Panasonic and IBM Join Forces to Develop Cognitive Personal Concierge Solutions with Watson

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic and IBM today announced their work together on a digital concierge service to enhance consumer experiences and expectations while traveling.    

The empowered consumer expects a seamless, easy and personalized travel experience. A hotel's digital capabilities and amenities can impact a traveler's decision about where they book a stay. Today, Panasonic and IBM are introducing a creative and immersive experience that not only benefits the consumer, but also allows hotels to upgrade traveler experiences in the very competitive hospitality market.

The Panasonic Digital Concierge applies Watson and IBM Cloud to a digital mirror designed for hotels and other hospitality industry customers. Using the digital mirror, hotel guests can have a spoken dialog with Panasonic's Digital Concierge to quickly obtain a host of information about the hotel and its services, entertainment and shopping opportunities, transportation, weather, and other topics related to their stay.

"Panasonic has identified a need for this and several other kinds of connected solutions in the hospitality industry," said Yasuji Enokido, president of Panasonic Corporation's AVC Networks Company.  "Working with IBM, we plan to further implement our connected solutions vision while making use of Watson intelligence to provide end-users with more natural cognitive functionality as well as richer feature sets."

Panasonic and IBM will also partner to extend their collaboration to applications for the Panasonic-developed LinkRay. This technology enables users to automatically receive content from digital signage or light source by merely pointing a LinkRay app-equipped mobile device at such a source. Integrated with hospitality applications in customers' mobile phones, this enables a whole range of new opportunities to enhance consumer experiences around location based services and content consumption through the cloud.

"IBM Watson gets to truly know the individual and provides highly personalized experiences and recommendations," said Bruce Anderson, Global Managing Director, IBM Electronics Industry.  "Together with Panasonic we are bringing the power of cognitive to the hospitality industry to introduce a new level of customer service and further brand loyalty."  

The Panasonic Concierge is on display at CES 2017 in IBM's Client Center at the Venetian Hotel. Additionally, this week at CES, Panasonic announced the introduction of the Panasonic Cognitive Infotainment platform with IBM Watson, which is on display at CES 2017 in the new Chrysler Portal Virtual Concept at the Panasonic booth, as well as IBM's Client Center at the Venetian Hotel.

About Panasonic

Panasonic Innovation Center North America is a business unit of Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America, a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers acros`s the region. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic was featured in Fortune Magazine's 2016 ranking of 50 companies that are changing the world and doing well by doing good.  Specifically cited were its smart and sustainable technologies, including its contributions to smart cities and the electric vehicle revolution.  Learn more about Panasonic at us.panasonic.com/news.

About IBM Watson: Pioneering a New Era of Computing

Watson represents a new era in computing called cognitive computing, where systems understand the world in a way more similar to humans: through senses, learning, and experience. Watson continuously learns from previous interactions, gaining in value and knowledge over time. With the help of Watson, organizations are harnessing the power of cognitive computing to transform industries, help professionals do their jobs better, and solve important challenges. As part of IBM's strategy to accelerate the growth of cognitive computing, Watson is open to the world, allowing a growing community of developers, students, entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts to easily tap into the most advanced and diverse cognitive computing platform available today. Watson solutions are being built, used and deployed in more than 45 countries and across 20 different industries. 

For more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/Watson and ibm.com/press/watson. Join the conversation at #ibmwatson.

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SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America