Riding High

Big Blue, IBM, has taken an aggressive plunge towards cloud computing. In
2009, it announced its comprehensive cloud model cutting across its Smart
Business services delivered via a hosted model or through a managed private
cloud model. The final pillar that completed IBM's enterprise cloud services
setup is its CloudBurst 1.2-a platform built on its System x BladeCenter and it
offers an integrated suite of core service management capabilities across
hardware, middleware and applications.

Offerings

IBM offers several cloud options to clients across public cloud services
which are delivered over the Internet, and range from LotusLive web 2.0
collaboration tools to a cloud environment for developers to create and test
applications. Additionally, IBM's public cloud services provide a range of
specialized solutions for the key business problems such as data storage and
recovery and virtual desktop services.

According to Vamsicharan Mudiam, Country Leader-Cloud Lab, IBM India/South
Asia, "While working with clients over the past couple of years, IBM has learnt
that a hybrid cloud approach (a mix of both public and private clouds) is often
needed. Public cloud services work for some workload types, but private clouds
may be needed for others."

To take that approach forward, IBM has acquired Cast Iron Systems-a leading
cloud application integration provider. IBM sources say that with the addition
of Cast Iron Systems to its portfolio, it can now offer its clients a complete
platform to integrate cloud applications from leading providers including
Salesforce.com, Amazon, NetSuite and ADP with on-premise applications such as
SAP and JD Edwards. Using Cast Iron Systems' pre-built templates, expensive
custom coding can be reduced, allowing cloud integrations to be completed in
days rather than weeks or longer. "We also offer private cloud services like
development and test, storage, and analytics in which we work with clients to
build a new private cloud inside their firewall, or transform the existing data
center resources into a private cloud," said Mudiam.

From a platform perspective, CloudBurst is a family of preconfigured
software/hardware solutions. For example, the IBM CloudBurst for development and
testing is a 42U rack consisting of blades, storage, virtualization software,
networking infrastructure, and IBM's cloud service management software built-in
provides a complete, ready-to-run private cloud.

IBM's cloud portfolio is aligned with its Smart Business, and encompasses all
these delivery choices to offer enterprise clients more options. IBM sources
said, "Compared to any successful enterprise cloud implementation, IBM has the
most advanced software and services capabilities to help clients manage these
environments with the governance and visibility that enterprises demand,"
commented Mudiam.

Shrikanth G

(Souce: DQ)