SAO PAULO, Aug. 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an expansion of its global cloud footprint, with plans to launch a new IBM Cloud multizone region (MZR) in Latin America by late 2020. The MZR in Brazil will become IBM's first in Latin America, and will help clients in the region quickly deploy mission-critical workloads and applications across hybrid cloud environments.

Additionally, clients such as BRF and Elaw are adopting IBM Cloud for IT cost efficiency and flexibility in their business operations and to unleash the power of their data with AI.

Located in São Paulo, Brazil, the new MZR will be designed to provide clients with a consistent set of IBM public cloud services, from enterprise-grade infrastructure to AI services. The MZR will help increase disaster recovery capabilities by interconnecting three independent availability zones – each of which contains independent cooling, networking and power -- within the same geography.

As companies in Latin America and around the world move toward the next chapter of their cloud journeys to drive innovation and differentiation, 80 percent of their mission-critical workloads – from supply chains to core banking systems – still remain to be moved to the cloud. Increasingly, organizations are incorporating elements from their on-premises infrastructure, and private and public clouds to create a comprehensive hybrid cloud strategy. To do this, companies need to manage and maintain these architectures, and ensure they are optimized to run efficiently across any environment.

The Latin American MZR brings even more regional capacity and capability by offering a complete portfolio of services, including IBM Watson, blockchain, IoT and analytics. Additionally, clients will be able to deploy multizone Kubernetes clusters across the MZRs via the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, simplifying how they deploy and manage containerized applications and adding further consistency to their experience.

"As organizations seek to increase their pace of innovation to stay competitive, they are looking to open source, hybrid multicloud environments that can ignite a new wave of digital innovation from new projects and modernization of legacy systems. IDC expects that by 2022, over half of Latin American GDP will be made digital, heavily enabled by enterprises advancing in their journeys to the cloud," said Alejandro Florean, consulting Vice-president, IDC Latin America. "With this new cloud multizone region, IBM is well positioned to help enterprises in Latin America differentiate themselves in their industries by capitalizing on this emerging hybrid multicloud world." 

"Our continued cloud investment reflects that clients are increasingly seeking hybrid cloud environments that offer access to cutting edge tools including AI, analytics, IoT and blockchain to boost competitiveness," said Tonny Martins, General Manager, IBM Brazil. "As companies in Brazil look to gain greater control of their data in the face of upcoming tighter compliance and protection regulations, IBM offers the cloud capabilities that allow them to innovate and take advantage of data from all sources across any hybrid multicloud environment."

"The cloud market is being redefined as hybrid. As companies shift more of their business applications to the cloud, they are looking to build efficiencies and maintain security as they look to manage data, services, and workflows across a hybrid multicloud environment," said Ana Paula Assis, General Manager, IBM Latin America. "The new IBM Cloud multizone region is being designed to bring a portfolio of enterprise-grade infrastructure and services to deliver our best possibilities and benefits of hybrid cloud to clients in Latin America."

Clients are accelerating their Journey to Cloud
Companies of all sizes and are migrating critical workloads to IBM Cloud to drive the next chapter of digital reinvention. This includes companies such as BRF and Elaw. 

BRF, one of the biggest food companies in the world, has migrated over 70 percent of its workloads to the IBM Cloud in recent years, enabling integration of its mission-critical systems to support business international expansion. With more than 40 production units currently in Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Turkey, BRF was able to reduce IT costs with IBM Services and scale its operations to multiple countries by tapping into IBM Cloud's global reach.

Elaw, one of the leading Brazilian suppliers of legal technology solutions in Brazil, provides artificial intelligence-based services. Currently, by using IBM Watson Natural Language Understanding and Natural Language Classifier services on IBM Cloud, Elaw can identify most recurring claims in labor lawsuits, understand what most influences in each topic and then predict which legal approach might be most effective in dealing with this case while improving provisioning of financial resources in the event of loss.

About IBM
For more information about IBM Brazil visit: www.ibm.com/br. 

IBM's statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM's sole discretion. Information regarding potential future products is intended to outline our general product direction and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The information mentioned regarding potential future products is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality. Information about potential future products may not be incorporated into any contract. The development, release, and timing of any future features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion.

Contact Information:

Hannah Slocum
IBM Communications
hslocum@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM