Paris - 07 avr. 2015: IBM annonce aujourd’hui qu’il va proposer sa plateforme Cloud d’innovation digitale, Bluemix, comme plateforme de développement Cloud pour les événements « Space Apps Challenge » de la NASA à travers le monde. IBM annonce également qu’il a signé un contrat de plusieurs millions de dollars avec Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) visant à transférer ses systèmes de planification et de relation client pour l’Asia Pacifique vers le Cloud d’IBM.

Bluemix, la plateforme de développement d’IBM, en support à l’exploration spatiale

IBM annonce qu’il va mettre à disposition de la NASA sa plateforme  Bluemix dans le cadre de l’événement virtuel Space App Challenge de cette dernière afin d’aider les développeurs à créer rapidement des applications qui contribuent à l’exploration spatiale et à relever des défis mondiaux. IBM va également collaborer avec la NASA dans le cadre de ses événements « Space Apps Challenge » dans le monde entier en proposant aux participants du mentorat, des conseils et des tutoriels. En offrant à travers Bluemix un accès gratuit à plus de cent services uniques basés sur le Cloud tels que Watson analytics et des outils liés à l’Internet des objets (IoT), IBM aidera à encourager l’innovation.

Le NASA Space Apps Challenge est un code-a-thon international de 3 jours dans lequel des développeurs, des scientifiques, des étudiants, des entrepreneurs et des professeurs se rassemblent pour créer des applications ainsi que des solutions logicielles, matérielles et de visualisation de données pour soutenir les missions d’exploration spatiale et améliorer la vie sur terre. Cette année, plus de 10 000 développeurs devraient y participer dans 136 villes et en ligne via le challenge virtuel.

 
Coca-Cola Amatil, en passant sur Softlayer, réduira de façon significative les coûts informatiques et améliorera l’engagement client

L’annonce d’aujourd’hui renforce le contrat Cloud de plusieurs millions de dollars sur une durée de 5 ans que CCA a signé avec IBM l’année dernière pour gérer ses applications SAP fondamentales dans le centre Cloud IBM de Sydney.

 
En hébergeant les charges de travail dans les deux centres Cloud Softlayer d’Australie, CCA bénéficiera d’importantes économies annuelles et d’un environnement plus agile afin de répondre rapidement aux besoins de ses clients.

La demande dans le segment boissons de CCA est saisonnière, impactée quotidiennement par différents facteurs tels qu’une température élevée ou la tenue de grands événements. Du fait de ces fluctuations, il est coûteux pour CCA de posséder et de gérer sa propre infrastructure informatique.

Le Cloud d’IBM fournit à CCA la flexibilité de pouvoir provisionner les capacités nécessaires pour répondre à la demande des clients, dans un environnement sécurisé et fiable.

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NASA and IBM Rally Global Developers around Space Exploration on the IBM Cloud

IBM Cloud’s Digital Innovation Platform, Bluemix, offered as the cloud development platform for NASA Space Apps Challenge events around the world

ARMONK, New York - 07 Apr 2015: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it will offer itsBluemix platform for the NASA Space App Challenge Virtual Event to help developers rapidly build applications that contribute to space exploration and solve global challenges. IBM will also collaborate with NASA Space Apps Challenge events globally to offer mentorship, guidance and tutorials for Challenge participants; and will help foster innovation by granting free access to over a hundred unique cloud-based services such as Watson analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) tools through Bluemix.

The NASA Space Apps Challenge is an international three-day code-a-thon where developers, scientists, students, entrepreneurs and educators gather to build applications, software, hardware, data visualization and platform solutions to bolster space exploration missions and improve life on Earth. This year, more than 10,000 developers are expected to participate across 136 cities and online through the virtual challenge. Through their collaboration with NASA Space Apps events around the world, IBM will help participants leverage publicly available data to design solutions to 35 different challenges across four categories, including: outer space, Earth, humans and robotics. Some examples of specific challenges include:

• Visualizing Asteroids in the Sky: Participants are challenged to leverage data aggregators and analytics to create a system that can help NASA tracks asteroids.
• Sensor Yourself: Participants are challenged to put together a stream of senor data to guide movement for robots
• Crop Alert – Learning from the Growers: Participants are challenged to develop a mobile/web app/SMS capability to help growers create more creative methods of growing crops

More than 200 NASA data sources – including data sets, services and tools, supplied through real-life NASA missions and technology – will be available for participants to leverage for their applications. Using Bluemix, participants can call on more than 100 different services to rapidly build and iterate on solutions with team members around the world. For example, participants building solutions for the robotics category could use IBM’s IoT service to build an app for the “sensor yourself” challenge; coupling it with analytics services through Bluemix to analyze and make sense of sensor data for a potential robot simulator.

“The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is at the forefront of innovation, providing real-world examples of how technology can be used to by the best and brightest developers in the world to solve some of the most daunting challenges facing our civilization,” said Sandy Carter, General Manager, Cloud Ecosystem and Developers, IBM. “Using the IBM Cloud, IBM is making it easier for developers to solve NASA challenges by helping them leverage and make sense of data in ways that wouldn’t have been possible even just a few years ago.”

For developers building applications on the IBM Cloud, IBM will provide online tutorials to showcase best practices, and will offer dedicated virtual support with access to IBM experts to help guide the development process. IBM experts will also work side-by-side with onsite contestants to help them master cloud-based development at various locations around the world, including New York, Austin, Boston and more.

Two projects from each of the 136 cities will have an opportunity to advance to global judging, where a panel of NASA judges will select one winner in each of the five finalist categories, including: Best Mission Concept, Best Use of Hardware, Best Use of Data, Most Inspiring, and Galactic Impact. IBM will award up to 30 awards at local Space Apps events for the most innovative use of Bluemix, with winners receiving up to a year of free access to Bluemix and up to 80 hours of technical support and assistance over six months by senior IBM developers.  

Developers interested in participating in the challenge, which runs from April 10 – 12, can register at https://2015.spaceappschallenge.org/.

IBM launched Bluemix in February 2014 and now has more than 100 services available through the platform to help developers build, test and deploy cloud-native and cloud-enabled applications. Since its launch, IBM has built out a network of Bluemix Garages to foster innovation with developers in San Francisco and London; partnered with the city of New York to build the world’s first online platform for local startups and announced its Global Entrepreneur Program for Cloud Startups.

About IBM Cloud Computing

IBM is the global leader in open enterprise cloud enabling secure data and infrastructure integration in the cloud. For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud. Follow us on Twitter at @IBMcloud and on our blog at www.thoughtsoncloud.com. Join the conversation #ibmcloud.

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Coca-Cola Amatil Improves its Customer Experience with IBM Cloud

Move to SoftLayer will significantly reduce IT costs and provide greater customer engagement

Sydney, NSW, Australia - 07 Apr 2015: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) to move its Asia Pacific customer planning and relationship management systems to the IBM Cloud. Hosting the workloads in IBM’s two SoftLayer cloud centers in Australia will provide CCA with a more agile environment to quickly respond to customer needs and will deliver significant annual savings to CCA.

Today’s news builds on the five-year multi-million dollar cloud agreement that CCA signed with IBM last year to manage its mission-critical SAP infrastructure in IBM’s Sydney cloud center.

Demand for CCA’s beverage goods is seasonal, impacted daily by several factors including when the weather is hot or when major events are taking place. These fluctuations make it costly for CCA to own and manage its own IT infrastructure. To continue to support these workloads in-house CCA would need to make capital infrastructure investments designed for the highest potential demand.

The IBM Cloud provides the flexibility for CCA to provision capacity to match customer demand, in a secure and reliable environment. 

“As we continue our transition to cloud we are backed by IBM, a partner we work with and trust.  Our business requires the highest levels of Customer Service 24/7.  We must have our products on shelves at any hour of the day or night that our consumers wish to purchase them.  We have large transaction volumes which vary significantly depending on factors like location, day, season and what’s on,” said Barry Simpson, Group CIO at Coca-Cola Amatil. “The move to SoftLayer provides us with a game changing level of flexibility, resiliency and reliability essential to service our customer needs. This consumption based model also removes the need for large expenditure on IT infrastructure.”

Over the next six months CCA will transition workloads to the IBM Cloud to run production, testing and development environments. These workloads span the organization and are essential for CCA’s customer relations management, planning, forecasting and reporting. 

"With CCA extending its relationship with IBM, they will be able to more quickly respond to changing market dynamics," said IBM General Manger of Cloud Services James Comfort. "And with the opening of the second IBM Cloud center in Australia, organizations like CCA can now manage their data on-shore, with unmatched resiliency, security and scale.”

About IBM Cloud

IBM is the global leader in open enterprise cloud enabling secure data and infrastructure integration in the cloud. For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud. Follow us on Twitter at @IBMcloud and on our blog at www.thoughtsoncloud.com. Join the conversation #ibmcloud.

About Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA)

An ASX Top 50 listed company, CCA is one of Australia’s largest premium branded beverage and food companies and one of the world’s top five Coca-Cola bottlers with territories in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa. CCA’s diversified portfolio of products includes the iconic Coca-Cola brands, and Cascade adult soft drinks, Kirks soft drinks, Mount Franklin and Pump spring water, Powerade sports and Mother energy drinks, Goulburn Valley fruit juices, Nestea iced tea, Grinders coffee, tea and SPC Ardmona and Goulburn Valley packaged ready to eat fruit and vegetable products. CCA manufactures, sells and distributes a portfolio of premium alcohol beverages, including the Beam Global brands, as well as Molson Coors’ Blue Moon and Coors beers, The Boston Beer Company’s Samuel Adams and Rekorderlig Cider. The Australian Beer Company, CCA’s joint venture with Casella, produces ARVO, Alehouse beers and Pressman’s Australian Cider. CCA acquired the Fiji Brewery and distillery in Fiji and the Vailima Brewery in Samoa in 2012.