Supercomputer as a Service? Watson Offered as App Platform in Cloud
IBM recently announced that its supercomputer Watson, famous for handily defeating humans on the game show Jeopardy!, is being offered to third parties as a cloud-based development platform.
In addition to the cognitive computing abilities, programmers have the use of the IBM Watson Developers Cloud, an online marketplace with resources for creating apps, including a developers' toolkit, educational materials, and access to Watson’s API. There is also a content store with data from third-party providers, as well as help available from hundreds of IBM experts and contracted professionals.
This is IBM’s latest step to commercialize Watson’s impressive technology as the company tries to boost its revenue with cloud computing.
in the company’s press release, Michael Rhodin, senior vice president of IBM’s Software Solutions Group, writes:
By sharing IBM Watson's cognitive abilities with the world, we aim to fuel a new ecosystem that accelerates innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit. ...With this move, IBM is taking a bold step to advance the new era of cognitive computing. Together with our partners we'll spark a new class of applications that will learn from experience, improve with each interaction and outcome, and assist in solving the most complex questions facing the industry and society.
Watson, which can answer questions asked in conversational language after being preloaded with documents and websites, was put to work earlier this year handling customer service requests in the health and finance markets. Over time, responses get faster and more accurate as the computer learns preferences.
"We've been developing, evolving, and maturing the technology," said Rob High, an IBM fellow who serves as CTO of Watson, in an interview with Computerworld. "It's stable and mature enough to support an ecosystem now. We've become convinced there's something very special here and we shouldn't be holding it back."
Three specialized apps developed on the cloud-based platform are expected to enter the market early next year, IBM announced. Fluid, an e-commerce services company, will offer its Fluid Expert Personal Shopper app to help consumers with purchases. MD Buyline, a company that provides services for hospitals and health care systems, will introduce its Hippocrates app to help clinical and financial users make decisions about medical purchases. And Welltok’s CafeWell Concierge app will help users create personalized health plans for their individual needs.
Programmers who use Watson to develop their apps will be charged on a metered usage model, but no pricing information is yet available. Still, making the supercomputer accessible to such a crowd stands to be a wise financial move for IBM. From The Motley Fool:
Watson is a massive (and massively complex) system that would be cost-prohibitive to sell, install, and manage as an on-premises supercomputer. By selling its analytical prowess as a service, Big Blue gets access to more pay-as-you-go customers.
