IBM (NYSE: IBM) is forming a new health business unit built around its “Watson” supercomputing capabilities, is expanding its partnership with Apple for health applications, is adding health industry partners, and also is acquiring two data startups.

This initiative is just the latest in Ginny Rometty’s campaign to reinvigorate the technology giant.

Just days after IBM disclosed the formation of an “Internet of Things” focused initiative and building off the Watson business unit that’s still finding its legs in New York, Big Blue on Monday disclosed IBM Watson Health. The new unit will be based in Boston.

IBM also is rolling out Watson Health Cloud, which the company says will offer a HIPAA secure creative environment for researchers, developers, insures and other companies pursuing health initiatives.

(Watch a video about the projects at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeCgQ5XrurY)

IBM recently launched an app development partnership with Apple focused on mobile applications. Now, the two ventures are going to tackle health with IBM supporting Apple’s HealthKit and ResearchKit. “This will support health data entered by customers in iOS apps and also arm medical researchers with a secure, open data storage solution with access to IBM’s most sophisticated data analytics capabilities,” IBM noted.

Johnson & Johnson and medical device firm Medtronic also are part of the new Watson health effort.

“All this data can be overwhelming for providers and patients alike, but it also presents an unprecedented opportunity to transform the ways in which we manage our health,” said John Kelly III, IBM’s senior vice president, solutions portfolio and research. “We need better ways to tap into and analyze all of this information in real-time to benefit patients and to improve wellness globally. Only IBM has the advanced cognitive capabilities of Watson and can pull together the vast ecosystem of partners, practitioners and researchers needed to drive change, as well as to provide the open, secure and scalable platform needed to make it all possible.”

IBM also is acquiring data startups in Cleveland and Texas. Explorys, which is based in Cleveland, and Phytel, a Dallas-based startup, both focus on big data and analytics related to health. (Financial terms were not disclosed.)

“The future of health is all about the individual,” IBM said in explaining the reasoning for the new effort.

“With the increasing prevalence of personal fitness trackers, connected medical devices, implantables and other sensors that collect real-time information, the average person is likely to generate more than one million gigabytes of health-related data in their lifetime (the equivalent of more than 300 million books).”

About the startups

  • Explorys: “A spin-off from the Cleveland Clinic in 2009, Explorys’ secure cloud-computing platform is used by 26 major integrated healthcare systems to identify patterns in diseases, treatments and outcomes. It integrates more than 315 billion clinical, financial, and operational data elements, spanning 50 million unique patients, 360 hospitals, and more than 317,000 providers. Market intelligence firm IDC just named Explorys global leader in Healthcare Clinical and Financial Analysis.”
  • Phytel: “Phytel develops and sells cloud-based services that help healthcare providers and care teams work together to ensure care is effective and coordinated in order to meet new healthcare quality requirements and reimbursement models. It was just named the leader in the population health management category by the 2014 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Services.”