IBM Cloud Private is the answer for every organization, which is looking at a multi-cloud strategy

Cloud is evolving as the technology for enterprise transformation. Organizations are increasingly adopting a multi-cloud strategy. This requires a roadmap, which provides seamless experience. Matching workloads with the right cloud is critical to success.

Organizations looking to modernize heritage applications, making them cloud-enabled, need to re-architect the existing monolithic applications into cloud-like applications with micro services.

With the launch of IBM Cloud Private (ICP), organizations that crave agility and the speed of cloud, but are governed by the industry policy restrictions, now have access to an end-to-end Cloud Platform: Public, Virtual Private and Private (via ICP). ICP is the answer for every organization, which is looking at a multi-cloud strategy and aims to provide secure, enterprise grade, compliance ready and open platform with PaaS and developer services.

Vikas Arora, Country Manager, Cloud Business, IBM India/South Asia talks to BW CIO about IBM cloud private, the benefits of the same and IBM’s strategy to become a leading cloud platform. Excerpts:

BW CIO: What is ICP all about? What makes this offering unique?

Vikas Arora: IBM Cloud Private is our latest software offering that will enable organizations to build secure clouds behind their firewalls quickly and easily. IBM Cloud Private is built on an open-source container technology to allow for seamless integrations with public clouds.

IBM Cloud also offers containerized versions of IBM and third-party databases, software and development tools to provide all of the supporting services needed to build and manage sophisticated enterprise apps.

This offering is unique for our customers in India because it combines in a private cloud and the flexibility of an open-source container architecture, and extensive containerized services to support enterprise apps.

IBM Cloud Private allows companies to create a cloud environment behind their firewalls to maintain the control of data and workloads, while gaining the agility to quickly launch and update apps. IBM Cloud Private is built on Kubernetes-based container architecture that is widely used in public clouds to allow seamless migration of workloads to public clouds as needs change.

BW CIO: What are the key benefits of the product for Indian companies?

Vikas Arora: Many companies want or need to keep core workloads behind their firewalls for security, compliance, and availability reasons. With IBM Cloud Private, enterprises can now leverage their on-premises software portfolio, which has now been enabled with container-based technology for more agile delivery and operational simplicity.

BW CIO: What are the key differentiating features of the product?

Vikas Arora: IBM Cloud Private’s key differentiating features include:

* Kubernetes-based container architecture for simplified orchestration across on-premises systems and public clouds.
* Docker and Cloud Foundry containers supported for easy movement of apps between Cloud Private and other clouds, whether public or private.
* Database integrations, including PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MongoDB and IBM DB2, and container versions of IBM analytic tools, including Data Science Experience, to infuse apps with rich data and insights.
* Containerized IBM software, including WebSphere and MQ, and development tools, and IBM’s Micro-service Builder, to provide the full eco-system of supporting services developers need to build, manage and support apps.
* Pre-tested enterprise systems compatibility to easily connect internal systems using a variety of hardware and take advantage of unique performance characteristics of different systems, such as advanced analytics on IBM Power.
* Cloud automation tools to automatically provision and govern multi-cloud infrastructures and applications.

BW CIO: How does this announcement fit into IBM’s strategy to be the leading cloud-platform and cognitive solutions company?

Vikas Arora: This quarter, our Cloud revenue was up 20 percent, and over the last 12 months has grown to a $15.8 billion revenue base, which represents 20 percent of IBM’s revenue. Our as-a-Service revenue was up 24 percent in the third quarter, and we exited the quarter with a $9.4 billion annual run rate.

We are able to drive these results because we are focused on helping our enterprise clients transform their IT. Keep in mind the IBM Cloud is built for the enterprise. It is the only cloud that integrates public, private, multi-cloud and traditional data centers through a single architecture, and is designed for cognitive workloads.

The launch of IBM Cloud Private further strengthens our Cloud capabilities and puts IBM at the forefront of addressing the real needs of companies in moving to the cloud. Most of the focus in the industry has been on the public cloud, but companies need seamless cloud solutions that also can be deployed behind their firewalls. The IBM Cloud Private transforms on-premises systems into a true cloud environment for app development and easier integration with public clouds, both IBM Cloud and other major public clouds.

BW CIO: How does this work with IBM’s public cloud offerings?

Vikas Arora: IBM Cloud Private and IBM Cloud, IBM’s public cloud, are aligned to make it easier for developers to work in both environments and support portability of apps between the two environments. Specifically, IBM Cloud Private and the IBM Cloud have API and CLI (command line interface) consistency, simplifying the process of configuring apps for the two environments and making it easier for developers to work in the public or private cloud environment.

IBM Cloud Private’s flexible container systems also make it easy to move workloads between IBM Cloud Private and IBM Cloud. Unlike competitors, though, IBM Cloud Private is also designed to seamlessly work with public clouds from other vendors because IBM recognizes that clients will use several clouds to meet their needs.

BW CIO: Can we make any claims about how this delivers a unique or market-leading solution?

Vikas Arora: IBM is the only private cloud provider that gives developers and IT operations the combination of these capabilities to transform the enterprise:

* Choice with consistency across private and public with support for Kubernetes/Docker and Cloud Foundry containers.
* APIs and open standards to integrate with existing tools and processes.
* Pre-built automation content and hybrid cloud management.
* Lightweight, Untethered, production ready.
* Enterprise grade cloud platform to run IBM middleware and data workloads.

BW CIO: What impact will the announcement have on customers or other market participants? What are the target industries?

Vikas Arora: IBM Cloud Private (ICP) will help customers across all industries modernize their internal systems and take advantage of their investments in this system by transforming them into a true cloud environment. In India, particularly, ICP is important for companies in industries such as healthcare and finance, where they need to control core data and workloads for security, compliance and availability requirements.

BW CIO: Are there any competitors working on something similar?

Vikas Arora: IBM Cloud Private supports Kubernetes/Docker and Cloud Foundry and provides the most extensive support for traditional Java apps.

BW CIO: Why would companies want to create private clouds? Aren’t they moving to public clouds?

Vikas Arora: Many companies want or need to keep core workloads behind their firewalls for security, compliance and availability reasons. Industry projections support this move to clouds, both public and private. Global IT investment in private clouds is expected to accelerate and reach $24 billion annually by 2021, an almost 70 percent increase from 2016 levels, according to IDC. The majority of the investments in private clouds will be for on-premises systems, according to IDC.

BW CIO: Does this mean that IBM is focusing more on private clouds than public clouds?

Vikas Arora: IBM is focused on helping companies adopt a full-fledged cloud strategy across both internal and external IT resources. Most companies need a combination of public and private clouds to meet their needs. In fact, most companies will use multiple clouds from different vendors. IBM is advancing a multi-cloud strategy that helps companies move easily and securely between different clouds, both public and private.

-- Nivedhana U. Prabhu