IBM and the University of Tokyo Launch Quantum Computing Initiative for Japan

Partnership creates a country-wide research and education framework program to engage universities, industry, and government to grow a quantum computing community and foster new economic opportunities across Japan

TOKYO, Dec. 19, 2019 — IBM and the University of Tokyo announced today an agreement to partner to advance quantum computing and make it practical for the benefit of industry, science and society.

IBM and the University of Tokyo will form the Japan – IBM Quantum Partnership, a broad national partnership framework in which other universities, industry, and government can engage. The partnership will have three tracks of engagement: one focused on the development of quantum applications with industry; another on quantum computing system technology development; and the third focused on advancing the state of quantum science and education.

Under the agreement, an IBM Q System One, owned and operated by IBM, will be installed in an IBM facility in Japan. It will be the first installation of its kind in the region and only the third in the world following the United States and Germany. The Q System One will be used to advance research in quantum algorithms, applications and software, with the goal of developing the first practical applications of quantum computing.

IBM and the University of Tokyo will also create a first-of-a-kind quantum system technology center for the development of hardware components and technologies that will be used in next generation quantum computers. The center will include a laboratory facility to develop and test novel hardware components for quantum computing, including advanced cryogenic and microwave test capabilities.

IBM and the University of Tokyo will also directly collaborate on foundational research topics important to the advancement of quantum computing, and establish a collaboration space on the University campus to engage students, faculty, and industry researchers with seminars, workshops, and events.

“Quantum computing is one of the most crucial technologies in the coming decades, which is why we are setting up this broad partnership framework with IBM, who is spearheading its commercial application,” said Makoto Gonokami, the President of the University of Tokyo. “We expect this effort to further strengthen Japan’s quantum research and development activities and build world-class talent”.

Developed by researchers and engineers from IBM Research and Systems, the IBM Q System One is optimized for the quality, stability, reliability, and reproducibility of multi-qubit operations. IBM established the IBM Q NetworkTM, a community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and research labs working with IBM to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications for business and science.

“This partnership will spark Japan’s quantum research capabilities by bringing together experts from industry, government and academia to build and grow a community that underpins strategically significant research and development activities to foster economic opportunities across Japan“, said Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research.

Advances in quantum computing could open the door to future scientific discoveries such as new medicines and materials, improvements in the optimization of supply chains, and new ways to model financial data to better manage and reduce risk.

The University of Tokyo will lead the Japan – IBM Quantum Partnership and bring academic excellence from universities and prominent research associations together with large-scale industry, small and medium enterprises, startups as well as industrial associations from diverse market sectors. A high priority will be placed on building quantum programming as well as application and technology development skills and expertise.

IBM Data Science Elite Team Helps Propel IBM to #1 in Global AI Market Share

ARMONK, N.Y., — IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today momentum and growth for its vaunted Data Science Elite Team, which has helped propel IBM to number one in global AI market share by revenue as ranked by IDC. In addition, the Elite Team has played a key role in helping close the data science skills gap, through unique academic programs. To date, the Data Science Elite Team has grown to almost 100 data scientists around the world and has been deployed on more than 130 Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Machine Learning projects, advancing the journey to AI for global customers from Royal Bank of Scotland to Wunderman Thompson Data.

“Companies come to us because they know they need an AI plan, but they often don’t know where to start,” said Seth Dobrin, Phd, Vice President, IBM Data and AI, and CDO IBM Cloud and Cognitive Software. Dobrin helped architect and manage the Elite Team. “Today, the Elite Team has become a key plank of IBM’s AI strategy to help companies overcome the pitfalls of AI through innovative technologies and our dedicated Elite Team of data scientists.”

The Data Science Elite Team has helped IBM drive Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Machine Learning deeper into enterprises, one client at a time. But the effort has become a pillar of the company’s AI story and philosophy, to help clients overcome the challenges of AI adoption. IDC ranks IBM number one in global AI market share by revenue, with companies leveraging the Elite Team to apply Data Science and Machine Learning to rising data challenges. In the past year alone, the Data Science Elite Team has grown in size from 30 data scientists to almost 100 and grown its roster of client engagements to more than 130.

“We were committed to moving toward a fully distributed architecture for our Machine Learning but one of the biggest challenges we faced was resources,” said Adam Woods, CTO at Wunderman Thompson Data. “Working with IBM and its Data Science Elite Team, our teams can now free up time from their day-to-day responsibilities to learn and build a proof of concept organically. Our data scientists focused on the immediate business requirements and the IBM team focused on the technology. This joint collaboration resulted in a machine learning pipeline, via Watson, that fully utilized all of our data signals to produce models that increase the performance over our previous models by 200% or more. We are now working aggressively to roll this out into our production.”

In addition to assisting clients in their AI and digital transformations, the Elite Team has been at the forefront of learning and development projects. This fall, IBM Elite Team members teamed with the Linux Group and University of Pennsylvania to create an open source curriculum program that colleges can use to fast-track actual data science curricula – free of charge.

IBM, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Linux Foundation are building an innovative, first-of-a-kind open source project to help enable universities around the world to build Data Science programs faster. With IBM’s involvement and industry expertise, University of Pennsylvania’s long-standing academic leadership and the Linux Foundation as a premier open source consortium, we are creating a curriculum kit comprised of a set of open source building blocks for teaching the core concepts of data science in undergraduate and graduate programs. These building blocks are based on Python and open source tools and frameworks, and include slides, documentation, code, and data sets that could be adopted or updated by users. This work is set to be available on Github in early 2020.

IBM AI Innovations Sharpen Risk Detection in Identity Management

More Individualized Approach Helps Optimize Both Security & User Experience

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., — IBM Security today announced it is extending its artificial intelligence (AI) technology originally developed to protect users in the financial services industry, to clients in all industries via the company’s identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) offering. IBM Cloud Identity now features AI-based adaptive access capabilities that help continually assess employee or consumer user risk levels when accessing applications and services. The solution escalates suspicious user interactions for further authentication, while those identified as lower risk are “fast tracked” so they can access applications and services they need.

With data breaches on the rise, traditional means of securing access, like passwords, are often not enough to prevent unauthorized access. The rise of credential-stuffing attacks, where a malicious actor obtains a list of credentials and tests them at various other sites using a bot, demonstrates that many password combinations have been leaked. According to a 2019 report, compromised and weak credentials are cited as the cause for more than 80% of data breaches. Meanwhile, 2017 research found that large companies are managing hundreds of applications – up to 788 custom applications on average for companies with more than 50,000 employees. Considering the amount of programs and passwords that employees are managing between their professional and personal lives, it is increasingly important that new security measures do not hinder user experience.

“Companies are constantly trying to optimize both security and user experience, but the trick is ensuring security is not disrupting the everyday user journey,” said Jason Keenaghan, Director, IBM Security. “IBM Cloud Identity with adaptive access is using AI to give organizations a holistic view of context for user access, based on indicators like malware and risk indicators, device insights, and user behavior, to help them focus security on high risk logins and give the majority of users seamless access to their accounts and applications.”

Adaptive Access: Smart Context

Many organizations continue to rely on older username and password methods to provide employee and consumer users access to services. Due to the patchwork of applications and solutions organizations are working with, they may not be able to deploy more modern security layers. This can create a blind spot that prevents security teams from easily implementing rules that flag suspicious indicators like malicious logins, unknown locations, unrecognized devices, and whether a user is on a company’s network VPN.

IBM Cloud Identity is an identity-as-a-service solution that helps organizations connect every user to every application using adaptive access. Through the use of AI, the service helps simplify access management and security for users by assigning user risk levels based on a defined set of factors. With these risk levels, administrators can create rules that level up or level down authentication – implementing strong authentication but only when needed. The service leverages the following features to determine risk and enable adaptive access decisions:

  • Artificial Intelligence – a user behavior score is assigned based on the level of trust or risk assessed for each user. A number of factors are assessed including web intelligence, location data, malware and risk indicators, and device insights. For example, using AI, the system can detect irregular mouse movements or flag a user trying to login from a browser infected with keylogging malware. IBM Cloud Identity with adaptive access leverages IBM Trusteer AI technology to assess users based on a fraud evidence database, fraudulent pattern analysis, and cross-organizational patterning.
  • Smart Access and Seamless Login: Since AI capabilities are able to assign risk levels, only users considered to pose a higher threat are prompted to go through multifactor authentication or denied access. By only prompting specific users to further verify their identification, rather than all users, organizations may be able to reduce operational expenses related to items such as two-factor authentication and help desk password resets for both current and new users. This can potentially lead to cost cuts considering organizations spanning different sectors have allocated more than $1 million per year to password-related support alone.
  • Low-code Deployment: Adaptive access policies can be created and applied to applications and APIs with little to no development effort, and without application changes.

“According to our primary research results, the establishment of low-friction end user experiences has the potential to help boost security effectiveness while reducing management efforts and related costs,” said Steve Brasen, Research Director, Enterprise Management Associates. “By injecting intelligence into access processes, IBM is helping its customers implement the appropriate level of authentication enforcement for users while minimizing impacts to their productivity.”

IBM Named a Leader in IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Support Services 2019 Vendor Assessment

IBM one of seven companies recognized

ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 5, 2019 IBM today announced that IDC has named IBM a “Leader” among seven other providers in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Support Services 2019 Vendor Assessment (October 2019, IDC #US45595819e). According to the IDC MarketScape report, “IBM’s global presence and partnerships make the company a great fit for large enterprises and customers state that the partnerships IBM creates at the higher levels of the C-suite allow IBM to truly understand the business needs of the customer and, in return, the C-suite of the customer has access to IBM executives.”

As a services integrator, IBM works with a variety of enterprises to maintain availability and IT performance with integrated maintenance and technical support for multivendor hardware and software solutions. By offering this kind of support, IBM’s clients can bring all their support requirements into a single fully-managed IBM solution that reduces complexity, downtime and cost – making IBM the ideal enterprise partner for medium-sized to large customers. In the survey, IBM was also praised for their strong executive partnerships and relationship building with their customers, in addition to their growing abilities in proactive and preventive care with Watson.

“We are pleased to be positioned in the ‘Leaders’ category for another year in the IDC MarketScape vendor assessment,” said Vivek Mahajan, general manager for Technology Support Services (TSS). “Our portfolio of services helps clients simplify IT support management and minimize the risk of unplanned downtime – whether in the cloud or in the data center, resulting in better service to their customers.”

Part of maintaining top-tier service along with the transformation of traditional networking environments stems from IBM’s journey to the cloud. IBM continues to transform traditional networking environments to meet the requirements of today’s hybrid infrastructure models through IBM Cloud. Using software-defined, network-as-a-service delivery models, IBM strives to make it easier and safer for clients to manage and customize their networks according to their intended business objectives. Certain areas of the IBM Services portfolio, like consolidated IT support and open source software support, help clients realize the full value of this offering and improve efficiencies among their IT teams and save money that can be put back into their business. All these efforts are crucial to IBM’s strategic initiatives of becoming the world’s leading cloud platform and cognitive solutions company.

Autostrade per l’Italia and IBM Announce an Innovative Autostrade “IOT” Solution to Monitor and Manage Infrastructure in Real-Time Based on IBM Maximo

New solution integrates IBM artificial intelligence and will be deployed as a pilot by end of year with total coverage anticipated by 2020

ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 4, 2019 — Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI) today announced a new solution that integrates the latest IBM infrastructure monitoring and management technology designed to support operators in monitoring the condition of civil infrastructure, both in real-time and throughout the lifecycle of structures such as bridges, roads and tunnels.

The new digital platform will integrate inspection, structural monitoring and maintenance activities to allow for continuous monitoring of critical infrastructure. Mobile devices connected to the system will provide technicians who perform inspections with insights about the infrastructure they are managing, combined with access to project documentation that can help operators determine if and when maintenance should be performed. Automated workflow processes can be set up to track whether required activities have been successfully completed and required approvals have been given—allowing operators to manage the infrastructure and associated information in a shared and transparent way.

“Our intention is to create one of the most advanced infrastructure monitoring and maintenance systems in Europe, in line with the smart road principle defined by the Ministry of Transport,” said Autostrade per l’Italia managing director Roberto Tomasi. “With the most advanced technologies—and the investment in research by our subsidiary Autostrade Tech—we aim to make efficiency and transparency the cornerstones to our mission of enhancing the security of critical infrastructure.”

“We all know how important bridges, tunnels and roads are for the daily life of every citizen. Many of these structures have been built at different times and with different materials. That’s why IBM has decided to invest and leverage its advanced Artificial Intelligence and IoT technologies to help Autostrade per l’Italia improve the way these structures are monitored and managed,” said Enrico Cereda, CEO of IBM Italy. “Autostrade per l’Italia’s industry expertise combined with IBM’s experience and investment in technology and research can be used to help improve maintenance processes and infrastructure management activities, assisting with the management, maintenance and control of critical infrastructure.”

The system combines 3D models of the monitored infrastructure with images taken in the field by technicians processed by AI, to classify which sections may require maintenance and suggest additional checks and physical inspections for the operator to evaluate.

The monitoring platform will communicate in real time with sensors installed on infrastructure, the number of which will grow progressively. This Internet of Things (IoT) technology will make it possible to create a centralized digital database containing all the regularly updated information on approximately 4,300 structures (bridges, viaducts, flyovers and tunnels) which are part of the network managed by ASPI.

The new system will be launched in Italy on a trial basis before the end of the year and will initially be tested on three viaducts: the Bisagno, on the A12 motorway in Liguria, the Romano and the Corvi, both on the A16 motorway in Puglia. The goal is for the technology to be implemented on all 1,943 major network structures by the end of 2020.

The second phase of the project, set to begin in mid-2020, is designed to support infrastructure maintenance activities—from design to operations, and from testing to execution—to flow through a single dashboard, giving operators a fully integrated view of activities.

The new ASPI system has been designed to immediately communicate with the “Ainop” database, the interface used by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport for monitoring the safety status of all Italian infrastructure. As part of this collaboration, IBM – including IBM Research – will develop the solution in accordance with Autostrade Tech’s instructions, based on IBM Maximo Enterprise Asset Management and Maximo Asset Monitor.

Autostrade per l’Italia and IBM Announce an Innovative Autostrade “IOT” Solution to Monitor and Manage Infrastructure in Real-Time Based on IBM Maximo

New solution integrates IBM artificial intelligence and will be deployed as a pilot by end of year with total coverage anticipated by 2020

ARMONK, N.Y. — Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI) today announced a new solution that integrates the latest IBM infrastructure monitoring and management technology designed to support operators in monitoring the condition of civil infrastructure, both in real-time and throughout the lifecycle of structures such as bridges, roads and tunnels.

The new digital platform will integrate inspection, structural monitoring and maintenance activities to allow for continuous monitoring of critical infrastructure. Mobile devices connected to the system will provide technicians who perform inspections with insights about the infrastructure they are managing, combined with access to project documentation that can help operators determine if and when maintenance should be performed. Automated workflow processes can be set up to track whether required activities have been successfully completed and required approvals have been given—allowing operators to manage the infrastructure and associated information in a shared and transparent way.

“Our intention is to create one of the most advanced infrastructure monitoring and maintenance systems in Europe, in line with the smart road principle defined by the Ministry of Transport,” said Autostrade per l’Italia managing director Roberto Tomasi. “With the most advanced technologies—and the investment in research by our subsidiary Autostrade Tech—we aim to make efficiency and transparency the cornerstones to our mission of enhancing the security of critical infrastructure.”

“We all know how important bridges, tunnels and roads are for the daily life of every citizen. Many of these structures have been built at different times and with different materials. That’s why IBM has decided to invest and leverage its advanced Artificial Intelligence and IoT technologies to help Autostrade per l’Italia improve the way these structures are monitored and managed,” said Enrico Cereda, CEO of IBM Italy. “Autostrade per l’Italia’s industry expertise combined with IBM’s experience and investment in technology and research can be used to help improve maintenance processes and infrastructure management activities, assisting with the management, maintenance and control of critical infrastructure.”

The system combines 3D models of the monitored infrastructure with images taken in the field by technicians processed by AI, to classify which sections may require maintenance and suggest additional checks and physical inspections for the operator to evaluate.

The monitoring platform will communicate in real time with sensors installed on infrastructure, the number of which will grow progressively. This Internet of Things (IoT) technology will make it possible to create a centralized digital database containing all the regularly updated information on approximately 4,300 structures (bridges, viaducts, flyovers and tunnels) which are part of the network managed by ASPI.

The new system will be launched in Italy on a trial basis before the end of the year and will initially be tested on three viaducts: the Bisagno, on the A12 motorway in Liguria, the Romano and the Corvi, both on the A16 motorway in Puglia. The goal is for the technology to be implemented on all 1,943 major network structures by the end of 2020.

The second phase of the project, set to begin in mid-2020, is designed to support infrastructure maintenance activities—from design to operations, and from testing to execution—to flow through a single dashboard, giving operators a fully integrated view of activities.

The new ASPI system has been designed to immediately communicate with the “Ainop” database, the interface used by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport for monitoring the safety status of all Italian infrastructure. As part of this collaboration, IBM – including IBM Research – will develop the solution in accordance with Autostrade Tech’s instructions, based on IBM Maximo Enterprise Asset Management and Maximo Asset Monitor.

Cenovus Energy Selects IBM to Boost Digital Transformation with SAP®

Implementation of SAP® S/4HANA® paves the way for process innovation, future growth

ARMONK, N.Y. and CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 25, 2019 — IBM today announced that Cenovus Energy Inc., a leading Canadian integrated oil and gas company, has turned to IBM Services to help modernize its business processes and advance its overall digital transformation. IBM Services will implement a new SAP® platform to help Cenovus integrate and streamline processes aimed to improve operational efficiency within the organization.

Since its establishment as an independent operator in 2009, Cenovus, which employs approximately 3,000 people, continues to grow and develop assets across its oil sands projects in Alberta, natural gas and oil production in Alberta and British Columbia and two U.S refineries where the company has 50 percent ownership. The company purchased most of ConocoPhillips’ Western Canadian operations in 2017 which required implementation of standalone back office systems.  To support future growth, Cenovus recognized a need to update its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) environment, and IBM Services will work with Cenovus to implement SAP S/4HANA®, SAP Ariba®, SAP BW/4HANA®, SAP Business Panning and Consolidation 11, and SAP Fieldglass® software.

SAP S/4HANA will aim to simplify, standardize, centralize and automate Cenovus’s major business processes, providing a foundation for applying innovations and technologies like AI.  The SAP S/4HANA platform will also help provide the flexibility to integrate new operations as Cenovus expands its business.

IBM Services will help Cenovus digitally transform its operations and standardize processes with the implementation of a new SAP S/4 HANA ERP system, providing a centralized view of real-time information across various departments that will aim to improve decision-making and further their position as the industry leading oil sands operator.  IBM Services will utilize advanced implementation methods and automation tools, including pre-configured IBM Industry Impact Solutions, to design, build and configure SAP applications to support the company’s major back office business processes and help accelerate the adoption of the SAP S/4HANA suite of applications.

In addition to implementing the new SAP platform, IBM Services will provide talent and engagement resources to guide Cenovus through the digital change process, helping put in place training for the new systems and new ways of working to drive leadership and cultural change throughout the organization.

“Digital transformation and modernization are imperative to our business strategy,” said Charity Elder, ERP Program Director, Cenovus Energy.  “In working with IBM Services to implement SAP S/4HANA, we are looking forward to leveraging their accelerators and templates to drive alignment to best practice and process standardization, placing us in a better position with business capabilities, operational efficiency and technology.”

“As we enter the next chapter of digital reinvention, the oil and gas industry is primed for transformation, with companies turning to new platforms that will maximize the value of their assets, lower operating costs and continue to improve on their sustainable operations. By deploying a new, modern, end-to-end SAP S/4HANA-based platform, Cenovus seeks to unlock operational insights and innovate faster to better respond to market changes and growth opportunities” said Ross Manning, Vice President, Partner, Canadian Energy Industry, IBM. “By leveraging acceleration methods and automated, templatized tools, IBM Services can help Cenovus with their business transformation journey with SAP S/4HANA.”

The contract was signed in third quarter 2019.

IBM Launches Open Technology to Speed Response to Cyber Threats Across Clouds

Industry-first capability to hunt threats across security tools and clouds without moving data

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 20, 2019 — IBM today announced Cloud Pak for Security, featuring industry-first innovations to connect with any security tool, cloud or on-premise system, without moving data from its original source. Available today, the platform includes open-source technology for hunting threats, automation capabilities to help speed response to cyberattacks, and the ability to run in any environment.

Cloud Pak for Security is the first platform to leverage new open-source technology pioneered by IBM, which can search and translate security data from a variety of sources, bringing together critical security insights from across a company’s multicloud IT environment. The platform is extensible, so that additional tools and applications can be added over time.

As businesses move further into cloud maturity, applications and data are frequently spread across multiple private and public clouds and on-premise resources. Attempts to protect this fragmented IT environment often require security teams to undertake complex integrations and continuously switch between different screens and point products. In a recent SANS Institute report, sponsored by IBM Security, more than half of security teams surveyed said they struggle to integrate data with disparate security and analytic tools and combine that data across their cloud environments to spot advanced threats.

Three initial capabilities of Cloud Pak for Security include:

  • Run anywhere. Connect security openly – IBM Cloud Pak for Security installs easily in any environment – on premises, private cloud or public cloud. It is comprised of containerized software pre-integrated with the Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s most comprehensive enterprise Kubernetes platform. Through the OASIS Open Cybersecurity Alliance, IBM has also forged partnerships with dozens of companies to promote interoperability and help reduce vendor lock-in across the security community through co-developed open source technologies.
  • Gain security insights without moving data – Transferring data in order to analyze it creates additional complexity. IBM Cloud Pak for Security can connect data sources to uncover hidden threats and help make more-informed risk-based decisions, while leaving the data where it resides. Through the use of open standards and IBM innovations, clients can access IBM and third-party tools to search for threat indicators across any cloud or on-premise location. Via the Cloud Pak for Security’s Data Explorer application, security analysts can streamline their hunt for threats across security tools and clouds. Without this capability, security teams would have to manually search for the same threat indicators (such as a malware signature or malicious IP address) within each individual environment. Cloud Pak for Security is the first tool that allows this type of search without needing to move that data into the platform for analysis.
  • Respond to security incidents faster with automation – IBM Cloud Pak for Security connects security workflows with a unified interface to help teams respond faster to security incidents. According to IBM Security estimates, security teams have to manage an average of 200,000 potential security events per day, and coordinate responses across dozens of tools. IBM Cloud Pak for Security allows clients to orchestrate and automate their security response so they can prioritize their team’s time. The platform allows companies to orchestrate their response to hundreds of common security scenarios, guiding users through the process and providing quick access to security data and tools. IBM’s Security Orchestration, Automation and Response capability integrates with Red Hat Ansible for additional automation playbooks. By formalizing security processes and activities across the enterprise, companies can react quickly and efficiently, while arming themselves with information to help address regulatory requirements.

“As businesses move mission-critical workloads to hybrid multicloud environments, security data is spread across different tools, clouds and IT infrastructure. This can create gaps that allow threats to be missed, leading security teams to build and maintain costly, complex integrations and manual response plans,” said Mary O’Brien, General Manager, IBM Security. “With Cloud Pak for Security, we’re helping to lay the foundation for a more connected security ecosystem designed for the hybrid, multicloud world.

IBM collaborated with dozens of clients and service providers during the design process, developing a solution to address critical interoperability challenges that permeate the security industry. The Cloud Pak for Security includes connectors for pre-built integrations with popular security tools from IBM, Carbon Black, Tenable, Elastic, BigFix, Splunk, as well as public cloud providers including IBM Cloud, Amazon Web Services2 and Microsoft Azure2. The solution is built on open standards so that it can connect additional security tools and data from across a company’s infrastructure.

“Organizations have rapidly adopted new security technologies to keep up with the latest threats, but are now juggling dozens of disconnected tools which don’t always work well together,” said Jon Oltsik, Senior Principal Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “The industry needs to solve this issue for customers by shifting to more open technologies and unified platforms that can serve as the connective glue between security point tools. IBM’s approach aligns with this requirement and has the potential to bring together every layer of the security stack within a single, simplified interface.”

To further accelerate industry migration toward open security, IBM is also spearheading open-source projects to make security tools work together natively across the security ecosystem. As a founding member of the Open Cybersecurity Alliance, IBM and more than 20 other organizations are working together on open standards and open source technologies to help enable product interoperability and reduce vendor lock-in across the security community.

Designed for the Hybrid, Multicloud World
Seventy-six percent of organizations surveyed report they are already using between two and 15 hybrid clouds, and 98 percent forecast they will be using multiple hybrid clouds within three years.3 IBM’s Cloud Pak for Security is built on open source technologies that support companies’ cloud environments – including Red Hat OpenShift.

Creating Cloud Pak for Security on these open, flexible building blocks allows for easy “containerized” deployment across any cloud or on premise-environment. As companies continue adding new cloud deployments and migrations, Cloud Pak for Security can adapt and scale to these new environments – allowing clients to bring their sensitive and mission-critical workloads into the cloud while maintaining visibility and control from within a centralized security platform.

Cloud Pak for Security also provides a model to help Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP) efficiently operate at scale, connect security silos and streamline their security processes. Organizations can also hire IBM Security for a wide range of additional services, such as on-demand consulting, custom development and incident response.

IBM Launches Maximo Asset Monitor, Embeds AI Into Monitoring Solution to Expand Market-Leading Asset Management Capabilities

IBM works with Novate Solutions®, Inc. to Improve Performance of Critical Assets and Operations

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 6, 2019 — IBM today announced Maximo Asset Monitor, a new AI-powered monitoring solution designed to help maintenance and operations leaders better understand and improve the performance of their high-value physical assets. An extension of IBM’s market-leading IBM Maximo capabilities, this new solution will help unlock essential insights with AI-powered anomaly detection and provide enterprise-wide visibility into critical equipment performance. The result is faster problem identification that can inform better decisions and reduce downtime.

According to a 2016 report by analyst firm Aberdeen Research, unplanned downtime can cost a company as much as $260,000 an hour. A comprehensive view of asset performance across operations may help reduce downtime, but that visibility has been difficult to achieve due to fragmented legacy systems, data silos and geographic barriers. With Maximo Asset Monitor, organizations can now aggregate data from across the enterprise and combine it with advanced predictive analytics and AI to identify operational patterns. Capabilities like AI-powered anomaly detection can help organizations identify the most important alerts among the hundreds generated daily from critical assets. This can help teams respond quickly to the most critical anomalies and gain greater insights into root cause variables that lead to asset failure.

“As critical assets become more connected, intelligent and complex, the model for operating and maintaining them must evolve. Organizations must move faster to spot patterns and react to maintenance issues quickly, accurately and safely,” said Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D., general manager, IBM IoT. “With the launch of the new Maximo Asset Monitor solution, IBM is helping organizations better understand their data and automate workflows with preventative, predictive and prescriptive maintenance actions to help extend asset life and improve operations. According to IDC, monitoring performance and scheduling repairs with predictive maintenance can reduce maintenance costs by 15-20%, improve asset availability by 20%, and extend the lives of machines by years.“1

IBM is recognized by analyst firm IDC as a leader in Enterprise Asset Management applications.2 IBM Maximo is deployed across 99 countries, seven continents and used by many of the world’s largest organizations. IBM has a long history of working with organizations like Novate Solutions®, Inc. to help monitor and manage their assets and operational performance.

Novate Solutions leverages Maximo Asset Monitor to expand process control services
Novate Solutions is an industrial technology and engineering services firm in California that is collaborating with IBM to develop a new, scalable, remote monitoring and support service for industrial manufacturers. The application of IBM Maximo Asset Monitor enabled by AI and analytics leverages existing infrastructure collected from SCADA systems to detect anomalies to predict system failures. The analysis of data by engineering professionals at Novate’s Support Operations Center provides insights into the root cause of an anomaly and its process implications. These experts are able to identify events that may warrant immediate proactive intervention which enables maintenance and engineering support teams to take action before the control system is designed to react. The ultimate goal of Novate is to improve production reliability and reduce costly unplanned downtime.

“Our goal is to revolutionize how industrial manufacturers utilize data and technology to improve production metrics by providing a scalable service that virtually every manufacturer can afford. We are collaborating with IBM to enable this transformation by leveraging AI technology with IoT data and analytics,” said Rob Mora, executive vice president, Novate Solutions®, Inc. “The ability to recognize anomalies in real-time and proactively make changes to operations can have a tremendous impact on increasing plant reliability and driving continuous improvement for manufacturers of any size.”

Volvo Cars Joins Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network, Launched by IBM, Ford, and Volkswagen Group; Advancing Ethical Sourcing of Minerals Continues to Scale With This Network

Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network moves towards operationalization, with pilot succeeded in linking each phase of the supply chain from mine to OEM
RCS Global Group completes responsible sourcing assessments of each participating company
Volvo Cars to apply RSBN in LG Chem supply chain starting in spring 2020
Plans underway to expand from tracing cobalt into other key battery metals, tungsten, tantalum, tin and gold

BERLIN, Nov. 6, 2019 — The Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network (RSBN), a blockchain network committed to strengthening human rights and environmental protection in mineral supply chains, today announced that its digital supply chain for cobalt has moved beyond pilot phase and is progressing toward use in live production computing environments starting in spring 2020.

Built on the IBM Blockchain Platform and assured by RCS Global Group, RSBN will have continued participation from founding members including Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen Group, LG Chem and Huayou Cobalt.

Volvo Cars joins responsible sourcing leaders in the RSBN
Starting today, Volvo Cars will join the network as its newest member with further partners from the auto, tech and mining sectors expected to join this year.

RSBN and its pioneering participants are building an open, industrywide blockchain platform to trace responsibly produced minerals from source through to end product, with RCS Global assessing each participating entity against responsible sourcing requirements set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and industry bodies.

We are setting in motion a process of mainstreaming responsible sourcing practices across major industries,” said Dr. Nicholas Garrett, CEO of RCS Global Group. “We’ve reached significant new milestones as we’ve moved beyond testing, proving the merits of this coupled technology and assurance model can extend to a wide range of participants across every tier of the supply chain and to other minerals. The early addition of Volkswagen Group and now Volvo Cars to this collaboration confirms that blockchain technology together with responsible sourcing assurance can help address critical sustainability issues impacting the entire industry,” he adds.

Volvo Cars eyes practical implementation starting in spring 2020
Volvo Cars will be the first company in the consortium to fully apply the RSBN solution in its LG Chem supply chain beginning in spring 2020.  The automaker also plans to apply RSBN to other key minerals found in its batteries, including nickel and lithium in the future.

Volkswagen AG has been working with relevant battery suppliers to address the need for supply chain due diligence and is now aiming to significantly increase its supply chain mapping and auditing activities for key battery mineral supply chains.

Through the RSBN, and other initiatives, Volkswagen AG is utilizing technology toward securing better supply chain traceability and transparency and to connect this information with the sustainability performance of supply chain partners.

Ford states that as they are preparing to launch their global all-electric Mustang-inspired SUV next year, the RSBN becomes an important tool to strengthen transparency and visibility into its global mineral supply chain. Expanding this network beyond cobalt to other battery minerals will compound the RBSN’s positive impact on human rights protection and labor practices.

Achievements of pilot test phase
In initial testing, the RSBN blockchain demonstrated how cobalt produced at Huayou’s industrial mine site in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could be traced through the supply chain to LG Chem’s cathode and battery plant in South Korea, and then to its final destination, a Ford plant in the United States.

An immutable audit trail captured on the platform delivered corresponding data providing documentation for the initial ethical cobalt production, its maintenance and its ethical provenance from mine to end manufacturer.

RCS Global Group builds on its supply chain mapping and auditing activities for global OEMs and key battery mineral supply chains and has successfully assessed and validated each supply chain participant against responsible sourcing standards developed by the OECD, as well as the good practice requirements of relevant industry organizations like the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) Blockchain Guidelines.

Expansion to other minerals
Next to expansion into other battery metals, including lithium and nickel, the platform is also actively working to progress the solution to support tracing other common metals including tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold, also known as 3TG. Further announcements will be made over the initial pilot consortiums in the additional raw materials.

Statements regarding future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.