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August 08, 2008
IBM Unites Enterprise Tools, Mobile Devices in the Cloud
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ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 8 -- IBM today announced new software and services for mobile devices that closely mimic desktop features formerly found only on the PC. Designed for both business users and consumers, the new offerings can help individuals make better business decisions faster, while connecting friends, work colleagues and teams beyond what has been available in the PC era.
According to a recent report from IBM's Institute for Business Value, the number of mobile Internet users worldwide is projected to approach 1 billion, a 191 percent increase from 2006 and a compound annual growth rate of 24 percent. Also, 67 percent of all workers today use mobile and wireless computing.
To capture this market demand, IBM is combining its software, services and research expertise to develop new mobile products and services. The new software includes products with business intelligence, collaboration, social networking and business performance capabilities. In addition, IBM is providing developers with new tools to make existing software applications run on mobile devices. IBM's software is built on open standards so it can be used with most mobile platforms including BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Symbian.
New Mobile Consulting Services
IBM is announcing new business consulting services to help companies manage a mobile work environment. Called Mobility@Work, the consulting and implementation services can help employers increase productivity by as much as 30 percent and cut real estate costs, the second largest corporate expense after salaries and benefits. Mobility@Work helps increase the flexibility, efficiency, resiliency and employee satisfaction of companies by providing a mobile work environment that allows employees to collaborate across business and geographic boundaries while providing secure access to applications and connections to colleagues.
Automating services capabilities is a critical part of IBM's strategy. The strategy includes analytical software developed in IBM Research coupled with high-value consulting services to help organizations in different industries get up and running faster with tested methods to more quickly align resources to market conditions.
Using a combination of the new software and services, employees and executives on the go can have an instant view of how their business is performing, either at a company-wide or a very detailed business process level, depending on the person's role within the enterprise. Using collaboration software, that information can then be shared across a team and action can be taken, all using a mobile device.
For example, the vice president of a major retailer can use a mobile device to get a real-time view of the company's sales and corresponding inventory in a simple, single-screen graphic. A salesperson for the same company can view the current status for a specific customer or supplier. Both employees can exchange data and make buying or selling decisions on the go. The information provided on the person's mobile device is based on parameters established by the employee using easy to use, drag and drop tools.
Combined with business event processing software from IBM, companies can identify patterns and establish connections between events and then initiate a trigger when a trend emerges. A business event represents a slice of time, down to the millisecond, and could be something like a stock trade or online purchase. The role of event processing is becoming increasingly important because it enables companies of all sizes and industries to analyze and respond to minute market changes based on information being collected from millions of mobile devices.
To keep up with this exploding demand for new and more powerful mobile applications, IBM is taking advantage of recent advances in cloud computing, a paradigm in which tasks are assigned to a combination of connections, software and services accessed over a network. Using any type of device like an iPhone, BlackBerry or laptop, users can reach into the cloud for resources as they need them. Cloud computing allows users and companies to pay for and use the services and storage that they need, when they need them and, as wireless broadband connection options grow, where they need them.
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Source: IBM
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