”
Within its own ecosystem, IBM’s The Weather Company subsidiary has unveiled an IoT-powered mobile weather alerting platform aimed at helping underserved populations in emerging markets through easier notification of potential severe weather events and disasters, even in areas with limited Internet connection, or disrupted cellular networks, through mesh network alerts and peer-to-peer technology
“The combination of the innovative Mesh Network Alerts and global reach of The Weather Channel mobile app can help deliver a new level of emergency awareness to underserved populations,” said Bijan Davari, IBM Fellow and VP, next generation computing systems and technology, IBM Research. “We're proud to be able to quickly offer a critical and potentially lifesaving capability to hundreds of millions of people around the world.”
Edited by
Alicia Young
