IBM cloud investment offers business continuity
Published: 20 Aug 2008 09:22 BST
IBM is spending $300m (£161m) to equip 13 datacentres around the world with infrastructure that will let customers access a range of cloud-based computer services in the event that service disruptions take down their networks.
The investment constitutes the biggest investment IBM has yet made in this area, according to Brian Reagan, who directs the company's global strategy and portfolio management group.
"You either would have dedicated seats or essentially a replica of your work centre at that data centre [shared or dedicated]," he said. "By using a lot of these virtualisation techniques, when you want to move your workspace from your office, we would be able to transparently move your applications and desktop so you'd be up and running."
Although it is almost impossible to guarantee 100 percent uptime in the event of a man-made or natural disaster, IBM is treading on familiar terrain. Cloud computing dates back several decades to the era when mainframes ruled the computing roost.
As Rob Enderle, founder of analyst firm the Enderle Group, noted on a different occasion: "Back when IBM was at its peak, it leased mainframes and was virtually recession-proof. Cloud computing, in its absolute sense, isn't computers you purchase for your own cloud, but services you subscribe to for your organisation, which can be increased or decreased based on need."
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In a similar way, IBM's latest move is to provide cloud-based storage on a as-needed basis. In the event of a service disruption, the company said its datacentres would be able to electronically process the shift in information from customer sites in order to restore service in a reasonable amount of time.
The parallel with IBM's mainframe past is again hard to ignore, as the company is no stranger to running multiple customers on a single machine with a single application. This latest initiative is more complex, but the company is drawing on its experience with multi-tenancy.
Some of the technology employed by IBM is derived from its acquisition late last year of Arsenal Digital Solutions, whose rack-mounted storage appliances will provide the storage for information and applications data.
Earlier this month, IBM announced plans to spend around $400m to add cloud-computing datacentres in North Carolina and Tokyo.
Credit: Big Blue's latest big dollar bet on cloud computing from CNET News
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