IBM Acquires UK based CRM Firm Optevia

On March 18, 2016 International Business Machines Inc. announced the acquisition of a UK based relationship management firm (CRM) by the name of Optevia. The financial terms of the acquisition have not yet been disclosed however the newly acquired firm will be a part of IBM’s Global Business Services department. This latest acquisition is likely to help the technology company with the rising demands of its public sector clients.

The CRM firm, Optevia was founded back in 2001 and is privately-held Software as a service (Saas) consultant firm that focuses mainly on public sector companies. The main aim of the company is to help its clients improve their customer services along with changing processes in their client’s business.

In a press release, IBM’s Public Sector in Europe, Joanna Davinson stated that with the help of this latest acquisition IBM will be able to improve its Public Sector clientele as it will have more industry focused customer relationship management solutions. Furthermore, he added while talking about the specific purchase that it strategic move on the company’s part will help to strengthen itself as a SaaS provider along with being a Global Software Integrator.

With the involvement of the SaaS consultant firm, IBM which currently lacks in its SaaS CRM products in the Public Sector entities will probably be able to benefit from it a lot. Furthermore, with its specialty the CRM firm will also help IBM diversify and grow its cloud portfolio.

In addition to that, with Optevia on board there are two advantages, one that the company will be able to better make its presence in the UK market and also scale globally with the CRM firm. The CRM firm has made quite a mark in the UK market as it has been there for over a decade now but that is the only market that it has focused on. This plays well for Optevia as well since now they have an entity on board with it with the help of which it can make its service available globally.

Furthermore, during fiscal year 2015, the Global Business Service department of IBM witnessed a significant decline in its revenue. On a year over year basis, there was a decline of 10% in revenue contribution. The acquisition can benefit the company from a number of angles one being that there might be an increase in the revenue contribution and along with that as it will bring diversification to the organization, they are likely to widen their customer base through that which would ultimately help the company grow in revenues.

 

IBM Tops Patent List For 23 Consecutive Years

IBM topped the annual list U.S. patent recipients of IFI in the competitive industry.

IBM has received many patents in the competitive industry. For the 23^rd consecutive year, the New York based company leads the annual list of United States patent recipients of IFI as it bagged 7355 patents last year. This, nevertheless, has marked the first year since nine years that the overall patent activity has decreased. Even the final count of the cloud computation giant was just a little short of its record in the previous year when it bagged 7534 patents.

CEO of IFI Claims Patent Services, Mike Baycroft, said, “After seven straight years of prolific patent growth, 2015 saw the first sign of de-acceleration. I wouldn’t suggest, though, that the patent train is losing momentum as many companies continue to crank out more patents than the previous year.”

The other leading 10 organization are technology giants, including Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Qualcomm, Toshiba, Sony, Intel, Canon and LG. Apple took the 11^th place, ahead of Amazon, Toyota Motors, Panasonic, and General Motors (which succeeded in just missing the topmost 25).

IBM focused last year on the cloud and cognitive computation, which together succeeded in garnering it over 2000 patents for related inventions. The China laboratory of IBM Research, for example, patenting a technology that helps machineries to interpret emotion-laden words, provides an opportunity to computers to chat with human beings in a more naturalistic way.

Inventors are also trying to teach the cloud about the method to draw resources from more areas, allowing it to operate more efficiently and faster. It is not only artificial intelligence and computers for IBM though. It is also interested in transforming industries, such as medicine and travel.

One patent has tipped a way to find the frequency of spoken language amongst a group of and translate the announcements into their tongues. The other patent highlights cognitive technologies that help healthcare professionals to identify treatment options based on evidence for patients.

CEO Ginni Rometty said, “During IBM’s 23 years atop the patent list, the company’s inventors have received more than 88,000 U.S. patents.” IBM noted that over 8500 investors located in the United States and overseas have helped the organization to reach the last year’s final figure, and people living outside the United States succeeded in contributing over 36% of the patent of last year.

In other news, Federal Reserve has given the company a contract to revamp its ACH platform, which processes 100 million transactions daily and 50% of all the payments made in the largest economy.

 

IBM Bets On Algorithms And Mergers To Grow In Competitive Industry

IBM pushes itself to rely on mergers and algorithms in order to prosper in the market.

IBM Corporation expects to grow from algorithms and mergers. After suffering from declining sales in 14 consecutive quarters, the company is relying on acquisitions and mergers to help it revive its growth, but one of its leading dealmakers is honest about the risks carried by acquisitions.

“If 70% of M&A fails, would you propose spending $20bn doing deals?”, asks IBM executive, Paul Price, as he alluded the widely held belief regarding effectiveness of deal making – and the amount of money IBM allocated to agreements between the five years, starting from 2010 and ending in 2015.

Nevertheless, the technology giant is hoping to attain far over 30% success rate by stripping out what Paul has claimed it as the principal factor responsible for bad deals: human mistake.

Using its experience of signing a number of deals recently, its software’s vault and its huge number of scientists, 5 years ago IBM started to experiment with a computer algorithm that is capable of spotting the risks in target organizations during the due diligence process of M&A.

Like most of the companies, the New York based tech business has a “corporate development” that executes and evaluates transactions in conjunction with the operating units of the company. Its objective in the creation of due diligence algorithm was to align the procedure of acquisition with post-agreement integration plans.

“The focus used to be on the downstream part of the process: target identification,” Mr. Price said. “Integration concerns. . . couldn’t stop a deal.” Now IBM CFO, Martin Schroeter, told the M&A Pro tool has provided the organization with a sharper insight to deal with risk and the capability to complete deals in a faster manner, before rivals could pounce or a target can get cold feet. “We have been able to dramatically speed up and improve the process of acquisitions from identification and due diligence through to integration and execution”, Martin told.

IBM exclaimed that it could now finish and begin a deal in less than three weeks. A study conducted in 2014 by the consultancy McKinsey concluded that the businesses, which had the most impact on M&T typically completed deals at a much faster pace.

M&A Pro is developed as a “machine learning” system – an algorithm capable of learning to make decisions based on precedent data. Its main technology has come from the statistical and computing company SPSS, which the cloud computing company purchased 7 years ago for $1.2 billion.

M&A Pro has also drawn on a number of other tech companies which IBM has purchased including a financial reporting app package ‘Cognos’ purchased for $4.9 billion in 2009.

 

 

IBM establishes its head office in Munich

IBM has chosen Munich to head its initiative to lead the industrial internet

The New York based enterprise would establish its  international head office in Munich. The headquarters would be established  to help the Corporation pioneer  the industrial web, capitalizing on an important mass of insurance, automotive, manufacturing and health care corporations based in Southern Germany.

On Tuesday, IBM stated  that it would be employing 1000 workers to work with clients on industrial web ventures in the capital of Bavaria. It is also establishing eight satellite centers across the world to let customers develop smarter- network connected facilities.

The measure comes amid media reports that the Corporation might cut down its German workforce by 18% in the upcoming 2 years. Munich is home to the biggest manufacturing corporations of Europe, Siemens along with truck company MAN SE and car manufacturer. Munich Re and Insurers Allianz have their head offices located in the city.

The company is collaborating with the automotive parts vendor Continental AG and Siemens, amongst other major companies. The additional offices would be established  in Seoul, Beijing, Toyko alongside 3 American cities, San Paulo and Boblingen in Brazil, a 2^nd German city located near the German car industry’s hub Stuggart.

The Corporation stated it plans to let enterprises find out ways to utilize dizzying amount of information that would be produced by sensors, network- connected gadgets and systems called Internet of Things .

Increasingly, anything from health monitors to industrial parts to vehicles is  turning into an internet connected gadget.  Market research organization Gartner Inc has forecasted that there would be 6.4 bn connected gadgets in use by the upcoming year, up 30% from this year, and the market would be flooded with 20.8 bn gadgets by 2020.

In all, 2000 salespeople, consultants, researchers, designers, developers and data scientists would be working in the organization’s IOT enterprise on 6 continents.

The largest technology services enterprise of the world has been spinning of low-profit margin hardware enterprises, but has up till now not been able to make up the shortfall in more profitable areas like security software, data analytics, mobile and cloud computation.

In addition to development of its head office in Munich, the Corporation would also develop its Watson internet of things division in the EU member state. This would prove to be the 1^st major Watson set up outside the United States.

The Watson internet of things division would be responsible for the management of new solutions and development of the Corporation’s partnerships around Internet of things. One of  the factors responsible for making the Corporation opt for Munich is its role in the automotive industry of Germany.

 

International Business Machines Corporation Stock Update

The American multinational technology corporation’s investors should be careful when investing in the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Corporation’s shares were being traded at a share price of $138.46 which added the stock of the company to the gainers of the day.

On Friday, there was a lot of fluctuation during the trading session when IBM’s stock was seen hit a high share price level of $138.81 with the number of shares soaring at 1,415,840 shares. The last stock price was called at $138.81 and the trading session began with $138. The current market capitalization of International Business Machines Corporation $134,321 million.

In the short term however over 13 analysts have shared their consensus on the stock of the multinational technology corporation. According to the consensus of these analysts, the estimated short term target price is expected to be $152.15 and the forecasted price is expected to fluctuate from a higher end of $176 to a lower end of $125.

The information technology company has had a 52-week high of $176.3 and a 52-week low of $131.65. The one year high of the tech company was registered on May 4, 2015 while the one year low was seen on November 13, 2015. The 200-day moving average was seen outperform the S&P 500 as it rallied 1.79% in the past one year and the average was recorded at $154.44 while the 50 day moving average was $140.88.

In the last 90 days, the stock of the technology corporation has dropped by 5.56% while the stock performance stands at -10.88%. Insiders of the company own 0.08% of the shares while Institutional Investors own 58.38% of the shares. The change that has been witnessed in the Insider share in the past 12 weeks have been of -24.24% while the change seen in the Institutional Investors shares have been of -29.63%.

Subsequently, insider trading was also seen in the company as it was revealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the data released by the tech giant, the executive vice president of IBM Mills Steven unloaded 10,000 shares of the international company which was a transaction worth $1,382,800 as the price per share was of $138.28. This huge transaction by the EVP of IBM was conducted on November 23, 2015.

In a month’s time, the tech giant’s stock has dropped by 1.16% while in a week’s time the stock has dropped by 0.03%. In comparison to the estimated by the S&P 500 the shares of the company have performed negatively with a loss of 0.07%. Furthermore, it has underperformed the index by 1.66% in a month’s time. Investors need to be careful during this time in terms of investor’s options. The stock of the company has received a rating of 2.5 by a number of analysts and brokers.

 

IBM Keen To Bolster Artificial Intelligence Amidst Competition

IBM recently launched SystemML to empower its artificial intelligence domain.

The artificial intelligence software programmers at International Business Machines Corp. have come up with an innovative tool. According to the company, SystemML – a proprietary program will now be readily available so that the programmers can modify and share the Apache Software Foundation.

The ML in the name is an abbreviation for “Machine Learning”. The Silicon Valley giant, which will be responsible to locate the common patterns persisting in large amount of data, has designed this unique technology. The technology has been designed in a manner that will assist in teaching the computer to perform certain tasks like recognizing faces in photographs, locating the unknown activities in the stock prices, and predicting the phrases typed on a search engine.

IBM has the honor to be a part of the three firms this year that have made the proprietary machine-learning technology accessible that has an open-source license. In February, Facebook revealed chunks of Torch Software whereas the Google division of Alphabet also came up with TensorFlow system.

Rob Thomas, the Vice President at IBM unit of Development stated that the SystemML has been successful in gaining acceptance from Apache, which is an open source organization that has more than 150 ventures under its umbrella. Therefore, he now believes that this acceptance by the organization is the first step towards the project’s global acceptance.

Mr. Thomas stated, “It’s an endorsement of sorts that says, ‘This has value’.” IBM’s Almaden research lab first developed the Sytem ML almost ten years ago in order to make things easier for the developers of that time. It is still one of the most used customized machine-learning software to make it easier for the developers to create more of them. Mr. Thomas stated that SystemML could easily help a bank in various ways such as by creating a program risk modeling software that would give warnings prior to any fraudulent activity.

According to Dong Bang “DB” Tsai, a Spark developer and a research engineer at Netflix, “It’s a pretty early-stage project, but it’s pretty promising.” He believes that with SystemML, Netflix will easily be able to bolster its recommendation platform that makes use of machine learning to gauge which movies a client would want to watch over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. At this point, the company has not evaluated the platform but might do so in the times to come.

 

The company has made up its mind to open the source code of SystemML via Apache Foundation that will assist them in attracting a bigger fraternity of programmers along with improving the developments.

 

IBM Opens Cloud Data Center In India

IBM has opened a cloud data center in Chennai, India, to expand cloud footprint.

IBM Corporation has taken an initiative to lead the tech sector. It has established its first public cloud datacenter in Chennai, India. The newly built center is offering enhanced performance and speed to local clients and end customers for information moving in and out of the region.

A share of the New York based company’s $1,200,000,000 worth investment would extend its international cloud foothold into every financial market. The new center highlights the company’s pledge to the second most populated country, a potential market.

IBM news exclaimed that with a local onramp to IBM Cloud, Indian clients, particularly those in governed industrial sectors, gain more flexibility to compute and store information within the state. The new datacenter joins Big Blue’s cloud center in Mumbai and is a part of a huge network of datacenters that cover the globe, offering users with the performance and disaster recovery features required to ensure business continuity.

In an attempt to speed up the digital transformation, both at startup and enterprise phase, IBM is collaborating with the National Association of Software and Services Companies to introduce Techstartup.in, a digital center where the whole Indian startup ecosystem, encompassing venture capitalists, academic experts, investors, and mentors can interact with each other to expand the cloud market.

Apart from that, IBM is introducing two measures for developers – cloud certification program and developerWorks Premium – to aid developers with the correct skills and tools to compete and innovate in the international marketplace. In addition, to enable developers, the company is making attempts with strategic enterprise information technology leaders such as CSC, Tech Mahindra, and Accenture to expand the utilization of the IBM Cloud technologies, including IBM BlueMix, to communities of developers in India and across the globe.

IBM news today reported that Robert LeBlanc, SVP IBM Cloud, stated, “India’s cloud market is poised for exponential growth, which makes it essential for Indian businesses to have local access to the resources and skills they need to help guarantee success.”

IBM Breaking news affirmed that the new datacenter would support India’s rising client demand for in-country cloud features with faster platform speeds, while enhancing performance, reach, and offer the full variety of SoftLayer infrastructure facilities from the corporation.

This could threaten IBM’s competitors in the modern world in the cloud sector. India is a huge market with potential IT infrastructure. Many companies are striving to claim their spot in this Asian market to stay ahead.

 

IBM Initiates New Session Of Pollution Testing

IBM Corporation would be cleaning and monitoring a facility in Endicott as part of its pollution testing endeavors.

IBM Corporation has taken a measure to protect the environment. Questions regarding exposure to TCE at Huron campus have prompted a proposal to reexamine indoor air under the command of state environmental and health officials.

IBM news affirmed that IBM – the ex-owner of the 60-acre production site, now possessed by the Huron Real Estate Associates – has decided to gather a new series of samples as a measure of a continuous struggle to ensure that the facility is washed and cleaned, which has been registered at the harmful and toxic waste registry of the state.

President of Huron, Chris Pelto, described the examining process as a part of the already fruitful campaign to guarantee that workers are safe at the site. He cited “substantial documented progress” with washing the site over years. He also stated, “We look forward to a new data set showing consistent or improved indoor air quality levels.”

IBM news today revealed that the company would submit a plan based on preceding sampling results, future and existing tenures of different buildings and “known environmental conditions,” Jeffrey Hammond, an official for the State Department of Health, stated in an e-mail.

IBM Breaking news exclaimed that examination process would be carried out in winter and fall, Mr. Hammond stated. Officials would be concentrating on areas where the ground’s TCE fumes are capable of entering buildings. After seeking advice from the health department, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s executives have ordered the assessment after discovering “a new assessment, conducted with state oversight and under authority of IBM’s consent order, was appropriate”, Mr. Hammond stated.

Mr. Hammond did not discuss on what prompted the plan. The decision was taken soon after some articles in Press & Sun Bulletin shared a report that despite of success in washing TCE from residential sites, levels persisted high in the facility and employees could witness exposure levels.

Exposure levels for TCE and chemicals are characteristically higher in work-related environments than residential sites. However, there is a chance of exposure based on the presumption that people spend more time in residences than in their work.

A lawmaker and Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee’s member, Donna Lupado, stated that management should try to demolish some unutilized buildings on premises to speed up the process of cleaning.

One could assume that the New York based organization’s environment-friendly initiative would address the concerns of various environmentalists and authorities, as it intends to serve their interests.

 

 

IBM Develop Firewall For Sensitive Workloads

IBM brings Bluemix behind the firewall for sensitive workloads.

IBM Corporation has taken an initiative to progress in the highly advanced world. Its Bluemix development network is currently available in the public and accommodated private cloud editions. On Thursday, the Corporation announced a third optional feature for clients, which is required to develop applications behind a firewall.

Known as Bluemix Local, it enhances new hybrid cloud app-development abilities, provides businesses an opportunity to design programs safely and utilize them effortlessly across private, public, and on-premise environments.

IBM news affirmed that an official of the Corporation, Damion Heredia, stated, “It allows you to build a true hybrid app; you can choose where you want different parts to run.” Bluemix is known for implementing the New York based organization’s Open Cloud Architecture that advantages Cloud Foundry to aid developers in designing, employing, and monitoring cloud softwares while selecting an ecosystem of facilities and runtime frameworks.

It was initially introduced as public cloud feature, but a single-tenant “dedicated” edition was introduced in the latter part of last year. IBM news today reported that presently with BlueMix Local, “We can deliver Bluemix locally behind your firewall on your infrastructure”, explained Heredia. “The software still gets updates, and IBM can provide both a service-level agreement and a ‘borderless experience’”, he stated.

Heredia believes that safety, portability, and adjustability are amongst the key advantages of technology. Bluemix Local was initially announced in February at IBM enterprise’s Interconnect conference. It could be especially valuable for businesses in controlled industrial sectors, such as financial services, banking, and healthcare.

A Relay tethering update guarantees that all cloud settings are up to date. A constant management console currently allows companies to regulate private, public, and on-premises Bluemix environments over a single dashboard, encompassing patches, features, and real-time launches.

Also encompassed is accessibility to IBM’s syndicated catalog for greater than 120 facilities that permit companies to develop and spread their applications through application programming interfaces (APIs).

In the previous week, IBM included a new Watson service, known as Virtual Insights, which studies photos and videos published on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for trends and patterns. With API management facilities and private catalog, businesses could also post, monetize, and manage their own APIs.

IBM Breaking news reported that the company is operating cloud datacenters in various different regions including Europe, Asia, Americas, and Australia.

It is probable that the recently taken initiative would not only enhance the corporate image of the company but also play a significant role in its growth in the competitive market.

 

 

IBM Uses ARM’S MBED Processors To Refine IoT Deployment

IBM’s Internet of Things (IoT) platform would integrate ARM’s mbed processors to refine IoT deployment.

IBM Corporation takes a step to use British enterprise’s mbed processors. Its Internet of Things (IoT) network could now work with IoT processing devices pioneered by ARM, as both companies have collaborated with each other. IBM news stated that the organization has also improved its IoT cloud network, known as IBM IoT Foundation, with new abilities for risk assessment and information analysis.

Featuring the company’s Bluemix platform services, the IoT is a group of cloud based configuration, operational, security, and analytical facilities that can be utilized to support distributed systems.

IBM news today informed that the enterprise’s mbed processors ideally suit industrial products, wearable monitoring, and weather sensing products. The IoT’s link with the processors would allow IBM cloud to identify products operating mbed automatically, without the need of added administrative configuration. The network can gather medical and operational information form these products, which can then be employed to manage and optimize devices, and be studied to explore methods to enhance operations.

The connection between both partner’s products would also help to remotely control IoT machine and alert users of the products. A damaged washing machine, for example, could inform the user that a repairperson is on his way.

In addition to facilitating mbed processors, the IoT Foundation now has additional products to manage risk. An official of IBM, Bret Greenstein, believes that clients give importance to risk management. Businesses establishing IoT platforms are interested in using cloud analytics to make sure that their end nodes are safe.

IBM is also featuring the IOT foundations for specific industrial sectors, such as government, finance, and power. Lately, the high-tech giant has disclosed a group of facilities for electronic manufacturing organizations, providing a method to find information regarding performance of electronic consumer products, such as TVs.

Market experts have claimed that the cooperation between both company’s products would not only let users perform tasks in a better manner but also enhance their image in the corporate world. It is probable that the new development would threaten its rivals and improve the corporate image by adding to its portfolio.

One could say that the partnership between the two digital companies would redefine their relationship in a significant manner and help them to attain higher levels of growth without which they cannot survive in the modern world where technology is updated frequently.

IBM’s officials should integrate the platform with the processors in the best possible manner to address the concerns of modern organizations that tend to rely on its technology.