IBM is expanding its Internet of Things (IoT) platform — known as IBM IoT Foundation — through an integration with ARM.
The goal is to provide “out of the box connectivity with ARM mbedTM-enabled devices to analytics services,” according to an IBM statement. “This fusion will allow huge quantities of data from devices such as industrial appliances, weather sensors, and wearable monitoring devices to be gathered, analyzed, and acted upon.”
In its release, IBM also announced the first in a series of IBM Cloud-based, industry-specific IoT services with IoT for Electronics. This offering is designed to help electronics manufacturers gather data from individual sensors that can be combined with other data for real-time analysis.
The IBM IoT Foundation is a platform of fully managed, cloud-hosted offerings including analytics tools capable of dealing with large quantities of fast-moving data; access to IBM Bluemix, IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service, that is capable of handling the immense flow of data and provide anytime access for decision makers; and security systems capable of helping organizations protect IoT data as rigorously as they do their own confidential financial, IP, and strategy information.
“Deploying IoT technology has to be easy, secure and scalable for it to feel like a natural extension of a company’s business,” said Krisztian Flautner, General Manager, IoT Business, ARM. “By collaborating with IBM, we will deliver the first unified chip-to-cloud, enterprise-class IoT platform. This will empower companies of any size with a productivity tool that can readily transform how they operate, and the services they can offer.”
The integration between IBM and ARM will allow products powered by ARM mbed-enabled chips to automatically register with the IBM IoT Foundation, and connect with IBM analytics services.
IBM has high hopes for the integration.
“Since 2008, IBM has helped thousands of customers embrace the Internet of Things — to help cities become smarter, hospitals to transform patient care and financial institutions to improve risk management,” said Pat Toole, General Manager, Internet of Things, IBM. “The IoT is now at an inflection point and it needs the big data expertise of IBM and little data expertise of ARM to ensure it reaches its global potential.”
