IBM Announces Global Movement Management Initiative Strategy

IBM today announced the launch of a new strategic initiative designed to help move key resources -- people, goods, money, information and conveyances (or the means of transportation) around the globe with greater security and resilience.  Called Global Movement Management, the initiative addresses the technical and  political challenges that historically have hampered efforts to improve security in the global system.  IBM detailed these in a paper released today titled Global Movement Management: Securing the Global Economy.

In making the announcement, IBM said it will align many of its core business activities and business-unit expertise to develop a platform for new security-related projects across the corporation.  These include IBM capabilities in customs, ports and border management; data analytics and risk management; secure communications and information sharing technologies; and identification and credentialing security systems.

Todays global economy remains vulnerable to disruptive events such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters and disease outbreaks.  If these ripple through the system, they cause significant harm to persons and economies.  Leaders in both the public and private sectors have recognized such threats and directed increased resources toward combating them, but to date most of these actions have lacked coherence and integration.

IBMs Global Movement Management initiative focuses on overcoming the key challenges in the current system, including issues that hamper international cooperation and cooperation between the public and private sectors, and the impacts of security on commerce and privacy.

The GMM white paper puts forth a vision for a distributed governance system worldwide and an open-source system architecture, both of which can serve as practical tools to assess and overcome existing challenges.

The Global Movement Management initiative will be extremely useful for leaders in both the public and private sectors, who are still wrestling with what it means to build security into their everyday operations and how to pay for it, said Admiral James Loy former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and former deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The GMM initiative puts forth a vision for where the system needs to be, yet taking a realistic approach to these challenges.

The announcement was IBMs second in a series designed to help customers in this arena.  Just last month, IBM and Maersk announced the Intelligent Trade Lane solution, which uses technology and analytical tools to bolster security in customs, ports and borders.  IBM also recently unveiled a new diagnostic tool to help governments detect flaws and create viable border-protection plans.

We believe an integrated global economy requires an integrated global security solution one that accounts for both the political and technical dimensions of the problem, said W. Scott Gould, vice president, Public Sector Strategy and Change for IBM and a coauthor of the whitepaper. Global Movement Management provides the incentives for the various stakeholders in the system to cooperate, set standards, share information and ultimately overcome the threats facing the global economy today.