RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – How many times have you seen TV and web ads touting IBM’s drive into the cloud, hybrid style? The hype continued Tuesday with Big Blue unveiling a host of initiatives.

“We will look back on this year and last as the moment the world entered the digital century in full force,” said IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna. “In the same way that we electrified factories and machines in the past century, we will use hybrid cloud to infuse AI into software and systems in the 21st century. And one thing is certain: this is a future that must be built on a foundation of deep industry collaboration. No one understands this better than IBM, which is one of the reasons we are boosting investment in our partner ecosystem.

“Also at Think 2021, we are unveiling our latest hybrid cloud and AI innovations – the very technologies that serve as the building blocks of a new IT architecture for business.”

IBM unveiled a new tool called “Watson Orchestrate.” Watson is IBM’s AI engine. Orchestrate “uses artificial intelligence to select and sequence the prepackaged skills needed to perform a task across sales, human resources, or operations functions,” explained Bloomberg news. “It will be compatible with Slack Technologies Inc. and email as well as connect to business applications like Salesforce.com Inc., SAP SE and Workday Inc.”

The news came from the annual IBM Think Conference.

IBM’s $34 billion purchase of Raleigh-based Red Hat was all about cloud market potential and a trillion dollar target in revenue.

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IBM continues to ramp up cloud efforts with the hybrid mix of private and public clouds for customers taking priority. But artificial intelligence is a priority as well.

Yes, IBM stressed it is “all in.”

“A new IBM study on the adoption of AI for business reveals that the imperative to embed AI into business processes became more urgent during the pandemic. Of IT professionals surveyed, 43 percent said that their companies had accelerated their rollout of AI,” IBM declared.

“And nearly half of global IT professionals surveyed said they evaluate AI providers in large part on their ability to automate processes. That is why IBM has invested heavily in building rich and powerful AI capabilities for business.”

Read more about Think and IBM’s announcements online. 

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