South Africa has become the second African country to launch IBM’s intelligent operations centre (IOC).
The centre located in IBM’s client centre in Sandton, Johannesburg forms part of the firm’s operation expansion plans on the continent, said IBM.
Deployed in 40 countries around the world, South Africa has joined Kenya with IOC facilities that supports IBM’s Smarter Cities initiative.
According to the technology firm, the IOC provides an executive dashboard to help city leaders gain insight into various aspects of city management.
Using sensory technology, the IOC is also able to assist city managers with emergency management, public safety, social services, transportation or water.
Speaking at a media briefing this morning IBM South Africa country general manager Abraham Thomas said his company had invested $1.6 million to build the centre.
He explained that the centre would allow access to areas such as mobility, cloud, social and analytics.
Thomas added that the centre can be used by IBM’s clients that include government departments, IT partner, developers, entrepreneurs as well as education institutions such as universities.
IBM is yet to sign on South African clients that may be interested in utilising IOC solutions for their operations; however, Thomas revealed that they are in talks with prospective clients.
Ahmed Simjee, executive smarter planet for IBM South Africa public sector added that the IOC or command centre allows for proactive reaction to problems.
He explained that using predictive analytics the command centre would determine or identify scenarios before and as they happen.
“The IOC concept can provide solutions that would complement the systems of South African metros and municipalities,” said Simjee.
“Departments that already have old technologies can now also adopt IOC systems to leverage legacy technology systems,” he said.
IBM has previously deployed the IOC systems in the city of Nairobi, Kenya to determine methods of easing traffic congestion, company officials revealed.
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