IBM Cloud

New IBM Cloud Logo

IBM Cloud is an online exchange, the essence of a virtual center for innovative cloud services, which offers technology and business, many "cloud" services from IBM, company partners and other developers.

IBM Cloud Online Exchange is a virtual center for innovative cloud services that combines technology and business, hundreds of cloud services from, IBM partners and third-party developers. With IBM SaaS , customers can access more than 100 SaaS applications, platform-based component services () PaaS BlueMix, and powerful cloud infrastructure () IaaS SoftLayer.

The IBM Cloud Online Exchange enables business partners and independent developers ON to monetize their solutions as enterprise cloud services.

Exchange mechanism

Customers are offered a system for searching and testing hundreds of open and scalable cloud services from IBM and business partners of the company. All proposals are presented in accordance with the interests of target user groups, and the content is dynamically structured and divided into such categories as "Startups," "Mobile Technologies," "Games" and so on. For example, the software team is looking for the most effective way to create new technologies to meet rapidly changing business needs. Until now, developers would try to recreate a single picture using disparate pieces of information found on the sites of numerous vendors. Today, they can do everything right away in one online platform, or contact IBM directly to purchase the necessary products.

Services

• IBM Cloud Object Storage
• IBM CloudBurst
• IBM Cloud Security Services
• IBM Cloud Mass Data Migration
• IBM Cloud OpenStack Services
• IBM Cloud Paks
• IBM Cloud DevOps Insights
• IBM Cloud Private
• IBM Cloud for Financial Services
• IBM Cloud Video
• IBM Cloud Satellite
• IBM Cloud Hyper Protect

• IBM Cloud Platforms

To businessmen

Business leaders need user-friendly, reliable, and scalable applications that are also easy to operate. IBM Online Exchange offers entrepreneurs and IT professionals a single platform for training, deploying and using more than 100 SaaS applications, including tools for marketing, procurement, sales, supply, customer service, finance, as well as lawyers and representatives of city administrations.

To developers

IBM The Dev section of the online exchange offers an integrated, ready-to-use cloud environment where individual and enterprise developers can quickly and efficiently create applications using industry-leading services and. API Subsequently, these applications can be integrated into hybrid cloud systems - both within and outside the enterprise. The online exchange IBM is based on open standards, so developers can choose any source or tools for application integration.

As a follow-up to the $1 billion-in-investment initiative, PaaS BlueMix IBM also announced the expansion of the BlueMix portfolio, introducing 30 new cloud services that offer developers advanced analytics, big data mobile computing and security applications.

IT Employees

IT managers want to create an infrastructure that can be monitored and configured to meet the needs of the enterprise. They need a personal set of services, hardware and software, as well as reliable and scalable technology with continuous access to it. The IBM Ops Online Exchange section offers a set of reliable cloud services based on SoftLayer infrastructure that help customers deploy cloud applications that require high performance.

The SoftLayer platform provides customers with the ability to choose the most appropriate cloud that meets their needs and provides system transparency, as well as data management capabilities, and their placement in public, private, or servers without embedded software. The service suite includes big data applications, disaster recovery, security management, and cloud services for small and medium enterprises.

For example, through the IBM Cloud online exchange, IT managers will have access to two new IaaS solutions from IBM's big data analytics portfolio. The InfoSphere Streams application allows organizations to analyze data and share information, thus managing real-time decision-making. In turn, the InfoSphere BigInsights application simplifies the use of Hadoop in the development of applications for big data processing. Given the addition of two new services, IBM Cloud offers a total of more than 15 solutions within the Big Data & Analytics portfolio for business users. Moreover, IBM Enterprise Content functionality is available to IT employees to manage information in a secure cloud environment.

2022: IBM began to provide the power of its mainframe in the cloud

In mid-February 2022, IBM opened access to the Z mainframe platform in the IBM Cloud, starting to provide a solution in the format IaaS "infrastructure as a service." More details here.

2020

IBM Cloud Aggregator Agreement with MONT

MONT, a software distributor in Russia, announced on November 12, 2020 the signing of the country's first IBM Cloud Aggregator agreement, which opens up new opportunities for a partner channel for the development of cloud business.

IBM Cloud Aggregator Agreement allows MONT partners connected to the MONT Cloud Distribution platform (MCD), access IBM solutions using all the capabilities of automation of business processes for cloud services management, such as flexible billing system, provisioning (automatic service setup and connection), monthly service usage fees, subscription management, analytics, 24x7 technical support, and the ability to participate in marketing programs. More details here.

Second Generation AMD EPYC Infrastructure Expansion

AMD announced that IBM Cloud is expanding its global infrastructure with second-generation AMD EPYC processors that will support open source servers. This became known on April 2, 2020.

IBM cloud solutions now use the AMD EPYC 7642 processor, providing improved computing performance on platforms without operating systems. Open source servers as of April 2, 2020 are available for ordering and represent the first IBM Cloud offering based on the second generation AMD EPYC processor. They are designed to provide the processing power and performance needed to accelerate today's workloads, such as data analysis, design automation, artificial intelligence, and support virtualized and container workloads.

Second generation AMD EPYC processors deliver high performance for cloud providers, providing the cores, scalability, and throughput required to perform critical workloads. We are very pleased to offer the benefits of the second generation AMD EPYC processors for IBM Cloud open source products, which will allow customers to cope with modern workloads that require significant computing resources. said Forrest Norrod, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the AMD Data Center and Integrated Solutions Business Group

We are very pleased to introduce IBM Cloud solutions based on AMD EPYC 2nd generation processors. With these processors, we can offer IBM Cloud customers more options when choosing the platform that best fits the most demanding workloads. We aim to continue to deliver innovations and solutions to our customers in the future, noted Satinder Sethi, CEO of IBM Cloud Infrastructure Services

A server without an IBM Cloud operating system with two sockets, based on the AMD EPYC 7642 processor includes: 96 processor cores per platform, 2.3 GHz with maximum acceleration up to 3.3 GHz, 8 memory channels per socket for excellent memory throughput, memory configuration support up to 4 TB, up to 24 local drives, OS selection: RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, MS Server, monthly pay-as-used, order option via IBM global cloud catalog, API or CLI.

Servers without an operating system are available in IBM data centers in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region^[1].

2019

Cryptographic technology for cloud data processing

On October 22, 2019, IBM introduced updated IBM Cloud capabilities that make this public cloud a secure and open platform for business.

Among these opportunities:

• Commercially available cryptographic data processing technology cloud in called Keep Your Own Key. It allows customers to authentications access control maintain control over their keys and enciphering hardware-based security modules to protect them so that only customers can access their data.
• Increased virtual servers next-generation bandwidth in the cloud, reaching 80 GB/s, which made IBM's public cloud hyperscaled. This allows companies to quickly access IBM services and scale their networks within a controlled and secure environment that fits the most important business processes.
• The expansion of IBM's global cloud data center through multi-region (MZR), which will appear in Toronto (Canada) and Osaka (Japan) by the end of 2020, following the example of the recently announced multi-region in São Paulo (Brazil). These regions will help customers quickly deploy critical workloads and applications in hybrid cloud environments, as well as use IBM's suite of public cloud services - from Enterprise-level infrastructure to artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
• By the end of 2019, IBM Power Systems technology will be available to several regions using IBM Cloud, which underpins the work of powerful supercomputers such as Summit and Sierra. This will enable organizations to develop and train their AI-based applications. IBM Power Systems supports Red Hat OpenShift, which proves the company's desire to provide a flexible, secure and open hybrid multi-cloud platform for client workloads.
• IBM Security Advisor will feature features that can detect security configuration errors to help companies ensure complete protection and take timely action.

Open architectures based on Kubernetes and containers are drivers of another wave of cloud innovation. It is for this reason that IBM has just completed two years of optimizing the public cloud based on open source software, "said Arvind Krishna, IBM Senior Vice President, Head of Cloud and Cognitive Software. - We are taking the next step and introducing IBM's public cloud capabilities that will give customers a high level of security, data protection, and Enterprise-class infrastructure to use Red Hat OpenShift.

Red Hat OpenShift на IBM Cloud

On August 1, 2019, IBM announced the transformation of its software portfolio, which is now designed for cloud environments and optimized to work on the Red Hat OpenShift platform, and also announced the launch of the Red Hat OpenShift service on IBM Cloud. More details here.

2017

Rebranding Bluemix and converting services to the IBM Cloud brand

In early November 2017, IBM announced its refusal to use the Bluemix brand in the cloud computing market. As a result, the company began to promote all its cloud products under the same name - IBM Cloud.

Before the Bluemix brand was phased out, it was used to denote PaaS services (platform as a service).

Bluemix is now IBM Cloud, IBM said, adding that the merger of brands occurred because "they have become synonymous."

IBM's desire for a single cloud brand became clear in 2016, when the company refused to use the name SoftLayer, which designated IaaS solutions (infrastructure as a service). Then, the IT giant incorporated all SoftLayer services into the Bluemix platform to unify the cloud technologies used by developers and commercial customers.

A SoftLayer was built into the general Bluemix management console, and the accounts in SoftLayer and Bluemix merged, as a result of which users began to be billed for using IaaS and PaaS.

Since November 2017, all cloud products and services, including Watson Data Platform, IaaS solutions, PaaS and SaaS (software as a service) are distributed under the same IBM Cloud brand. Especially for him, the American company developed a new logo (see photo below): the sun emerging from the clouds can symbolize the new heyday of the IBM cloud business, the publication SiliconANGLE notes.^[2]

IBM says that rebranding does not involve changes in the cloud business, including the rejection of any services.

According to Gartner analysts, throughout its history, IBM's IaaS business, focused on small and medium-sized businesses, has faced various technical problems that have delayed the entry of products into the market.

Hosting VMware Solutions in IBM Cloud

On October 11, 2017, IBM and Dell EMC announced an agreement that will give Dell EMC enterprise customers access to VMware solutions on IBM Cloud, enabling faster cloud adoption. As part of the collaboration, IBM has already added Dell EMC infrastructure products to IBM Cloud and will expand VMware's portfolio. Companies can move their information systems to the cloud while taking advantage of Dell's EMC infrastructure and VMware platform.

As part of the agreement, EMC will offer VMware vCenter Server on IBM Cloud to its customers, enabling the company's customers to quickly expand local data center capacity through a public cloud, while retaining previous investments in VMware training, scripts, and additional tools. Thus, users familiar with VMware will be able to move their local and public cloud information systems to IBM Cloud, maintaining the same level of control and internal audit as in their data center.

IBM Cloud for VMware is designed for enterprise customers interested in enhanced security. Customers can choose VMware solutions on dedicated servers, with built-in support for storage volume encryption and local connectivity to IBM's international cloud data center network in 19 countries.

Dell EMC offers customers the choice to host VMware environments locally or in the IBM Cloud. This allows you to adapt your centralized IT system more quickly to the growing business requirements and opens up access to IBM's fully cloud-based services, including cognitive technology and analytics.

Faster deployment and increased capacity in IBM Cloud helps IT services deliver services to business units faster. Users manage information systems in the cloud with familiar VMware-compatible tools and utilities through full administrative rights and console access to VMware ESXi.

Dell EMC will begin reselling IBM Cloud-based VMware solutions to commercial customers starting in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Use OpenStack to integrate enterprise workloads into IBM Private Cloud

On March 21, 2017, IBM and Red Hat announced a strategic collaboration program that will use the cost-effectiveness and speed of deployment of the OpenStack platform, simplifying the integration of enterprise workloads with the IBM Private Cloud infrastructure.

As part of the announced cooperation, IBM received the status of Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider and from the end of March 2017 will begin to provide Red Hat OpenStack Platform and Red Hat Ceph Storage installation services to customers on the IBM Private Cloud platform.

From the end of Q2 2017, the Red Hat Cloud Access program will begin to operate for IBM Cloud, allowing the customer to transfer unused Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions that fall under this program from its data center to a public cloud based on the IBM Cloud Data Centers global network, Protect and improve your investment in Red Hat software while delivering IBM Cloud infrastructure capabilities.

The goal of our collaboration with IBM is to help enterprise customers easily and quickly transition to hybrid cloud technologies. Now, customers who don't have the expertise to manage their OpenStack infrastructure can easily use Red Hat OpenStack Platform and Red Hat Ceph Storage on IBM Private Cloud.

Properties of the proposed technology

• IBM and Red Hat offer a hybrid cloud infrastructure that allows you to run cloud applications using OpenStack APIs;
• The customer can prepare the cloud infrastructure on the IBM Cloud platform and either transfer the existing Red Hat loads and subscriptions to it using the Red Hat Cloud Access program, or pay for the software and infrastructure upon use;
• The joint IBM and Red Hat offering scales and extends the reach of solutions, allowing you to start by deploying applications in your organization's own data center and then migrate them to the global cloud, ensuring that government requirements for physical data location and other requirements are met.

Focusing primarily on the cloud is becoming the norm for most of our enterprise customers around the world, for whom IBM Cloud, in turn, is becoming a key factor in digital transformation. The strategic collaboration between IBM and Red Hat aims to help customers seamlessly migrate to open source and cloud OpenStack solutions, protecting software investments and creating business opportunities.

2015:25 Russian startups will receive free access to IBM Cloud

IBM Corporation, as part of the final of the pre-accelerator GenerationS in Moscow, in September 2015 offered finalists free access to IBM Cloud for 12 months. As part of the Global Entrepreneur program, 20 finalists received grants worth up to $12 thousand, and the five best startups received a grant of up to $120 thousand for using the IBM Cloud platform, as well as all the necessary infrastructure to launch their projects. It is expected that grants will help startups focus on code development, scaling the business and introducing innovations to the market.

Participation in the program will also provide Russian projects with the opportunity to establish strong ties with IBM customers, many of whom constantly turn to startups in the search for new approaches to solving industry problems. In addition, the corporation will provide technical advice, provide access to the IBM global ecosystem and discounts on its business services to winners.

As noted, awarded entrepreneurs will have access to the entire IBM Cloud portfolio, built on IBM SoftLayer cloud technologies. The portfolio includes the Bluemix platform, IBM's cloud-based application development platform, which provides more than 75 runtime environments and services that will help start-ups benefit from the increasing volume of big data from mobile and social networks, IoT devices, etc.

According to Alexei Polunin, head of the cloud ecosystem development group, IBM in Russia and the CIS, "IBM's Global Entrepreneur for Cloud Startups program is designed to support startup projects on key IBM initiatives, providing them with resources and assistance in advancing to the global market, as well as deep knowledge and experience of corporate customers from around the world. We invite all technology startups in Russia to register for the program and apply for an IBM cloud grant. "

Five grants for $120 thousand were awarded to the following projects, which were highly appreciated by IBM experts:

• Mobiliuz - a project that connects any car, truck, construction or special equipment with third-party software or equipment;
• "Idealist" - a cloud service for streetfood, retail and delivery;
• Project ClevAPI - smart image recognition technology for any application;
• Pet-Doctor - a site for searching for veterinary doctors and clinics with which you can make an appointment, call home or get online advice from the right vet specialist;
• Directual is a platform for easy work with real-time data flow, which allows you to create scenarios based on the context of events.

2014

IBM and Microsoft agree on cloud compatibility

On October 23, 2014, IBM and Microsoft announced joint activities to compatibility of their cloud systems.

Corporations agreed to support the operation of the main enterprise packages on each other's cloud systems. The platform Microsoft Azure will run the application server, WebSphere messaging and. Websphere MQ DBMS DB2

IBM Cloud infrastructure services will provide support for Windows Server and SQL Server, the Microsoft environment will work on the IBM Bluemix platform . NET. In addition, IBM Cloud will be able to run virtual machines on the Windows Server platform with the Hyper-V hypervisor, and Azure will run the IBM PureApplication service, designed to migrate enterprise applications to the cloud. Azure will support licensing of binding layer programs from IBM based on payment upon use.

A preliminary version of .NET on the Bluemix platform will be released in a few months.

Launch IBM Cloud

On April 28, 2014, IBM announced the launch of the online exchange of corporate cloud services and services - IBM Cloud. The goal of creating the service is to help commercial organizations, IT specialists and professional developers try out and further acquire suitable cloud services.

Notes