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jKool Unlocks Insights with IBM Cloud

Tuesday, October 11th, 2016

Companies relying on real-time analytics to make decisions can’t suffer a slowdown.

jKool, a Melville, NY-based SaaS company, joined the highly competitive data visualization and analysis business in 2014.

As an IBM Global Entrepreneur Program member, jKool got access to IBM resources and elected to leverage IBM Cloud. The company needed a powerful cloud computing partner to make sure information arrived with the right people at the right time.

“We needed to provide immediate response, visualization and analytics on the largest sets of data,” says Charley Rich, jKool’s VP of Product Management

The company’s platform charts wide swathes of information, such as payments, orders and clicks, from its clients in retail, finance, healthcare and IoT. It also analyzes this data to highlight trends and flag operations that could be managed more efficiently.

Out of the offerings from IBM Cloud, jKool opted for its bare metal server infrastructure.  

“We’re handling tremendous volumes of data, so extreme scalability is essential,” explained Rich.

Learn more here about the jKool and IBM Cloud partnership.

To explore IBM Cloud infrastructure, click here.

For more on IBM’s Global Entrepreneur Program, click here.

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iTech Vancouver’s Top 5 Takeaways for Cloud and Mobility

Friday, October 7th, 2016

If you’ve got your head in the clouds, you’re probably familiar with the iTech Conference, a cross-Canada event series that brings together those that work in IT infrastructure, security, cloud and mobility.

This week iTech’s Vancouver event attracted more than 700 people who came to learn about the changing role of the IT professional.

No longer just somebody who locks a server room at night, IT professionals are now responsible for managing the large-scale business opportunities that have been made available as a result of cloud computing.

Here are the top five insights from the conference:

1. Cloud is mature

Now that cloud has reached the mainstream, platform as a service (PaaS) providers are the norm, says Mark Janzen of IBM Canada. This means businesses such as Starbucks have access to previously closed-off markets.

2. Cloud is transformational

The “cognitive on cloud” movement will transform workspaces and customer interactions. Managers will split their time between human staff and leveraging cognitive technology, and bots will frequent customer service.

3. Cloud can expand or shrink

The cloud will make IT infrastructure a commodity. “In 3 years most companies will consume [IT] and pay a monthly fee, just like they do for water,” says Kyle Kilback, VP of Graycon.

4. Cognitive on cloud moves business beyond just storing data

One big industry that will reap benefits from the cloud and cognitive technology is health care. With 70% of corporate executives saying they plan to significantly increase their investments in AI-related technologies, companies will be able to extract more value as well as insight from the mountains of data they sit on. Terry Belanger, Brand Manager for IBM Power Systems, said treatment plans based on one’s genome are within possibility.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLPfyDEhnvc/

5. Security and the cloud go hand in hand

Investment in the cloud should be matched with investment in security. IT professionals need to raise awareness of issues ranging from vulnerable nodes, to people using personal devices on corporate networks, and corporate devices in personal use. Testing and updating a security plan is a must.

 

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Water Experts and Software Developers Hack Future of Water

Friday, October 7th, 2016

If software is eating the world, surely it must also be able to provide a solution to protect and preserve fresh water. That’s the aim of AquaHacking, an initiative that puts “sustainable governance and technological innovation to work for water.”

On Oct. 6-7, more than 300 researchers, non-profits, government and software developers met in Montreal to discuss water-related issues–the St. Lawrence River in particular–as well as hear from developers who are building web and mobile applications to tackle them.

AquaHacking is an initiative put on by the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation and is sponsored by IBM in Canada. More of a movement than an event, #AquaHacking takes place over many months and culminates in a two-day summit event where developers present the apps and tools they’ve built.

This year, 27 teams competed for $50,000 in cash prizes and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cloud technology and services from IBM Canada and IBM’s Global Entrepreneur Program.

Developers leveraged IBM Bluemix to build apps, along with mountains of data (see the bottom of the page here for Git links and downloadable files), including data from:

  • Environment Canada
  • The City of Montreal
  • Montreal Smart and Digital City
  • St. Lawrence Global Observatory
  • Ministry of Sustainable Development Environment
  • Fight Against Climate Change

The 27 teams were shortlisted to five who presented to the crowd at the #AquaHacking Summit on Oct. 7. The five teams and their proposed solutions were:

  1. Dronoflow, a project that uses drones to capture data, take aerial photography and draw water samples for scientific analysis
  2. eFish, a project that provides info and shares data to people fishing, along with maps of waterways and access points
  3. H2EAU, a project that promotes exploration and protection of river assets for educational and recreational use
  4. Info-Baignade Montréal, a project that provides an early-warning system and tracks risk of microbiological contamination (SAP Micro) in order to predict swimmers against contaminated waters
  5. Solutions to Innovate, a project that leverages a system of flexible, modular piers that are designed to prevent erosion of riverbanks

While all teams won widespread applause from the event there could only be one winner:

The jury was made up of:

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Cognitive Capabilities Will Be Critical for Healthcare Space

Thursday, October 6th, 2016

In 2013, 153 billion GB of healthcare data was collected by devices. In 2020, that number will climb to a whopping 2.3 trillion GB.

But it’s not the data that’s important, it’s the analysis, says Chris Pratt who works with strategic initiatives at IBM Canada.

Speaking at the iTech Vancouver conference, Pratt talked about how the next wave in cloud and cognitive will focus on deriving value from data. Having the data is not the only step — it’s about mining it for insights.

How?

Enter: IBM Watson.

When IBM Watson debuted in 2011 and won global attention for beating Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings on the game show Jeopardy, much of the hubbub focused on IBM Watson’s ability to accurately answer questions, quickly.

At the time, IBM Watson had one API. Fast forward five years and it now has more than 50, Pratt says. Leveraging external APIs is a fundamental step now for any business wants to extract value out of its data.

According to a 2016 survey by Accenture, 70% of corporate executives are planning to significantly increase their investments in AI-related technologies compared with two years ago, and 55% are planning to use machine learning and embedded AI solutions extensively.

The healthcare space in particular is ripe with opportunity for data insight-mining. Pratt says the average person is likely to generate more than one million gigabytes of health-related data in a lifetime. That is the equivalent of 300 million books, according to IBM Watson Health.

Pratt says being able to analyze that data is critical to innovation. “Can we afford a health care system that is not augmented [with cognitive technologies]? The answer is no,” he said.

Want to get started with cognitive technologies? Here are the three key ingredients:

Click here to learn about IBM’s Global Entrepreneur Program, which includes access to Watson and technical support.

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Cognitive Technology Meets IoT in $200 Million Munich Campus

Tuesday, October 4th, 2016

IBM has announced a $200 million investment for a dedicated campus in Munich, Germany to produce Internet of Things technology that leverages cognitive computing.

The Watson IoT headquarters, part of a $3 billion investment by IBM globally, will let clients collaborate and test new business models in the automotive, electronics, healthcare, and insurance industries, IBM said today. The facility will employ 1,000, including researchers, engineers and business experts.

“By inviting our clients and partners to join us in Munich, we are opening up our talent and technologies to help deliver on the promise of IoT and establishing a global hotbed for collaborative innovation,” Harriet Green, Global Head of IBM’s Watson IoT business, said in the announcement.

IBM has 6,000 clients worldwide tapping IBM Watson for IoT solutions and services, up from 4,000 just 8 months ago.

These include Aerialtronics, which produces cognitively-enabled commercial drones that, for instance, can inspect tall installations such as wind turbines and make suggestions on maintenance, learning all the while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWDfP_udMA0

Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, in Center City, Philadelphia, is also building hospital rooms that allow patients to interact vocally with IBM Watson to change their lighting or environment, or ask questions. And engineering firm Schaeffler is incorporating cognitive technology in its sensors.

Other projects that IBM have announced as part of its global $3 billion investment in Watson in IoT include:

  • Blockchain technology, which can be used to securely share IoT data;
  • A natural language interface for IBM Watson that can be included in customer-facing tech;
  • A Cognitive Cookbook for Watson developers, containing demonstrations and best practices.

To learn more about IBM Watson and how to incorporate it into your projects, click here.

Click here to learn about IBM’s Global Entrepreneur Program, which includes access to Watson and technical support.

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Ryerson DMZ Launches Advisory Council for Startups

Wednesday, September 28th, 2016

Ryerson University’s startup incubator DMZ has launched an advisory council to support the Canadian startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The 18-person council was handpicked from over 500 applicants and includes: Kirstine Stewart, former Head of Media at Twitter Canada, Yung Wu, Managing Director of NFQ Ventures, and Dino Trevisani, President, IBM Canada

The goal of the council is to “increase visibility for Canadian entrepreneurs, and to develop new approaches to fuel the success of Canadian innovators,” according to a DMZ press release about the initiative.

“The DMZ’s advisory council will play an important role in finding strategic and innovative approaches that will strengthen the DMZ’s position as a hub in the innovation economy,” says Mohamed Lachemi, president and vice-chancellor at Ryerson University.

“The council will also better forecast the needs of the startup community and find solutions that will be supported by some of the leading minds in business and technology,” he says.  

The first order of business for the advisory council is to create a bootcamp-style program to help new startup owners learn hard and soft skills needed to accelerate their success or failure in the first six months.

Beyond that, the advisory council will develop a collaboration agenda for Canada’s startups to bring together technology hubs nationwide and align with Canada’s innovation agenda.  

The Advisory Council members are:

  • Nadir Mohamed, (DMZ Advisory Council Chairman), Chairman, ScaleUP Ventures
  • John Albright, Managing Partner, Relay Ventures
  • Peter Bowie, Independent Director, former CEO of Deloitte China
  • Barry K. Columb, President & CEO, President’s Choice Financial
  • Bruce Croxon, Partner, Round 13 Capital
  • Maggie Fox, former Global Senior Vice President, Digital, SAP
  • Sabrina Geremia, Managing Director, Integrated Solutions Google
  • Nazmin Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Greystone Managed Investments Inc.
  • Anthony Lacavera, Founder and Chairman, Globalive Capital
  • Andrew Macdonald, Regional General Manager, APAC and Latin America, Uber
  • Kevin O’Brien, Chief Client Officer, Aeroplan at Aimia
  • Priya Patil, Corporate Director
  • Anoop Prakash, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Canada
  • Michael Rossi, President, adidas Group Canada
  • Kirstine Stewart, Chief Strategy Officer, Diply GoViral
  • Dino Trevisani, President, IBM Canada
  • Yung Wu, Managing Director, NFQ Ventures
  • David Walmsley, Editor in Chief, The Globe and Mail
  • Mohamed Lachemi, President and Vice-Chancellor, Ryerson University
  • Abdullah Snobar, Executive Director, DMZ at Ryerson University

For more information about Ryerson DMZ and the advisory council, click here.

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Canada’s Most Tech-Oriented Economy Must Lead to Survive

Monday, September 26th, 2016

Ontario’s future depends not only on embracing disruptive technology, but also on producing and exporting innovations built around cloud computing and artificial intelligence, says Dr. Tom Corr, President and CEO of Ontario Centres of Excellence.

According to the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BII+E), 7.5% of businesses in Ontario operate in the tech sector – the highest proportion in Canada. The tech sector is directly responsible for 7.1 percent of Canada’s economic output.

That may not be enough.

“There are so many disruptive technologies coming about that are disrupting every sector of our economy, from finance to healthcare to manufacturing,” Corr said in an interview during last week’s launch of IBM’s Innovation Hub in Toronto. “It’s important that we not only adopt it, but stay ahead of it and be part of that trend.”

The IBM hub hosts startups including med tech company Analytics4Life, which is working on a new coronary artery disease test, and BigTerminal, a personalized finance news aggregator. Both use IBM Watson and IBM Bluemix technology as vital parts of their platform infrastructure.

Ontario’s knowledge in upcoming areas of technology should be considered a natural resource, Corr said. “In terms of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing, there’s great talent coming out of places like the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo.”

Corr said many companies in the IBM Innovation Hub, which offers startups networking and scaleup opportunities, wouldn’t have access to cognitive and cloud technology without partnering with IBM.

These resources can translate into export opportunities for Ontario and Canada.

“Should these companies see export potential in Germany, or Brazil, or in the U.S. or wherever they may be, these companies can then locate in an IBM facility in those places and get the help they need,” he said.

Corr, who holds his Doctor of Business Administration from Henley Management College in England, has led technology commercialization initiatives at University of Toronto and University of Waterloo.

See more coverage

IBM Opens Innovation Hub in Toronto
IBM Hub to Support Canadian Job Retention
VC Funding Doesn’t Reflect Talent in Toronto and KW: Minister

To find out what IBM Watson can do for you, click here.

For a free trial of IBM Bluemix, click here.

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IBM Hub To Support Canadian Tech Job Retention

Wednesday, September 21st, 2016

IBM has a plan to keep companies in Canada, help them grow and commercialize internationally. A major component of that plan is the company’s Innovation Space announced today in Toronto.

“I want these companies to stay in Canada. I want jobs. I want to create businesses,” Dino Trevisani, President of IBM Canada, told TechPORTFOLIO in an interview at the company’s launch. “Companies don’t have to go to Silicon Valley. They don’t have to sell themselves. IBM as a multinational corporation can give them access to markets.”

Companies in IBM’s Innovation Space will be offered advice, mentoring, support services, education, and legal counsel, as well as technical capacity and infrastructure.

“The government is doing their job – they’re investing,” said Trevisani. “Academia is doing their job. Now, private sector multinationals that can give access for commercialization for these startups is what it’s all about. If we’re going to grow, we need companies to grow here. We don’t need them to develop great technologies and leave.”

IBM’s Innovation Space was set up with $24.75 million of investment by IBM Canada and $22.75 million investment by Ontario’s Jobs and Prosperity Fund.

“We’re putting our technologies in at universities and the government is helping,” said Trevisani. “It’s great innovation but we need to give them a reason to stay [in Canada].”

Toronto was picked as a location for the innovation hub because of its infrastructure and established talent. “Tech companies want to be close to transit,” said Trevisani. “Close to universities where there are sources of skilled workers.”

But Toronto is not the only focus for IBM, as Trevisani pointed out initiatives underway in throughout Ontario and other provinces.

“We’re not branding this so we can get some kind of value for IBM,” said Trevisani. “We’re partnering with MaRS, with OCE and all other incubators. We want to be an impetus for growth and support for that marketplace and for that incubator innovation market.”

More info about the IBM Innovation Space can be found in our coverage of today’s launch.

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IBM Launches Innovation Space in Toronto

Wednesday, September 21st, 2016

Toronto has a new startup hub, and it’s right in the downtown core on Spadina Ave.

This morning, IBM in partnership with Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and the Government of Ontario launched the IBM Innovation Space that aims to help businesses propel into the global marketplace.

The IBM Innovation Space is part of the IBM Innovation Incubator Project, a $54-million initiative funded IBM and the Government of Ontario’s Jobs and Prosperity Fund. Other partners include the SOSCIP Research Consortium and members of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE).

The IBM Innovation Space houses startups and technology companies that use IBM Watson and cloud technologies.  The diverse group of tenants include LifeLearn, whose Sofie veterinary software uses IBM Watson to search through diagnoses and literature, and BigTerminal, a personalized financial information aggregator.

“Access to the latest technology, including cognitive and cloud, as well as these kinds of resources and support, are so often out of the reach of start-ups – that’s why we created this space,” said Dino Trevisani, President of IBM Canada. “We want to help them innovate, get to market and expand more quickly to ultimately become the disruptors of tomorrow.”

The IBM Innovation Space will provide companies with capacity, networking and infrastructure along with new IBM cloud and cognitive business technologies. In addition, experts will offer mentoring, support services, education, and legal counsel to assist in companies’ growth.

Cognitive technologies and artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly attractive to investors, especially after social media startups have peaked. CB Insights predicts that funding of AI-enabled startups will reach $1.2 billion in 2016.

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Hello, This is Your Toothbrush Speaking

Wednesday, September 14th, 2016

Gaming dental hygiene is now a thing.

The Internet of Things leverages chip technology, data analytics, and the cloud to make machines that not only work for us, but know us. A toothbrush called Grush extends the inroads of IoT technology into our daily lives.

Grush makes a children’s toothbrush that connects to both a mobile game for kids and a dashboard for parents, in a bid to ensure youngsters learn the proper way to clean their teeth.

An embedded Intel chip in the toothbrush collects dates, times, accuracy, duration and other usage data. That information is relayed to IBM Bluemix via a JavaScript runtime, allowing the toothbrush, the mobile game app and the parental dashboard to work together in real time.

The Watson Analytics platform interprets the data and determines whether the user is about to stop brushing before all the teeth have been properly cleaned. If that’s the case, Grush will alert the kid (and his or her parents) that there’s more work to do.

Grush and IBM first connected in 2014 at Smart Camp, where the fledgling IoT startup impressed judges. Grush later joined IBM’s Global Entrepreneur program, where the startup has used Bluemix to develop and scale its cloud-based smart toothbrush and smartphone app.

Using the IBM Cloud Architecture Center allowed Grush to refer to IoT, data analytics and mobile material and expertise as it worked, skipping some of the trial-and-error process in developing its interactive device.

For a free trial of IBM Bluemix, click here.

For a free trial of IBM Watson Analytics, click here.

To apply to IBM’s Global Entrepreneur program, click here.

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