MELBOURNE, Australia,
Aug. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/
-- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that SoftLayer, an IBM
Company, plans to launch its first Australian data center in
Melbourne in September. It will be
the latest of 15 new data centers that IBM plans to open as part of
a $1.2 billion dollar global investment to strengthen and extend
its cloud services in Asia Pacific
and around the world. The new onshore SoftLayer data center
will meet Australian organizations' demands for secure, in-country
enterprise-grade IBM cloud services that can deliver hybrid,
private and public cloud environments.
The Melbourne data center
offers the full portfolio of SoftLayer's cloud services to include
bare metal and virtual servers, storage, and networking, all in one
integrated platform. Replicating the design of other SoftLayer data
centers around the globe, the Melbourne facility will have capacity for more
than 15,000 physical servers. The onshore facility provides
Australian customers with local residency for their data that is
secure, resilient and can be easily integrated with existing
infrastructure to provide a robust hybrid environment. A
second Australian SoftLayer data center is planned to open later
this year.
As organizations look to achieve higher scalability,
performance, transparency and security they are relying on IBM's
enterprise-grade cloud offerings. Peter Bourke, the Director
of Information Technology Scentre Group (ASX: SCG), owner and
operator of Westfield in Australia
and New Zealand, said a hybrid cloud approach will further
enable Scentre Group to continue to deliver iconic retail
experiences for customers.
"Our industry is rapidly transforming and we need to be ready to
quickly respond to these changes. Today's empowered consumer is
looking for an integrated personalized shopping, lifestyle and
entertainment experience. A hybrid cloud strategy will allow the
flexibility and scalability to meet these needs. The
SoftLayer offering provides an interesting option for a hybrid
cloud environment," said Bourke.
"Australia is an important
market for IBM and SoftLayer. We are seeing a strong appetite for
cloud in this market, particularly towards the hybrid cloud model.
We are investing in Australia,
combining and strengthening our existing cloud capabilities.
We now offer customers high value, enterprise grade hybrid cloud
environment," said Lance Crosby CEO SoftLayer. "IBM's ability
to offer Australian businesses in-country access to SoftLayer's
global cloud infrastructure will further accelerate cloud adoption
amongst a new breed of organizations that is constantly ready and
responding to change."
Opening the new facility, the Victorian Minister for Technology
Gordon Rich-Phillips welcomed the
IBM announcement as another significant international investment in
Victoria's information and
communications technology capabilities and skills; and a valuable
addition to the state's world-class technology ecosystem.
Other Australian organizations across enterprise, small and
medium sized companies, start-ups and developers are all looking to
IBM's best in class cloud infrastructure to build and scale their
mission critical applications. These include:
- Rightship and Loft Group are taking advantage of SoftLayer
cloud solutions to build and scale their mission critical
applications.
- HotelsCombined is using SoftLayer to service more than 30
million visitors per month to their site, transacting in 120
currencies and 40 languages.
- Tech startups Digital Market Square, Bugwolf, Cartesian and
Portland Software are developing applications on SoftLayer using
IBM's development platform Bluemix.
IBM has recently partnered with one of Australia's largest IT distributor's, Avnet
Technology Solutions, to build a robust business partner network in
Australia to deliver SoftLayer
services to the mid-market.
IBM's partner ecosystem continues to expand with local Managed
Service Partners' including Offis, Bendigo Community Telco and
Integr8IT using SoftLayer to provide customers with a host of
Infrastructure-as-a-Service solutions. SoftLayer is also
being used by companies like Nexright to deploy enterprise
applications at the speed of start-ups. Cloud brokers and
Platform-as-a-Service providers like Platformer and ISW have
integrated SoftLayer into their cloud marketplace, while ISVs,
software developers and integrators like Mutuality Corp, Aviarc,
Certus, eMagine and Novatti are making business applications more
accessible through Software-as-a-Service offerings delivered on
SoftLayer.
Learn more about SoftLayer in Australia at:
http://www-07.ibm.com/au/cloud2014/media
Follow the conversation at #EIC2014
About IBM Cloud Computing
IBM is the global leader in cloud with an unmatched portfolio of
open cloud solutions to enable clients for the hybrid cloud era
with integration, control over data and expertise. IBM Cloud has
helped more than 30,000 clients around the world. Today, IBM
has 100+ cloud SaaS solutions, thousands of experts with deep
industry knowledge helping clients transform and a growing global
network of data centers. Since 2007, IBM has invested more
than $7 billion in 17 acquisitions to
accelerate its cloud initiatives. IBM holds 1,560 cloud patents
focused on driving innovation. In fact, IBM for the 21st
consecutive year topped the annual list of US patent leaders. IBM
processes more the 5.5M client transactions daily through IBM's
public cloud. For more information about cloud
Media Contact
Nicholas
Smith
IBM Media Relations
1 (212) 671-9653
nssmith@us.ibm.com
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