IBM is announcing a group of software and services designed for MSPs in the channel. An expansion of IBM’s SmartCloud portfolio, the new public cloud services include an infrastructure-as-a-service offering and a solution that will enable channel pros to offer SMBs’ applications as cloud services. In addition, IBM is enhancing the features of its SmartCloud portfolio at large.
According to a press release submitted to Channel Pro-SMB, IBM’s announcement is part of the company’s goal to help SMBs to “quickly adopt innovative cloud business models and generate new revenue streams by offering public, private, and hybrid cloud infrastructures, applications, and services.
New SmartCloud Products
IBM is launching SmartCloud Foundation, a family of private cloud solutions designed to help SMBs to quickly deploy private cloud environments. These private cloud offerings will be specifically targeted at SMBs.
SmartCloud Foundation solutions include:
- IBM SmartCloud Entry — This cloud starter kit comes with prepackaged, private-cloud software that facilitates cloud administration, standardization of virtual machines, and improved operation productivity.
- IBM SmartCloud Provisioning — This new provisioning engine and image management system employs software that can “create hundreds of virtual machines in less than a minute and scale to more than 4,000 virtual machines in less than an hour,” states the press release.
- IBM SmartCloud Monitoring — This cloud-based monitoring software provide improved visibility into the performance of virtual and physical environments, including storage, networks, and server resources.
- Cloud Assessment Tool†– This free tool is designed to help IBM software vendors to begin planning for the adoption of cloud-based sales and service offerings.
IBM is also rolling out a new SmartCloud Enterprise Infrastructure-as-a-Service product that provides governance, administration, control, security, and isolation options for the virtual infrastructures and networks of MSPs’ SMBs clients.
In addition, company’s new SmartCloud Application Services is designed to enable MSPs to enable their solutions as cloud services. They do this by employing IBM’s set of secure, flexible tools. A beta version of this service is underway now.
Improved SmartCloud Features
Meanwhile, in addition to the new products, IBM is also announcing enhancements to existing IBM SmartCloud products. Among the enhancements are:
- A white label option for MSP-branded services.
- Import/export capabilities for migration to the cloud.
- Increased storage for data-intensive applications.
- Network isolation options.
“We are committed to the success of our business partners and our goal is to continue to collaborate with them to bring innovative solutions to our joint clients across industries,” says Rich Hume, IBM’s general manager of global business partners.”
