November 15, 2007

IBM to announce ‘cloud computing’ strategy

by Jan Harris

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IBM to announce 'cloud computing' strategy
IBM is set to announce a new strategy to exploit the concept of ‘cloud computing’ - the use of Web-based applications and information stored in the ‘cloud’ of the Internet.

IBM hopes to develop this concept for mainstream corporate customers, through large data centres equipped with IBM technology, which can be searched and programmed from remote locations over the Internet. IBM calls its new initiative ‘Blue Cloud’.

Cloud computing traditionally uses open source software, while the hardware used in the data centres tends to comprise thousands of industry-standard server computers from a range of hardware manufacturers, powered by Intel or AMD processors.

IBM plans to develop hardware, software and services specifically tailored for cloud computing and designed to attract corporate customers.

The first IBM servers adapted for cloud computing will be available in Spring 2008.

IBM has 200 researchers involved in the development of cloud technology, with a three-year strategy which will involve a substantial investment.

Several corporations and government agencies are working with IBM on pilot projects, and IBM expects financial services companies to be among the first to take up the new technology, which will provide significant efficiencies in power consumption and management costs.

IBM’s cloud technology will include ‘Hadoop’ software, running on the Linux operating system, and an open-source version of Google’s MapReduce software, which allows complex computer tasks to be spread across clusters of machines.

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