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IBM unveils new hybrid, private cloud solutions for enterprise

New offerings will connect, manage and secure software as a service computing.


Johannesburg, 15 Sep 2011

IBM South Africa announced a range of new cloud solutions today to help clients drive efficiency, scalability, accessible anywhere, anytime, and “pay only for what you use” computing.

“Increasing numbers of organisations are looking to leverage the scale and flexibility of public cloud, but are concerned about losing control of resources outside of their four walls. This is causing organisations to embrace a hybrid, or shared services, cloud model, where they can more easily manage some resources in-house, while also using other applications externally as a service,” says Werner Lindemann, Vice-President of Global Technology Services for IBM Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to industry analysts, 39% of cloud users report the hybrid cloud is currently part of their strategies, with this number expected to grow to 61% in the near future. This is the result of both private and public cloud users evolving towards the use of a hybrid strategy. (1)

“The shift from hype to commercial discussion has happened. Cloud computing is not just a new package to the concept of centralised computing, it's the beginning of utility computing, offering both tactical and strategic business benefits,” says Mark Walker, Director: Insights and Vertical Industries, IDC MEA and Turkey.

As businesses adopt a cloud computing model, they are faced with integrating existing on-premise software, such as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and homegrown applications, while managing their usage and security.

Managing the complexities within and between hybrid environments is key to effective enterprise business use of software as a service (SaaS), according to Saugatuck Technology. (2)

“IBM's next-generation cloud service delivery platform is now available to South African businesses on a utility model, making business-ready cloud computing a reality that clients can switch to today,” says Lindemann.

Based on IBM hardware, software, services and best practices, the IBM SmartCloud architecture and platform for private, public and hybrid clouds for enterprise delivers a robust set of services, including compute, storage, mail and backup.

IBM has expanded its SmartCloudportfolio to include:

* IBM SmartCloud Enterprise - IBM SmartCloud Enterprise provides an agile infrastructure that is designed to provide you with rapid access to security-rich, enterprise-class virtual server environments, well suited for development and test activities and other dynamic workloads.
* IBM SmartCloud Mailbox - designed specifically to provide e-mail as a service for businesses seeking to reduce their investment in infrastructure and licences, by paying only for mailboxes required on either Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange, all with IBM's focus on security and reliability. This will be further expanded to a full-range SmartCloud Desktop in the future.
* IBM SmartCloud Managed Backup - Managed backup services provide end-to-end, cloud-based managed services to help you protect your business data, regardless of where it's stored. The solution helps to reduce total cost of ownership with a cloud-based data backup infrastructure; enables security-rich protection of critical data on-site or off-site for increased availability; and easy management of various industry regulation requirements.
* IBM SmartCloud Archive - Designed specifically to meet stringent privacy and regulatory compliance, from advanced indexing, search and retrieval, to eDiscovery capabilities. Provides clients with an advanced document and records management system to deal with structured and unstructured content; control rising data storage costs; and improved availability of critical business content.

"As cloud computing models emerging as a strategic means to quickly unlock business value from data sources, IBM is making offerings enterprise-ready with the best monitoring, governance and security tools available," says Lindemann.

(1) IDC http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/netsys/article.php/3870016/IDC-Sees-Cloud-Market-Maturing-Quickly.htmhttp://itmanagement.earthweb.com/netsys/article.php/3870016/IDC-Sees-Cloud-Market-Maturing-Quickly.htm
(2) Saugatuck Technology, 2011 Cloud IT Research Study: Key SaaS, PaaS and IaaS Trends Through 2015 - Business Transformation via the Cloud.

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IBM Cloud Computing

IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models, and manages millions of cloud-based transactions every day. IBM assists clients in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centres. For more information about IBM cloud solutions, visit www.ibm.com/smartcloud.

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Boitumelo Mkhondo
Text 100 Johannesburg
(+27) 11 775 5711
boitumelo.mkhondo@text100.co.za