Cloud Hosting

Big Blue clouds are emerging on the horizon with the launch of IBM's new set of cloud services. Due to be launched this week, IBM will be launching two main categories of service:

- IBM Smart Business: Software Development & Test
- IBM Smart Business: Virtual Desktops

The majority of IBM's focus is in the private cloud enabling clients to, for example, own their own 42u cab complete with blade chassis and all the bells and whistles to run your own cloud. This package, selling for around $200k, allows IBM to charge for hardware rather than monthly utility based subscriptions similar to the majority of other players in the cloud arena.

The IBM cloud offering, historically unclear mainly due to the numerous points of entry and the possibility of alienating customers that could be in competition with them in the future, is now beginning to take shape.

Smart Business Development & Test

"IBM software delivery services for the cloud, enabling organizations to free up resources to gain rapid returns on their software investments by levering IBM’s secure, scalable cloud delivery model for application lifecycle management"

This new service can either be run on IBM's infrastructure or behind the client's firewall. Alternatively hardware packages are available, allowing the client to essentially purchase an "out-the-box" cloud (named CloudBurst). A typical CloudBurst package is:

The basic CloudBurst package includes:

* 1 42U rack
* 1 BladeCenter Chassis
* 1 3650M2 Management Server, 8 cores, 24GB Ram
* 1 HS22 CloudBurst Management Blade, 8 cores, 48GB RAM
* 3 managed HS22 blades, 8 cores, 48GB RAM
* DS3400 FC attached storage
* IBM CloudBurst service management pack
* IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager v7.1
* IBM Tivoli Monitoring v6.2.1
* IBM Systems Director 6.1.1 with Active Energy Manager; IBM ToolsCenter 1.0; IBM DS Storage Manager for DS4000 v10.36; LSI SMI-S provider for DS3400
* VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 U4; VMware ESXi 3.5 U4 hypervisor

IBM Smart Business: Virtual Desktops

"IBM’s clients have also successfully leveraged cloud computing to virtualize desktops. Using up to 73 percent less power than traditional desktops and laptops, server-enabled virtualized desktops deliver a better end-user experience and can be more efficiently managed.[3] Based on IBM internal data from client engagements, these solutions can also lower end-user IT support costs by up to 40 percent over traditional desktop environments."

Again clients can decide whether they want to host this on IBM's infrastructure or their own.

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