Cloud Computing: IBM’s purchase of The Weather Company’s digital assets is all about the data
October 29, 2015
Grazed from Mashable. Author: Andrew Freedman.
At first glance, IBM’s purchase all the digital assets of The Weather Company, except the broadcast network, might seem an odd fit. Why would a company best known for its consulting business, "Smart Cities" Initiative and Watson computing division want to absorb a company filled with weather and climate geeks? Clearly, it’s for the data.
Specifically, the company’s computer models that analyze three billion weather forecast reference points, more than 40 million smartphones and 50,000 airplane flights per day. IBM is hoping that weather and climate data will enable the company to expand its suite of predictive tools marketed to sectors ranging from retailers, which need to decide what to stock on their shelves, to local governments that have to determine whether to evacuate citizens ahead of a hurricane…
The deal to buy The Weather Company for an undisclosed sum, announced on Wednesday, would yield a big weather data behemoth unrivaled by any other entity besides perhaps the federal government…
Read more from the source @ http://mashable.com/2015/10/28/ibm-weather-company/#HhwNJ3TJPOq3