IBM’s strategy for cloud computing has been evolving over the last few years. Starting with their legacy server and infrastructure business, then combining key acquisitions like SoftLayer, I think it is now safe to say that they have two primary methods for becoming a dominant player in the cloud computing community.
Infrastructure
IBM has had a long history of creating hardware and software products for infrastructure. Over the last few years, server infrastructure has been the primary focus (since their shedding of the ThinkPad PC business back in 2004). Specifically, IBM is interested in selling servers and related infrastructure gear to partners who will take these products and use them for developing cloud computing environments. Talk to any of the major IBM VARs and they will confirm this fact.
While this strategy may be plausible for the mid-market and enterprise partners, the SMB community is another matter. SMB focused managed service providers are struggling to finance the costly infrastructure tools IBM has to sell. While the technological argument is sound (private cloud environments do make a lot of sense for SMB customers), the business and financial steps required to get that infrastructure into the hands of the MSPs has not yet been resolved. Which leads us to the second path IBM is developing.
IBM Cloud Centers
Starting with its acquisition of SoftLayer, IBM has been developing a business model whereby those partners who are unwilling or incapable of financing their own private cloud environment, can utilize IBM’s data centers (i.e., cloud for those of you who really like that word). While the SoftLayer acquisition was a good starting point, IBM is not resting there. The company just announced that it will be investing $1.2 billion in new data centers around the world. Areas where data center development will take place include Washington D.C., Mexico City, Dallas, China, Hong Kong, London, Japan, India and Canada.
This two pronged approach, if successful, will allow IBM to influence both infrastructure sold to MSPs and customers to develop their own private clouds, regardless of whose data center it is, and to populate IBM owned data center facilities around the world to provide IBM cloud offerings to those who do not wish to invest in their own infrastructure.
The interesting thing about this recent announcement is that IBM seems to be paying attention to the recent public debate about US government spying. By building data centers in geographic locations around the world, IBM will be able to bring private cloud to these regions and potentially avoid allegations and concerns about data privacy and security.
Note:
After writing this article I saw a news report that IBM may be trying to sell its server division. If this report is true, it would obviously change the analysis of this article greatly. The $1.2 billion investment into cloud centers could be primary business model moving forward while IBM attempts to rid itself of the server infrastructure business. Either way, IBM will still be staking a claim for being a major in the new cloud computing world.