Moreover,
differentiating its strategy from that of some of the leaders in the cloud
computing space, IBM is looking to deliver vertical cloud solutions. Braeger
said the company is "looking at specific verticals" such as financial
solutions, health care, telecommunications and others. "Name an industry and I
don't think there's a use case we haven't thought about," he said.
But
Braeger warned not to lump IBM in with the rest of the cloud computing pack.
"In
many cases, clients are thinking about the cloud as a pure commodity offering;
that's not what IBM wants to tackle," he said. "We're not necessarily looking
for clients in the MIPS-are-us space." He said although the cloud can be a
means of saving money, that is not enough on its own.
Rather,
IBM is going after clients who are looking to make a business transformation
via the cloud. IBM likes to work with "the ones looking for changing business
processes," Braeger said. And often that includes services as well as IBM
systems and software. Braeger used the example of IBM's
CloudBurst
appliance, which enables users to essentially put their cloud in a box. And
that system has sold well, particularly in conjunction with IBM services
engagements.
"There
is absolutely a Global Services element to this [cloud strategy]," Braeger
said. "There's a big part of the market that wants a deal including services,"
he added.
Indeed,
Braeger said IBM is seeing "a stratification of buyers" in the cloud space,
with some customers just kicking the tires or following up a pilot project and
others in a more mature phase looking to branch out and experience the broader
benefits of cloud computing.
For
his part, Braeger also said he does not believe cloud computing is just old
wine in new bottles or another name for hosted computing. The cloud differs
from hosted computing in two key ways, he said. The cloud allows self-service
access and it features elasticity or flexibility in the model.
Braeger
also addressed the issue of the growth and proliferation of data-rich
applications by the cloud creating the need for more data storage and data
warehousing leading to data overload. Asked whether this could create a
scenario where CIOs are going to have to grow their storage capacity at too
rapid a rate for the cost of scale of the cloud, Braeger said IBM has adequate
storage and systems solutions to handle data requirements. He also said IBM is
attacking the problem through analytics. "We've got the largest math lab in the
world working on algorithms" to eliminate the complexity of breaking down data,
he said.
Moreover,
Braeger said this presents an opportunity for IBM's partners. "I think the
Smarter Planet -- where there are one trillion devices interconnected --
Is
going to spin off opportunities for partners. For the enlightened ones, they
will look at the cloud and analytics as two arrows in their quiver."
Meanwhile,
Braeger told eWEEK he believes the "killer app" for the cloud is the
development and test environment. IBM offers a Development and Test cloud for
its customers.
"For
CIOs that's the killer app, to use the term loosely," Braeger said. "If there
is a killer app for the cloud it's the test cloud. The business cases for this
are unbelievable. We're seeing a lot of uptake on this."
IBM
is working with partners in cloud management, cloud security and software
development and testing support to provide businesses with a unique mix of
flexibility, scalability, enterprise-grade security and control for development
and test on the IBM Cloud.
The
average enterprise devotes up to 50 percent of its entire technology
infrastructure to development and test, but typically up to 90 percent of it
remains idle, Braeger said. IBM has seen that taking advantage of cloud
computing within development and testing environments can help reduce IT labor
costs by 50 percent, improve quality and drastically reduce time to market.
IBM's
Smart Business Development & Test on the IBM Cloud allows enterprise
clients to expand on internal development and test efforts with instant access
to resources through IBM's secure, scalable cloud delivery model, IBM software
and application lifecycle management capabilities. IBM's enterprise-friendly
approach to cloud complements clients' current data centers and traditional
development efforts, helping clients:
- Reduce provision cycle times
from weeks to minutes
- Eliminate software defects by
up to 30 percent.
- Reduce time required for test
and quality assurance
- Enable rapid redeployment of
environments across multiple IT projects
"We've
seen interest in this from our enterprise clients, our small and medium
business clients, from partners, pretty much from everybody," Braeger said.
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