IBM announced on June 28th, the creation of the Services Innovation Lab (SIL), a new global lab that will initially comprise about 200 technology experts hand-picked from around the company. The lab will accelerate the expansion of real-time analytics and software automation in both IBM's technology services offerings and its global services delivery capabilities.
The SIL significantly expands IBM's nearly 10-year-old services research program by bringing together services, research, software developers and industry experts from around the company to focus initially on the creation of services software applications for cloud computing, analytics and mobility. IBM invests more than $6 billion annually on research and development and employs about 3,000 researchers worldwide, with about a third of them focused on services and analytics.“Our singular focus is to help our clients capitalize on technologies that solve problems and create new possibilities,” said Mike Daniels, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Services. “Creation of the Services Innovation Lab demonstrates how we at IBM differentiate our capabilities vs. competition. We harness the best of what IBM research and development can deliver in science and engineering to help our clients be more innovative.”
The initial focus of the SIL projects includes:
- Cloud Computing – The SIL will create both new Cloud services and devise new methods for moving traditional computing environments to a Cloud-based model. For example, one of the initial projects will be the creation of so-called dashboards that will enable an information technology (IT) professionals more effectively learn what is happening inside a datacenter, where to apply resources and improve productivity.
- Advanced Analytics – The SIL will invent new ways to tightly integrate analytic services with business processes to create new types of services and applications that can be injected into client accounts more quickly. One example already in the market is IBM’s Tax Collections Optimizer, which uses new IBM-patented analytics technology to help governments identify the most effective and efficient methods to collect taxes from delinquent debtors.
- Service Delivery Automation – The SIL will use data mining and real-time analytics software to create new delivery capabilities that will dramatically improve the operation of a data center by enabling IT management to become predictive and proactive. For example, one project will more accurately predict if a data center will lose power. The new technologies will enable better monitoring and maintenance of data centers that will improve quality and reduce costs.
- Enterprise Mobilization and Smarter Planet – Capitalizing on technologies used in personal computing, the SIL will develop a sophisticated set of technologies for the mobile computing marketplace. Key areas of focus are security, ease of use and enabling enterprise applications on mobile devices. For example, the SIL will design a way to enable a mobile device to easily interface with enterprise customer reference systems or expense reporting applications.
