IBM Expands PureSystems Line, Announces Cloud Partnership

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On Tuesday, IBM made two announcements related to its enterprise products and services. First, the company has expanded its PureSystems line with solutions for big data, transactions and operational analytics. Second, Big Blue will team with AT&T to enable more secure cloud computing.

IBM’s new PureSystems offerings are called PureData System for Transactions, PureData System for Analytics and the PureData System for Operational Analytics. Writing for Forbes, Tom Groenfeldt explained, “IBM calls PureSystems expert integrated systems; other companies refer to similar systems as engineered. In any event, the concept seems relatively simple and overdue — the company manufactures the system and delivers specific types of computing power rather than leaving a client to buy the pieces for do-it-yourself assembly. It’s the difference between buying a car and having UPS deliver a series of crates with parts from a variety of suppliers. It’s an update of that adage about what clients want — they don’t want a server or a SAN, they want answers.”

InformationWeek’s Doug Henschen noted, “The move comes just days after Oracle introduced the latest releases in its ‘Exa’ engineered systems lineup, timing that is clearly no coincidence.” He added, “The obvious competitive comparison to PureData System is Oracle Exadata, which is a database appliance that can be configured for transactional or analytic use. Where Oracle touts its engineered systems as offering ‘hardware and software engineered to work better together,’ IBM touts PureSystems as offering ‘expert-integrated’ hardware and software based on pattern-based deployment.”

In a separate announcement, IBM and AT&T revealed their plans to work together on a cloud computing offering. “IBM and AT&T have teamed up and announced a new jointly-produced cloud service that is touted to better address security,” Rachel King reported for ZDNet. “Using IBM’s SmartCloud Enterprise+ infrastructure with AT&T’s virtual private network, the service is supposed to be more secure as well as manageable because it works via private networks rather than the Internet-based public cloud environments.”

Computerworld’s John Ribeiro wrote, “The service to be delivered from early next year is targeted at clients worldwide who are deploying clouds that demand high levels of security and availability, and who often cite security as a key inhibitor to cloud computing adoption.” He added, “Customers will be able to shift information or applications between their own data centers in private clouds and the new cloud service, without the data leaving the security protections of the virtual private network, the companies said. The feature is expected to be particularly relevant for businesses that need to protect applications and data as they move between data centers and wired or wireless computing devices such as tablets and smartphones.”