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IBM puts smart to work

At the recent IBM Think conference in Las Vegas, it was outlined that the amount of data that gets generated everyday is not as important as the amount that is searchable and gets put to good use, writes TIANA CLINE.

The human race is generating more than 43 million terabytes of data every day. And in a world where there are more Internet of Things (IoT) objects than people, it’s more than simply making the technology smart: it’s about making online a secure space in order to build a smarter future for everyone.

“How much of the world’s data is searchable?” is the key question IBM CEO and chairman, Ginni Rometty, proposed at the inaugural IBM Think conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, last week.

IBM has revealed a number of new cloud technologies and capabilities, enhancements of its Watson big data platform, and delved deeper into the opportunities that artificial intelligence (AI) opens up for businesses seeking a competitive advantage.

Rometty highlighted the ability of IBM cloud for business to integrate artificial intelligence and blockchain. This, she said, was not necessarily a digitally intelligent platform, but a solution in a digital world, whether your cloud solution is private, public or on-premises.

IBM researchers are also developing blockchain crypto-anchors, tamper-proof digital fingerprints that can be embedded into products, or parts of products, and linked to a blockchain.

Rometty pointed out that a mere 20% of the world’s data is publicly searchable, while 80% belongs to individuals, making everyone “incumbent disrupters and AI is the competitive premise”.

IBM’s solution is to leverage digital platforms, embed learning in every process and empower people with digital intelligence. This then paves the way for AI.

“This is an era of man plus machine, not man versus machine,” saidd Rometty. “Outcomes are better when it is human and machine instead of humans alone or machines alone. One place to start is HR processes. We need to outlearn everybody else by putting smart to work.”

According to IBM, data is a competitive advantage and game changer, which means companies should only partner with trusted second parties, always be on the offense, and use AI to truly empower people.

“Only 4% of the world encrypts data, yet this is one of the most important things you can do. In this era, many companies can win and, if you ask why, it’s all about data. The people who show you that you can’t trust them should not have access to your data.”

At the conference, IBM released its new Power9 processor on the IBM Cloud, which is built for compute-intensive AI workloads, using Nvidia Tesla V100 GPUs connected via a high-speed NVLink interface. This improves deep learning frameworks, helping data scientists to train more accurate AI models faster and, Rometty claims, can train AI faster than anything currently available on the market.

A new IBM Cloud Developer Console for Apple will provide tools like pre-configured starter kits, along with AI, data and mobile services for Swift. This will enable developers to link to IBM Cloud to build apps that are easy to code, fast to deploy and can be integrated with enterprise data.

“We’ve reinvented IBM for the era of data and it’s been about innovative technologies, industry expertise, and then always underpinned by trusted security. If all of us in the world could make smarter decisions, that’s worth $2 trillion. If you embrace a digital platform, embed it in a process, and empower people, that’s winning.”

* Tiana Cline is a freelance content writer, technology journalist and digital strategist. She likes cats, data science, long-form and violent video games. 

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