"IBM continues to invest in areas with high growth rates" he said Erich Clementi, head of IBM Global Technology Services. "Last year, IBM made a major investment, adding the acquisition of SoftLayer, against 2 billion dollars, to its existing, high-value cloud portfolio. The current announcement is another big step in promoting the international expansion of IBM's presence in cloud and helping customers transform them. "
IBM's new investments in this area will give business customers the ability to host and control their data on a global scale. As the company's announcement states, IBM SoftLayer enables customers to choose the cloud environment and location that best serves their business needs, "providing visibility and transparency into where data resides, as well as control over better safetyand the placement of the data."
Η IBM SoftLayer states that it is able to offer high-performance services globally throughout the SoftLayer network. The combination of distributed, local data centers and a global network allows customers to place data where needed when needed, enabling them to consolidate or aggregate data as needed. This allows for optimized application performance and responsiveness. The unique network architecture of SoftLayer allows customers to optimize global performance using a private network without being subject to the uncontrolled nature of public networks and the internet.
“The pace of Cloudant's international expansion is fueled by an unwavering commitment operation that we undertake towards our customers.” said Derek Schoettle, CEO of Cloudant, an IBM commercial partner. “Our mission is to be the data layer standard for web and mobile applications. This mission requires us to push application data across the network to as many places as possible. Expanding beyond our current IBM SoftLayer footprint will provide significant value to our business. IBM's investment in expanding its global footprint will not only help fuel our growth, it will also fuel the growth of thousands of Cloudant users worldwide."
In today's world of rapid response, with the multiplication of data from portable devices and social networks, this type of automation and speed of access to data with high availability and control makes IBM SoftLayer's cloud infrastructure an ideal resource for business customers worldwide.
"Cloud represents a growing business investment sector" said Ann Winblad, Co-founder and Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. "Investing in the cloud ecosystem, IBM does not just make it easier for businesses to adopt the cloud and boost innovation, but it also helps new companies of all sizes grow faster," said Winblad.
IBM SoftLayer is the basis of IBM's growing cloud portfolio
The acquisition of SoftLayer represents another major investment for IBM customers. Since its acquisition, 2013, IBM SoftLayer has been offering its services to almost new 2.400 cloud clients.
Indeed, IBM plans to make SoftLayer the basis of its extensive cloud portfolio. The SoftLayer infrastructure will provide a scalable, secure base for providing global cloud services that include IBM's wide range of middleware and software as an IBM SaaS (SaaS) service. SoftLayer's flexibility and global network will also facilitate the faster deployment, deployment, and provisioning of mobile, data and social networking solutions as customers adopt cloud as a platform for providing IT operations and enterprise management.
Recently, IBM made a significant investment by founding the IBM Watson Group, a new business unit dedicated solely to the development and marketing of cloud-based technology and Big Data innovations. As part of this initiative, IBM will also implement Watson in SoftLayer.
About cloud solutions computing of IBM
IBM is the global leader in the cloud, with an unparalleled portfolio of open cloud solutions that helps customers think, create or leverage its capabilities. No other company has the ability to integrate the unique expertise in the economy with its unparalleled cloud capabilities, having already helped more than 30.000 customers worldwide. Today, IBM has more than 100 SaaS cloud solutions, thousands of skilled professionals with in-depth knowledge of different industries, helping customers transform their businesses, and a network of 40 data centers worldwide.
Since 2007, IBM has invested more than $7 billion in 15 exmarkets, in order to accelerate its cloud initiatives and build a high-value cloud portfolio. IBM has secured 1.560 patents in the cloud domain with a focus on driving innovation. In fact, IBM topped the annual list of top US patent recipients for the 21st year in a row. IBM processes more than 5,5 million customer transactions daily through the company's public cloud.
For more information on IBM cloud suggestions, visit the site http://www.ibm.com/cloud. To learn more about this announcement, visit the A Smarter Planet blog http://ibm.co/1huAhrv