IBM Introduced Cloud Services Platform for Service Providers

IBM introduced its new cloud services platform to service providers saying it will help communications service providers (CSPs) capitalize on the growing market opportunity for public cloud services expected to grow to $89 billion by 2015.

IBM says this will help CSPs to bring their customers new services to run a business and centralize access to their information. It enables them to offer customers a pay-as-you-go model for hundreds of new services and immediately make those services available.

The IBM Cloud Service Provider Platform is a comprehensive set of hardware, software and services to help providers rapidly deliver cloud computing on their own. The company says it includes the most advanced, carrier-grade technology with all the essential security and service management to ensure the service reliability essential to their own customers.

The platform allows CSPs to rapidly transform their business to deliver new services over their existing networks and drive new sources of revenue. They can use it to deliver “as a service" offerings like collaboration software, customer resource management, storage and backup, and industry-specific applications like claims-processing and specialized mobile applications to small and mid-sized businesses as well as large enterprises.

It can be installed in days, allowing service providers to:

• Tap thousands of ready-to-use services and applications and accelerate the launch of new partner services from six months to six weeks
• Provision tens of thousands of virtual machines per hour
• Help partners create new services such as unified communications, collaboration and customer relationship management
• Provide developers a secure development and test cloud
• Offer infrastructure services to employees, partners and customers such as secure storage and virtual office desktop
• Provision new services in less than a minute
• Scale to manage millions of virtual machines
• Use the Tivoli Netcool service assurance portfolio to manage service quality

IBM global telecommunications industry General Manager Scott Stainken said:

“Communications Service Providers play a fundamental role in society. They touch every industry, interconnect them and help make them intelligent. IBM is using its cloud expertise to help the world’s existing communications networks take on a whole new meaning."