IBM SmartCloud software promises more control

IBM has unveiled its new SmartCloud software suite for private, public or hybrid cloud environments.

Together, these new solutions are designed for the development and management of clouds. The difference, IBM assures, with these offerings is that the SmartCloud suite promises more control with less risk than comparable options provided by competitors.

Here's a glance at some of IBM's latest cloud products:

• IBM SmartCloud Control Desk: Enables IT departments to maintain configuration integrity when responding to both planned changes and unplanned incidents
• IBM SmartCloud Monitoring: Cloud administrators can maximize cloud availability by monitoring virtual infrastructures and applying analytics to optimize workload placement.
• IBM SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center: Promised to improve flexibility and performance of cloud storage spaces at a lower cost with more automated controls.
• IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices: IT departments can manage and secure their mobile environments, including iPhone, iPad, Android-based phones and tablets, Windows Phone and Nokia Symbian devices. Controls and abilities include being able to remotely set policies and wipe data off the devices if they are lost or stolen.

An added advertised bonus to SmartCloud is its speed, with IBM promising that new services can be deployed in minutes rather than hours.

For example, Martijn Van Zoeren, CEO of one of IBM's customers, Dutch Cloud, explained in prepared remarks that while it used to take approximately an hour to provision an extra 200 virtual machines for a client, now the same job can be done in five minutes.

Related:

• Thailand floods boosted Seagate to hard drive market race: report
• Report: IBM cutting over 1,000 jobs
• Targeting e-waste, IBM opens China facility for refurbishing servers
• IBM targets SMBs with social media bootcamps
• NIST definition of cloud computing doesn't go far enough