IBM has announced a $38 million investment in a new IBM Asia Pacific Cloud Computing Data Center in Singapore, which will provide businesses with solutions and services to harness the potential of cloud computing. The new facility will extend IBM's globally-integrated cloud delivery network with centres in Germany, Canada and the United States; and 13 global cloud labs, of which seven are based in Asia Pacific–China, India, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.

Scheduled to launch in April, the Center will make available IBM's comprehensive cloud services and technology portfolio via the company's cloud delivery infrastructure. These services are designed to enable clients to reap the benefits of business and IT transformation; increase flexibility and agility; accelerate time to market; reduce costs; and increase security and compliance of public cloud environments.

“IBM’s investment in our Asia Pacific Cloud Computing Data Center in Singapore reflects the increase in demand for cloud solutions and services by our clients in the region. The Center will provide the highest security standards and capabilities to minimize capital expenditure and reduce operational costs,” said Andrew Sotiropoulos, general manager, Global Technology Services, IBM Asia Pacific.

"The new center furthers IBM's focus on the delivery of cloud services and technology for both public and private clouds, giving clients the best available set of options to achieve their infrastructure ambitions," said Paul Moung, vice president, Cloud Computing, IBM Growth Markets.

According to Chris Morris, director of Cloud Services & Technologies, IDC Asia/Pacific, "The APEJ market for cloud computing services will grow by an average 40 percent per annum rate through 2014 to reach US$4.9 billion. A major driver of this growth has been the new regional data centres which are now emerging to provide the necessary infrastructure for growth of the key cloud service areas. While cloud services have been attractive in the past, concerns about the consistency of the service performance due to the potential impact of network latency and the location of the data have inhibited their uptake for anything that was a critical workload. This increased availability of enterprise-class cloud services will underpin the acceleration of cloud services in APEJ as cloud service shifts from the SMB sector to the large enterprise."

The first offering to be available at the IBM Asia Pacific Cloud Computing Data Centre will be from IBM's infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud portfolio. Built on an agile cloud infrastructure, the offering is designed to provide rapid access to security-rich, enterprise-class virtual server environments and is well suited for development and test activities and other dynamic workloads. It helps enterprises reduce operational costs; eliminate capital outlays; improve cycle times for faster time-to-market; and improve quality with virtually instant, secure access to a standardized infrastructure as a service environment. Additionally a compelling catalogue of software from the IBM Software Group and 3rd party companies – will be available in a variety of payment models designed for midsize and large enterprises and independent software vendors (ISVs). A sampling of ideal workloads includes but is not limited to:

• Application development
  • New projects or quick deployment of existing projects
  • Transient applications - demos, training, proof of concept, technology migration
  • Multi-site, outsourced development and test, including access from multiple sites, remote locations or separated external and contractor resources
• Functional and non-functional testing
• Dynamic workloads requiring variable capacity, such as web hosting, application pilots, statistical modeling or research activities

"IBM's decision to invest in Singapore for the Asia Pacific Cloud Computing Data Center is aligned to the country's iN2015 Masterplan, answering the call from the government to entrench our nation's position as a global-asia hub for the delivery of cloud computing services in the region and beyond." said Teresa Lim, managing director, IBM Singapore. "The Center will help to establish a vibrant cloud computing ecosystem here as well as contribute to attracting high-value economic clusters in Singapore, as called out in Budget 2011."

About IBM Cloud Computing

IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models and manages millions of cloud based transactions every day. IBM assists clients in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centres. For more information about IBM cloud solutions, visit www.ibm.com/cloud