IBM Builds Private, Hybrid Clouds in Diverse Industries: 12 Examples

By Darryl K. Taft

In October 2013, IBM Research announced a new method for dynamically managing network bandwidth within a cloud, which could lead to significant improvements in overall system performance, efficiency and economy. The cloud computing invention—for which IBM received U.S. Patent #8,352,953: Dynamically Provisioning Virtual Machines—provides a method for automatically deciding the best way for users to access a cloud computing system based on availability of network bandwidth.

Leading Croatian Web hosting provider Avalon was facing a growing demand for hosting services from both existing and new clients. Avalon decided to consolidate its IT infrastructure and selected a hybrid cloud model using IBM System x3550 and x3650 servers. With the new solution, Avalon has reduced its IT footprint by 60 percent and decreased administration processing times by 35 percent, all while increasing performance and setting itself up with the bandwidth to scale for future growth.

As the leading telecommunications company in Turkey, Türk Telekom Group was looking to modernize its data center and increase security, accessibility, performance and manageability with a private cloud solution. The company deployed IBM SmartCloud Entry on a System x3650 class server and has since saved $10,000 annually on labor costs and shortened provisioning times. The IBM solution is well-suited to manage Türk Telekom’s multivendor environment.

IBM cloud solutions have helped TienPhong Bank meet its growth objectives over the past three years. Based in Vietnam, the bank saw a 50 percent increase in customers in less than a year after moving to a cloud computing environment based on IBM’s Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure solution, including Power System 750 servers, IBM Flex Systems, IBM Storwize V7000 storage and IBM Tivoli backup management software. The private cloud solution enabled TienPhong Bank to expand its business operations across the country, with nine new transaction centers, and launch a number of enhanced customer services.

Telecommunications service provider Surfline Communications was looking to expand Ghana’s growing mobile data market and significantly improve the emerging region’s access to high-speed Internet. So it deployed an IBM cloud solution consisting of IBM Power 770 and BladeCenter HS23 servers, IBM V7000 Storage systems and the PowerVM virtualization suite to optimize its technology costs, improve operational efficiency and ensure excellent service delivery. The cloud-based solution is meeting Surfline’s immediate and long-term technology needs while also helping transform Ghana’s telecommunications landscape.

IBM System x3850 and x3650 servers have helped Inland Northwest Health Services improve its cloud-based electronic health record services for 40 hospitals and 750 physicians. With nearly 95 percent of INHS’ 1,200 servers now virtualized, IBM’s comprehensive data center solution has doubled end-user performance, reduced physical space requirements by 28 percent and increased storage capacity. The combined solution also includes BladeCenter H Chassis and BladeCenter HX5 servers, Storwize V7000 and DS8000 series storage systems, and System Storage SAN Volume Controller and IBM Tivoli software.

In 2002, IT services provider Options IT became one of the first to provide cloud services to the financial sector. And recently, when it was looking to foster growth and capture additional market share, the firm deployed IBM x3750 M4 servers to manage its financial cloud platform. With the IBM solution, Options has increased its client base by 20 percent and enabled its clients to reliably capitalize on new opportunities with near-instantaneous speed.

Facing rising fuel prices and competitive pressure across the airline industry, French airline and freight carrier Europe Airpost needed to enhance its IT performance. The company selected an integrated IBM PureFlex System solution with 11 Intel processor-based x240 compute nodes that enables it to more efficiently deliver services through a private cloud. The IBM PureFlex System, along with an IBM Storwize V7000 Storage system, consolidated Europe Airpost’s physical IT footprint by 66 percent and reduced application response times by up to 33 percent.

Swedish cloud solutions provider Ipeer serves thousands of corporate clients. With a business objective to double its revenue by 2015, Ipeer was looking for a way to deliver higher levels of performance, win new business and increase client retention. Deploying 30 high-performance IBM Flex System x240 compute nodes based on dual Intel Xeon E5-2600 series processor technology and two IBM Storwize V7000 Storage systems, Ipeer has increased performance and availability of its hosted services—strengthening its value proposition for clients.

Anadolubank, a premier commercial bank in Turkey, was looking to grow its customer base and expand the markets it serves. To do so, it needed to develop new mobile and Internet banking services, but the bank’s nonvirtualized storage infrastructure was slowing down the time to market. To overcome the bottleneck, Anadolubank worked with IBM to implement mirrored IBM XIV Gen3 Storage Systems configured with its existing System x3850 servers in a private cloud. The new solution has improved Anadolubank’s business resiliency and accelerated storage provisioning by 94 percent.

IBM technology solutions have helped cloud hosting provider Brodos AG quickly scale to meet its business needs and cut the time spent on server administration by 50 percent. As a telecommunications distributor in Germany, the company’s existing IT system was constraining its ability to grow. Brodos consolidated to highly reliable IBM BladeCenter HS23 servers and an IBM Storwize V7000 Unified disk system and is now able to scale up to support the business as it grows.

French managed services provider Zetark was looking to quickly create a low-cost, scalable IT infrastructure for providing customers with cloud-based storage and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions. So it implemented an IBM PureFlex solution running IBM SmartCloud Entry. PureFlex provides Zetark with a fully integrated set of server, storage, network and management resources, allowing its customers to deploy virtual servers in just 30 seconds. The PureFlex solution, which includes two IBM Flex System x240 compute nodes and one IBM Flex System Manager node, has cut typical customer deployment time from two months to just two weeks.