IBM Launches Global Bootcamps to Help Companies Tackle Big Data Challenges

IBM today launched a global skills initiative to educate customers, business partners and college students how to use IBM business analytics and information management software, and many of the underlying technologies of the Watson computing system to capture information from new sources and use it to create business opportunities.

The growing volume

Businesses today are looking for disruptive technologies like Watson to help them capitalize on the growing volume, variety and velocity of information known as "Big Data." This includes the massive amount of public information available on the Web, information generated by sensors, mobile devices, social networks, cloud computing and public sources of information not integrated into a company's existing information management platform.

More organizations are moving to IBM Software in support of Big Data growth initiatives. In 2010, more than 1,000 Oracle Database clients chose DB2 instead. Customers are moving to IBM Software to tackle Big Data challenges, reduce the cost of managing data and shift IT resources to growth investments. Together, IBM has invested more than $14 billion in analytics acquisitions, has assembled 8,000 analytics consultants with industry expertise and opened a network of analytics centers of excellence around the world.  

Marist College based in Poughkeepsie, New York, is a recognized leader in equipping its students with green research skills, and in turn helping future employers find new ways to reduce their carbon footprint. According to Roger Norton, Dean of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Watson demonstrated a new standard for an energy efficient computing system that today's companies can use to become more green.  Big Data presents a new challenge for industry and academia to rethink the way they see IT. Marist is expanding on its initiatives working with IBM to offer more courses in DB2, BigInsights and analytics software to improve the utilization of data centers and analyze untapped data generated from sources just as Facebook and sensors.

MGM College of Engineering & Innovation, pursuant to this agreement MGM Group based in Maharashtra, India, recognizes all companies face the growing amounts of data and the challenge to quickly turn that into a competitive advantage.  MGM recently launched on-campus workshops on DB2 for their engineering students and faculty. Currently, more than 600 students and faculty members are certified and trained on the latest DB2 features and other IBM technologies.  Actually, MGM recently migrated its research lab from Oracle Database to DB2.

"IBM is bringing real world industry experience to students to keep them in touch with emerging technologies and IT trends just as Big Data," said Professor Nareshkumar Harale, Head of Computer Engineering,  MGM College of Engineering & Research. "When universities and businesses collaborate, they build the then generation of skilled information innovation leaders to create new opportunities, fuel economic growth and solve challenges that can improve the way we live."

IBM Business Partner Perficient has played a key role in working with IBM to develop the content of IBM's Skills Bootcamps. According to Managing Director Matt Castle, customers are looking to their IT teams to tackle Big Data challenges.  IBM's investment in helping IT professionals learn new skills helps customers bridge the two worlds of Internet-scale data and data generated within an organization to create a single view of all that information. For instance, businesses are looking to social media to get a better understanding of consumer preferences. Together, all that data generated on the whole needs to be stored, cleansed and analyzed in a data warehouse.  

"Companies are amassing up to petabytes of information while peak hours of operations, and they see an possibility to use this data to gain new insights into their clients and get ahead of the competition," said Arvind Krishna, general manager of IBM Information Management. "Uncovering insights hidden among data in existing IT systems, and outside of the firewall in social networks, on clouds and from mobile devices, requires today's IT professionals to possess new skills. As a result, we expect to see more companies move from Oracle to IBM software to capitalize on Big Data opportunities, and shift the economics from wasteful IT spending to growth investments. Our goal this year is to help 10,000 Oracle Database professionals expand their skills with IBM Software to more rapidly achieve their business goals."