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ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 8, 2021 — IBM today unveiled the IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Center, a digital front door to a vast array of tools, training, resources and ecosystem partners to help IBM Z clients accelerate the modernization of their applications, data and processes in an open hybrid cloud architecture.

In the IBM Institute for Business Value study, “Application Modernization on the Mainframe,” 71 percent of executives say mainframe-based applications are central to their business strategy. Four out of five respondents say their organizations need to rapidly transform to keep up with competition, which includes modernizing mainframe-based apps and adopting a more open approach. The report confirmed that executives view modernizing mainframe-based applications—and connecting them with new applications through a hybrid cloud environment—as crucial to driving a holistic digital transformation strategy across the mainframe and cloud.  They are seamlessly intertwined in delivering cutting-edge enterprise-wide agility and capability. And together they help secure operations, reduce latency, and drive legacy processes to a higher levels of business agility.

According to a recent IBM Institute for Business Value survey, “The hybrid cloud platform advantage,” the value derived from a full hybrid, multicloud platform technology and operating model at scale is 2.5 times the value derived from a single-platform, single-cloud vendor approach. Further, an IBM hybrid cloud transformation that integrates IBM Z can extend up to 5x the value of a public cloud only approach¹. A Hurwitz and Associates whitepaper sponsored by IBM confirms this additional value is derived by: business acceleration, developer productivity, infrastructure cost efficiency, regulatory, compliance and security and deployment flexibility².

Today, many IBM Z clients are running on modern infrastructure. However, to truly leverage the benefits of hybrid cloud, organizations must continue to modernize their applications and data. With the IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Center, clients can gain insights on maintaining their current IT estate, while focusing on the design and execution of a strategy for their core applications and data running on IBM Z to prepare for hybrid cloud. Leveraging decades of experience resident in IBM Consulting and IBM’s key ecosystem partners, this includes a detailed assessment of the client’s IT and business objectives, modernization of existing apps and data to extend them to the cloud, including IBM Cloud and third-party hyperscalers, and developing new cloud native apps and integrating them with existing apps and data already on IBM Z.

“The world class reliability and security of IBM’s Z solutions have contributed significantly to the mainframe’s remarkable longevity and business value for enterprise customers,” said Charles King, PUND-IT. “However, another crucial feature—adaptability—is just as important. For well over two decades, IBM has ensured that Z mainframes addressed vital requirements in both existing and emerging applications and use cases, including Linux, open systems and hybrid cloud. With the new IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Center, IBM and its partners are providing customers the tools, resources and training they need to successfully modernize and transform mainframe-based applications, data and processes in hybrid cloud environments, and thus maximize their IBM Z investments.”

As part of the IBM Z Cloud and Modernization Center, clients can access a digital journey showcasing comprehensive resources and guidance for business professionals, IT executives and developers alike. The main zones of the center include:

• Domain-specific IBM expertise, including IBM Consulting assets, expertise and methodologies, co-creation with clients via IBM Consulting methodologies, demos, trials, minimum viable product (MVPs), workshops and other point services designed to help accelerate the digital transformation journey. Accelerators include IBM Consulting Garage, reference architectures and patterns, sample modernization journeys and other technical solutions.
• A strategic ecosystem of leading global services and technology partners, including:
  • Services: Systems integrators with offerings and competencies including in-place modernization. Partners today include Capgemini and Deloitte Consulting LLP, with more expected to be announced in the coming months.
  • Technology partners: Software vendors and managed service partners including: Episode Six; Fiorano Software; Fujitsu Limited; HEXANIKA; Illumio; Luxoft, a DXC Technology Company; MuleSoft; Pennant Technologies; Software AG; Suntec Business Solutions; and Zafin.
• Additional resources such as links to a learning hub to enable architects and developers on application modernization techniques, a reference center with client use cases, analyst papers and other materials designed to help educate and empower.

“Until now, global businesses that run on IBM Z have had limited choices for a one-stop shop for information and steps to take toward modernization. Coupled with confusing narratives by vendors in the marketplace and accounts of failed migrations, finding a resource IT leaders can turn to can be a challenge,” said Meredith Stowell, VP, IBM Z Ecosystem.  “The reality is that the future is hybrid, where IBM Z and Cloud are better together. While lift and shift migration may seem like an attractive choice for modernization, in many cases it can be a one-way street and lock-in to one public cloud which may have implications on cost, governance and security. IBM deeply understands the IBM Z environment, cloud ecosystem and the industries that rely on us, and we’ve brought together all the elements needed to help our clients adopt hybrid cloud in one place.”

From the world’s top finance and banking institutions to retailers, airlines and other industries, 67 of the Fortune 100 rely on IBM Z today. Many of these enterprises and hundreds more are modernizing on IBM Z as an integral part of their hybrid cloud strategies. For more information please visit ibm.biz/zandcloud.

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 16, 2021 — IBM today announced its new 127-quantum bit (qubit) ‘Eagle’ processor at the IBM Quantum Summit 2021, its annual event to showcase milestones in quantum hardware, software, and the growth of the quantum ecosystem. The ‘Eagle’ processor is a breakthrough in tapping into the massive computing potential of devices based on quantum physics. It heralds the point in hardware development where quantum circuits cannot be reliably simulated exactly on a classical computer. IBM also previewed plans for IBM Quantum System Two, the next generation of quantum systems.

Quantum computing taps into the fundamental quantum nature of matter at subatomic levels to offer the possibility of vastly increased computing power. The fundamental computational unit of quantum computing is the quantum circuit, an arrangement of qubits into quantum gates and measurements. The more qubits a quantum processor possesses, the more complex and valuable the quantum circuits that it can run.

IBM recently debuted detailed roadmaps for quantum computing, including a path for scaling quantum hardware to enable complex quantum circuits to reach Quantum Advantage, the point at which quantum systems can meaningfully outperform their classical counterpoints. Eagle is the latest step along this scaling path.

IBM measures progress in quantum computing hardware through three performance attributes: Scale, Quality and Speed. Scale is measured in the number of qubits on a quantum processor and determines how large of a quantum circuit can be run. Quality is measured by Quantum Volume and describes how accurately quantum circuits run on a real quantum device. Speed is measured by CLOPS (Circuit Layer Operations Per Second), a metric IBM introduced in November 2021, and captures the feasibility of running real calculations composed of a large number of quantum circuits.

127-qubit Eagle processor

‘Eagle’ is IBM’s first quantum processor developed and deployed to contain more than 100 operational and connected qubits. It follows IBM’s 65-qubit ‘Hummingbird’ processor unveiled in 2020 and the 27-qubit ‘Falcon’ processor unveiled in 2019. To achieve this breakthrough, IBM researchers built on innovations pioneered within its existing quantum processors, such as a qubit arrangement design to reduce errors and an architecture to reduce the number of necessary components. The new techniques leveraged within Eagle place control wiring on multiple physical levels within the processor while keeping the qubits on a single layer, which enables a significant increase in qubits.

The increased qubit count will allow users to explore problems at a new level of complexity when undertaking experiments and running applications, such as optimizing machine learning or modeling new molecules and materials for use in areas spanning from the energy industry to the drug discovery process. ‘Eagle’ is the first IBM quantum processor whose scale makes it impossible for a classical computer to reliably simulate. In fact, the number of classical bits necessary to represent a state on the 127-qubit processor exceeds the total number of atoms in the more than 7.5 billion people alive today.

“The arrival of the ‘Eagle’ processor is a major step towards the day when quantum computers can outperform classical computers for useful applications,” said Dr. Darío Gil, Senior Vice President, IBM and Director of Research. “Quantum computing has the power to transform nearly every sector and help us tackle the biggest problems of our time. This is why IBM continues to rapidly innovate quantum hardware and software design, building ways for quantum and classical workloads to empower each other, and create a global ecosystem that is imperative to the growth of a quantum industry.”

The first ‘Eagle’ processor is available as an exploratory device on the IBM Cloud to select members of the IBM Quantum Network.

IBM Quantum System Two

In 2019, IBM unveiled IBM Quantum System One, the world’s first integrated quantum computing system. Since then, IBM has deployed these systems as the foundation of its cloud-based IBM Quantum services in the United States, as well as in Germany for Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Germany’s leading scientific research institution, in Japan for the University of Tokyo, and a forthcoming system in the U.S. at Cleveland Clinic. In addition, we announced today a new partnership with Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, to deploy the first IBM quantum system in the country.

As IBM continues scaling its processors, they are expected to mature beyond the infrastructure of IBM Quantum System One. Therefore, we’re excited to unveil a concept for the future of quantum computing systems: IBM Quantum System Two. IBM Quantum System Two is designed to work with IBM’s future 433-qubit and 1,121 qubit processors.

“IBM Quantum System Two offers a glimpse into the future quantum computing datacenter, where modularity and flexibility of system infrastructure will be key towards continued scaling,” said Dr. Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and VP of Quantum Computing. “System Two draws on IBM’s long heritage in both quantum and classical computing, bringing in new innovations at every level of the technology stack.”

Central to IBM Quantum System Two is the concept of modularity. As IBM progresses along its hardware roadmap and builds processors with larger qubit counts, it is vital that the control hardware has the flexibility and resources necessary to scale. These resources include control electronics, which allow users to manipulate the qubits, and cryogenic cooling, which keeps the qubits at a temperature low enough for their quantum properties to manifest.

IBM Quantum System Two’s design will incorporate a new generation of scalable qubit control electronics together with higher-density cryogenic components and cabling. Furthermore, IBM Quantum System Two introduces a new cryogenic platform, designed in conjunction with Bluefors, featuring a novel, innovative structural design to maximize space for the support hardware required by larger processors while ensuring that engineers can easily access and service the hardware.

In addition, the new design brings the possibility to provide a larger shared cryogenic work-space – ultimately leading to the potential linking of multiple quantum processors. The prototype IBM Quantum System Two is expected to be up and running in 2023.

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 16, 2021 — Today, Call for Code founding partner IBM and its creator, David Clark Cause, announced the winner of the fourth annual Call for Code Global Challenge, which invited innovators across the globe to combat climate change with open source-powered technology. Call for Code is the largest and most ambitious effort to bring together the world’s software developers to take on pressing societal issues by using the latest advanced technologies to problem solve and create cutting-edge solutions. The top prize this year went to Saaf Water, an accessible water quality sensor and analytics platform created, in particular, for people living in rural localities.

Saaf Water will receive $200,000 and support to incubate, test, and deploy their solution from the IBM Service Corps and expert partners in the Call for Code ecosystem. The India-based team will also receive assistance from The Linux Foundation to open source their application so developers around the world can improve, scale, and use the technology.

“The groundwater quality monitoring tool developed by Saaf Water is promising, timely, and appears to have great potential for use by communities relying on groundwater for domestic use,” said Dr. Annapurna Vancheswaran, Managing Director, The Nature Conservancy – India. “This open-source technology could help avoid water-related health risks by indicating unsafe water quality. We certainly Look forward to the tool being scaled up for the benefit of communities.”

A panel of some of the most eminent leaders in sustainability, business and technology, including former President Bill Clinton, awarded Saaf Water the grand prize. Four runners-up were also recognized. Each finalist created a solution to problems addressing the climate change competition’s three sub-themes: clean water and sanitation; zero hunger; and responsible production and green consumption.

To date, more than 20,000 Call for Code applications have been built using open source-powered software such as Red Hat OpenShift, IBM Cloud, IBM Watson, and IBM Blockchain, as well as data from IBM’s The Weather Company and developer resources and APIs from partners like Esri and Twilio. Fourteen Call for Code projects have been adopted into open governance by the Linux Foundation.

“It’s incredibly inspiring to see the Call for Code global movement continue to grow, now with more than 500,000 developers and problem solvers participating across 180 nations,” said Bob Lord, senior vice president, worldwide ecosystems, IBM. “What makes Call for Code unique is the impact it is making on the ground through our deployments in communities around the world. The potential of these technologies, like Saaf Water, are vast and have the potential help save lives.”

2021 Top Solutions Tackling Climate Change

Four climate solutions were honored in addition to Saaf Water: Green Farm, an app to make agriculture more sustainable by, among other things, connecting local producers and consumers to each other, was awarded second place and $25,000; Project Scavenger, an app to enable individuals to responsibly dispose of their devices, was awarded third place and $25,000; Honestly, an online browser extension aimed at passing supply chain transparency to consumers, was awarded fourth place and $10,000; and Plenti, a mobile application designed to make inventory tracking and waste measurement processes user-friendly and easy to do at home, was awarded fifth place and $10,000.

“Since we launched Call for Code in 2018, developers and innovators from around the world continue to answer the call,” said David Clark, Call for Code creator, and CEO of David Clark Cause. “I continue to be amazed by the impact of Call for Code, in no small part thanks to the global reach and passion of IBMers driving it forward around the world, and to the support of our dedicated partners including The Linux Foundation and United Nations Human Rights.”

In total, 42 regional finalists and the local winners among them from Asia Pacific; Europe; Greater China; India; Latin America; the Middle East and Africa; and North America were celebrated at the event.

Winner in the University Category

Chelsea Clinton, vice chair, The Clinton Foundation, announced the winner of the Call for Code University Edition, a collaboration between IBM and the Clinton Global Initiative University.

Trashtag, technology using AI, blockchain, and cloud to verify, track, and reward waste removal in outdoor areas, took the top prize and will receive $10,000 as well as an invitation for team members to interview for potential roles at IBM.

Bringing Call for Code solutions to life through real-world deployments

The Call for Code ecosystem brings solutions to life through incubation and real-world deployments. Since winning the 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge, Agrolly has scaled its personalized farming technology app to more than 1,600 rural farmers across India and Mongolia.

In 2021, Prometeo, the winner of the 2019 Call for Code Global Challenge, open sourced its firefighter health monitoring and safety technology through the Pyrrha project governed by The Linux Foundation.

Additionally, during National Voter Education Week in October, IBM and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles deployed Call for Code for Racial Justice project Five Fifths Voter, a web-based application to help educate, empower and enable voters who are part of underrepresented and disenfranchised communities, in the United States.

ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 28, 2021 — According to the results of IBM’s new global study on cloud transformation there has been a drastic shift in business needs as only three percent of respondents reported using a single private or public cloud in 2021, down from 29 percent in 2019 – establishing hybrid cloud as the dominant IT architecture.

The global study, conducted by IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) in cooperation with Oxford Economics, surveyed almost 7,200 C-suite executives across 28 industries and 47 countries. The findings indicate that the cloud market has entered the hybrid, multicloud era and concerns around vendor lock-in, security, compliance and interoperability remain paramount. The study found:

Cyber threats are at an all-time high

• Infrastructure complexity is creating cracked doors that cybercriminals are exploiting.
• Yet, surprisingly more than a third of respondents did not indicate improving cybersecurity and reducing security risks are among their largest business and IT investments.
• At the same time, 80 percent said data security being embedded throughout the cloud architecture is important or extremely important, in most cases, to successful digital initiatives.

Companies are denouncing vendor lock-in

• Nearly 79 percent of respondents said workloads being completely portable with no vendor lock-in is important or extremely important to the success of their digital initiatives.
• Nearly 69 percent of respondents said vendor lock-in is a significant obstacle to improving business performance in most or all parts of their cloud estate.

Public cloud adoption is evolving towards industry clouds

• Nearly 70 percent of respondents in the government and financial services sectors cited industry-related regulatory compliance as an obstacle to the business performance of their cloud estate.

“In the beginning of their cloud journey, many companies dabbled with several different clouds that created complexity and disconnected piece parts, potentially opening them up to major security threats,” said Howard Boville, Head of IBM Cloud Platform. “Today’s finding reiterate that security, governance and compliance tools must run across multiple clouds and be embedded throughout hybrid cloud architectures from the onset for digital transformations to be successful.”

The study revealed that enterprises need to assess how they use the cloud in terms of adoption, velocity, migration, speed, and cost savings opportunity. Other recommendations include:

• Focus on security and privacy – determine where your critical workloads reside and scrutinize who and what has access to them. Regularly test that security controls and privacy policies are being adhered to, but also that improperly configured assets and software vulnerabilities are being promptly addressed.
• Ask which workloads should move to the cloud – take inventory of the IT environment to successfully determine which workloads and applications will yield the most value in the cloud and which are better suited to stay on-premises.
• Make data work for you – analyze workloads using AI driven tools and best practices to determine where and how to put them in the right place for the right reason.
• Set a tactical approach – address the technology trade-offs, such as selecting the best approach to modernize specific applications and manage important issues like security, governance, and disaster recovery.
• Determine the right team – put a cross-disciplinary team of people to work rethinking how your enterprise creates value for its customers.

Additional findings from the 2021 report

• By industry: Respondents in regulated industries, government (85 percent) and financial services (80 percent), cited governance and compliance tools being able to run across multiple clouds as important to success of digital initiative.
• By industry: Only 1 percent of respondents in the electronics, insurance, manufacturing, telco, transportation and travel industries, reported using a single private or public cloud in 2021.

ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2021 — IBM today announced a suite of environmental intelligence software that leverages AI to help organizations prepare for and respond to weather and climate risks that may disrupt business, more easily assess their own impact on the planet, and reduce the complexity of regulatory compliance and reporting.

Companies are facing climate-related damage to their assets, disruptions to supply chains and operations, as well as increasing expectations from consumers and investors to perform as an environmental leader. Extreme weather, climate action failure and human-led environmental damage were cited as the top three most likely risks for businesses over the next ten years in the World Economic Forum’s “Global Risks Report 2021.” Businesses need actionable environmental insights to address these challenges, but current methods are often cumbersome and complex – requiring intensive manual labor, climate and data science skills, and computing power.

The IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite announced today aims to help companies streamline and automate the management of environmental risks and operationalize underlying processes, including carbon accounting and reduction, to meet environmental goals. The suite leverages existing weather data from IBM, the overall most accurate provider globally, advanced geospatial analytics already in use by companies around the world, and new innovations from IBM Research. The offering is the first to bring together AI, weather data, climate risk analytics, and carbon accounting capabilities in this way – allowing organizations to spend less resources curating this complex data, and more on analyzing it for insights and taking action to improve their operations.

IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite is a SaaS solution designed to help organizations:

• Monitor for disruptive environmental conditions such as severe weather, wildfires, flooding and air quality and send alerts when detected;
• Predict potential impacts of climate change and weather across the business using climate risk analytics;
• Gain insights into potential operational disruptions and prioritize mitigation and response efforts;
• Measure and report on environmental initiatives and operationalize carbon accounting, while reducing the burden of this reporting on procurement and operations teams.

The suite delivers environmental insights via APIs, dashboards, maps and alerts that can help companies address both immediate operational challenges as well as longer term planning and strategies. For instance, the suite could be used to help retailers prepare for severe weather-related shipping and inventory disruptions, or factor environmental risks into future warehouse locations; energy and utility companies to determine where to trim vegetation around power lines or which of their critical assets may soon be at greater risk from wildfires due to climate change. Or the suite could be used to help supermarkets get a clearer picture of how refrigeration systems are contributing to their overall greenhouse gas emissions and prioritize locations for improvement.

“The future of business and the environment are deeply intertwined. Not only are companies coping with the effects of extreme weather disruptions on their operations, they’re also being held increasingly accountable by shareholders and regulators for how their operations impact the planet,” said Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D., General Manager, IBM AI Applications. “IBM is bringing together the power of AI and hybrid cloud to provide businesses with environmental intelligence designed to help them improve environmental performance and reporting, create more efficient business operations to reduce resource consumption, and plan for resiliency in the face of climate disruptions.”

Companies around the world are already using many of the core weather and AI technologies found within IBM’s Environmental Intelligence Suite. For example, IBM environmental data and geospatial analytics are being used by Brazilian ethanol, bioelectricity and sugar company BP Bunge Bioenergia to help it better understand its agricultural sugarcane production and improve its market intelligence estimates regarding global sugar production and by agribusiness leader Cajamar to help Spanish farmers aiming to improve yields and reduce environmental impact via its digital Plataforma Tierra tool.

The IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite also takes advantage of AI-driven innovations from IBM Research that make it easier for climate and data scientists to analyze massive environmental datasets, and a new climate risk modeling framework used to generate data on future wildfire and flooding risks. Additionally, the suite will leverage unique technologies from IBM Research which apply natural language processing and automation designed to help companies estimate carbon emissions and identify opportunities to reduce them across their operations or with suppliers.

The Environmental Intelligence Suite can be integrated with IBM’s broader software portfolio for additional efficiencies across business operations – including IBM Maximo Application Suite to help companies protect and extend the lifecycle of their critical assets and  IBM Supply Chain Intelligence Suite to help build more sustainable and resilient supply chains.

Businesses can also tap into the cross-industry expertise of IBM Global Business Services to help design, implement and accelerate their environmental business transformation journeys. These strategies include reimagining operations, supply chains, emissions management, or ESG and climate risk reporting with the help of emerging technologies to assist organizations in meeting their environmental goals.