IBM is rolling out new systems and solutions to help enterprises and managed service providers (MSPs) to build private and hybrid clouds .
Building on its recent acquisition of SoftLayer, IBM said its is bringing new integrated capabilities to accelerate cloud adoption for business transformation. The rollout includes new PureSystems, Power Systems, Smarter Storage Systems, System x, and Technical Computing offerings that provide the flexibility clients need to quickly deploy clouds. IBM noted that its now has more than 100 cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions and a network of more than 25 global cloud delivery centers. Since 2007, IBM has invested more than $6 billion in acquisitions to accelerate its cloud initiatives.
"IBM is uniquely positioned to compete aggressively for public, private and hybrid cloud computing opportunities," said Tom Rosamilia, Senior Vice President, IBM Systems & Technology Group and Integrated Supply Chain. "The new IBM Systems and solutions provide superior efficiency and agility to help clients quickly deploy the right cloud infrastructure that best meet their needs."
Some highlights:
- IBM PureSystems -- including two updated PureFlex configurations - PureFlex System - Express and PureFlex System - Enterprise. The PureFlex System - Express, available as a single chassis configuration, offers an affordable entry price point suitable for SMBs and departmental deployments in larger enterprises. The PureFlex System - Enterprise with highly available multi-chassis configurations is designed for scalable cloud deployments with built-in redundancy for resilient operation. Both systems support choice of POWER processor and x86-based compute nodes. The PureApplication System for simplifying and accelerating cloud applications is now available in smaller, 32 or 64-core configurations on POWER7+ with enhanced performance, density and resiliency. Since its launch last year, IBM has shipped more than 6,000 Pure Systems in over 100 countries, including to many managed service providers who are using the systems to deliver cloud infrastructures for their clients.
- New PureSystems configurations for big data and analytics -- PureData System for Analytics has a new cost-effective entry model, powered by IBM Netezza technology that enables business to gain insights on ever growing volumes of data. PureData System for Hadoop enables big data exploration in areas like social and text analytics.
- New Power Systems Solution Edition for Service Providers -- a pre-built, pre-installed cloud solution that is based on OpenStack support for SmartCloud Entry and PowerVC. The Power Virtualization Center product, IBM PowerVC , offers virtualization and management capabilities that can improve system resource efficiency and agility for virtual workload implementations. The new IBM PowerVP is a virtualization performance tool that helps clients respond to business needs faster by providing real-time insight through a graphical display. It enables further optimization of virtualized systems and helps identify potential performance bottlenecks.
- New Power Integrated Facility for Linux -- each Power IFL is comprised of four processor activations, memory activations and PowerVM license entitlements. With Power IFLs, clients can quickly activate capacity for Linux applications without interruption. And with PowerVM included, clients can accelerate response to changing priorities without incurring extra virtualization software licensing fees.
- New IBM BLU Acceleration Solution -- exploits POWER7+ processor-based technology for 8x to 25x faster reporting and analytics and 10x storage space savings. The solution combines IBM DB2 software with BLU Acceleration with dynamic in-memory columnar technology and Power Systems.
- New Storwize V5000 -- help SMBs tackle the data storage challenge. Positioned in the middle of the Storwize portfolio, the Storwize V5000 provides SMBs a flexible entry into the advanced management capabilities and performance of the Storwize family. The system can be configured with disk and flash, and supports IBM Easy Tier capabilities that automatically place data in the most cost-effective tier. The cloud-ready system, which comes with built-in support for OpenStack, can help clients build private and hybrid cloud storage architectures, while virtualization and clustering capabilities help them take advantage of true Software Defined Storage that grows and adapts with their changing businesses.
- New IBM System x3250 M5 -- designed for smaller business workloads and applications such as email, file/print and Web serving, and suitable for hybrid cloud environments. The compact uni-processor rack server offers double the storage capacity, twice the data throughput, 18 percent better energy efficiency and 10 percent memory power savings over the previous generation on the same size chassis. With the server's simple and flexible interface, clients can use IBM's Feature on Demand function to easily and remotely upgrade key features on the x3250 M5, without costly server downtime.
- New NeXtScale System -- a flexible computing platform with three times as many cores as previous one-unit rack servers. This new system incorporates up to 84 x86-based systems and 2,016 processing cores in a standard EIA 19-inch rack, allowing easy integration into any data center and uses industry standard components including I/O cards and top-of-rack networking switches for flexibility of choice and ease of adoption.
- New IBM Application Ready Solutions -- updaded high performance cluster based solutions for high performance scale-out applications and can be used to create a dynamic private HPC cloud depending upon user needs. New and enhanced ISV support includes ANSYS, Dassault Systemes, MSC Software, mpiBLAST, and Schlumberger.
- New IBM InfoSphere BigInsights -- Big Data solutions for telecommunications, financial services, and other industry clients requiring real-time analytics.
IBM Global Financing is offering 0% financing for customers choosing PureFlex Systems, Power Systems, Storage Systems, and System x technology.
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Earlier this summer, IBM acquired SoftLayer Technologies, which operates 13 data centers in the United States, Asia and Europe. Financial terms were not disclosed but Bloomberg valued the deal at about $2 billion.
SoftLayer allows clients to buy enterprise-class cloud services on dedicated or shared servers, offering clients a choice of where to deploy their applications. The company is based in Dallas, Texas, and serves approximately 21,000 customers. SoftLayer's majority shareholder is GI Partners of Menlo Park, California.
IBM said the acquisition will strengthen its position in cloud computing and will help speed business adoption of public and private cloud solutions. Already one of the world’s leading cloud providers, IBM expects to reach $7 billion annually in cloud revenue by the end of 2015.
IBM also announced the formation of a new Cloud Services division. The new division will provide a broad range of choices to both IBM and SoftLayer clients, ISVs, channel partners and technology partners. SoftLayer’s services will complement the existing portfolio with its focus, simplicity and speed. The division will report to Erich Clementi, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Technology Services. IBM plans to expand SoftLayer cloud offerings to include OpenStack capabilities.
