IBM SmartCloud Enterprise

IBM submitted in October, 2011 the new version of the public cloud platform of SmartCloud Enterprise 2.0 with new services, including the first offer of PaaS (Platform as a Service, the platform as service) which is specially developed for satisfaction of needs of deployment of corporate applications for a cloud environment.

In a traditional IT environment developers need to define, configure and administer all levels of required IT infrastructure — from servers and storage systems to databases and operating systems. Besides, now suppliers of cloud services do not offer a method safely and to automatically connect new and traditional business applications to basic IT infrastructure.

The IBM SmartCloud Application Services (SCAS) platform which beta-version will be available in the fourth quarter ensures safety of a corporate class, support of Java and a set of platforms, excepting a binding to one supplier, and offers applied infrastructure with a full range of the managed services for development and deployment of applications in a cloud environment.

The SCAS platform hides complexity of infrastructure management behind the services and simplifies problems of installation, setup, configuring and management for applications, binding software and applied tools, allowing the enterprises to concentrate on business needs of applications.

The provided infrastructure services IBM SmartCloud Enterprise are implemented on physical servers of 64-bit x86 architecture and conform to the requirements of agreements on the service level guaranteeing 99.5 percent availability of services.

Customers can select about ten configurations of virtual servers which contain from 1 to 16 processors with clock rate 1.25 GHz, from 2 to 16 Gbytes of RAM, from 60 Gbytes to 2 Tbyte of virtual disk space. Virtual machines work in 32-and 64-bit operating environments, including Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5. As a hypervisor VMware of ESXi is used.

In 2012 IBM SmartCloud Enterprise services + with the level of availability of 99.9% will appear. They will be unrolled on servers with 64-bit x86 and Power processors, the list of operating systems will add IBM AIX, use of a hypervisor of PowerVM will become possible.

Users will have a number of new opportunities, for example placement of virtual machines on dedicated servers or management of specialists of IBM of different combinations of program resources of the enterprise — from OS and binding software to a complex of the applications servicing business processes.

In the fourth quarter 2011, as expected, there has to be available a beta of IBM SmartCloud Application Service — the applied platform provided as a cloud service and supported by the same infrastructure as IBM SmartCloud Enterprise services.

In September, 2012 IBM announced expansion of a portfolio of hosting services (Managed Services) in Russia. Now customers of IBM in Russia and the CIS will get access to flexible cloud infrastructure which will allow to provide operational start of critical business processes and also to use environments for development and testing of business applications, cutting down capital and operating expenses and increasing effective management of business.

Expanding a portfolio of available services, IBM in Russia and the CIS provides to customers the complex packet of services including three principal components: providing the selected infrastructure (a hosting, outsourcing, a private cloud), the offer of SmartCloud Enterprise (the cloud solutions delivered from the international data processing centers of IBM) and the hosting services of cloud infrastructure announced today provided from the DPC which is based in Russia. It provides to customers the most wide choice of services which are characterized by flexibility, scalability and the checked quality guaranteed by long-term international experience of IBM.

By providing hosting services of cloud infrastructure IBM will closely cooperate with the Russian and international software makers for provision of services of SaaS.

The portfolio of new hosting services includes four main service products:

• A hosting of business applications in cloud infrastructure
• A hosting of virtual desktops in a cloud environment
• A hosting of a development environment and testing in cloud infrastructure
• Reservation and data recovery in a cloud environment

"New hosting services of cloud infrastructure are based in the Russian data processing center, – Valery Korniyenko, the head on strategic development of service business, IBM in Russia and the CIS noted. – It gives the chance to customers to observe requirements of the regulator, providing at the same time high flexibility of services and effective support of business development".

According to Gartner, around the world the rack of DPC is used on average for 60%. At the same time, according to data of Forrester, 54% of IT budgets of the companies in 2012 were spent for operational service and support of IT infrastructure. It causes growth of interest in model of IT services which is observed around the world, in particular in the growing markets.

Hosting services of cloud infrastructure will be delivered from the new data processing center located in DPCs of partners of IBM. The technological solutions used at creation of cloud infrastructure of hosting services include the platforms System x, Power Systems and also mean a possibility of placement of services on different physical platforms of DPC.

the Global cloud service for business from AT&T and IBM

In the fall of 2012 of AT&T and IBM corporation announced signing of the business delivery agreement of the first in own way network highly protected cloud service which uses not the Internet, but private networks. New service will integrate opportunities AT&T on the organization of virtual private networks (VPN) and function of a cloud platform of IBM SmartCloud Enterprise + with revolutionary technology from AT&T Labs for creation of a new productive highly protected cloud service with shared resources. This service focused on the world companies from the list of Fortune 1000 will become available at the beginning of 2013 as means of support of cloud solutions which require the high levels of security and availability. Many companies often refer to security as one of the pacing factors constraining implementation of cloud computing.

At connection of the subscriber of new service to cloud resources of IBM on a virtual private network from AT&T, the innovative technology closely integrates protection of both of these Wednesdays, allowing clients quickly and to safely transfer information or applications between own DPCs (private "clouds") and this new cloud service. It is very important for the enterprises which need flexibility of a cloud environment in combination with reliable protection of applications and data when moving between DPC and wire and wireless computer devices, such as tablets, smartphones, the desktop PCs, notebooks, information booths and other IT systems based on the intercomputer interaction.

So, for example, the financial services provider using new service can manage crucial data on clients and move them between the cloud environments of data processing and cloud DPCs of IBM without violation of reliable information protection which is provided by a virtual private network.

The AT&T technology dynamically distributes network resources according to computing, automating functions which are performed often manually. Therefore network and computing resources can be scaled quickly and in coordination, for example, for support of the fluctuating demand on the systems of the on-line retail trading company during the periods to, in time and after the seasonal sales.

Crucial element of a cloud service is IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+, IaaS-("infrastructure as service") the solution of IBM optimized for crucial corporate workloads. Being managed environment of cloud computing, IBM SmartCloud Enterprise + offers many advantages of private "cloud" – for example, the choice of the selected physical servers and DWH – but at the same time and flexibility of scaling which public cloud environments have. Clients who will use new service will get access to a broad spectrum of the protected hosting services IBM SmartCloud Enterprise + and will be able to execute processes as within a public, and private cloud environment.

Other opportunities of a new cloud service:

• Various settings for satisfaction of specific needs of the client;
• The obligatory agreements on the service level (SLA) brought into accord with business needs and operational requirements, meaning indicators of an allowed time of a response and availability;
• Over 70 built-in automated security functions; and
• The high levels of security which extend to the wire and wireless devices authorized for use in VPN network.

Competition to Amazon Web Services

In November, 2013 the IBM corporation claimed that contrary to reports it wins against Amazon public sector, in the corporate sphere, and together with SoftLayer — and in the market of the Internet. She says that IBM Cloud supports 270,000 websites more, than Amazon, provides a hosting for 30% to bigger number of the websites, than any other company, and services 24 of the first 25 organizations of the list Fortune 500. In addition affirms that only in the third quarter 2013 IBM helped out on cloud services more than one billion dollars and its turnovers in this sector rose 70%^[1].

It should be noted, however, that in 2013 reports of IBM on income in a segment of cloud computing became object of check of the Commission of the USA on securities and the exchanges. According to statements of the company, its reports are reasonable.

IBM reported that its new cloud services, including purchase of SoftLayer and a briefcase of SaaS with 110 applications, brought it in the third quarter 2013 more than 460 mln. dollars. The first hundred days after merger of SoftLayer added one more thousand new clients to the customer base of IBM numbering 22 thousand organizations, including such fast-growing companies as Twitpic, Tumblr, Yelp and SilverSky, many of which preferred IBM, but not AWS.

Besides, IBM claims that Amazon in contracts with bodies of federal management bypasses. So, the company won the contract in 1 bln. dollars with the Ministry of natural resources where Amazon was necessary to get support of the service partners to receive the seventh part from IBM got what. Also IBM transforms the system of supply of Administration of general services through a cloud. The company has contracts with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Management of perspective research projects of the Ministry of Defence, Management of national archives and accounting documents, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and in November IBM signed the three-year agreement on the managed services for Public service of weather for 19 mln. dollars a year.

In October IBM announced the patented invention solving a so-called 'problem of the noisy neighbor' which gained fame in connection with hitches in functioning of a cloud of Netflix based on Amazon Web Services. This problem arises when one of users of the cloud virtual machine absorbs IT resources and capacity of a cloud, worsening thereby functioning of a system of other user.

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