IBM deploys analytics for a `Smarter Planet'
— SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
CREATING GREATER VALUE: The control room of the city-wide intelligent security system developed by IBM for the City of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC).
With about two
lakh servers
that it manages
worldwide and
an ever-growing stream of data
from various sources, IBM
is developing its strengths in
Business Analytics and Optimisation
(BAO) to create a
`smarter planet'. The IT giant
is helping companies and governments
tread the green
path using sensors and monitoring
systems for rivers, water
pipelines, electricity grids
and road traffic.
"Smarter Planet is an initiative
that is based on the
digitisation of the world. As
transistors have exploded,
everything is digitised - the
phone, car, appliance and
utility network. Now we are
seeing the digitisation of the
natural world,'' Frank Kern,
Senior Vice-President, IBM
Global Business Services, told
invited journalists at the
company's headquarters in
Armonk, New York.
Skill incubation
IBM wants to develop the
fast-growing area of analytics
to offer differentiated solutions.
To this end, the company
has announced six
analytics centres around the
world where skills in particular
areas will be incubated.
Besides, a Business Analytics
Centre of Competency has
been opened in Bangalore.
The expertise gained in specialised
areas in these centres
will be available to clients
globally.
While the Beijing centre is
focussed on railways and
transport to make them
`smarter', Tokyo and Berlin
work on smarter cities, New
York on healthcare and public
services, London on financial
systems, and Washington
DC on cyber security.
Analytics skills are different
from classic IT skills.
They deal with collection, aggregation,
relationships,
cause and effect of data; they
are a core competence, not
just skills on the side.
"The six analytics solutions
centres are designed to be
hothouses of talent," said
Fred Balboni, Global Leader,
BAO, Global Business Services,
IBM. Applications of analytics
include lowering of
health insurance fraud, inventory
control in supply
chains, optimising automobile
manufacturing and repair
processes, pollution and
resource wastage, and even
crime reduction.
IBM's work represents a
shift over time - from plain
information technology to
the use of IT in business. That
is because a significant part of
the economy in several countries
is made up of services,
enabling new learning in services,
productivity, technology
re-use, data and analytics.
This understanding moved
IBM, which achieved a record
revenue of $103.6 billion during
2008, from being a component
supplier, to the centre
of the clients' business.
The company began to
think how it could really
make the planet better, smarter,
more efficient, and less
wasteful. "It placed us in the
services economy,'' says Robert
JT Morris, Vice-President
of Services Research,
who was responsible for the
development of the Deep
Blue chess machine that famously
played Garry Kasparov.
Investment in research
IBM today invests $6 billion
a year in research. The
company has spent $12 billion
over five years to build
capabilities in BAO.
A good case study of analytics
creating value is its partnership
with the city of
Dubuque in Iowa, U.S. With a
community of 60,000, Dubuque
is small; 40 per cent of
America's population lives in
similar cities with fewer than
two lakh people, and the results
in Dubuque will have
national and perhaps global
appeal. So what is IBM doing
here?
The city was looking for
ways to improve sustainability,
covering water management,
energy and transport.
The goal was to reduce the
carbon footprint. Water management
is the first area that
IBM took up as part of its
year-long, 250-house pilot
that began in August. A quarter
of the households and
buildings in the U.S. have
some sort of water leak.
The solution planned is to
gather data using electronic
water meters that record the
smallest leaks that conventional
meters cannot. "We
will bring the data from the
meters and do analytics on
it,'' says Dr. Mahmoud Naghshineh,
Director, IT Services
Research at IBM.
Insights
Explosive growth in mobile
telephony in India also provided
some insights. It convinced
researchers that if you
"don't make it too complex,''
adoption becomes easier and
the results are good. "You can
get 60 or 70 per cent with
what you already have,'' says
Dr. Naghshineh, referring to
simple data collection opportunities.
In Chicago,
an IBM project
deals with one of the largest
video security deployments
anywhere. The Office of
Emergency Management and
Communications (OEMC)
wanted the technology to develop
a video network that
monitors traffic patterns continuously,
while also being
able to detect suspicious activity
and potential public safety
concerns. The result
appears futuristic.
The experience gained
from "millions of tickets of
work'' around the globe is
helping Big Blue pursue its
Smarter Planet initiative.
The extensive knowledge
base can potentially be deployed
for clients worldwide.
Analytics and optimisation is
driving IBM to create greater
value and deliver it globally.
G. ANANTHAKRISHNAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Business
