Businesses around the world are moving to the cloud to drive innovation. But the majority aren’t moving to a single cloud. Instead, they’re deploying applications and managing data in several IT environments – be it on-premises, private cloud or public cloud. More than 85 percent of enterprises are expected to adopt this ‘multi-cloud’ architecture by the end of this year, according to IDC.

This multi-cloud model enables companies to benefit from the unique characteristic of each environment but also presents a challenge: How do you tie them all together and ensure effective collaboration across an organization?

For these reasons and more, IBM will introduce at its inaugural Think 2018 event this week in Las Vegas a raft of new technologies and capabilities designed to help businesses accelerate the transition to the cloud and help securely connect data and applications across any system. Bolstering its support of the multi-cloud strategy, IBM is unveiling:

• Cloud Migration Capabilities: New capabilities for the IBM Cloud Private platform to help speed the transition of business-critical apps to a cloud-native environment and advance their development. A new Application Transformation Advisor scans traditional applications and provides insights and guidance for modernizing them on the cloud. Cloud Automation Manager helps businesses deploy and run these modernized applications on-premises or on the cloud of their choice. A new end-to-end development experience integrated into IBM Cloud Private also helps create, deploy and manage apps across different clouds.
• Expanded Container Support: Last week, IBM became the first major cloud provider to enable Kubernetes containers to be created and run as a managed service directly on bare metal cloud infrastructure. Building on that news, IBM Cloud Private (also underpinned by Kubernetes) will offer new container versions of IBM app development and management software, including API Connect, UrbanCode and Netcool, to enable developers to develop, test, monitor and manage apps across multiple clouds and on-premises systems. New support for Windows containers running .Net apps is also planned for later this year for IBM Cloud Private in addition to existing support for Docker containers and Cloud Foundry – two other major options for deploying apps.
• Cloud Integration Technologies: A new Cloud Integration platform which provides a single control point to a portfolio of technologies (including messaging, API management, app integration, high-speed file transfer and secure gateway) and connects data and apps across different clouds with the ability to be deployed on-premises or in private and public clouds. Whether managing communications between apps or transferring massive data files to the cloud, clients can access and combine different capabilities.
• Rapid Data Transfer to the Cloud: IBM Cloud Object Storage service will now offer an integrated Aspera high-speed data upload option to make it easier and faster for clients to move huge amounts of data to and from the cloud. The service enables users to achieve transfer rates hundreds of times faster than standard http/ftp transfer with no additional ingest charges.

These new technologies and capabilities are designed to help create a seamless and consistent experience across IT environments that eliminates unnatural barriers, frees the flow of insights from data and helps companies do amazing new things in a secure environment.

Helping speed digital transformation with IBM Cloud Private

IBM already is seeing strong interest from global clients in these technologies, including more than 150 companies signing up for IBM Cloud Private since its launch last quarter. Built with an architecture and capabilities consistent with the public IBM Cloud, IBM Cloud Private can be used to create private clouds on systems from leading manufacturers including Cisco, Dell EMC, Intel, Lenovo and NetApp as well as IBM Power Systems, IBM Z mainframes and IBM Storage solutions. IBM and Cisco also announced this week that it will be compatible with the next VersaStack converged infrastructure solution jointly developed by Cisco and IBM.

Adoption for IBM Cloud Private has been particularly strong in the financial services industry where companies are rapidly adding digital services that need to meet strict corporate and regulatory guidelines. Brazilian bank Bradesco, Finland insurer Ilmarinen and Macedonian payments operator KIBS are three examples of financial firms turning to IBM Cloud Private.

Creating the bridges across IT environments

These financial services firms and others across a range of industries are moving to the cloud to tap powerful new technologies which help automate businesses processes and enable more engaging client experiences. As companies increasingly adopt a multi-cloud strategy, though, it is crucial to put in place an architecture designed to tie all these environments together and grow in-line with business needs.

For more details about IBM Cloud Private, visit here. Developers also can download a community edition of IBM Cloud Private at no charge at this site. For more details about the new Cloud Integration services available through the public IBM Cloud, visit here.