IBM launches smart water tools with three utilities
IBM has become one of the first computing companies to adapt its software for smarter water management — an area of development that has been overlooked with so much attention fixed on the smart electrical grid (an area that IBM has also aggressively pursued). Now it’s landed deals with three utilities.
To prevent water waste and contamination, IBM is offering specifically-designed sensors for utilities to install at different points in their water distribution systems. The Power… Continue Reading
IBM upgrades its e-commerce software with mobile support
IBM is entering the burgeoning mobile commerce market today with the latest version of Websphere Commerce, its technology for creating online stores. Version 7’s big addition (at least according to IBM’s press material) is the ability to create a version of your web store that’s tailored for smartphones like the iPhone and BlackBerry.
Mobile stores created using Webshere are supposed to be full-featured stores that include some mobile-specific features. Customers can compare different products side-by-side, see… Continue Reading
IBM tries to make government IT more open, especially for startups
It has become a cliche that government technology tends to be stodgy and out-of-date — President Barack Obama’s chief technology officer has even complained about the software in the White House. IBM said today that it wants to make things better, with a new software platform called the Government Industry Framework.
Specifically, IBM wants to make it easier for technology from different government agencies to work together, and with applications built by outside companies. The framework… Continue Reading
Trilliant firms up European perch with British Gas deal
Trilliant, one of the most buzzed about names in the emerging Smart Grid space, has firmed up its toehold in Europe, announcing a new contract with British Gas, one of the most formidable utilities in the world. The power company, now owned by Centrica, will be deploying Trilliant’s software, called UnitySuite, to allow its smart electrical and gas meters communicate seamlessly with the utility, home energy displays, appliances like thermostats, and any other energy management… Continue Reading
IBM: Skip Windows 7, use IBM Client for Smart Work
Two days before Microsoft launches its latest operating system, Windows 7, IBM is trying to poach a few customers by launching a cheaper, Linux-based alternative.
IBM Client for Smart Work mixes open source productivity software with online tools and Canonical’s Ubuntu operating system. It was developed for sale in Africa and other emerging markets, but it seemed like there was an audience in the United States, too, IBM says.
It sounds like IBM’s challenge to Windows 7… Continue Reading
Moving toward a Smart Grid for water
This post is sponsored by IBM’s A Smarter Planet blog.
Much emphasis is being placed on the development of smarter electrical grids. But, in the U.S., little attention has been paid to equally antiquated water systems, which have a major impact on public health. In coming months and years, it would behoove the government and corporations alike to support the creation of a smarter fresh-water grid.
Environmental changes and urban planning are stretching water supplies in the… Continue Reading
Five O’Clock Roundup: Mossberg blesses Windows 7, DOJ curses IBM, Miley Cyrus dumps Twitter
Barnes & Noble plans its own doomed e-reader to compete with other doomed e-readers — Sources have told the Wall Street Journal that Barnes & Noble’s doomed device will feature a six-inch screen made by E-Ink, who would really rather be making screens for Apple’s tablet computer, which will bury Barnes & Noble’s devices in a private ceremony unattended by buyers.
Walt Mossberg: “A Windows to Help You Forget” — The Sage of Potomac published his… Continue Reading
Justice Department investigating IBM for antitrust violations in mainframes
The Justice Department has started an investigation into whether IBM broke antitrust laws by abusing its monopoly power in the mainframe computer market.
Lawyers for the federal agency have sent queries related to antitrust matters to IBM and its rivals in recent weeks, the New York Times reported.
The new antitrust case is one more example that shows the Obama administration will strongly enforce antitrust laws, in sharp contrast to the Bush administration. Other cases are focused… Continue Reading
IBM quietly launches email service LotusLive iNotes
It looks IBM is challenging web-based email application like Gmail with a new product called iNotes, product of its LotusLive suite of online collaboration software.
The iNotes website describes the product as “the best of both worlds,” saying it combines the simplicity of webmail with the robustness and flexibility of desktop email programs. You can access iNotes directly in your browser, or pull the emails into other applications using POP3 and IMAP technology, and onto mobile… Continue Reading
Trilliant, ABB partner to make Smart Grid technologies interoperable
Trilliant, provider of communications infrastructure used to beam energy consumption data between so-called smart meters, utilities and their customers, announced today that it is partnering with automation company ABB to make sure their technologies can talk to one another. This type of interoperability is one of the major issues impacting how and how fast the Smart Grid — a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid — takes hold in the U.S.
It seem to be all the… Continue Reading
IBM launches software to standardize, accelerate smart grid startups
As large companies like Intel, Cisco and AT&T eye participation in the new, emerging Smart Grid, IBM has jumped in with both feet — providing software that greases the wheels of grid development and pouring $2 billion into startups and utilities building out a cleaner, more efficient grid. Today, it expanded its presence even more with the launch of its Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework (SAFE) for startups, a software package intended to… Continue Reading
Trilliant, IBM join forces to help utilities smart up their grids
Trilliant, provider of radio transmission devices and networks that allow smart meters to wirelessly beam energy consumption data between utilities and their customers, has become the newest of IBM’s partners in its smart grid efforts.
Trilliant will be integrating its software, called UnitySuite, with two of IBM’s software products, WebSphere and Tivoli. The result should help utilities scale their smart meter rollouts much faster and more securely, Trilliant says. The deal gives IBM rights to a… Continue Reading
Google Calendar tests out new features in Labs
Just because Google recently (and finally) moved applications like Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar out of beta testing doesn’t mean the company has lost its love for experimental new features. In fact, it’s taking the Labs concept, which it popularized in Gmail (and uses elsewhere too) into Google Calendar.
Google Calendar Labs is starting out with six features that users can add: Next Meeting, which shows how much time is left before your next meeting;… Continue Reading
IBM to bring cloud computing (whatever that means) to big business
IBM just announced that it’s preparing a range of new services that it says will make cloud computing palatable to large corporations that largely remain leery of letting their applications and data reside on someone else’s infrastructure. And like all the other big companies who have moved into this market — Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Sun — IBM seems to have its own specific definition of the cloud and of the kind of cloud services it… Continue Reading
Zula launches science-focused kids virtual world
Hoping to add an Internet dimension to its growing kids business, Zula USA has launched a successful kids science education TV show in the past three years and is now diving into the vitual world market.
The Burbank, Calif.-based company quietly launched its ZulaWorld virtual world for kids on June 1 and just filled me in on the details of its new offering. It has about 1,000 members so far, and it’s all in the name of… Continue Reading
IBM launches social network for partners
IBM is becoming a lot more social. The company launched a social network for its software developers in April. And today it’s launching a social network for its various partners to help bring technology to market faster and close sales more efficiently.
The company is essentially integrating social networking and community fabric into its sales process.
The new community lets companies gain instant access to IBM’s subject matter experts in support of sales. Partners can personalize their… Continue Reading
Virtual events draw a live in-person crowd
Yes, these people in the picture are real. What’s weird is they’re attending a conference about virtual events. You know, the kind they have only in cyberspace where you pretend you’re at a live event.
As surreal as it sounds, the fledgling virtual events industry gathered today at a first-of-its-kind Virtual Edge event at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif. While other conferences have been pummeled by the recession, there were 500 people… Continue Reading
Roundup: 18 Android phones coming this year, MySpace hoping for innovation, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Google: Expect 18 Android phones by the end of the year — That number could be as high as 20, says Andy Rubin, senior director for mobile platforms.
News Corp. and MySpace execs say MySpace needs to innovate — During an interview at the All Things Digital conference (owned by News Corp., incidentally), MySpace chief executive Owen Van Natta also discussed concerns that the site might lose its lucrative search deal with Google, saying the… Continue Reading
IBM says now is the time to invest in innovation in Vietnam
IBM is announcing today that it’s stepping up its investment in Vietnam as part of a bid to improve the country’s innovation and grab a foothold in an emerging territory for technology consumption.
That’s a big step for a country that a generation ago was shattered by war and that developed slowly under communist rule for many years. The U.S. lifted a trade embargo during the Clinton administration, and Intel decided to invest $1 billion in… Continue Reading
IBM pours $2B into smart grid as other big names reach for a piece of the pie
IBM’s lending and leasing branch, IBM Global financing has committed $2 billion to fund startups and utilities working on smart-grid and green technology projects. With this investment, it leaps to the front of a crowd of major corporations like Intel, AT&T, General Electric and others looking to get in on smart grid while the getting’s good.
IBM says the move is an attempt to give an additional boost to companies that will also qualify for some… Continue Reading