Paris - 31 mars 2015: IBM annonce un investissement de 3 milliards de dollars durant les quatre prochaines années afin de créer une nouvelle division IoT (« Internet des objets ») et construire une plate-forme ouverte basée sur le Cloud. Celle-ci aidera ses clients et partenaires de tous les secteurs à intégrer de manière optimale et en temps réel des données provenant de sources variées directement vers les divisions opérationnelles des entreprises.

IBM a estimé que 90% de toutes les données générées par des appareils tels que les smartphones, tablettes, véhicules connectés ou autres ne sont jamais analysées ou utilisées, et que 60% de ces données perdent de leur valeur aussitôt après avoir été générées. Pour relever ce challenge, IBM annonce de nouveaux services par industrie – disponibles en mode cloud – pour aider ses clients et partenaires à tirer profit des données issues des objets connectés, et l’expansion de son écosystème.

A titre d’exemple, IBM annonce un nouveau partenariat international avec The Weather Company qui présente, via sa chaîne télévisuelle en continu, les conditions et la prévision météorologiques aux États-Unis – ainsi que WSI, sa division professionnelle – qui fournit plus de 26 milliards de prévisions par jour dans le monde entier. La compagnie tire parti de sources de données provenant de plus de 100 000 capteurs météorologiques privés, des avions et des drones, mais également des millions de smartphones, des bâtiments jusqu’aux véhicules en mouvement. Dans le cadre de ce partenariat, IBM et The Weather Company aideront ainsi les entreprises à comprendre l'impact de la météorologie sur leurs activités et à prendre des mesures systématiques afin d’optimiser ces dernières.

Pour plus d’informations sur ces annonces vous pouvez consulter:

IBM Connects “Internet of Things” to the Enterprise 

Building Cloud-based Open Platform for Industries to Leverage IoT Data

New IBM IoT Cloud Services to Drive Insights into Business Operations

More than 2,000 IBM Consultants, Researchers and Developers Trained to Help Enterprise Clients Uncover New Insights

ARMONK, NY -- March 31, 2015 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it will invest $3 billion over the next four years to establish a new Internet of Things (IoT) unit, and that it is building a cloud-based open platform to help clients and ecosystem partners across industries better integrate real-time data and insights from dispersed sources directly into business operations.

IBM’s pioneering work in Smarter Planet and Smarter Cities was based on the practical applications of IoT in the enterprise and led to the development of offerings to reduce crime, minimize risk for firefighters and monitor water conditions. The company leads in enterprise IoT implementations that securely combine and analyze data from a wide variety of sources.

With new industry-specific cloud data services and developer tools, IBM will build on that expertise to integrate data from an unprecedented number of IoT and traditional sources. It will be made available on an open platform to provide industrial “makers” and “operators” with the ability to design and manufacture better connected devices and create systems that take advantage of enterprise and IoT data for business decision-making.

“Our knowledge of the world grows with every connected sensor and device, but too often we are not acting on it, even when we know we can ensure a better result,” said Bob Picciano, senior vice president, IBM Analytics. “This is a major focus of investment for IBM because it’s a rich and broad-based opportunity where innovation matters.  Over the next decade, integration of IoT in business operations and decision-making will transform business.”

IBM estimates that 90 percent of all data generated by devices like smartphones, tablets, connected vehicles and appliances is never analyzed or acted upon. As much as 60 percent of this data begins to lose value within milliseconds of being generated. To address this challenge, IBM is announcing it will offer:

• IBM IoT Cloud Open Platform for Industries: New analytics services to design and deliver vertical industry IoT solutions for industry clients on the IBM Cloud, an open platform that is also available to clients and ecosystem partners looking to build their own data-driven solutions.  For example, IBM will introduce a cloud-based service that helps insurance companies extract insight from connected vehicles. This will enable new, more dynamic pricing models and the delivery of services that can be highly customized to individual drivers.
• IBM Bluemix IoT Zone: New IoT services as part of Bluemix platform-as-a-service will enable easy integration of IoT data into cloud-based development and deployment of IoT apps. Developers will be able to enrich existing business applications – such as enterprise asset management, facilities management, and software engineering design tools – by infusing more real-time data and embedded analytics to further automate and optimize mission critical IoT processes.
• IBM IoT Ecosystem: Expansion of its ecosystem of IoT partners – from silicon and device manufacturers to industry-oriented solution providers – such as AT&T, ARM, Semtech and newly announced The Weather Company – to ensure the secure and seamless integration of data services and solutions on IBM’s open platform.

IBM’s capabilities are illustrated in a new global partnership announced today with The Weather Company – including WSI, its professional division – which provides over 26 billion forecasts per day around the globe, drawing from data sources that include more than 100,000 private weather sensors, aircraft and drones, as well as millions of smartphones, buildings and even moving vehicles. The two companies will help industries operationalize their understanding of the impact of weather on business outcomes and take action systemically to optimize those parts of their businesses.

Join the conversation #IoT

For more information on IBM’s Internet of Things business, please visit: www.ibm.com/IoT

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IBM and The Weather Company Partner to Bring Advanced Weather Insights to Business

Deeper Understanding of Connections between Weather and Business Outcomes Could Save Industry Billions 

The Weather Company Migrates Data Services Platform to IBM Cloud 

Builds on IBM’s Open Platform to Advance Internet of Things Solutions

ARMONK, NY and ANDOVER, MA – March 31, 2015 – IBM (NYSE:IBM) and The Weather Company through WSI, its global B2B division, today announced a groundbreaking global strategic alliance to integrate real-time weather insights into business to improve operational performance and decision-making. As part of the alliance, The Weather Company, including WSI will shift its massive weather data services platform to the IBM Cloud and integrate its data with IBM analytics and cloud services.

Weather is perhaps the single largest external swing factor in business performance – responsible for an annual economic impact of nearly half a trillion dollars in the U.S. alone (1). While weather prediction is increasingly precise and granular, business systems generally assume every day is the same. As a result, knowledge of impending extreme weather disruptions – or even routine disruptions that drive well understood behaviors and systemic reactions – don’t always trigger operational responses. Combining weather data with traditional business data and rich data from an unprecedented number of Internet of Things (IoT) enabled systems and devices will fundamentally transform enterprise decision-making.

The IoT and cloud computing allows for collection of data from more than 100,000 weather sensors, aircraft and drones, millions of smartphones, buildings and even moving vehicles. WSI’s forecasting system ingests and processes data from thousands of sources, resulting in approximately 2.2 billion unique forecast points worldwide, geared to deliver over 26 billion forecasts a day.

By migrating its weather data platform to IBM Cloud, WSI will be able to accelerate the growth of one of the largest cloud-based applications in the world.  Partnering with IBM will also enable enterprise clients and industry ecosystems to more easily integrate WSI weather data – including rapidly updated forecasts – into their operations and decision-making. Once integrated with enterprise processes, weather data can be combined with data from supply chains, customer buying patterns, or other sources to create more valuable insights.  

IBM and WSI will deliver new cloud services to businesses in three key ways:

• Watson Analytics for Weather: IBM and WSI will enable easy integration of historical and real-time weather data in business operations and decision making with IBM analytics platforms such as Watson Analytics. The companies will jointly develop industry solutions for insurance, energy & utilities, retail and logistics among others.
• Cloud and Mobile App Developer Tools: Entrepreneurs and software developers will be able to rapidly build mobile and web apps that take advantage of WSI data combined with data from operational systems, connected devices and sensors using advanced analytics through Bluemix, IBM’s cloud app development platform.

• Business and Operational Weather Expertise: IBM will train thousands of consultants from across IBM Global Business Services to combine WSI data with other sources to more effectively interpret industry pain points, providing clients new insights that solve business problems.

By combining IBM’s cloud computing, industry consulting and analytics expertise with WSI’s precision weather data and forecasts, the two companies can now enable entire industries to operationalize understanding of the impact of weather on business outcomes and take action at a local level. For example:

Insurers pay more than $2 billion in claims every year for vehicles damaged by hail. WSI’s Weather Alert service, together with IBM Analytics, enables insurance providers to send policyholders text messages that alert them to impending hailstorms – and safe locations – so vehicles can be moved before damage occurs. These insights have the potential to save insurers up to $25 per policyholder per year in hail-prone areas, or millions of dollars annually.

Each winter, retailers in snowy areas see patterns in which storm forecasts drive spikes in sales of groceries, shovels, sand, salt and cold-weather gear. Yet those same weather events typically hamper retail sales as consumers stay inside. But differences can be profound – during the January 2014 polar vortex, areas with greater than 10°F drops in temperature saw sales fall 15.5 percent while areas with a less than 10°F drop saw sales fall only 2.9 percent. The ability to better understand and predict the impact of such weather events allows retailers to adjust staffing and supply chain strategies as needed – regionally and nationwide.

Utility companies feel the impact of an increase in temperature and relative humidity – even just a few degrees – dramatically in air conditioning use and power consumption. The difference between 90 and 95 degrees in Texas, for example, can equate to $24 million more in electricity spending per day. With IBM and WSI, utilities will be able to more accurately predict power consumption so they can avoid overproducing power, reduce service interruptions and better serve customers.

“This deal combines the capabilities of the world’s largest and most advanced commercial weather company with the leader in big data and analytics. Together, we’ll help businesses and governments transform their decisions and operations around weather fluctuation at a scale that hasn’t been possible until now,” said David Kenny, chairman and CEO of The Weather Company. “This is a watershed moment for businesses that have long been impacted by weather but haven’t had the rich data or enhanced decision-making ability to drive positive business outcomes. The combination of our new high-resolution forecasting capabilities with IBM analytics opens up a world of possibilities for the enterprise.”

The partnership builds upon IBM’s investment of $3 billion over the next four years in an Internet of Things (IoT) unit to develop a portfolio of cloud services, software and related intellectual property.

“There’s an opportunity to inform all business operations and decision-making with real-time actionable insight delivered securely via the cloud and extracted from all this data collected from sensors all over the planet,” said Bob Picciano, senior vice president, IBM Analytics. “The Weather Company and IBM partnership, delivering real-time insights safely through the cloud, can be a catalyst to making critical business systems even smarter.”

For more information on the new WSI and IBM partnership, please visit www.ibm.com/IBMandWeather  and www.weathermeansbusiness.com

Join the conversation #IoT and #weathermeansbiz

For more information on IBM’s Internet of Things business, please visit:

www.ibm.com/IoT

About WSI, the professional division of The Weather Company

Weather Means Business™. WSI is the world's leading provider of weather-driven business solutions that enable enterprises to make better decisions using the most accurate and precise weather data available.

 
WSI serves some of the world's biggest brands in the aviation, energy, insurance, and media markets, as well as federal and state government agencies. We are proud to be a part of The Weather Company, which focuses entirely on the weather, delivering billions of discrete forecasts per day around the world, through a media portfolio that includes The Weather Channel®, weather.com®, WSI and Weather Underground. Learn more at www.wsi.com.

(1) Source:  U.S. Economic Sensitivity to Weather Variability, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, June 2011.