IBM and Cisco Team on Cognitive and Edge Analytics

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Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), billions of interconnected devices and sensors are gathering vast amounts of real-time data about the world in which we live. In fact, according to experts, IoT is set to become the single greatest source of data on the planet.

The question now is, how does businesses gain insight into this data, anywhere and everywhere? IBM and Cisco have the answer.

Right now advances in cognitive computing and cloud-based data centers are making it possible to draw valuable insight from the data haystack. However, while effective, this model doesn’t address the needs of businesses operating facilities located on the edge of the computer network where bandwidth is in short supply and connectivity is erratic or expensive.

For these remote workers, uploading this data to the cloud and gaining real-time insight is a luxury they can neither afford or count on.

Let’s take an oil rig as an example. A single oil rig can have as many as 30,000 sensors installed that are gathering data around the clock. Just imagine the potential insights that a business could glean from this information. For this oil company, using your imagination is probably their best bet however since 40 percent of the data being gathered is never stored and only 1 percent can be streamed offshore for daily use.

This is like trying to fly an airplane having access to only one percent of your instruments and flight plan–the plane would never leave the gate. So how can an oil refinery be expected to manage the health of critical machinery and examine larger company-wide trends, all of which could have serious economic and environmental impact, if it lacks 99 percent of the key details.

As the digitization of the physical world continues to explode, IBM is leading the market by bringing its Watson cognitive computing capabilities to IoT – a game changer in helping companies to make sense of the terabytes of data being generated daily by thousands of sensors and devices. We are already helping thousands of clients and entire industries around the world transform by putting the deluge of data all around us to work for them in inspiring new ways.

Now through this partnership with Cisco, we are extending those capabilities to companies with remote or autonomous operations on the edge of computer networks, providing them with access to the combined power IBM’s Watson IoT platform and Cisco’s edge analytics technologies.

As a result, industrial organizations and companies in remote locations can apply advanced analytics (cognitive, predictive, and machine learning) to sensor readings where it’s needed most, whether at the point of collection for immediate analysis or in the cloud for more long term study.

This industry’s first analytics and cognitive solution for IoT can be used wherever and whenever needed and the impact be will immeasurable on people, operations and equipment:

• People: A Transportation company can drive 10 to 20 percent increases in productivity by monitoring security, people movement, fatigue, time in hazardous environment(s) and more.
• Operations: A mining company can decrease operation costs by 5 to 12.5 percent by linking weather and environmental conditions that affect equipment performance.
• Equipment: An oil and gas company can save 10 to 40 percent cost savings for equipment and maintenance by better monitoring the health and behavior of critical machinery and more accurately planning for needed maintenance or equipment upgrades.

Data analysis is a critical factor in effective decision making in the modern world. But not all businesses have the luxury of tapping into the full scope of information needed to help guide these critical decisions whether in it’s at the corporate headquarters or an oil rig located in the North Sea. Through this partnership, IBM and Cisco plan to make the world’s most powerful decision support systems available anywhere, always.
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To learn more about this global collaboration please click here. Join the conversation at @IBMIoT, #IBMIoT, IoT and #EdgeAnalytics.