IBM has formed a new partnership with American Tower to fast-track the adoption a hybrid, multi-cloud computing platform at the edge.  

The collaboration is designed to meet the evolving needs of clients seeking innovative digital transformation, leveraging technologies such as internet of things, 5G, artificial intelligence, and network automation. 

American Tower, a provider of digital infrastructure, operates nearly 225,000 wireless and broadcast towers, rooftops, and in-building systems across 25 countries.  

Additionally, the company has a sizable footprint of data centre facilities in the US.  

IBM’s contribution to this partnership involves supplying a hybrid cloud platform and automated systems to establish an edge cloud across American Tower’s assets. 

The partnership between American Tower and IBM is expected to provide the necessary infrastructure for enterprises across various industries to harness the full potential of edge computing.  

In a statement, IBM said: “As a result of this collaboration, we aim to give enterprises more flexibility to deploy applications – on public clouds, at the edge, or on premises.  

“This can help to securely process and quickly analyse data closer to the point where it is created.”  

IBM said one of the sectors that stands to benefit from this collaboration is the automotive industry.  

Modern vehicles, which are equipped with numerous computers and micro-controllers, require frequent software updates during final assembly and throughout their lifecycle.  

The edge capabilities provided by American Tower and IBM will enable automotive original equipment manufacturers to transmit these software updates to vehicles before delivery to dealerships.  

In December 2023, IBM agreed to acquire Software AG’s two enterprise integration platforms in a deal valued at $2.33bn. 

The two platforms- StreamSets and webMethods – offer application integration, data integration and application programming interface management.