IBM invests $200 million in a new global HQ for the Watson Internet of Things (IoT) business in Munich, Germany-- part of a larger $3 billion investment by the company in cognitive computing.
Described as one of the largest European investments by Big Blue, the HQ will house around 1000 research, development, engineering and business professionals in the Bavarian capital. It will also host IBM's "first ever IoT Collaboratories," industry labs where partners and customers can work with IBM staff to create IoT solutions for the automotive, electronics, manufacturing, healthcare and insurance industries.
“IBM is making tremendous strides to ensure that businesses around the world are able to take advantage of this incredible period of technological transformation and develop new products and services that really change people’s lives,” the company says. “Germany is at the forefront of the Industry 4.0 initiative and by inviting our clients and partners to join us in Munich, we are opening up our talent and technologies to help deliver on the promise of IoT and establishing a global hotbed for collaborative innovation.”
Big Blue also has a number of product and services announcements, such as Watson IoT and Blockchain-- a capability connecting IoT data to Blockchain through the IBM Watson IoT platform. Fully integrated into IBM Blockchain, it allows businesses to share IoT data in a secure, private blockchain to reduce the costs and complexities of doing businesses across a network of people and goods.
Another product is Security Solutions and Services, a suite of IoT security services to help customers identify potential risks and protect devices through advanced security assessment, threat intelligence and data anonymisation. The Natural Language Interface programme enables developers to tap the Watson platform to work on voice interfaces, while the Cognitive IoT Cookbook is a resource containing code and best practice approaches for solving cognitive IoT challenges using Watson Natural Language APIs.
