VerizonはIoTにIBMのエンタープライズレガシーを織り込みます

企業とのIBMの根強いレガシーと、ほぼ事業者の創業にさかのぼるVerizonの歴史は、企業がVerizonのネットワークで新しいビジネスサービスを提供することを求める新しい取り決めで明らかです。IBM’s deep-rooted legacy with enterprises and a history with Verizon that almost dates back to the operator’s founding are clear in a new arrangement that calls for the companies to deliver new business services on Verizon’s network. IBM and Verizon Business today began selling IoT services to enterprises, including asset tracking equipped by IBM’s Maximo monitoring tool, analytics services, and the Watson artificial intelligence (AI) platform. Those services are commercially available today on Verizon’s ThingSpace IoT Platform and the companies plan to follow up with additional applications for industrial environments that might benefit from Verizon’s 5G network and multi-access edge computing platform. For now, however, Sampath Sowmyanarayan, president of global enterprise at Verizon, explained “this particular partnership is bringing our best in IoT, whether it’s 4G, whether it’s 5G, and marrying it with IBM’s Maximo platform,” which he described as a global leader in enterprise asset management.  “Earlier, to do a project of this level of complexity would have required a significant amount of system integration work. Right now, it’s literally plug and play. You put the device out, it automatically provisions on our network, it starts picking data out that IBM captures in its Maximo platform and it’s good to go,” he told SDxCentral in a phone interview. Verizon and IBM are initially focusing on billions of devices that could be equipped with sensors, such as utility meters, water pumps, and oil and gas rigs. Over the next couple of years the companies will explore 5G use cases for massive IoT applications like factory robotics, Sowmyanarayan said.  That’s where mobile edge computing capabilities will come into play, but Verizon and IBM are pursuing this as a cloud-agnostic offering, he explained. “Over a period of time, IBM will work with us on our edge as well, and then we’ll integrate with our [multi-access edge compute platform] with that. But right now, this is a solution that works on the regular IBM hybrid cloud.” Enterprises interested in Verizon and IBM’s collaborative service will need to establish, or already have, relationships with both companies. Verizon’s new enterprise IoT deal with IBM is the second cloud-centric arrangement it’s announced this week. The operator tapped Google Cloud to pilot AI-driven services for customer service, but hasn’t yet committed to releasing the service commercially. The operator’s cloud deals with IBM and Google, however, are significantly more narrow than its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which marries Verizon’s 5G network with the No. 1 cloud hyperscaler’s Wavelength edge compute service to create Verizon Edge. AWS and Verizon have a “special relationship” that revolves around the combination of the cloud provider’s “crown jewels,” the AWS Wavelength service, with Verizon’s 5G network, Sowmyanarayan said. “The combination of bringing network IP and edge creates something that you cannot replicate with any amount of money unless you have those assets.” Verizon will explore an expansion of edge computing features with other cloud providers, but AWS remains the operator’s preferred and exclusive mobile edge computing partner, he said.  “This is a first step in our partnership with IBM around this space,” Sowmyanarayan said. “As we deploy more and more 5G, we will get more integrations with the [multi-access edge compute] on them. This is step one of many.”