Prechod na cloud computing je spôsobený výrazným nárastom potreby spolupráce v rôznych oblastiach biznisu, požiadaviek na prepájanie zariadení, na prenos dátových tokov v reálnom čase a tiež používaním Web 2.0 aplikácií, ako sú streamovanie videa a zvuku a multimediálna zábava, social networking a mobilné komerčné aplikácie. Cloud computing predstavuje zásadný krok v oblasti využívania výpočtových zdrojov – umožňuje vládnym inštitúciám, podnikateľom a súkromným osobám prístup k obrovskému výpočtovému výkonu, k analýzam veľmi vysokých objemov dát a k aplikáciám s päť až desať násobne efektívnejším využitím nákladov.
Nové centrá sú navrhnuté tak, aby pomáhali klientom v Afrike a Číne riešiť problémové oblasti, s ktorými by sa inak nevedeli vysporiadať. Napríklad využitím týchto nových centier IBM, môže mať univerzita prístup k výpočtovým zdrojom superpočítačov na analýzu dát a stanovenie toho, ako by sa mohli šíriť choroby v danom regióne alebo ako klimatické zmeny ovplyvnia prírodné zdroje.
Spoločnosť IBM vyčlenila 120 miliónov dolárov v dvojročnom období pre subsaharskú Afriku, aby dokázala využiť potenciál schopností a expertízy obyvateľstva a aby zachytila tempo rýchleho rastu na rozvíjajúcich sa trhoch v krajinách, ktoré začínajú významne investovať do IT s cieľom modernizovať spoločnosť a budovať základy biznis infraštruktúry v oblasti vládnych služieb, bankovníctva a telekomunikácií. Nové centrá sú súčasťou celosvetových investícií spoločnosti IBM na rozvíjajúcich sa a významne rastúcich trhoch, na ktorých rozvoj vyčlenila spoločnosť dodatočných 1,6 miliardy dolárov ešte začiatkom tohto roku.
Dve nové centrá sú súčasťou rozšírenia kapacít IBM v oblasti cloud computingu po celom svete. Spoločnosť IBM otvorila svoje prvé európske Cloud Computing Centrum v Dubline, v Írsku, v marci tohto roku. V priebehu minulého roka poskytovala spoločnosť IBM služby cloud computingu takým klientom, ako Wuxi City of China, Sogeti, časti spoločnosti Capgemini – divízii lokálnych profesionálnych služieb, vietnamským vládnym inštitúciám a univerzitám a iTricity, spoločnosti pre počítačové hostingové služby so sídlom v Holandsku.
Ďalej pokračuje správa v pôvodnom znení:
“These centers will enable our clients in China and sub-Saharan Africa to better embrace the services-based, global economy,” said Nick Donofrio, IBM’s executive vice president of Innovation and Technology. “Much like the power-generation and manufacturing infrastructures before it, the data center continues to consolidate for scale and become increasingly more efficient and interconnected with partners and the public Internet infrastructure. From that, a global value chain of information technology is emerging.”
The new center in Beijing draws upon experts from IBM’s research and development labs in China, where IBM has established a significant research and development presence. There currently are more than 3,200 IBM engineers and scientists employed by IBM labs in Beijing and Shanghai. China is home to one of IBM’s eight research labs worldwide.
“China is focused on transforming itself into a services-led economy,” said Henry Chow, Chairman of the IBM Greater China Group. “New business models are key to the change and growth. Cloud computing and our expertise can help Chinese enterprises with their agenda.”
The Beijing center will help clients test proofs of concept, as well as design and deploy cloud computing infrastructures and projects. The center will provide clients with resources such as reference studies and skills training about the cloud computing environment.
The new Africa Innovation Center located in Johannesburg is the first of its kind on the continent. In addition to cloud computing, the center will showcase Web 2.0 technologies, service-oriented architecture (SOA), systems management, next-generation banking systems, and environmentally friendly computing designs as it nurtures information technology skills and addresses business challenges in the economic growth of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the South African center, Mrs. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, said, “We are highly energized by IBM’s investment because it directly responds to our call for increased private sector investment into sustainable initiatives that advance priority technical skills. It is also encouraging that the company’s plans integrate the entire Sub-Saharan Africa, which assures us that in the long term we will secure a thriving South Africa in a prosperous region.”
The new center will offer an array of services for IBM business partners, software start-ups, IT professionals and academia, who will be able to use its resources to develop skills and deliver solutions to global markets using IBM’s open architecture. They will be able to access IBM services such as product demonstrations, business consulting, and workshops for designing, testing, as well as piloting projects to drive business growth, reduce time-to-market and lower development costs.
“The Africa Innovation Center is a landmark investment for IBM because it represents our commitment to be a partner in the continent’s growth agenda,” said Steve Mills, Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Software Group. This commitment is backed by IBM’s globally integrated enterprise strategy driven by a newly created IBM Growth Markets Organization to accelerate the company’s performance in rapidly expanding markets, such as Africa.
IBM has also deployed IBM Idea Factory for Cloud Computing for the University of Pretoria’s Computational Intelligence Research Group. Computer science students will be able to access this new service -- based on Web 2.0 technologies and delivered through IBM’s cloud computing environment -- to create new projects and collaborate with other members of their community.
“IBM’s cloud solution will help our researchers reduce the total time to set-up and run simulations from weeks to days, thereby expanding our scope of research capabilities and improving the productivity of our research students,” said Professor Andries Englebrecht of the University of Pretoria.
IBM also has launched ‘Blue Cloud’, a collection of enabling technologies that is used to create cloud computing experiences for customers in data center, hosting service and other cloud environments. Blue Cloud is a key technology for IBM's New Enterprise Data Center (NEDC) initiative, as well as for all of the IBM Cloud Computing centers worldwide.
The two new centers offer access to IBM’s global network of 39 Innovation Centers and 60 research and development labs. Companies are able to tap into IBM expertise regardless of their proximity to any global center.
Viac informácií o cloud computing IBM nájdete na: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/hipods/
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/photo/22615.wss
* Zdroj pre informáciu o 5-10 násobnej efektivite: Merrill Lynch - The Cloud Wars, Máj 2008
