IBM Strengthens Presence in Expanding Mobile Business Market

IBM opened a new software development laboratory, today, that will help them expand into the mobile business market.  IBM already has a strong presence in the mobile market, as the world’s top 20 communications service providers use IBM technology to run their applications.  According to IBM’s statistics, about 80% of smartphone software has been developed with IBM technology.  Despite this, they hope to have an even stronger presence in the mobile market with new innovative technology and comprehensive research.

IBM opened their new Mass Lab in Littleton, Massachusetts.  IBM has 70 labs in total around the world, but this will be IBM’s largest facility in North America. It will house approximately 3,400 employees.

With this new lab, IBM is hoping to help manage and bring intelligence to the mobile market to respond to the sharp increase in mobile data, mobile transaction spending, and mobile users.  IBM also announced that they are working on a new project where they will help mobile operators move toward using the 4G wireless network.  They want to help wireless operators manage traffic on their networks, which are being overwhelmed by the millions of wireless users. Essentially, IBM wants to become the behind-the-scenes provider of the mobile market to respond to the growing economy of mobile services.

More specifically, IBM hopes to develop new analytics software to help manage remote cell sites and towers in order to identify problems and fix them before outages occur.  IBM also wants to create new software that bridges voice and Web communications to accelerate business operations.  They also hope to develop a new email prototype, entitled Mail Triage, to help mobile devices determine which emails need immediate action and which can be handled later.  In addition, IBM announced a new project where they will extend their collaboration software for the Android operating system to Lotus Notes clients.

IBM is even hoping to break into the healthcare, finance, and retail industries through mobile computing.  They are trying to figure how a patient’s vital signs can be transmitted from a mobile device to a hospital or other location to prevent life threatening incidents, such as heart attacks.  They want to create sensor technology for mobile devices so that even routine healthcare visits can be performed through phones.  In retail, IBM is finding out ways that vendors can receive data and better understand their customers.  In finance, IBM is exploring new types of payment systems that will work with mobile devices.

Overall, IBM is expanding their behind-the-scenes presence in the mobile market.  They are making great strides and hope to use their research and innovative software to expand the possibilities for mobile providers and users.