By Rich Ptak and Bill Moran
IBM’s cloud product and services announcements[1] at Interconnect 2015 were numerous and diverse. They span a multitude of functions making in-depth coverage in a blog impossible. Therefore, we focus on those we consider the most news-worthy enhancements in five key categories. The categories are: 1) SoftLayer (IBM’s competitive public cloud offering) enhancements, 2) BlueMix (IBM’s developer cloud) features, 3) Developer-focused features, 4) Security changes and 5) Management enhancements that focus on hybrid cloud.
Developers have even more new capabilities. Among the
most important is BlueMix support for enterprise Containers[5].
There have always been serious challenges moving applications between
environments. Containers simplify such moves. They can provide a significant
productivity boost when creating apps for multiple environments. Other
enhancements include faster configuration and deployment of VMs, ability to
build and manage a private image library, and much more. Also, there is API
Harmony, easing developer efforts by recommending relevant APIs based upon
smart search as it provides contextual relationship mapping from a large
selection of public APIs. Finally, IBM delivers a complete open development
platform with open software (Linux) and open hardware (Power Architecture).
IBM has
significantly enhanced its Cloud
Security portfolio since last quarter responding to the on-going battle
between security capabilities and criminal elements interested in penetrating a
company’s operations. IBM added an extensive range of new services to allow
direct customer management of cloud services. These include cloud access control
(people, apps and devices), increased operations visibility (to discover security
breaches and compliance violations), data protection mechanisms to identify and
block attacks by mobile and web apps, etc.
IBM is
delivering new functionality that will give its clients comparable Management capabilities for a hybrid
cloud that they have for a private cloud or for their in-house IT operations. IBM
Cloud Orchestrator[6],[7] will
allow management across hybrid environments.
One
more item: don’t overlook a consistent feature of IBM’s cloud and
infrastructure portfolios, i.e. its openness. Wherever possible, IBM uses open technologies in its enhancements. Open
Compute Foundation, Cloud Foundry, OpenStack and node.js are among the most
widely known. All feature prominently in the portfolio. It’s not just software;
it also applies to infrastructure combining POWER8[8]
with the software stack you have the
most open server platform available today. Further, since acquiring SoftLayer,
IBM has been moving it to open technologies. Customers should applaud and
support this direction. History teaches us that customers are better served and
save more over time when they avoid single vendor lock-in. Open technologies
facilitate that decision.
This has
been a rapid overview of IBM’s cloud announcements and activities. More
specific commentary and analysis is in the works. In the meantime, we highly
recommend visiting IBM’s website for more information.
[1]
See the following for IBM’s summary of the Cloud announcements at Interconnect
2015. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/46136.wss
and http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/46160.wss
[2]
FedRAMP and FISA are two federal programs that set federal wide standards for
cybersecurity for Federal agencies. FedRAMP is a GSA program; FISA is
administered by the OMB.
[3]
IBM says accessible in minutes.
[4]
See an IBM video on this topic on Intel’s website. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/trusted-execution-technology/ibm-cloud-intel-txt-softLayer-platform-video.html.
This is also represents a security enhancement.
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