IBM wants you to build more efficient IoT apps with Quarks

16 Feb 2016

With the aim of offering developers the ability to build more efficient internet of things (IoT) apps, IBM has launched Quarks, an open-source tool that allows them to do exactly that.

Based on developments made in its IBM Streams product, Quarks has been entirely re-worked to allow manufacturers and developers make better use, from an efficiency point of view, of the live, raw data being generated by IoT devices.

Effectively, according to TechCrunch, the open source tool will allow critical data to be reported on immediately, without the information being slow to respond through various channels, such as when a person’s heart monitor detects an issue and must be reported immediately.

A means of rapidly responding to live data being received is not the only potential for Quarks, with other potential uses including it being a more efficient means of collecting data from a range of connected devices for a single use.

Expanding upon this scenario, a series of medical devices being used in a study could be better monitored over time and actions could be chosen much faster than through traditional means.

This could then be connected with an analytics-crunching AI platform, like IBM’s own Watson, and turned into a reasonable course of action to address whatever problem is presented to it.

IBM says that it hopes that, as more developers gain access to the open source tool, Quarks will become a mainstay of developers looking to create analytical apps and technology on an instant or large scale.

IBM at an expo image via Scott Prokop/Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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