IBM Think: AI, Hybrid Cloud Tech Advances You Might Have Missed
You heard about the PartnerWorld efforts. But did you get the skinny on these tech announcements?
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IBM has bolstered Cloud Pak for Data with AI that provides answers to distributed queries as much as eight times faster than it used to, Big Blue said. And, that comes at about half the cost of comparable data warehouses, per IBM.
IBM has achieved this by adding AutoSQL to Cloud Pak for Data. AutoSQL automates how users access, integrate and manage data without having to move it. The capability works regardless of where the data resides or how it is stored.
Big Blue says AutoSQL solves two of the most critical pain points customers face: the complexity of curating data for AI and paying for the high cost of moving data. That’s because IBM Cloud Pak for Data, with AutoSQL, now runs across any multicloud environment. That includes private, on-premises and public clouds. The platform also features the ability for AI to discover, understand, access and protect data across those environments. At the same time, the tool can bring together disparate data sources.
IBM designed Watson Orchestrate for employee productivity. It requires no IT skills – just the ability to use collaboration tools such as Slack and email.
Watson Orchestrate incorporates an AI engine that automatically selects and sequences the pre-packaged skills needed to perform a task. It then connects with applications, tools, data and history on-the-fly. IBM says this helps workers to more quickly perform routine tasks, such as scheduling meetings or procuring approvals. Watson Orchestrate also facilitates more strategic tasks, such as preparing proposals or business plans.
The tool is available now in preview. It’s part of the IBM Automation Cloud Paks. IBM expects to release Watson Orchestrate for general availability later this year.
Next up, Maximo Mobile. This is a mobile platform powered by IBM’s Maximo asset management platform. It targets field technicians who maintain physical assets such as roads, bridges, production lines, power plants, refineries and more.
Maximo Mobile combines AI, workflows, remote human assistance and links to digital twins for access to operational data. IBM says this all reduces the time a field tech spends on paperwork and increases efficiency. For example, Maximo Mobile shows near-real-time data about an asset’s performance and displays its maintenance history. The software even provides a company’s repair protocols. And it contains offline features so techs can keep working in remote locations.
IBM built Maximo Mobile with AI, 5G and edge computing.
If you like coding, you’ll love the new release from IBM Research. Project CodeNet represents a data set that advances AI’s understanding and translation of code, Big Blue says.
Project CodeNet comprises 14 million code samples, 500 million lines of code and 55 programming languages. IBM says the platform addresses three main use cases in coding:
· Code search – automatically translating one code into another, including legacy languages such as COBOL.
· Code similarity – identifying overlaps and similarities among different codes.
· Code constraints – customizing constraints based on a developer’s specific needs and parameters.
IBM says it views Project CodeNet as a benchmark data set for source-to-source translation and for moving legacy codebases to modern code languages. Those efforts will help businesses speed up their AI adoption, according to Big Blue.
Finally, IBM’s last product debut of Think 2021 revolves around the cloud. Big Blue has added a new capability, Mono2Micro, to WebSphere Hybrid Edition. Mono2Micro lets enterprises optimize and modernize their applications for hybrid cloud.
The module uses IBM Research-developed AI to analyze large enterprise applications. It then provides recommendations for best adapting those applications to the cloud. These efforts simply and speed up an error-prone process, IBM says. That cuts costs and increases return on investment.
IBM is touting two big-name customers turning to its hybrid cloud and AI tools.
The first is CVS Health. IBM says the company, spurred by COVID-19, has implemented Big Blue’s AI and natural language processing in its virtual voice assistant. The telephone system has handled millions of calls since its deployment in early January, and most have been conducted without human intervention.
Consulting firm EY also has teamed with IBM to create a financial services center of excellence for hybrid cloud. It’s called IBM Cloud for Financial Services and its uses Red Hat OpenShift. The solutions focus on regulatory compliance, digital trust and security.
IBM is touting two big-name customers turning to its hybrid cloud and AI tools.
The first is CVS Health. IBM says the company, spurred by COVID-19, has implemented Big Blue’s AI and natural language processing in its virtual voice assistant. The telephone system has handled millions of calls since its deployment in early January, and most have been conducted without human intervention.
Consulting firm EY also has teamed with IBM to create a financial services center of excellence for hybrid cloud. It’s called IBM Cloud for Financial Services and its uses Red Hat OpenShift. The solutions focus on regulatory compliance, digital trust and security.
IBM is ramping up its focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and hybrid cloud. Together, these technologies will fuel the future, Big Blue believes. As such, it’s pouring $1 billion into initiatives for its PartnerWorld members.
But there’s more. Earlier this week, at its annual Think conference (held digitally because of COVID-19), IBM unveiled several new platforms. Each one emphasizes AI and/or hybrid cloud.
There’s good reason for that.
New market research commissioned by IBM shows that almost one-third of IT professionals say their business now uses AI. Almost half (43%) say their company has accelerated AI rollouts because of the pandemic. In other words, organizations’ needs are changing quickly and AI helps by automating workflows, facilitating communication and interaction with customers, and even managing network security.
Cloud, of course, remains core to provisioning and using AI. And IBM sees hybrid cloud as the model that will best support those efforts. The company’s own Institute for Business Value recently published a report that projects hybrid cloud adoption to grow by 47% over the next three years. On average, one organization will use six hybrid clouds, according to the study. Those findings mesh with others conducted by independent analyst firms. For example, McKinsey & Co. predicts hybrid cloud poses a $1.2 trillion opportunity by 2022.
COVID-19 stands out as the impetus for more widespread AI and hybrid cloud adoption. With that in mind, click through the slideshow above to read about the tech advancements IBM debuted this week at Think. You may have missed them in all the excitement surrounding the PartnerWorld announcements.
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