IBM invests in Chinese traffic and lab

AFTER JUST ANNOUNCING it was opening a new Research Lab in Shanghai, IBM today announced it was also investing in Hisense TransTech (HTT), makers of urban traffic, public transport and logistics software.

The Shanghai lab will be IBM’s eighth worldwide and will apparently focus on delving into things like information analytics, web delivered service computing, stream computing and the much-hyped cloud computing.

Most companies seem to have their heads in the clouds nowadays, especially in the face of major data overload and soaring energy prices. IBM certainly doesn’t want to be left behind and its Shanghai lab will apparently be working on an exploratory system to keep an eye on application workload, resource utilisation and power consumption, in order to better spread out the workload and save power.

IBM also wants the Chinese government to allow its academic course, dubbed Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME), into the Chinese University Curriculum. The programme is a mish-mash of computer science, operations research, industrial engineering, business strategy, management sciences, social and cognitive sciences, and legal sciences, all of which IBM obviously sees as crucial skills for its Chinese workforce.

As to Hisense TransTech (HTT), IBM says it took an approximate 20 per cent stake in the firm, which is a subsidiary of the Hisense Group.

Hisense Group deals in Traffic Management, Telecommunications Infrastructure, Business Process Outsourcing, and related software service applications.

IBM reckons the deal will allow HTT to offer software built on IBM technologies and products whilst also bolstering the company's traffic management capabilities. IBM already works with cities like London, Stockholm, Singapore and Brisbane on traffic management and congestion issues.

Veep of IBM’s Greater China Group, Charles Wu, said the investment in HTT was part of the firm’s efforts to help leading Chinese companies expand both their Chinese and global presence. µ