IBM expands its portfolio with new big data services to its cloud

Recently, IBM announced that it was expanding the big data services available on its cloud platform, Bluemix. More than 25 services will now be available on the platform, including four newly-announced products, with the goal of helping “developers and data scientists build and move data into the cloud.”

BM already has a few tools available for processes such as data preparation and modeling but, as part of Thursday’s announcement, they introduced the following four cloud data services.

• IBM Compose Enterprise is a platform to help developers build web applications more efficiently by leveraging open source databases on dedicated cloud servers.
• IBM Graph is a graph database service, built on Apache TinkerPop, an open source graph technology stack. Developers using IBM Graph can add features like IoT capabilities, network analysis, and more to existing apps
• IBM Predictive Analytics: This service allows developers to add machine learning capabilities to their apps, without needing a data scientist to do so. The machine learning models are available through a library that developers can access.
• IBM Analytics Exchange: Developers get access to a public catalog of datasets that they can integrate into their applications, or use for another instance of data analysis.

Adam Kocoloski, CTO of the IBM analytics platform and cloud data services, said that whether your company is an enterprise giant or a brand new startup, embracing data is unavoidable. But, that’s always easier said than done.

“Even preparing massive and varied forms of data so they’re usable or leveraging the right tools to discover insights and act on them can be very difficult for businesses,” Kocoloski said. “The companies that find a way to enable collaboration using an integrated set of data tools and technologies on a single platform are the ones who will get data-driven strategies to market faster and realize significant advantages.” These hybrid cloud services are based on open source technologies and are meant to be deployed across multiple cloud providers. Kocoloski said that was intentional on IBM’s part, as they have noticed an increase in businesses wanting open source technologies with a cloud delivery model for the flexibility it brings.