Cognitive Scale's Cloud Technology Making IBM's Bluemix Platform Smarter

IBM's Bluemix cloud platform got a little smarter this week with the addition of self-learning cognitive computing software from Austin, Texas-based Cognitive Scale.

Cognitive Scale's analytic solutions, specialized for specific verticals, involve computer learning algorithms that can reprogram themselves with continued use, constantly improving the quality of the intelligence they produce. Cognitive Scale's technology ingests structured and unstructured data to deliver insights to consumers and business executives, Shay Sabhikhi, the company's co-founder and CEO, told CRN.

Developers using Bluemix, IBM's Platform-as-a-Service offering, now can take advantage of three of the company's Cognitive Clouds to build smarter applications focused on delivering analytic insights relating to health care, retail and business processes, such as procurement, HR and recruiting.

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Both Sabhikhi and his founding partner, CTO Matt Sanchez, were executives at IBM for many years and know the company intimately, he said. Cognitive Scale also has a close relationship with IBM's Watson team.

The inclusion of the Cognitive Cloud platforms in Bluemix is Cognitive Scale's first divergence from direct sales.

"Bluemix is a new channel that we're opening up today, and it's going to expand our services to a wider audience of cloud buyers," Sabhikhi told CRN on Monday.

Potential users, however, won't be able to directly provision the cognitive computing technology. Instead, they can interface with Cognitive Scale through Bluemix for an evaluation.

Since the offering is only available to select customers, the Cognitive Cloud platforms are considered a limited release, Sabhikhi said.

"You give us details of what you're looking for, and then we work with you individually," he told CRN.

PUBLISHED FEB. 24, 2015