June 17, 2009 – IBM introduced a set of commercial cloud services and integrated products for the enterprise, meant to standardize costly and complicated IT functions.
The Smart Business cloud portfolio uses automation technology and self-service to enhance software development and testing, desktop and device management as well as collaboration, according to an IBM release.
IBM’s announcement follows a series of new cloud releases and upgrades this month, including CSC’s new family of cloud services combining private and public cloud models, and service upgrades from Vertica, SugarCRM and iWay Software.
According to a Gartner report, cloud services revenue is on pace to surpass $56.3 billion this year. Revenue has increased 21.3 percent from 2008 to $46.4 billion, and the market is expected to reach $150.1 billion in 2013, according to the research firm.
In his blog, technology consultant Ara Trembly, founder of Ara Trembly, The Insurance Tech Consultant cautions against an overeager embrace of virtual environments however.
“In a nation and world obsessed with reducing costs and juicing performance, the concept of virtualization seems like a delicious bit of low-hanging fruit, but for some time now I have wondered about the potential security risks involved with this technology,” Trembly said.
IBM’s cloud model offers three deployment models, which include IBM’s service management system the manage access and security for the cloud, according to an IBM statement.
Adrienne Baker is associate editor at Information Management. She can be reached at adrienne.baker@sourcemedia.com.
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