IBM Opens NYC Analytics Center

IBM has opened its first US-based Business Analytics Solution Center in New York, to provide clients with mathematical, modeling and optimization services.

The center will be housed at the firm's Madison Avenue offices, and will initially be supported by up to 450 consultants, researchers and software experts. In addition, IBM plans to retrain or hire an additional 100 staff as demand grows.

Earlier in the summer, IBM opened three other analytics centers in Berlin, Beijing and Tokyo, and it plans to launch further centers in London and Washington D.C. later in the year. Overall, it will hire as many as 4,000 new analytics consultants and professionals globally for the initiative.

One solution the center will offer is the IBM Smarter Cities Assessment Tool, which uses analytics to help cities benchmark their overall capabilities against peer locations, highlight relative strengths and weaknesses, and provide initial recommendations for improvement.

Through the center, IBM Research will collaborate with regional universities to work with New York City and a variety of cities around the world on Smarter City solutions and workforce development programs.

IBM is also partnering with New York-based blogging platform Tumblr to launch the Smarter Cities Scan, a social media project in crowdsourced research which will use participants' input to build a public blueprint for Smarter Cities.

'Through close collaboration with universities, educational organizations and local leaders, we are making this investment in New York to encourage further development of the necessary skills required to apply analytics to the region's most complex challenges and biggest opportunities,' said Phil Guido, General Manager of the Eastern US for IBM.

IBM is currently bidding to acquire MR software and analytics giant SPSS for around $1.2 billion, subject to shareholder approval, regulatory clearances and other conditions. In June, it announced plans to Invest $100m in a five-year program to conduct research into mobile communications.

New York has also been promised investment by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who in July outlined plans including the launch of a research center where media companies, universities and others will be able to collaborate on research and share findings.

Web site: www.ibm.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.