Watson-Health Expansion | Kendall Square

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whighlander

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IBM to create ???? as Watson-Health prepares to launch in Boston-Area

So far no details are available on what is to potentially become another Mega-tech anchor

IBM is in the process of creating a new industry center based on Big Data -- i.e. Watson the Uber-computer that won Jeopardy and the Boston-Area Uber-concentration of Big Health e.g. Partners

several stories out today about how up to 2000 jobs are involved -- and not just low level jobs
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/b...h-to-hire-hundreds-for-new-boston.html?page=2
IBM Watson Health to hire hundreds for new Boston-area HQ

Apr 14, 2015, 2:26pm EDT
Jessica Bartlett
Reporter-Boston Business Journal

...IBM will be locating its new health care analytics division in the Boston area, hiring hundreds of employees and partnering with some of the biggest names in health care to provide an umbrella analytical software able of capturing and analyzing all a person’s health information.
The company announced plans for IBM Watson Health on Monday, along with partnerships with Apple, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic to capture, analyze and report on a The company announced plans for IBM Watson Health on Monday, along with partnerships with Apple, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic to capture, analyze and report on a person’s health information.

“We’re very much involved and engaged in trying to leverage Watson and analytics to bring innovation into an important space like health and we’ve been doing it for decades,” said Kyu Rhee, the chief health officer for IBM (NYSE: IBM), in an interview. “This highlights that commitment and the creation of the Watson health cloud and moves towards innovation in Boston.”

...The company plans to bring 2,000 dedicated clinicians and researchers under the new business segment, which will include new hires and existing personnel that have been working on health initiatives with Watson prior to the announcement.
Click to expand...

the question is where???

If the real number is 2000 then the ballpark of space requirements is 300,000 + HQ trappings appropriate for an IBM major business, with further special requirements for the network access

Not necessarily in order but a good guess -- each has its advantages:

  • Kendall -- where all the other Big Tech are located
  • Seaport -- high visibility from Logan
  • Somerville Assembly? -- Partners
  • West End / Fin Dist -- MGH
  • DTX -- Major Internet connectivity
  • Pru -- Major Internet connectivity
  • Fens -- Brigham & Womens
  • or -- some where else???
 
- Waltham?
- Burlington
- Lexington
- Other suburban location (e.g. University Station in Westwood - ya right)
 
I wonder if the inner Belt in Somerville might suit something like this. There's a Partners facility down there that will, presumably, be moving to Assembly. And I saw on here that a liquor company has just moved out, could the city be clearing space for a big anchor tenant for a new version of Kendall?
 
The point about strong connectivity is a good one. I'm sure Assembly has reasonable access to powerful optic fibre. Inner Belt has some impressive stuff like the Harvard Art Museums collections storage, but I don't think there is good connectivity for serious RC. It also, currently, has all the cons of a suburban campus (one way in and out, no commercial activity for lunch or after-hours socializing, no transit) alongside all the cons of an urban one (traffic, pollution, ugly as sin, limited parking.

Kendall or Seaport are obviously the safe bets for urban core.
 
Hmmmmm, another potential tenant (Akamai was also mentioned) for the North Station "Boston Garden" office tower. BTW, more great news for Boston/Cambridge Metro area!
 
kjdonovan said:
The point about strong connectivity is a good one. I'm sure Assembly has reasonable access to powerful optic fibre. Inner Belt has some impressive stuff like the Harvard Art Museums collections storage, but I don't think there is good connectivity for serious RC. It also, currently, has all the cons of a suburban campus (one way in and out, no commercial activity for lunch or after-hours socializing, no transit) alongside all the cons of an urban one (traffic, pollution, ugly as sin, limited parking.

Kendall or Seaport are obviously the safe bets for urban core.
Click to expand...

Innerbelt has good Internet & Telecom connectivity including:
http://www.datacentermap.com/usa/massachusetts/boston/70-innerbelt.html
Profile
The CoreSite Boston data center borders Cambridge and Boston's Central Business District, serving established healthcare, financial, technological and educational industries. BO1 offers customers valuable gateways in and out of the facility with more than 50 Network, IT and Cloud service providers as well as tethering to regional communication hubs in the Boston area. Other connectivity options include access to the CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange and the Any2Exchange® for Internet peering.

Features
. Public and private cloud deployments
. CoreSite's Open Cloud Exchange
. AWS Direct Connect availability
. Blended IP service
. Any2Exchange

Specifications

. 273,100+ square feet
. Cabinets, cages, private suites and build-to-suit
. Rooftop space available
. AC and DC
. Breakered and metered billing
Click to expand...

and
http://www.datacentermap.com/usa/massachusetts/boston/internap-boston_gallery.html
Internap Boston 50 Innerbelt Rd is located in the area Boston, USA (America), and the colocation data center is carrier neutral.
Click to expand...
internap-boston_Boston_gallery.jpg
 
Harrumph. All this high-tech companies coming in. Next thing you know they'll be inflating local real estate prices and wanting their own buses.
 
IBM has a very large facility in Littleton, and some space in Cambridge, plus a few other smaller offices around the Boston area. I would guess they will lease new space for this initiative in Cambridge or Longwood.

I doubt they're looking for data center space--this will likely be client teams, some development, and potentially health professionals. Data centers don't need to be next door to the clients.
 
Great news! I've worked for IBM out in the suburbs, and would love to see more of their offices move into the Boston/Cambridge area.
 
Since IBM announced the location of the headquarters, and since it is going to ramp up right away, it probably has already chosen the building(s) to house then. The building is either under construction, vacant, or will be vacant. Genzyme Center won't be available until 2018, so I'd guess that is too late.

From the IBM press release, all 2,000 will not be in Boston, a majority of them will be. I think it will be located with easy distance of Logan; too much interaction with outside parties and partners to put it in the boonies.
 
In the mid-aughts IBM consolidated all of their Boston-area acquisitions at their Littleton office on 495. I wouldn't be surprised if they start there, and look at an in-town location only if they have issues retaining talented folks due to the ex-urb location.
 
Our company had a summer outing at that family fun farm up in Littleton. Right next to IBM.

When trying to leave, got stuck in all that IBM into 495 traffic.
If ever I needed backup to my bullet in the head claims if I worked in a place like that, I no longer need that backup.
Holy mackerel what a flippin catastrophe.
I immediately wanted off 495, but it took no less than 45 minutes to make it to the first exit. I'm not sure where I went then, but all I knew I wasn't on the highway anymore, and was moving.
 
RandomWalk said:
In the mid-aughts IBM consolidated all of their Boston-area acquisitions at their Littleton office on 495. I wouldn't be surprised if they start there, and look at an in-town location only if they have issues retaining talented folks due to the ex-urb location.
Click to expand...

IBM's three partners are Apple, Medtronics, and Johnson & Johnson, all of which have a small footprint in MA. I doubt its partners will be eager to journey to Littleton. And IBM acquired two companies, one located in Cleveland, the other in Dallas, announcing these acquisitions on the same day it announced Watson Health.

By IBM's description, the 2,000 employees will be consultants, medical practitioners, clinicians, developers (not otherwise defined), and researchers. IBM already leases three floors of One Rogers St in Cambridge. But the rest of the building may be fully leased by others.
 
One Rogers St is the ex-Lotus HQ. I seem to recall that they downsized their footprint there when they consolidated in Littleton. I think Pegasystems grabbed up the majority of the space that IBM vacated.

A parallel might be found in HP's experience locating one of their R&D offices in the Boston area. They selected one of the banal 80's era CambridgePark Drive buildings because it was a good compromise between satisfying the young folks (who want to live downtown) and the older folks (who want to live in the burbs with their families). Maybe IBM would be the anchor tenant for the Acorn Park buildings that are looking for a tenant before breaking ground.
 
If the set of job titles represents a sequence based on the number of 'employees' in each category, and the sequence is high (number of employees) to low, then the location will be near teaching hospitals. Which may be why IBM picked Boston area.
 
I work in One Rogers. IBM still has at least a floor. Pega is taking over more floors (our lease is up this summer and we are moving). The Mass Teachers Union Retirement System has one floor as well. It's not nearly big enough for Watson.
 
Watson Health won't be going into the Rogers Street office--it's only one floor (down from the two buildings of the Lotus years) and that office is full. I also very strongly doubt it will go into the exurbs like the Littleton development lab. IBM can be ruthless in saving money by sticking people in cheap real estate, but it will spend money on initiatives that have a lot of opportunity. IBM is looking to make a splash with this move. Here is a link showing the Watson headquarters they opened last year in Manhattan: http://mashable.com/2014/10/08/inside-ibm-waston-nyc/

For Watson Health, the customers are pharma, bio-tech, and medical institutions, and I presume IBM will be recruiting employees from the same. My bet is on Kendall square, or maybe Longwood or the Seaport.
 
RandomWalk said:
In the mid-aughts IBM consolidated all of their Boston-area acquisitions at their Littleton office on 495. I wouldn't be surprised if they start there, and look at an in-town location only if they have issues retaining talented folks due to the ex-urb location.
Click to expand...

Random -- I think Littleton is lower on the list because of the people doing the interacting

Littleton is fine if you are dealing with gnurds and hightech telco / wireless hw types as Cisco is next door and there's the old I-495 traditions of DEC and Data Gen, etc.

However, a lot of the interaction involved with the Watson-Health will be with the "newtechs" such as Apple [one of the partners in the initiative] and hospital & other hard-core health-data folks -- these people would be much happier interacting within sight of the dome of the State House

In addition -- you can be sure that MIT connected device people are involved with the idea of hooking our bodies up to Watson for real-time, all the time data collection

so Cambridge again

Note that while a different usage of the name Watson -- IBM already has a branch of TJ Watson Labs on Rogers St in Cambridge
http://www.research.ibm.com/labs/watson/visitor_cambridge.shtml
 
If there is any space, I could easily see them in the University Park area, just Northwest of MIT. There are a number of healthcare info-tech companies there.
 
whighlander said:
Littleton is fine if you are dealing with gnurds and hightech telco / wireless hw types as Cisco is next door and there's the old I-495 traditions of DEC and Data Gen, etc.
Click to expand...

Amusingly, IBM's Littleton campus is the ex-DEC LKG (aka Littleton-King St) complex. When I was growing up, my mother worked out of that office, and many others in the 495 belt. They were endless farms of cubes and conference rooms, which were fun to roam about as a kid, but are soul-sucking as an someone who works in the industry. I think the younger generation of tech workers that are typically attracted to Google/Facebook etc. have little, if any, interest in working out in the 495 belt because it's so devoid of distractions.
 
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