Cisco and IBM announced a global partnership to provide customers with an integrated Internet of Thing (IoT) analytics solution at the edge of the network, with the ability to look at data generated in remote locations.

The partnership will see IBM Watson, the company’s technology platform for analysing data, combine with Cisco’s edge analytics, with further support from Bell Canada through its LTE network.

Cisco said in a statement the combination is designed to help businesses without easy access to high bandwidth connectivity gain insight into real time data generated by billions of interconnected devices and sensors, and offers a “new way to produce immediate, actionable insight at the point of data collection”.

Companies operating “on the edge of computer networks”, with limited access to cloud computing to store data insights, “such as oil rigs, factories, shipping companies and mines”, will see the main benefits from the new approach, added Cisco.

“For an oil rig in a remote location or a factor where critical decisions have to be taken immediately, uploading all data to the cloud is not always the best option,” said Harriet Green, general manager, IBM Watson Commerce and Education. “By coming together, IBM and Cisco are taking these powerful IoT technologies to the last mile, extending Watson IoT from the cloud to the edge of computer networks.”

Cisco claimed companies adopting the new approaches will now be able to better monitor the health and behaviour of machinery, as well as accurately plan for maintenance and equipment upgrades. Adopting the platform could potentially reduce costs by up to 50 per cent, and increase productivity by 25 per cent.

So far, the companies are working with a few businesses through the new services, including the Port of Cartagena in Columbia, which is using the analytics to improve efficiency of assets including rubber tire gantries, cranes and trucks and SilverHook Powerboats, a company that designs high speed racing watercrafts.