IBM is glaring hot right now. In terms of innovations, acquisitions and financials, the global leader in software solutions has been very aggressive in tossing strategies and implementing enhancements. It is evident in the company’s impressive second quarter revenues report, which beat Wall Street expectations. Social, mobile, hardware, software, big data, storage, cloud computing, business intelligence and security—IBM is just everywhere.  Now, the tech titan is accelerating its big data analytics to transform global cities via the i2 acquisition.

General Manager of Industry Solutions at IBM, Craig Hayman further explained how this new IBM-i2 tandem will benefit cities to become safer and more livable:

“IBM’s goal is to better equip public safety officials and businesses with the information and tools they need to ensure safer cities. The combined capabilities of IBM and i2 will help customers uncover patterns and trends that will allow them to more effectively protect the privacy and safety of citizens, businesses and governments.”

On the other hand, CEO Robert Griffin discussed the technical side and strengthening data collection capabilities of their tandem with IBM:

“The combination of i2’s products and IBM’s advanced data collection and warehousing technologies will be compelling for clients seeking to enhance situational awareness and make connections between seemingly unrelated information from oceans of data. i2’s existing clients will be at home with IBM, a company known for its ability to help organizations make the most of their data assets.”

Looking at the individual assets and capabilities of both companies, data will be one of the biggest resources helping cities secure their vicinity and better organize transit systems, gathering real-time information from street and traffic lights—good examples of utilizing big data analytics.  This is in line with earlier initiatives around building smarter cities, which has already begun in Portland.  IBM is bridging cities to see their future and fulfilling its dreamy vision for data scientists.

As previously mentioned, IBM is arguably one of the busiest organizations in big data, with its many tentacles moving around different industries and trying to be the best in each undertaking.  Mixed reviews followed their announcement of their plans to build the biggest data storage in history, with the capacity of 120 petabytes.