A three-year, multi-million dollar project will equip British Columbia with a monitoring and prediction system to respond to off-shore accidents, tsunamis and other natural disasters. Council Global Partner IBM is IBM is investing $12 million in 
cloud computing infrastructure, analytics software, services and skills training to support this next phase of the system expected to position Canada as a global leader in ocean technology.
The Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) project – called Smart Oceans BC – is the largest research project at the University of Victoria. Smart Oceans BC will use marine sensors and data analysis to enhance environmental stewardship and public and marine safety along Canada's West coast. It will monitor vessel traffic, waves, currents and water quality in major shipping arteries and will include a system to predict the impact of off-shore earthquakes, tsunamis, storm surge, and underwater landslides.
ONC will use an IBM on-premise cloud to run simulations on earthquakes and tsunamis with a goal of predicting their behavior and potential impact on coastal areas. This information will benefit a broad spectrum of audiences from public safety agencies to public transportation, tourism, and other industries operating in the area.
Researchers will also employ a suite of IBM visual analytics, data streams processing, machine learning and data exploration software to develop, test and run decision-support systems that could aid industrial and governmental agencies in sea state, pollution monitoring, spill response and other aspects of ocean management.
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Jesse Berst is the founding Chairman of the Smart Cities Council. Click to learn about the benefits you receive when you join the Council for free. Follow @Jesse_Berst on Twitter and connect on LinkedIn.
