Solid Mobile Phone: IBM launch water-management services operation

The technology company is launching a new line of water services
Friday, hoping to tap a new sales vein by taking the manual labor out
of fighting pollution and managing water supplies. IBM says the
overall water-management services market could be worth $20 billion in
five years.

The effort is part of a wider role IBM wants to play in infrastructure
services, including automobile traffic and power grids. In each
instance, IBM is trying to persuade utilities and government agencies
to overhaul their computer networks and link digital sensors together
for better insights.

For example, instead of a meter-reader from the power company
traipsing through your backyard, IBM is banking that one day your
meter and your neighbors' will feed data directly into the utility's
computer network.

The company has been working on a project called SmartBay with an
Irish marine institute to develop sensors that are monitoring
pollution, marine life and wave conditions around Galway Bay and
transmitting data to researchers. Among the benefits, IBM contends, is
that computers can track floating debris that pose a hazard to
commercial fishermen.

This "smarter planet" theme is part of IBM's strategy to keep making
money in the recession. The company's chairman and CEO, Sam Palmisano,
said in a letter to shareholders this week that IBM will be aggressive
in drumming up business in areas like managing traffic, power grids,
water, food, health care and finance. He vowed the efforts will help
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM grow by getting early starts in areas that will
need help for years to come.