IBM has rolled out a set of offerings geared towards helping its Business Partners more tightly integrate with the IBM SmartCloud by helping to connect them with customers, create new applications, and improve their cloud computing skills. Expected to grow to more than $214 billion by 2020, cloud computing has become a catalyst for capturing new business value through innovation, stronger customer relationships, and faster time to market while reducing cost and complexity.

IBM unveiled new resources for its 121,000 Business Partners, including:

• Ready for IBM SmartCloud Services: This new program makes it easier for clients to quickly find technology from Business Partners that is certified for the IBM SmartCloud. In the new online directory, certified Business Partner technologies are divided into categories such as business applications, collaboration, development and test tools, infrastructure services, and security and monitoring. This is enabling IBM Business Partners to quickly ramp up and participate in the industry shift to cloud computing. More information is available at: http://ibm.co/xhoNsr.
• Tech Talk for Cloud Computing: IBM Business Partners can now enhance their technical skills in cloud computing, with a monthly virtual learning series by IBM developerWorks. The IBM Tech Talk for Cloud Computing series will be taught by IBM and industry experts and is available at: http://ibm.co/yJH2Ms.
• Social Business Tool Kit: This new tool kit allows Business Partners to integrate custom applications that interface with IBM SmartCloud for Social Business services. Developers can use OpenSocial APIs to get access to SmartCloud for Social Business profiles contacts, meetings, files and communities data. Companies can add their own custom actions to the SmartCloud for Social Business web experience. The tool kit is available now at: http://ibm.co/zNqIYO.
• SmartCloud Entry on IBM System x: IBM Business Partners can now help small businesses experience cloud computing benefits with the new lower-cost (~$60K USD list) reference configuration of SmartCloud Entry on IBM System x. SmartCloud Entry is an easy-to-deploy, simple-to-use offering that features a self-service portal for workload provisioning, virtualized image management, and monitoring. This new configuration provides a template for Business Partners to help clients deploy a private cloud with a faster time-to-value.

These new resources come as IBM Business Partners are winning with cloud and are driving innovations for clients globally. IBM is also announcing two new collaborations with clients including the Swiss LINK Institute and Tele Ticket Service.

The Swiss LINK Institute, a leading market research firm is working with IBM Business Partner nViso to better understand consumer sentiment. nViso software uses video to capture the visible emotional responses people have while watching an advertisement online. Using the IBM SmartCloud and IBM analytics software, the images are analyzed for seven basic emotions. The results give the Swiss LINK Institute's clients a rich scientific insight into how people respond to brands and messages. For example, an insurance company could quickly understand how people in their target demographic respond to their brand as compared to that of their competitors. The results can also be divided by demographic or compared to competitors campaigns. Prior to this solution, businesses were only able to capture basic anecdotal impressions that relied on people's ability to recall emotional reactions.

Tele Ticket Service, a leader in online ticket sales, is working with IBM Business Partner Numius to better understand consumer buying patterns. Numius teamed with IBM Business Partners I.R.I.S. ICT and Ondit to develop an analytics solution in the cloud.

With this new system, Numius analyzes consumer buying trends in real-time, enabling Tele Ticket Service to offer event organizers the insight they need to improve sales. Now, instead of scheduling an event and predetermining venue, ticket prices and ticket volume based on best guesses, event organizers can plan and promote events based on real data - who is buying the tickets, at what price, what type of seat and historical buying patterns.

The combination of IBM and Numius technology is driving improved sales and customer satisfaction for Tele Ticket Service. For example, when selling tickets for a recent U2 tour, Tele Ticket Service used the real time analysis of sales to successfully make a case for a second concert to be added, doubling their revenue.

"Cloud computing is changing the very fabric of the enterprise.  The cost effectiveness, security and simplicity it can bring to clients will make it easy for organizations to try new things and identify new growth opportunities," said Mark Hennessy, general manager of global business partners, IBM. "As greater adoption of cloud by the channel continues to build in 2012, there will be a number of things for Business Partners to consider, from choosing cloud services to offer as well as decisions around branding, training, and customer pricing models. IBM provides a simplified approach to help Business Partners make these decisions, and in turn, provide the solid foundation to adopt innovative cloud business models and generate new revenue streams."

More than 1,000 Business Partners are working with IBM on cloud computing projects.  With the IBM Cloud Computing Specialty as the centerpiece of our partner programs, partners from all back grounds are re-inventing their businesses by aligning with one of the five cloud business models: Cloud Application Providers, Cloud Builders, Cloud Infrastructure Providers, Cloud Services Solution Providers and Cloud Technology Providers.

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For more information on IBM Cloud: www.ibm.com/smartcloud

For more information: http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/36796.wss