The Internet of Things continues to gain momentum, with the technology today being given a boost in Munich, Germany, with IBM opening its Watson IoT global headquarters.
Germany’s thirst for the IoT and Industry 4.0 – the nation’s industrial version of IoT – were behind IBM’s decision to install the Watson IoT headquarters in Munich.
The offices have been opened to extend the power of cognitive computing to the billions of connected devices, sensors and systems that comprise the IoT.
The company is also launching an ecosystem of partners and a series of offerings through the IBM Watson IoT Cloud.
Munich will also host the company’s first first European Watson innovation centre.
The campus environment will bring together 1000 IBM developers, consultants, researchers and designers to drive deeper engagement with clients and partners. It will also serve as an innovation lab for data scientists, engineers and programmers building a new connected solutions at the intersection of cognitive computing and the IoT.
IBM also will deliver Watson APIs and services on the Watson IoT Cloud Platform to accelerate the development of cognitive IoT solutions and services. It said this will help clients and partners make sense of the growing volume and variety of data in a physical world that is rapidly becoming digitised.
The company has also opened eight Watson IoT Client Experience Centres across Asia, Europe and the Americas. Locations include Beijing, China; Boeblingen, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, Korea; Tokyo, Japan; and Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Texas in United States.
These centres provide clients and partners access to technology, tools and talent needed to develop and create new products and services using cognitive intelligence delivered through the Watson IoT Cloud Platform.
Harriet Green, GM Watson IoT and Education, said: "Watson opens the door for enterprises, governments and individuals to finally harness this real-time data, compare it with historical data sets and deep reservoirs of accumulated knowledge, and then find unexpected correlations that generate new insights to benefit business and society alike."
