IBM And Wanda Agree To Bring Watson And Cloud Services To China

IBM’s latest foray into China will see its cloud services delivered through Wanda Technologies, an Asian provider of cloud, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The partnership will see IBM’s Watson, Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) platforms delivered to Chinese customers through Wanda’s data centres.

The first Watson service will be Conversation, which allows developers to add natural language interactions into their applications and IBM promises more will be on the way.

IBM Cloud

The result, they say, is the strengthening of one of the “most competitive cloud platforms in China”.

China has proved a tricky market for IBM in recent years and has suffered from a clampdown from the government on foreign IT services. Indeed, the regulatory environment in the country is constantly changing, making life difficult.

IBM has also had to compete with strong native rivals, most notably Alibaba, and has made moves to mend its relationship with Beijing and establish links with local players.

Partnerships with other companies include Shanghai Wind Information, a Chinese financial data firm, and IBM has previously indicated it is willing to share its technology with others in the country.

“If you’re a country, as China is, of 1.3 billion people you would want an IT industry as well,” CEO Ginni Rometty said at the time. “I think some firms find that perhaps frightening. We, though, at IBM…find that to be a great opportunity.”

IBM was also the first Western company to provide the Chinese government with its source code. It did so in a “controlled space”, according to reports, meaning officials couldn’t take any of it away from them.

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