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IBM (NYSE: IBM) is introducing new offerings to make it easier for business partners and clients to create “patterns of expertise,” a new software capability first introduced as part of IBM’s PureSystems family of expert integrated systems.
IBM announced these new patterns at its IBM Impact 2012 conference in Las Vegas on April 30. These patterns are designed to streamline the set-up and management of hardware and software resources. PureSystems, introduced in April, is the result of $2 billion in research, development and acquisitions over four years, and has been designed to help change the economics of IT so that organizations can reduce their IT costs and complexity and put more resources toward innovation and growth.
Central to enabling and streamlining IT operations through PureSystems are these patterns of expertise. IBM announced a new Virtual Pattern Kit to enable clients and business partners to convert technology expertise into reusable, downloadable packages of their own. This complements the patterns that are already being created by both IBM and more than 125 independent software vendors (ISVs). Once designed, these patterns are embedded directly into the PureSystems machines to automate a wide range of manual and administrative IT tasks, IBM said.
As part of this announcement, IBM will also offer clients and business partners access to the PureSystems family to create and test their patterns through the IBM SmartCloud. This will help organizations to radically simplify data center operations, and capitalize on the massive cost savings and efficiency gains PureSystems delivers.
“With almost two-thirds of global IT budget being spent on just maintaining their current infrastructure, it’s imperative that companies find ways to reduce the complexity in their data centers,” said Marie Wieck, general manager of IBM Application and Integration Middleware, in a statement. “The introduction of patterns will revolutionize how applications are being developed and managed, simplifying tasks that organizations once spent months on and allowing them to refocus on innovation.”
Companies Need to Reduce Data Center Complexity
By offering clients and business partners the ability to create applications and patterns of expertise of their own for PureSystems, businesses will be able to significantly lower development costs, rapidly create new solutions for clients, and fill regional or topic skill gaps. These resources are based on the expertise and experience of IBM’s technical community and the developers and researchers that created PureSystems, IBM said. They include the IBM Virtual Pattern Kit for Developers, which is a no-charge software development tool kit that provides in-depth technical resources for developers interested in creating their own pattern of expertise for IBM PureSystems. The tool kit provides practical tools for developers to test patterns of expertise by creating applications that run on PureSystems and the ability to begin the development work to create patterns of expertise. The tool kit will help companies move their applications from creation to testing and availability in the IBM PureSystems Centre. For patterns of expertise, the tool kit will help companies begin the development work and prepare to collaborate with IBM to finalize the project. Once partners develop their own optimized patterns of expertise with IBM, their applications can seamlessly be deployed on either the IBM SmartCloud or IBM PureSystems in minutes, enabling their clients to choose their preferred deployment model.
In addition, IBM offers the PureSystems Cloud Trial, which is a PureSystems development environment that is available to developers for 90 days at no charge. The trial can help developers create applications through IBM’s SmartCloud that are ready to run on IBM’s new expert integrated systems. This cloud sandbox removes the hassle of server provisioning, operating system and middleware set up and the complicated cycles of permissions and procurement associated with software development. Now, if a developer has an idea for a PureSystems application, they can be creating and testing their application in a PureSystems-ready environment in minutes. The cloud trial also includes Collaborative Lifecycle Management software from IBM enabling business partners to work together on a project, or to work directly with a client’s developers. This collaborative approach can significantly increase the speed of software development, encourage innovation and empower developers with the tools they need to track the project through its completion.
By removing some of the biggest challenges of software development, IBM is helping businesses empower their technical experts to rapidly create a proof of concept for clients, and test new ideas. For example, a software developer, working for a bank, has an idea for a mobile application and would like to build a prototype to demonstrate its potential business benefits. Without the PureSystems cloud trial, the developer needs to obtain the necessary financing and permissions for the project. Then they need to secure and provision the hardware, download a base operating system, set up a middleware stack and enlist the expertise of skilled programmers to tune the middleware stack to ensure optimal performance. This can take days to achieve.
With the PureSystems Cloud Trial, the developer can log into the IBM SmartCloud and immediately begin working on the application in an environment that is already set up. They have 90 days to build a proof of concept without any risk that the hardware will be reallocated to another priority effort, and without needing the expertise of additional software developers to tune the middleware.
More than 150 solutions have been developed for IBM PureSystems by more than 125 of the worlds leading ISVs. With technical and validation resources from IBM, these companies have the flexibility to optimize their industry-leading applications to run on either the IBM PureFlex or IBM PureApplication systems.
To continue the rapid adoption of PureSystems among leading technology companies, clients can now nominate ISV patterns they would like to see in the PureSystems Centre. Additionally, special enablement events are being hosted at IBM Innovation Centers in 25 cities around the globe. These events are designed for all types of Business Partners and will offer resources and advice on how companies can grow their business with PureSystems. Additionally, developers have access to a wide variety of PureSystems technical resources on IBM developerWorks. There, developers can learn about PureSystems, watch technical demos and hear from others working on the technology.
In addition to offering resources to business partners and clients to create their own patterns, IBM is also introducing several new patterns that organizations can leverage based on their needs. These patterns are based on proven best practices and expertise for complex tasks that IBM has learned from decades of client and partner engagements. Now, they have been captured, lab-tested and built into PureSystems. With the push of a button, an organization can easily pull up a workload-specific pattern, reducing the time and effort associated with installing, configuring, tuning and managing software on an ongoing basis.
IBM is offering new business process management (BPM) patterns for deploying business process applications within a private cloud. IBM Business Process Manager provides clients with visibility, management and insight into their business processes. Through PureSystems, IBM intends to provide Business Process Manager Advanced and Business Process Manager Standard patterns, enabling customers to scale the use of BPM throughout their company faster and focus their resources on activities that add value to the business such as improving key processes, instead of installation and configuration.
Big Blues new business intelligence pattern drives deployment of IBM Cognos business intelligence applications in 20 minutes, IBM officials said. IBM Cognos Business Intelligence equips business users with reporting, analysis, dashboard and scorecards to help them easily analyze all information to drive better business decisions. Now with PureSystems, clients will be able to focus their efforts on getting faster answers to their key business questions, rather than spending time and resources on installing, configuring, tuning and maintaining complex business intelligence environments, IBM said.
Meanwhile, the new Social Collaboration pattern gives clients the ability to quickly foster collaboration, expertise location and sharing among their employees. A social business recognizes that people do business with people and optimizes how people interact to accomplish organizational goals. The Social Collaboration pattern will provide clients with an integrated set of capabilities that can be rapidly deployed and easily maintained to deliver new levels of social business in a private cloud, empowering people to easily connect with employees, partners and customers to optimize collaboration.
The first two models of the PureSystems familyPureFlex System and PureApplication Systemstart shipping to customers this quarter. PureSystems support IBMs POWER processors and Intel processors. Fifty clients are already engaged in the IBM PureExperience program to learn how they are able to put the PureApplication System to work for them.