IBM Session at Cloud Expo

IBM is opening a new, 100,000 square-foot data center in North Carolina to support new computing models, including cloud computing.

The new center is being built at IBM’s facility at Research Triangle Park campus and is expected to provide many services that will enable firms to deploy cloud-based apps quicker and easier.

IBM operates 450 of these data centers worldwide, and this new facility is aimed at helping clients across both the public and private sector operate more efficiently and in a more environmentally sound way, according to CMSwire.com

IBM says there are several critical advantages to companies deciding to switch to cloud computing via its data centers – which feature servers and storage systems running business-critical technology including software applications, email and websites.

The advantages:

-         Cloud computing efficiencies: access to hardware and software needed to cut IT costs

-         Smarter data center management

-         Green computing, as IBM says its data center uses half the energy costs of similar-sized centers

-         Expandability: the ability to add greater capacity in the future at a fraction of the time it would take an internal data center to expand

We’ve heard a lot lately from IBM on its cloud development efforts. It’s clear that the company is taking this technology and its commitment to building it up seriously.  Just look at some of the far-flung places that the company is building cloud computing centers globally.

And, just last week, IBM said that the U.S. Air Force awarded it a contract to design and demonstrate a secure cloud computing infrastructure “capable of supporting defense and intelligence networks.” It’s a 10-month project, and will feature “advanced cyber security and analytics technologies” developed by IBM Research into the cloud architecture, according to IBM’s press department.

I’m particularly encouraged to see IBM working with the air force. Perhaps that will help establish more solidly the notion that cloud computing can be secure. And if that happens, IBM – indeed all cloud services providers – may be able to win a bigger vote of confidence from both public and private companies.  And that means more business for everyone.