IBM Launches Cloud Services Initiative

IBM (News - Alert) has launched a company-wide initiative that further expands enterprise computing from the traditional software delivery model toward a mix of on-premise and cloud computing applications. This will be done with the help of new software, services, and technical and financing resources for clients and partners.

 

As the companies prepare to grow in a globally-integrated economy, they face a unique set of challenges in the current scenarios. On top of already cash and people -strapped organizations, an economic instability, a fluid regulatory environment, data deluge and widening IT skills gaps are placing additional cost pressures. As a result companies are looking to drive more value out of their IT infrastructure.

 

Enabling Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), to build and sell their applications in a cloud-enabled service model, IBM is launching its cloud-enabled services portfolio with new Lotus, Rational and Telelogic software. Based on open standards and Services Oriented Architecture (SOA), IBM has also released a technical roadmap. To help clients and partners test applications via cloud computing models, IBM will add cloud-enabled services specialists to its 13 Cloud Computing Centers and 40 IBM Innovation Centers around the world throughout 2008 and 2009.

 

To help clients and partners adopt cloud computing, IBM’s portfolio includes products and services include many new offerings. They include “Bluehouse,” the industry’s first online social networking and collaboration service designed for business. Lotus Sametime Unyte, which is IBM's first software product designed for delivery as a service via cloud computing. IBM Rational Policy Tester On Demand, which helps to reduce online risks by automating Web content scanning to isolate privacy, quality and accessibility compliance issues. IBM Rational AppScan On Demand, which scans web applications for security bugs allowing customers to immediately identify sources of online risk. And finally, it also includes Telelogic Focal Point, which helps product managers and business analysts set the scope of product and IT delivery based on objective requirements.

 

“Everybody is trying to define cloud computing. Ultimately, cloud computing will take off when companies can utilize data, applications and services from any device and from any location,” said Willy Chiu, vice president, high performance on demand solutions, IBM. “We are moving our clients, the industry and even IBM itself to have a mixture of data and applications that live on the data center and on the cloud.”