IBM SmartCloud Helps Customers Expand Into New Markets
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Ogilvy & Mather, an international
advertising, marketing and public relations agency, also turned to IBM to
upgrade its IT environment. The IBM team is migrating Ogilvy from its current
hosted environment to the SmartCloud for SAP applications hosted in IBM's
state-of-the-art, green Smarter Data Center in Raleigh, N.C.
The Ogilvy solution includes the latest
infrastructure technology and full SAP service, and it is prebuilt,
preconfigured and requires minimal client resources to maintain the company's entire
production SAP landscape. IBMs SAP Cloud solution also offers Ogilvy the benefits
of solution scalability and the ability to add resources for development
projects with a short-term commitment.
Given the attention to cloud-based
solutions, it's easy to be overwhelmed with comparisons and multiple options,
said Yuri Aguiar, senior partner and CIO at Ogilvy & Mather. However, when
it comes to critical applications like SAP, we were looking for a mature model
that could scale and cater to our unique prerequisites. The SCE+ [SmartCloud
Enterprise+] offering fit this need very well and had the backing of a reliable
global partner.
OTRUM, a provider of interactive TV solutions
and content to the hospitality industry, uses the Cognos analytics tool from
IBM to handle marketing campaigns and highlight repeat behavior patterns
associated with guest interaction and purchasing. This solution leverages
Cognos on SmartCloud Enterprise to deliver custom analytics to more than 500
hotels. OTRUM has now fully migrated all digital signage clients to the IBM
SmartCloud Enterprise, a move that eliminates the need for hundreds of physical
servers at customer sites. In addition to reducing hardware, the cloud
increases efficiency by allowing for central management and distribution of
data.
Launched as a platform as a service (PaaS) beta
program in October 2011, IBMs SmartCloud Application Services (SCAS) is
expanding to a full pilot with new customers such as CLD Partners, a provider
of IT consulting services with a focus on cloud computing.
We share IBMs vision for how enterprise
customers can achieve huge productivity gains by embracing cloud technologies.
SCAS allowed us to utilize world-class software in a managed environment that
greatly reduced the complexity of the deployment while also providing for
future scalability that our customers only pay for when they need it, said
Steve Clune, founder and CEO of CLD Partners, in a statement. Ultimately,
traditional infrastructure planning and configuration that would have required
weeks was literally reduced to hours. And future flexibility as infrastructure
needs change is virtually limitless.
In addition, IBM is leveraging the cloud to
help improve health care delivery in Haiti through its collaboration with the Colleagues in Care Global Healthcare
Network. Colleagues in Care is using the IBM SmartCloud for
Social Business to virtually connect medical workers and volunteers from
around the globe. Using the IBM SmartCloud, the volunteers and those on the
front lines taking care of patients are armed with an online medical knowledge
system that includes treatment options, clinical pathways and best practices
specific to the situation in Haiti.
The network consists of approximately 200
doctors, nurses and business professionals coming together virtually from all
around the globe, including Canada, China, Haiti, France, Ireland, Italy, the
United Kingdom and the United States.
Additional new clients, including Ricoh, Neiman
Marcus, University of Texas at El Paso, Hindustan Motors, Bonduelle and Apave
have chosen IBM's SmartCloud to help drive social business adoption across the
enterprise. Using IBM social networking tools in the cloud, these organizations
are seamlessly collaborating and sharing information and ideas, resulting in
increased efficiency and productivity in a security-rich and cost-effective
environment.
For these social businesses, IBM is also
introducing IBM SmartCloud Archive Essentials, a cost-effective email-archiving
solution. IBM SmartCloud Archive Essentials provides customers with the
confidence of knowing their email is archived continuously and securely, while
making the data accessible for compliance and e-discovery requirements in the
IBM SmartCloud.
Launched in February, IBMs Ready for IBM SmartCloud
Services validation continues to grow with more than 30 new ISVs
and partners, making it easier for clients to quickly find
technology from Business Partners that are validated for IBM SmartCloud
Services. In the new online directory,
certified Business Partner technologies are divided into categories, such as
business applications, collaboration, development and test tools,
infrastructure services, and security and monitoring.
New ISVs and partners include AppZero, Cloud
Prime, Cohesive FT, Convertigo, Corent, Jaspersoft, NViso, SOASTA, Sproxil,
SugarCRM, Vacava, Vision Solutions, Zementis and many others.
Additionally, IBM is enhancing its SmartCloud
portfolio; for example, SmartCloud
Enterprise 2.1 offers new and enhanced functionality in a simple to deploy,
robust infrastructure as a service (IAAS) for building and deploying innovative
applications that can optionally integrate with private cloud and traditional
IT elements. SmartCloud Enterprise 2.1 offers a new service-level agreement
(SLA) of 99.9 percent.
And SmartCloud Enterprise 2.1 also supports
two new Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems. Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.8 will add functionality for enhanced performance, flexibility and security
while Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 delivers improvements in virtualization,
resource management and high availability, and offers new features in storage,
file system performance and identity management. It also delivers upgrades to
the persistent storage system, enabling increased speed and performance, and
upgrades to embedded Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisors providing
greater security and performance improvements.
Meanwhile, SmartCloud
Enterprise + is now available in North America and Europe with plans for
additional global rollout in the third quarter of 2012. SmartCloud Enterprise+
provides support for both x86 and P-Seriesrunning operating systems, including
Windows, Linux and AIX on top of either VMware or PowerVM hypervisors, and
delivered with the expertise of IBM services.
IBM also offers Migration Services for SmartCloud
Enterprise+, which provide patented tools and methods to help clients speed up the
transition from traditional outsourcing to the cloud. This offering also is
projected to be available in the third quarter of 2012.
IBMs SCE+ is designed to support different
workloads and associated technology platforms, including a new System z shared
environment that will be available in the United States and the United Kingdom
later this year, the company said.
SmartCloud Application Services, IBMs PaaS, will
now be more widely available to select customers moving from the beta to the pilot
stage. Customers will be able to take advantage of both Application Workload
Service as well as Collaborative Lifecycle Management Service to develop and deploy
applications on top of SmartCloud Enterprise to jump-start their SmartCloud
Application Services (SCAS) projects.
While in the pilot phase, customers will be
able to use SmartCloud Application Services at no charge, except for the
underlying IBM SmartCloud Enterprise infrastructure used by the SCAS pilot
services. Available in English around the world, the SmartCloud Application
Services pilot will run from May 15 until general availability, which is projected
for the third quarter of 2012.
As part of the broader IBM SmartCloud family,
SmartCloud Application Services are compatible with the newly announced IBM
PureSystems family. For example, through SmartCloud Application Services, clients
can rapidly design, develop and test their dynamic applications on IBM's public
cloud and deploy those same applications on a private cloud built with
PureApplication Systems, or vice versa.
Across both IBM SmartCloud Enterprise and
Enterprise+, IBM now supports the Microsoft License Mobility program. Offering
new flexible options for deploying Microsoft applications, such as Microsoft
Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft SQL Server on IBM's
SmartCloud Enterprise, customers can choose between deploying Microsoft
applications on premises or on IBM's SmartCloud, leveraging the value of volume
licenses with Microsoft's Software Assurance. This option can help customers
lower operating costs using IBM's SmartCloud's shared infrastructure.
IBM also offers financing for customers
looking to move to the cloud. IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing arm
of IBM, helps credit-qualified clients make the transition to cloud computing
with low-rate financing for cloud solutions and zero-percent loans for IBM
software. For more information, on IBMs cloud financing options, click here.
