IBM Creates IoT and Education Units To Drive Innovation In Emerging Technologies

IBM on Monday took another step toward positioning itself as an Internet-of-Things powerhouse by introducing a business unit devoted to advancing technologies related to so-called smart devices, as well as bringing in some outside help to run it.

Big Blue appointed Harriet Green to helm its new IoT division, as well as another new business unit that will focus on education-related products and technologies.

Green, who previously ran a British travel consortium and before that held executive positions at two global electronics distributors, is tasked with helping IBM bring to market technologies that will help its partners and customers integrate and derive insights from the massive quantities of data that are increasingly generated by interconnected sensors and devices.

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IBM's formal announcement said that Big Blue will apply its "considerable strengths" in big data, analytics and cognitive computing to drive innovation within the new IoT and education divisions.

Green, who recently culminated her tenure as CEO of Thomas Cook Group, will take the role of vice president and general manager of both new IBM units. The tech giant said she was selected based on her success transforming the business of her previous employer -- efforts that earned her several accolades in England, including the Order of the British Empire.

Stephen Monteros, vice president of business development and strategic initiatives at Sigmanet, an IBM partner based in Ontario, Calif., told CRN the launch of the new units looks to be consistent with IBM's "solutions-based approach" and comes at the right moment in the development of IoT technology.

"With all the sensors out there that are now mature, the timing appears to be right for this, and IBM is reaching outside to get the people they believe will drive things forward," Monteros said.

Strategic initiatives with ARM and Apple show IBM is focusing on solutions development, with analytics a major component, Monteros said.

The two new divisions come to light about six months after IBM announced its $3 billion investment over the course of four years in delivering new cognitive computing systems and cloud data services to specific industries. The goal is to help clients and partners develop unique solutions for integrating data from the wide array of sources that constitute the Internet of Things.

Green's team will be made up of more than 2,000 consultants, researchers and developers, according to IBM.

Brett Murphy, director of enterprise architecture at SIS, an IBM partner based in Lexington, Ky., told CRN he thinks IBM has made an excellent decision in its choice of leadership.

"I love the fact they selected somebody outside the U.S.," Murphy said. "Not because we don't have qualified people here, but because of the universal nature of IoT."

IBM is still reinventing itself, adapting and evolving, which is why the company has succeeded for more than a century in business, he told CRN.

Big data is again changing the game, said Murphy, who worked at Sun Microsystems for 10 years.

"In the past, we would need just one server for a customer to evaluate a workload. Now, many of these workloads like big data, analytics, business intelligence and other advanced computing technologies require more investment," he told CRN.

IBM will not only continue researching those new technologies, but also deliver true innovation that solves problems and offers value to customers, he said.

Green’s appointment "shows IBM’s continued commitment to this new frontier we are in called IoT that is all things computing -- things we know, things we think we know, and things we are yet to discover," Murphy told CRN.

In a prepared statement, Green said: ’The Internet of Things will help enterprises and governments at every level unlock entirely new areas of opportunity and growth, and no company is better positioned than IBM to be the partner of choice as these organizations embrace its potential."

She added, "Likewise, education is being transformed by technology and IBM is incredibly well positioned to help leaders in the field enable this change.’

Before coming to Thomas Cook in 2012, Green served as CEO and executive director of Premier Farnell, a distributor of tech products, for more than six years. She spent 13 years before that as an executive at Arrow Electronics.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 14, 2015