IBM has announced plans to go online with its commercial cloud service for software development and testing, allowing enterprise and government clients to test and develop on an IBM Cloud.
The new open cloud environment includes support for Linux - through Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell - and Java. Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud is powered by Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, the Red Hat branded and supported KVM offering. The enterprise cloud allows clients to work with their own images as well as images from IBM Mashup Center, Lotus Forms Turbo, WebSphere Portal Server, Lotus Web Content Management, and IBM Information Management and WebSphere brands that can be configured per their selection.
The average enterprise devotes up to 50% of its entire technology infrastructure to development and test, but typically up to 90% of it remains idle. IBM has found that taking advantage of cloud computing within development and testing environments can help reduce IT labor costs by 50%, improve quality and reduce time to market. IBM's new Smart Business Development & Test on the IBM Cloud allows enterprise clients to expand on internal development and test efforts with access to resources through IBM's secure cloud delivery model, IBM software and application lifecycle management capabilities.
To provide businesses with comprehensive cloud computing solutions, IBM is working with partners in cloud management, cloud security and software development and testing support. IBM is also introducing new Rational software delivery lifecycle solutions in the cloud, Rational Software Delivery Services for Cloud Computing v1.0. Additionally, IBM is launching new developerWorks Cloud Computing resources to provide a single point of entry to beta and production cloud environments, as well as a place for visitors to learn how to make the most of cloud computing initiatives.
"Workload characteristics continue to drive the rate and degree of standardization of IT and business services," states Rich Esposito, vice president, IT Strategy & Architecture and Middleware Services, IBM. "Standardization is key to bringing discipline, efficiency and simplicity to the most complex corners of big businesses."
Smart Business Development & Test on the IBM Cloud will be available in the second quarter of 2010 in the U.S. and Canada, and it will roll out globally throughout 2010. For more information about this and other cloud offerings from IBM, go here.