India & Singapore - 15 Mar 2017: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it is collaborating with Unified Inbox, an intelligent IoT messaging platform, to provide businesses with the world’s first intelligent ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) messaging platform, using IBM Watson. IBM will also provide Unified Inbox, an IBM Cloud (Bluemix) partner, API and platform support. 

Known as the UnificationEngine, the messaging platform is to date, the only technology compatible with over 20 international messaging platforms and protocols including legacy channels of email and SMS; social media channels such as Twitter, Weibo, and Facebook; and messaging apps and chatbots from Line, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype and others. IBM Watson powers the natural language and conversational intelligence of UIB’s unique UnificationEngine platform, which makes it possible for users to communicate with their appliances.

For example, you can chat with your coffee maker on WhatsApp or Viber to make yourself a cappuccino, and it will ask you how strong you want it, and with how much sugar and milk. The coffee maker can then message you again on WhatsApp or other channels to alert you that your espresso is ready.

Beyond consumer appliances, the UnificationEngine can also be used in smart enterprise use cases such as messaging commuters waiting for a bus. In a smart city scenario, it can be used to message city officials on crowd movements and formations.

Bosch is one of the leading innovative companies that has started to integrate the UnificationEngine into its surveillance cameras. Bosch surveillance cameras are ‘smart at the edge’, where intelligent video analysis takes place within the camera, while Unified Inbox provides the messaging platform for people to interact with to connected things. With the two technologies combined, users are able to communicate with their surveillance cameras in a natural and intuitive manner via text to receive real-time information such as human traffic.

“Bringing together IoT with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and unified messaging, we have created the world’s first UnificationEngine. UnificationEngine is a device- and platform-agnostic middleware that enables products and software to simply communicate with people and things,” said Toby Ruckert, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Unified Inbox.

He added, “UnificationEngine enables this communication seamlessly, with the significant benefit of eliminating the need for an app. UnificationEngine can help companies to succeed in the rapidly expanding new markets of IoT and AI. The IBM Watson Conversation Service makes this capability possible, performing virtual personal assistance across a wide variety of use cases and powering the cognitive conversations within UnificationEngine.”

With an estimated 20.8 billion connected things in use by 2020 according to Gartner, IoT is driving the growth of new ecosystems and collaboration between small startups and large enterprises that are seeking to create innovative customer services and business models.

Jason Jameson, Director, Watson Internet of Things, Asia Pacific, said, “IBM is excited to be working with Unified Inbox on exploring the tremendous possibilities of IoT and collaborating even more to bring best-in-class IoT solutions to customers around the world.

“IoT has the potential to create real business value and transform industries. “From connected cars to smart homes, to wearables, security, emergency services, health & safety to consumer services, the industry is primed to disrupt long-standing business models by infusing intelligence into devices and connecting them to virtually everything from refrigerators, televisions and coffee machines to manufacturing equipment, aircraft engines and implantable medical devices.”

Watson APIs are available on the IBM Cloud (Bluemix). Since its launch in 2014, Bluemix has rapidly grown to become one of the largest open, public cloud deployments in the world. Based in open standards, it features more than 150 tools and services spanning categories of cognitive intelligence, blockchain, security, Internet of Things, DevOps and more.

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About IBM Watson

Watson represents a new era in computing called cognitive computing, where systems understand the world the way humans do: through senses, learning, and experience. Watson continuously learns from previous interactions, gaining in value and knowledge over time. With the help of Watson, organizations are harnessing the power of cognitive computing to transform industries, help professionals do their jobs better, and solve important challenges.

As part of IBM’s strategy to accelerate the growth of cognitive computing, Watson is open to the world, allowing a growing community of developers, students, entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts to easily tap into the most advanced and diverse cognitive computing platform available today. Watson solutions are being built, used and deployed in more than 45 countries and across 20 different industries.

For more information on IBM Watson, visit ibm.com/Watson and ibm.com/press/watson. Join the conversation at #ibmwatson.

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About Unified Inbox

What if you could chat with your “things” as easily as you message a friend?

Unified Inbox is a global intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) messaging company focused on creating innovative and leading technologies for smart homes, smart cities, and smart enterprise (including Industry 4.0).

With operations in Singapore, the UAE, India, Europe, and the US, Unified Inbox’s UnificationEngine™ platform brings together Artificial Intelligence with IoT and unified messaging to enable people to talk to their things as easily as they message their friends, on the communications channels they use most — and without the need for an additional app!

Learn more about Unified Inbox at www.unifiedinbox.com and about UnificationEngine on www.unificationengine.com - or try our virtual demos on demo.unifiedinbox.com now.

Unified Inbox. Simply Communicate.