IBM is investing 200 million dollars in their Watson IoT headquarters in Munich. As a business partner, the automotive and mechanical engineering supplier Schaeffler is in on the action.
Following “Big Blue’s” announcement in mid-December 2015 of its plans to set up international IoT headquarters, the company this week released figures detailing its investment in the new site. In the Highlight Towers located in the Parkstadt Schwabing district (Munich residents will be familiar with the two towers at the A9 exit), IBM aims to develop new IoT capabilities in the blockchain context and security, while working closely with selected customers to find out how Watson can gain new insights from billions of sensor data records, according to the recent press release.
Inofgraphic: IBM
An ever growing number of IBM’s customers are searching for new opportunities to redesign their processes using a combination of IoT technologies (Internet of Things) and artificial intelligence – although the term “machine learning” might actually be more appropriate – the IBM announcement goes on to say. According to IBM, 6000 international customers are currently utilizing “cognitive” Watson IoT solutions and services, whereas eight months ago the number only stood at 4000. Harriet Green, IBM’s Global Head of Watson IoT, in fact sees Germany “at the forefront of the Industry 4.0 initiative”.
Schaeffler has signed up for a strategic partnership with IBM over several years, which is intended to accelerate the digital transformation of all its business units and customer services, and utilize the data from millions of sensors on the internet to facilitate faster and more accurate decision-making. As an initial milestone, the partners have set up a digital platform, over which all Schaeffler’s data based services will be running from October on.
Retarus has been a Premier Business Partner since 1992 and is one of IBM’s five partners responsible for the highest turnover in Germany. The company is also one of very few resellers permitted to sell licenses for all IBM software and cloud products – not only in Germany, but also in Austria and Switzerland. And we ensure that companies always have the best conditions for using IBM products (keyword: license management).
Retarus is an information logisitics expert experienced in dealing with the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0. According to Gartner, around 25 billion devices will be connected with each other via the internet by 2020. To allow these devices to communicate with each other in a reliable and automated manner, the various differing standards around the globe need to be linked dependably. Data formats have to be converted into the appropriate target formats which have been predefined. To find out how Retarus can help you set up an information flow which functions perfectly between people, processes and machines, please read more here or speak directly to your local Retarus contact person.
