IBM to plough $3bn into IoT over next four years

Big Blue to build open platform for partners and clients to develop IoT solutions

IBM has announced today it will invest $3bn (£2.03bn) over the next four years to create a new Internet of Things (IoT) unit.

Big Blue added it will build a cloud-based platform that will help partners and clients build IoT solutions.

Bob Picciano, senior vice president of IBM Analytics, said: "Our knowledge of the world grows with every connected sensor and device, but too often we are not acting on it, even when we know we can ensure a better result.

"IBM will enable clients and industry partners apply IoT data to build solutions based on an open platform. This is a major focus of investment for IBM because it's a rich and broad-based opportunity where innovation matters."

IBM said its IoT strategy is split into three steps: IoT Cloud Open Platform for Industries, which will give analytics services to clients and partners so they can provide vertical-industry IoT solutions; IBM Bluemix IoT Zonem, which will help developers integrate IoT data into cloud-based development and deployment of IoT apps; and IBM IoT Ecosystem, which will expand IBM's ecosystem of IoT partners which range from solution providers to device manufacturers.

In November Gartner estimated that by the end of 2015 there will be 4.9 billion connected "things" up and running and by 2020, the number of connected devices will reach 25 billion.

News of IBM's intention to invest heavily in IoT comes as it announced last month that it is going to invest $1bn in software-defined storage technology over the coming years.