Cloud is at a Tipping Point

Cloud is at a tipping point for business.


Anatomy of a cognitive startup - LIVE from SXSW

Every year, SXSW Interactive comes alive. Like a human body, all of these various systems of technology intermingle and create something magical for a few days here in Austin. Today, I had the chance to talk about some anatomy myself: The Anatomy of a Cognitive Startup.

On the outside, the anatomy of a cognitive startup is just like any other in the IBM Ecosystem: focused, innovative, and always forging the future of tech. The true difference comes when you examine the tools of the trade our cognitive startups leverage as they achieve their goals. The IBM Cloud offers a diverse set of software and services dedicated to maximizing developer and startup utilization of the defining tools of the Cognitive Era. When coupled with the laser-focused guidance of the IBM Developer Ecosystem,
Cognitive startups are utilizing IBM Watson visualization, trade-off analytics, personality insight, tone analysis and other cognitive services, with cutting-edge results. Atlanta-based Simple C uses both the IBM Cloud and cognitive systems to provide media-delivered therapies targeting the behavioral symptoms of dementia and related cognitive disorders, providing breakthroughs in the medical industry.
Look at FinTech startup Alpha Modus. By utilizing IBM Bluemix, they’re disrupting the entire investment management industry with tremendous results by using social media to analyze the market sentiment. In fact, their efforts won them the Beacon Award for Best New Application on IBM Cloud from an Entrepreneur at the PartnerWorld Leadership Conference 2016.
Stay tuned for so much more from SXSW Interactive as we dig deeper into the innovations and the people behind them that are truly defining Cloud, Cognitive, and social influences of the future.

Happy International Women's Day !

Today is international women's day.      To me, this is a significant day as it celebrates the achievement of women around the world!   Women are over 50% of the world's population -- so inclusion is very important to the world.   For instance, did you know if there was parity of women and men in the workforce in Egypt that the GDP would go up by 34%?

I am passionate about innovation and study after study shows that diversity breeds innovation.

So today, let's celebrate and commit to parity across the world !

Sandy

 


Whisk it away ! Check out our announcement for Developers with OpenWhisk!

I think the OpenWhisk announcement from Interconnect was one of the most significant.

Here's why:

  • The world’s only fully open, event-driven platform that lets developers build modern feature-rich web and mobile apps quickly and easily
  • It offers the choice of programming language including Swift and Node.js. Run custom code through Docker containers.
  • Built-in chaining enables teams to individually develop small pieces of code with code from the community without having to write code
  • Simply upload your code and let it run. There is no need to think about infrastructure or worry about peak projections
  • Take advantage of easily integrating with an ever growing list of event providers and consumers including cognitive capabilities from IBM.

Tell me what you think!!!!


Introducing the Cloud Champion Program!

Want to be an IBM Champion? Find out more about becoming a champion - or a new Cloud Champion here!

https://www.ibm.com/champion


DeveloperWorks Architecture Center - A MUST use!

IBM is so excited to announce the launch of developerWorks Architecture at InterConnect! Check out what Dirk Nicol has to say about it.

 

 


Top 6 Pieces of Developer News from IBM Interconnect - Swift, Microservices, links + Enterprise

Many of you have asked for a summary of news for developers from Interconnect.  Here are the top 6 pieces of news!

GitHub and IBM.    I am so excited that IBM and GitHub have formed a Strategic Partnership.  We will offer the first and only GitHub Enterprise Service in dedicated and Local Hybrid Clouds.  GitHub has a community of 12 million developers.

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49156.wss

Bitly: Bitly is an amazing company that serves Enterprise clients.  Bitly selected IBM Cloud as its preferred cloud platform and will migrate its platform of 25 billion data-infused links to IBM Cloud to leverage its global scale and reach.  Bitly’s API, used by developers who embed more than 300 million links into their products and applications each month, will also move onto IBM Cloud.   http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49161.wss

GigsterGigster plans to use IBM Cloud as its preferred cloud platform for building cognitive apps. IBM will equip Gigster’s “shared economy” of developers with APIs for cognitive, IoT and more. Gigster, an online marketplace that rapidly curates and matches top software developers with projects that companies need built, plans to use IBM Cloud as its preferred cloud platform for building cognitive apps. Gigster intends to train its “shared economy” of technology talent—including 1,400 skilled developers and project managers—on IBM Cloud so that they can build the next generation of apps fueled by top services and APIs in cognitive, IoT, mobile and more   http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49162.wss

SWIFT: For the first time, we will roll out the tools on IBM Cloud that make it easy for 11M SWIFT developers to bring the advantages of the mobile language to build enterprise applications on the cloud. This could have an explosive effect on productivity for enterprise developers. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49157.wss

Watson APIs: IBM announced new and updated cognitive APIs that enhance Watson’s emotional and visual senses, further extending the capabilities of the industry’s largest and most diverse set of cognitive technologies and tools. Text to Speech (TTS) and Tone Analyzer have undergone significant advancements, and two new APIs, Emotion Analysis and Visual Recognition, are now available in beta. These APIs are pushing the sensory boundaries of how humans and machines interact, and they are advancing how technology can think, perceive and empathize. For more information visit http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49160.wss

BlueMix Whisk: IBM announced the ability of IBM Bluemix OpenWhisk platform to enable developers to quickly build microservices that execute software code in response to events such as the clicking of a mouse or the receiving of sensor data from any IOT device

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49158.wss

 


Top 10 Announcements on Day 1 of #ibminterconnect

Day 1 of InterConnect 2016 at an end, but with it came so many beginnings: The beginning of a simpler Cloud, of new value in existing offerings, and a new chapter in the Watson story.

Cloud development is even easier thanks to the new 1. Bluemix Whisk, which drives the rapid creation of new apps and microservices fueled through an open ecosystem. Plus, our existing 2, Cloud Data services are now “open for data,” to speed the use of data sources for new apps.

We’ve brought billions in value to our existing offerings through Connect, extending enterprise apps and data to the Cloud. 3. WebSphere Connect and the Connect family of offerings have already cloud enabled 100K+ IBM Software clients, and with Bluemix services, they’ve connected to Cloud-based apps, data, and APIs.

Our new Cloud-based 4. Blockchain resources gives developers the ability to speed up DevOps and get Blockchain ready for their business. With video poised to exceed 80% of all Internet traffic by 2019, we’ve launched our new 5. IBM Cloud video platform, perfect for live-streaming and on-demand needs.

Finally, IBM has offered a number of robust as-a-Service solutions from Platform to Software. Now, we’re excited to announce 6. AI-as-a-service with IBM Watson. Get access to the most expansive portfolio of AI capabilities with vision, speech, language, and data. We’re equipping developers with SDKs, tooling, and more, and it’s only available on IBM Bluemix!

Yesterday we discussed the announcement of 7. GitHub Enterprise  and I will blog in a bit on 8. bit.ly

In addition, 9.  Swift and 10. VMware were incredible partnerships!

An astonishing day of astonishing news. Stay tuned for more as InterConnect kicks into high gear tomorrow!

 


Cloud for Social Good - Tuesday at 2:15PM - 3:30PM Mandalay Bay Club B

On Tuesday at 2:15PM - 3:30PM Mandalay Bay Club B , I am leading a panel on Cloud for Social Good with an amazing group of leaders and companies.

  • Jane Russenberger, Director Genetics and Breeding Guiding Eyes for the Blind!
  • Ted Jenkins President and CEO of Digital Water
  • Connie Mester, Found and CEO of Thrive 4-7

Come and join us to hear how Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Digital Water, and Thrive 4-7 are changing the world !!!!

Guiding Eyes for the Blind 

About: Guiding Eyes for the Blind provides assistance for blind and visually impaired people by providing trained Guide Dogs, at no-cost to the blind and visually impaired. Guiding Eyes is the largest guide dog raising organization in the world, and had an initial need to move 30 years worth of dog breeding and training data into a flexible cloud environment. They chose IBM Cloud and are exploring ways to use cognitive computing in their breeding and matchmaking processes. The guide dog sector is not one we typically think of when we consider companies that are leveraging cloud. This is proof that the cloud and cognitive era will touch all businesses: even those you wouldn't normally imagine!  Guiding Eyes will move all its data onto IBM Cloud infrastructure!

Thrive 4-7

About: Through its Mevii app, Thrive 4-7 helps address chronic stress, illness or workplace behaviors so that employees can live healthier, more productive lives. Mevii (a play on "Me, version 2.0"), is a cognitive mobile app that helps users develop new skills, change their thinking and solve problems. It's designed to enhance employer's health and wellness benefits and can help improve worker well-being, reduce absenteeism, cut insurance costs, increase employee engagement and reduce costs of call-center based counseling or employee support systems.

Their solution was developed on Bluemix and taps into three cognitive services.!

Connie Mester November 2014

Digital Water

About: Digital Water offers efficient water and energy solutions for industrial and municipal markets. The company provides visibility and actionable intelligence on water-related data to enhance asset performance. Digital Water works with clients in water and wastewater markets to optimize treatment and energy costs, and it also partners with humanitarian organizations to provide technology and data on the best way people around the world can gain access to safe water.