IBM Continues Cloud Spending Binge
IBM has announced that it will invest $1.2B in 2014 alone in building out cloud computing infrastructure. Big Blue has announced that they will achieve this build out using SoftLayer, which is a cloud provider they bought out last year for $2B. IBM expects this boost of funding to bolster each of its marquis cloud sales verticals. SoftLayer retained its CEO throughout the acquisition. Lane Crosby, the CEO of SoftLayer, has been quite candid in his vision for the new IBM cloud. The CEO was quoted as saying, “We want the world to understand that cloud is transformational for IBM.” IBM believes that the cloud will reshape the way we live our lives in ways we never thought possible.
IBM has noted that they will use this investment capital to build out 15 cloud datacenters all across the globe. Since 2007, total cloud spending for IBM has risen to an excess of $7B. IBM isn’t the type of company to talk at length about their investments. The company just seems to stay focused on developing the cloud. Crosby was also noted as saying,”Everything at IBM going forward will reside on the SoftLayer infrastructure-as-a-service.”
This move puts IBM in the prime time spotlight as far corporate cloud computing is concerned. All signs point to IBM becoming the standard bearer for super powerful computing clouds. With the recent release of Watson in the cloud coupled with the intent to build out 15 datacenters world wide, it seems as if IBM plans on becoming the dominant cloud computing force behind the globe’s biggest data projects. IBM plans on opening these datacenters in strategic parts of the globe. IBM has selected sites inside the USA, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and Mexico. IBM has future plans to build datacenters in the Middle East and Africa. More information will be released next month as IBM CEO Virginia Rommety is scheduled to talk about IBM’s cloud investments at a Pulse conference in Las Vegas.
