Shares of New-Zealand based Straker Translations (ASX.STG) jumped almost 45% today — November 11 in New Zealand — on the announcement of a strategic two-year agreement with IBM starting in January 2021.
Straker’s AI-based RAY platform runs on IBM Cloud, and integrates seamlessly with IBM’s technology platforms. It outperformed other technologies that were considered in the selection process. Of particular note is the ability to take on IBM’s global media localization to provide multimedia content in 30 languages.
The localization company already provided localization services into Spanish, and will now expand its portfolio to 55 languages in support of IBM cloud services, IBM adaptive translations, and IBM global media localization. Volumes have not been disclosed, but Straker expects significant growth in revenue and a 30% increase in headcount to handle the new languages.
“This agreement is a recognition of the outstanding capabilities of our technology to handle a large volume of translation that is currently managed internally at IBM. Our talented team will be able to achieve major productivity gains with AI-powered RAY platform,” Straker CEO and co-founder Grant Straker told MultiLingual.
After IBM announced last month that it was restructuring by spinning out its infrastructure services business, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna made it clear that his focus is going to be on transforming the organization into a hybrid cloud management vendor. This is certainly a good sign for Straker and its shareholders.
