KnowNow’s 7th week at Cognicity

CW March sunset

Sunset this week from Level 24

Waterloo Sunset

I am lucky in some respects in that I have seen some cracking sunsets.  With the evenings getting longer photos like the one above will have to be taken later and later.  Which is what I am expecting as KnowNow nears the finishing line for the Cognicity Challenge.  I am sure KnowNow will be following a proud tradition of all IT projects of working late till the deadline!

This week saw us focus on pulling together a team of fellow Cognicters delivering a Interoperability point of view for a pending visit at the start of week 8 from Sir George Iacobescu    (chairman of Canary Wharf Group).   How that pitch went will be the subject of next weeks blog! Plus, I had a great session with Luis Lopes on a Business Model Canvas walkthrough on our Augmented Reality capability that we are demonstrating as part of the kn-i showcase.

Build Build Build

KnowNow are now in build mode.  We are busy pulling all the kn-i elements for Cognicity together.    The focus is on showing how we will enable kn-i users to Eat, Sleep, Play or Go.   As well as demonstrating our interoperability credentials too.    One other consideration for our demonstration in April  is showing off exactly how kn-i will improve the economic landscape of Canary Wharf, as well as being a useful tool for citizens and vendors.

Sadly, KnowNow had to pull out of CeBiT.   AdinAR is still being exhibited on the UKTI stand, so if you are in the area, drop in and say hi to Sepi!   This was due to a clash with the successful WudoWud project.   David is leading that exercise and we will be announcing the findings from that proof of concept in the next month.   Watch this space!

Business Model Canvas

AdinAR Business Model Canvas

AdinAR Business Model CanvasBusiness Model Canvas

I will admit that I had far to much fun for an IT architect collaborating with Luis this week from the Cognicity team on the Business Model Canvass that we developed for AdinAR.   It was an eyeopener.  I am really excited about this capability.  It demonstrates a number of kn-i advantages in bringing a place to life. kn-i is more than just about raw cash and trying to make a place thrive economically.  kn-i is  also about the place that kn-i lives in too.     AdinAR will sit in ‘Play’  and will eventually be added to the kn-i marketplace.  Oh yes… kn-i will be open for other vendors to sell their services through kn-i too.  Truly an economic value generator for all!

Bluemix

On Wednesday I was present in the IBM Bluemix  Garage on Level 42.    I was their to help old friends and answer any questions  from the floor about what it is really like to use Bluemix in anger.   kn-i is delivered on Bluemix, so very happy to oblige!

IBM BluemIx

IBM BluemIx

The beauty of using this environment is that we can use a number of pre-defined services to deliver kn-i.   Due to the way kn-i works it requires some hefty horsepower, this is stashed under the covers of BlueMix as it is hosted  on Softlayer.   Great news for KnowNow, IBM and our users!

And Finally…

The final pieces of news this week concerned our Canary Wharf mentor.  Now identified and we have a list of questions and validations to work through.  The meeting is not till week 9, so await an update on how this went in another blog.    The last Cognicity team mailing of week 7 was the assessment criteria.   This is important as we now have a clear target to aim for.

Looking ahead to the weeks ahead, (apart from the late nights), we will be bringing together the various components that make kn-i.    Kevin has been busy putting the finishing touches to the kn-i app for Canary Wharf, so look out for some early screen shots of our latest version soon!

Thanks for reading,  Chris