ARMONK, N.Y. and TORONTO, Aug. 5,
2015 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the
opening of a new Bluemix Garage in Toronto, the first in Canada, intended to help enterprises of all
sizes to accelerate the design and development of cloud
applications by using IBM Cloud technologies with design thinking
methodology and agile development capabilities.
The Bluemix Garages create a bridge between the scale of
enterprises and the culture of startups, by establishing physical
collaboration spaces housed in the heart of thriving
entrepreneurial communities around the world. Toronto marks the third Bluemix Garage,
building on successful implementations in San Francisco and London. Further expansion is planned with the
additions of Nice, France and
Melbourne, Australia later this
year.
The Toronto Bluemix Garage will be located at the DMZ at
Ryerson University, the top-ranked
university-based incubator in Canada and fifth in the world. By combining
IBM's robust cloud ecosystem with DMZ's strong network of
international partners and in-house expertise, the Toronto Bluemix
Garage experts will mentor the rising numbers of developers and
startups in the region to create of the next generation of cloud
apps and services using IBM's platform-as-a-service, Bluemix.
"Bluemix Garages help enterprises harness the spirit and pace of
startups while pouring back into the local community with
mentorship and skills development on the latest cloud
technologies," said Steve Robinson,
General Manager, Cloud Platform Services at IBM. "Today's rapid app
development cycles require developers to use new tools and
methodologies from across the ecosystem to quickly turn new ideas
into enterprise-class cloud applications at consumer scale and
innovate at the speed of cloud."
IBM launched Bluemix via a $1
billion investment in 2014, growing rapidly to become the
largest Cloud Foundry deployment in the world. The
developer-friendly, open-standards-based Bluemix catalog includes
over 100 tools and services of the most prominent open-source
technologies combined with IBM and third-party services enables
developers to rapidly create, deploy and manage cloud applications
by tapping into a growing ecosystem of runtime frameworks and
services.
Connecting developers, startups, entrepreneurs and innovators
with enterprises, advisers and influencers in an agile environment
that emphasizes speed and scalability; the design thinking and
user-centric methodology of the Bluemix Garages process transforms
new ideas into initial products fast. Using Bluemix to evolve them
based on market feedback, and deliver scale and integration with
client systems.
Members of the Toronto Bluemix Garage include Tangerine, a
direct everyday bank based in Canada that is using Bluemix to implement its
mobile strategy. Using the IBM Mobile Quality Assurance for Bluemix
service, Tangerine gathers customer feedback and actionable insight
on its mobile banking app by quickly streamlining its
implementation and development processes.
"Tangerine's goal is to change the status quo in banking by
offering simple, relevant products to our clients," said Charaka
Kithulegoda, CIO, Tangerine. "Bluemix provides the advanced tools
and technologies we need to streamline our infrastructure, become
more agile and improve the customer experience. Now with IBM's
Toronto Bluemix Garage, Tangerine can be part of a physical
environment to learn quickly, collaborate and create the next
generation of mobile banking technology to further enhance our
business."
As they increasingly turn to the creativity of startups for
fresh approaches to industry challenges, enterprise clients will
have even greater access to the most talented entrepreneurs and
developers through the Toronto Bluemix Garage. In turn, the Garage
will open the door for these startups to IBM's extensive base of
enterprise partners, equipping them with the connections to build
more functional apps and apply technology across various industries
and deploy their solutions into the marketplace.
"We are pleased to welcome the first and only Canadian Bluemix
Garage into the DMZ," said Abdullah
Snobar, Executive Director of the DMZ at Ryerson University. "This new partnership will
provide IBM with an opportunity to work with some of our country's
top tech talent to explore new ideas and methodologies. Our
entrepreneurs will also greatly benefit from access to IBM's
expertise and vast business network."
About DMZ at Ryerson
University
The DMZ at Ryerson
University is one of Canada's largest business incubators and
co-working spaces for entrepreneurs. The top-ranked university
incubator in Canada and fifth in
the world, the DMZ is a hub of innovation, collaboration and
commercialization. Since opening in April
2010, the DMZ and Ryerson Futures Inc.—its affiliated
accelerator program—have incubated and accelerated 209 startups
which have collectively raised more than $110 million in funding and fostered more than
1,879 jobs. For more information about the DMZ,
visit www.ryerson.ca/dmz.
Media contacts:
Alexander Aizenberg
IBM Global Media Relations
212 671 9616
aizenberg@us.ibm.com
Lorianne (L.) Mule
IBM Canada Media Relations
905 316-2197
lorianne@ca.ibm.com
Dasha Pasiy
Media Relations Officer
The DMZ at Ryerson University
416-979-5000 x 2863
dasha1.pasiy@ryerson.ca
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SOURCE IBM