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IBM Expands Position in Global Water Management
IBM and the Marine Institute Ireland recently completed the SmartBay pilot information system to monitor wave conditions, marine life and pollution levels in and around Galway Bay. This real-time advanced analytics pilot is designed to turn mountains of data into intelligence. SmartBay is significant in that it marks IBM's entry into the business of water management, potentially leading to the design and installation of systems to monitor water pipes, reservoirs, rivers and harbors. The vision for SmartBay is a marine research infrastructure of sensors and computational technology interconnected across Galway Bay collecting and distributing information on coastal conditions, pollution levels and marine life. The pilot, which includes a move from manual to instrumented data gathering, is designed to allow researchers to deploy quicker reactions to the critical challenges of the bay such as pollution, flooding, fishing stock levels, green energy generation and the threats from climate change. "This collaboration between IBM and he Marine Institute is vitally important to a mind shift in the way we view our marine sector in terms of economic opportunities through the application of knowledge," said Dr. Peter Heffernan, CEO of Marine Institute Ireland. "Never before has there been a way of doing large scale marine environment research that allows us to observe ecological phenomena at multiple levels at once. IBM's real-time monitoring technologies, data analytics and next generation content delivery on SmartBay allow us to do that." SmartBay is designed to help to reduce the time delay to acquire data used in the complex testing of wave energy converter prototypes for green electricity generation. This brings wave generated electricity a step closer to reality and supports Sustainable Energy Ireland programs. Using the SmartBay information portal, researchers have access to environmental data that is in near real-time direct on their desktop anywhere in the world via an internet connection. SmartBay is being developed using Cloud computing, an emerging approach to shared infrastructure in which large pools of systems are linked together to provide IT services. The SmartBay project sees IBM and the Marine Institute working directly with Galway Bay's Harbor Master and commercial fishermen, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Environmental Protection Agency, the Irish
A buoy in Galway Bay, Ireland, uses sensors in the ocean to collect data on water quality and sea conditions. (Photo Credit: Marine Institute of Ireland) 18 MTR June 2009
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