IBM unveils location-based business finder
619832
(InfoWorld) - IBM's India Research Lab has developed a location-based service for mobile phone users that helps mobile users to connect with both fixed and mobile businesses in their vicinity. When deployed by mobile phone service providers, the business finder technology allows a consumer to find and use the nearest, most highly rated and available service vendors like plumbers, electricians, carpenters or doctors, a spokesman for IBM India Research said Tuesday. The technology has already gone through pilot trials with some mobile service providers, the spokesman said. IBM is currently in talks with service providers for the commercial deployment of the technology, he added. "As a research organization, we are not directly involved in the commercialization of the technology," he said. The business finder technology combines geographic information system (GIS) applications and data analysis with mobile telephone networks to provide information to a consumer who is looking for a specific nearby service, IBM said. Â  The technology stands out from others in its ability to connect to mobile businesses and vendors that may be in the vicinity when a service is required, the spokesman said. The ability to rate vendors and businesses on a number of parameters including reputation is an added benefit, he added. It combines various attributes including location, reputation, dynamic workload and feedback from consumers to match consumers with the closest available vendors. The underlying technology allows telecommunications service providers to track and update data sources including mobility, presence and reputation of service vendors, IBM added.Â  The business finder technology has a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and is based on IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem) telecommunications standards. The technology could be hosted by a network operator or deployed as a third-party service to different operators. IBM India Research Lab has operations in Delhi and Bangalore. Some of the research of the lab is in the area of bridging the digital divide and e-governance projects. It is for example working on the National Health Data Network (NHDN), a project with the Indian government to establish standards-driven, secure and cost-sensitive infrastructure to coordinate health care information.
246596
Masala, an add-on to IBM's DB2 database, queries far-flung info sources on company networks.
433850
RFID work done at an IBM chip factory becomes the basis for a new line of consulting services. By Laurie Sullivan. IBM is introducing a line of radio-frequency identification services for midmarket companies
19726
(InfoWorld) - Hitachi this week updated its AirLocation II system, which uses WLAN (wireless LAN) technology to track goods and employees, with the introduction of a smaller tag. Unveiled in July, the AirLocation II system is comprised of access points and battery-powered tags. The system determines the location of tags by comparing the strength of their signals as received by different access points, as well as the differences in time between when these signals are received. In this way, the AirLocation II system can identify the location of a tag within 1 meter to 3 meters of its actual position, Hitachi said. The system has a range of up to 50 meters when used indoors, and up to 200 meters outside, the company said. The latest addition to WLAN tracking system is the AirLocation II Tag-w, which is smaller and slightly thicker than its predecessor, the AirLocation II Tag. The new tags, unveiled at this week's Ceatec exhibition in Chiba, Japan, cost Â¥25,000 ($212) each. AirLocation II is designed for schools, hospitals, and logistics centers, said Katsuyoshi Iida, a project engineer at Hitachi. The system can be used to track the location of teachers inside schools, as well as to track doctors and medicines inside a hospital, he said. The system can also track the location of laptops and other devices that have WLAN support, Iida said. The basic AirLocation II package includes four access points and up to six tags. The cost of this package, including engineering fees and software, starts at Â¥3.75 million. The system is only available in Japan.
568904
The Mountain View, Calif. search company is debuting new functionality that will allow users to drill down to localized news.
318052
The company seems to be focused on developing a solution that would enable users to access complete directions and maps using a portable device.
377516
By Brian Bergstein  IBM Corp. and Yahoo Inc. are teaming up to offer a free data- search tool for businesses, a quirky move challenging Google Inc. and other corporate-search specialists in a blossoming market.
412461
JetBlue will use Google Maps to allow customers to track the routes of their flights in real time on the plane's seatback televisions.
190514
IBM used RFID technology to track the movements of attendees at its Information on Demand conference in Las Vegas.
655493
New 'Places' feature added to alpha release set for next week.
347240
A Boston company that builds location-based services for cellphones is lowering the bar for entrepreneurs to launch mobile widgets in the wireless world, whether it's NearBio, a mobile application that finds the closest biodiesel pumps, or Everytrail, a GPS widget that maps hikes and rides.
199873
The Redmond, Washington-based software allows the user to quickly locate files on personal computers -- just like Google&#39;s two-month-old rival product.
393562
TechWeb - IBM unveils its solution for company's looking for technology to deal with the &quot;data tsunami&quot; from sensors and radio frequency identification tags.
659874
MARKHAM, Ont., Sept. 16 - IBM Canada has announced a suite of services to speed the benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems to industrial companies and mid-market businesses.
739519
IBM's global services organization is adding "health check" services to its repertoire of technical services for SOA deployments, looking to assist users dealing with issues resulting from poor planning or partnerships with inexperienced or so-called proprietary IT vendors.The company also is offering its "identity-aware ESB," which is an enterprise service bus that combines existing IBM products to provide identity management capabilities.Health-check services and software will be offered in two workshops to be held at customer sites, featuring specialized diagnostics and triage capabilities to help identify potentially unhealthy areas and recommend cures for problem areas."We try to bring a real breadth of capability from the best practices that we've learned into these workshops," said Marie Wieck, vice president of middleware services at IBM.With some clients, IBM has had to perform somewhat of a rescue mission after clients have done an initial application and then had problems with scalability or performance, Wieck said.Workshops, which are priced in the $50,000 range or less, include IBM SOA Applications and Services and Healthcheck Workshop and Infrastructure Healthcheck Workshop for SOA. Both are 2.5-day engagements intended for midmarket and large enterprises.The applications and services workshop is intended to provide assurance that an SOA can expand beyond pilot projects. Factors such as application reuse and service use will be assessed, as will identification of rogue services as part of a governance policy. Security also will be checked for service controls and identity management.The infrastructure workshop features an assessment of infrastructure supporting applications and services layers in an SOA. Elements examined include infrastructure flexibility, the ability to adapt to spikes in demand, and verifying SOA configurations for connectivity. A service management review ensures that services are being monitored.IBM's identity-aware ESB combines WebSphere ESB products with Tivoli security and identity management software to help ensure that access to information, services, and applications is protected. Auditing of identity and access activity is enabled."Identity management is very critical so that you can ensure that only the right people get access to these services," Wieck said.An analyst briefed on IBM's efforts lauded both the SOA and ESB programs."Customers who have started with a SOA need checkpoints to have an outside source assess what they are doing and how it compares to best practices," said Judith Hurwitz, president of Hurwitz &amp; Associates. "Companies are investing a lot of money, resources, and political capital on SOA, and management wants to make sure they are on track and doing the right thing."Governance is a huge issue for customers in regards to SOA implementation. This is especially true since SOA is as much a business strategy as it is a technology strategy," Hurwitz said."In terms of ID-aware ESB ? clearly security and identity management are huge issues for companies because of governance issues related to security," she said.IBM offers information about its SOA programs at its Web site.Also on Monday, IBM is announcing an initiative to help business partners increase revenues and better serve customers. Grow Your Business (GYB) with IBM Software provides cross-brand sales scenarios across the IBM software group's product portfolio.The GYB tool recommends scenarios that utilize business partners' existing areas of expertise. Partners through the initiative can analyze software products, get descriptions of business value, and determine return on investment via an online tool. Information is aggregated into one place.An online guide to marketing and sales materials also is highlighted.
204568
IBM has unveiled a new data warehousing strategy, dubbed dynamic warehousing, along with a new data analysis tool and configurations of its warehousing appliance for small and mid-size businesses.
124633
Slovenian retail group Mercator has successfully implemented IBM (NYSE: IBM) Self Checkout solutions in its Celje store to improve in-store traffic flows, speed checkout and increase customer service and loyalty, IBM announced. This is the first implementation of this kind in South East Europe.