IBM
announced the launch of a new portfolio of cloud solutions, allowing
organizations to move beyond virtualization to quickly deploy and manage
private clouds.
The
SmartCloud Foundation portfolio contains a core set of private-cloud functions
distilled from thousands of IBM client engagements and millions of cloud-based
transactions IBM manages every day. The portfolio is designed to help both
entry-level firms and more sophisticated clients quickly adopt private clouds
from scratch or transform their current virtualized systems into highly
efficient cloud infrastructures.
Demand for
private clouds is expected to double as many organizations look for ways to
gain greater flexibility from their computing resources while still maintaining
control of their data. Forrester predicts the private cloud market to rise from
$7.8 billion in 2011 to more than $15 billion in 2020.
“IBM
has applied its decades of client experience with data centers to help clients
take advantage of the private cloud opportunity quickly and easily,” said
Scott Hebner, vice president, IBM Software Group.
North
Carolina State University’s open source cloud computing solution, the Virtual
Computing Laboratory (VCL), integrates some of IBM’s private cloud software to
offer better computational and educational services to students and faculty.
VCL gives the university’s staff the ability to offer group or long-distance
technical learning programs, among other resources, securely and on demand over
the Internet.
“NC
State is offering services beyond what many other universities can provide with
a traditional IT infrastructure,” said Mladen Vouk, professor and head of
the Department of Computer Science at NC State.
“We’re
better preparing our students for jobs that integrate business with technology.
VCL enables us to give our students and faculty more and better resources in
the classroom, in teaching and research laboratories, and at home,” Vouk
added.
IBM SmartCloud
Entry solution, delivered by IBM Starter Kit for Cloud, offers the building
blocks to create private clouds on virtualized IBM System x and Power Systems
hardware. The solution provides simplified initialization and administration
for cloud environments on Power and x86 systems, standardization of virtual
machines, and improved operations productivity with an easy-to-use,
self-service interface. Organizations can scale to more advanced cloud
solutions as business demands and workloads increase.
IBM is
enabling Business Partners to take to market its portfolio of cloud solutions.
IBM also provides training to its more than 130,000 partners and resellers,
giving them the tools they need to customize IBM cloud solutions to meet
specific client needs and requirements.
By
Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
