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Smart Planet

You might notice small changes

A less expensive energy bill. A package that gets delivered in two days instead of seven. Quarterly school reports available online. But if you take a step back, you can see the bigger picture of the smarter systems behind these small changes: intelligent utility networks, smarter supply chains and digital education records.

Bit by bit, our planet is getting smarter. By this, we mean the systems that run the way we live and work as a society.

Why now?

Three things have brought this about:

  • The world is becoming instrumented. By 2010, there will be a billion transistors per human, each one costing one ten-millionth of a cent.
  • The world is becoming interconnected. With a trillion networked things—cars, roadways, pipelines, appliances, pharmaceuticals and even livestock—the amount of information created by those interactions grows exponentially.
  • All things are becoming intelligent. Algorithms and powerful systems can analyze and turn those mountains of data into actual decisions and actions that make the world work better. Smarter.

Instrumented. Interconnected. Intelligent. Inevitable.

The opportunity is now. Because the technology on a number of fronts—cloud and stream computing, sensor capabilities, virtualization, visualization and algorithmic models—is here and ready. Because we have no choice: many of our current ways of doing things are inefficient and expensive, and eventually will not work. And because we want to.

We believe that IBM is uniquely positioned to help. Because of our depth of resources, our expertise and experience with the most forward-thinking institutions, governments and businesses around the world. Let's work together to make our planet smarter.

What do you really think?

Visit the blog asmarterplanet.com to see some of what's already been said about smarter grids, healthcare, government and other key aspects of our daily life. There are 20+ topics you can read about and comment on, videos, podcasts and even cartoons. Join the conversation.

What do you think? A greener, cleaner planet? A world without hunger? Cheaper power? Take our poll.

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Polls

Of these, which do you think most needs to get smarter globally?

Energy production
Food supplies
Transportation
Telecommunications
Financial services
Environmental protection

Comments

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Smarter connections

If we can connect the systems that run our world, we can make our planet smarter: with less traffic, healthier food, cleaner water, safer cities.

Watch the video