AUSTIN, Texas, and ARMONK, NEW YORK, June 4, 2020 – Anaconda, Inc., provider of the leading Python data science platform, and IBM Watson today announced a new collaboration to help simplify enterprise adoption of AI open-source technologies. By working together, the two companies plan to help fuel innovation and address the AI and data science skills gap that many enterprises face today.
Today, we see that data scientists rely on open-source technologies for innovation and to tap into a wealth of AI skills and talent. However, using open-source in the enterprise could be complex to adopt and manage from both a technical and operational standpoint.
To help enterprises overcome this challenge, Anaconda Team Edition repository will be integrated with IBM Watson Studio on IBM Cloud Pak for Data, enabling organizations to better govern and speed the deployment of AI open-source technologies across any cloud. Additionally, Anaconda’s community of 20 million users will now be able to access a no-charge lite plan of Watson Studio, offering the opportunity to manage their data science projects within IBM’s enterprise grade environment.
“AI for business is only as good as the ecosystem it supports, so it’s a natural fit for Watson to work with Anaconda, the industry leader in open-source data science and their community of 20 million users,” said Daniel Hernandez, General Manager, Data and AI, IBM. “By bringing the power of Anaconda to Watson, enterprises can now tap into a repository of open-source tools that they can manage in any cloud environment.”
“Our aim at Anaconda is to help organizations unleash their full potential through data science, and we’re proud to work with IBM to give their customers the latest open-source data science packages in an enterprise-friendly way,” said Peter Wang, CEO and co-founder of Anaconda. “Both our companies share a goal of making data science and machine learning more accessible, and this relationship is a further step in that direction.”
The collaboration includes an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement to market the Anaconda Team Edition solution with IBM Watson Studio as part of IBM Cloud Pak for Data, an automated AI lifecycle platform that is designed to make it easy for businesses to build and operationalize AI. The solution is expected to be available June 19, 2020 and is designed to help data scientists take advantage of comprehensive, managed and curated open-source libraries and tools. Also as part of the agreement, Anaconda will feature Watson Studio on the Anaconda Navigator interface easing access for millions of additional practitioners.
Anaconda Team Edition provides a platform of leading open-source technologies in a secured environment that gives enterprises governance tools for managing data science projects. Through this relationship, IBM extends further its growing and open AI ecosystem to give customers choice and flexibility within an open, extensible hybrid cloud platform.