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IBM Opens New York Analytics Center

The Business Analytics Solutions Center will ultimately house up to 550 consultants, researchers, and experts dedicated to finding ways to help businesses and governments apply analytics technologies to better understand market conditions, demand trends, consumer data, and the like.

The center will be located in IBM's existing facilities on Manhattan's Madison Ave.

"We're seeing an incredible opportunity for businesses, institutions, and governments to elevate the performance of all existing systems to another level via the application of advanced analytics," said Phil Guido, IBM's general manager for the Eastern U.S., in a statement.

"Through close collaboration with universities, educational organizations, and local leaders, we are making this investment in New York to encourage further development of the necessary skills required to apply analytics to the region's most complex challenges and biggest opportunities," said Guido.

The center joins similar facilities that IBM operates in cities around the world, including Berlin, Beijing, and Tokyo. Big Blue also plans to open two additional analytics centers, in London and Washington, D.C.

IBM is building out its analytics portfolio with an eye to adding more specialized, high-margin software and services to its portfolio. Its biggest move to date in the analytics sector was its $4.9 billion acquisition of Canadian business intelligence software maker Cognos in 2007.

Local agencies taking advantage of IBM's analytics push are the New York City Police and Fire Departments. Both are working with the company to map out areas that may be more prone to outbreaks of crime or fires.

New York State's Department of Taxation and Finance is also collaborating with IBM on ways to better detect fraud patterns.

InformationWeek has published an in-depth report on how predictive analytics, real-time monitoring, and the speed of in-memory technology are changing the value proposition of business intelligence. Download the report here (registration required).