I.B.M. to Push 'Cloud Computing,' Using Data From Afar
I.B.M. plans to build a sizable business by bringing Google-style computing to mainstream corporate customers. — The I.B.M. strategy, to be announced today, seeks to exploit the technical work and commercial interest in large data centers …
Context & Ripple Effects
I.B.M.'s commercial push is the payoff to the October research alliance with Google that put 'cloud computing' on the corporate agenda: what began as a joint university-and-research experiment in running web-scale workloads across large data centers is now being packaged as a product line for mainstream business customers. The same day, TechCrunch framed the effort under the Blue Cloud name, arguing it amounts to web-style computing rebranded for the enterprise.
First-order effects
- Mainstream corporate customers gain a sanctioned path to rent Google-style data center computing from an incumbent vendor rather than building web-scale infrastructure themselves.
- I.B.M. opens a new revenue line layered on its existing hardware and services franchise, betting that corporate demand will justify a sizable business built around remote data centers.
Second-order effects
- Rival enterprise vendors face pressure to answer with their own utility-computing offerings, since I.B.M. attaching its brand to the model legitimizes renting compute over buying servers.
- Pricing conversations in enterprise IT shift toward pay-per-use models, forcing resellers and systems integrators to reprice services that were previously sold as installed hardware projects.
Third-order effects
- If corporate adoption follows the pattern the October alliance signaled, enterprise computing structurally moves from owned on-site machines toward networked data centers operated by a few large vendors — raising early questions about lock-in and who sets the standards for inter-cloud portability.
The trend: Enterprise computing is beginning its shift from company-owned servers to rented capacity in giant shared data centers, with legacy vendors racing to define the category before web-native players do.