IBM-AWS Collaboration to Provide Flexible Options for Hybrid Cloud

Source: AWS

The path to hybrid cloud systems has just gotten easier.

IBM recently announced its partnership with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) which will make IBM’s wide range of software products accessible as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) on AWS. Hailed as a first-of-its-kind agreement, the Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) will cover IBM’s products on security and sustainability, automaton, and data and AI.

For starters, organizations will be able to run IBM API Connect, IBM Maximo Application Suite, IBM Db2, IBM Security ReaQta, IBM Security Verify, IBM Observability by Instana APM, IBM Security Trusteer, and IBM Watson Orchestrate. These products will be built on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA) and run cloud-native on AWS.

Aside from collaborating on investments to make IBM products easier to consume on AWS, the SCA also binds the two cloud providers when it comes to product marketing and development. These include sales and marketing, developer enablement and training, channel incentives, and developing solutions for key sectors such as Transportation, Oil and Gas, and Travel.

Customers already leveraging AWS will be able to purchase the IBM SaaS products in the AWS Marketplace. The products are designed to deliver high availability and scalability and integrate seamlessly with other AWS SaaS services. Additionally, API support, CloudFormation, and Terraform templates will be included so users can automate their end-to-end workflows.

The Hybrid Cloud Reality

Cloud computing statistics show that 87% of enterprises use a hybrid cloud strategy. It has become a very common infrastructure setup since it allows organizations to continue using their on-premise servers and experience all the benefits of public clouds at the same time.

In a hybrid cloud reality, organizations are looking for industry-leading services and solutions that provide flexibility and greater business value. The collaboration between IBM and AWS has the potential to deliver just that. By making IBM products available as SaaS on AWS, organizations can deploy their software faster, be more agile, and scale on demand with high availability. It will also complement the more than 30 IBM products currently deployed manually in AWS Marketplace and the Bring Your Own License (BYOL) feature for clients who already have their own license and want a faster way to deploy the software.

AWS Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Matt Garman stated in a press release, “Our collaboration with IBM allows joint customers to accelerate their modernization to the cloud and consume IBM services in a cloud-native manner on AWS. Through our multi-year agreement, AWS will work with IBM to offer a broad array of IBM Software as SaaS on AWS. In addition, we’ll be working together on stronger joint marketing and co-selling programs for customers.”

Meanwhile, Senior Vice President of IBM Software, Tom Rosamilia, said, “As hybrid cloud continues to become the reality for our clients, IBM is ready and willing to meet them with a flexible and cloud-native software portfolio wherever they are in the cloud or in data centers. By deepening our collaboration with AWS, we’re taking another major step in giving organizations the ability to choose the hybrid cloud model that works best for their own needs and workloads, freeing them up to instead focus on solving their most pressing business challenges.”