Big bets are being made, question whether small start-ups can compete against such investment amounts! For example IBM is hoping that companies will be able to combine live weather forecasting with a range of business data, so for example, insurance companies could send messages to policyholders in certain areas when hailstorms are approaching and tell them safe places to park, saving money all round.
International Business Machines Corp said on Tuesday it will invest $3 billion over the next four years in a new 'Internet of Things' unit, aiming to sell its expertise in gathering and making sense of the surge in real-time data. The Armonk, New York-based technology company said its services will be based remotely in the cloud, and offer companies ways to make use of the new and multiplying sources of data such as building sensors, smartphones and home appliances to enhance their own products. For its first major partnership, IBM said a unit of the Weather Co will move its weather data services onto IBM's cloud, so that customers can use the data in tandem with IBM's analytics tools.
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