IBM Wants Us To Believe That They Are Serious About Cloud Computing

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Sometimes I feel really sorry for IBM and Microsoft. Both these companies
face similar dilemma when it comes to Cloud Computing. Both these companies have
a strong foothold in the traditional computing market. They have a strong cash
cow from the previous era. They see the value in the upcoming Cloud Computing
era but have difficulty prioritizing their business strategies. Faced with this
dilemma, they tend to talk about Cloud Computing using their own language.
Whether it is Microsoft’s Software + Service mantra or IBM’s reluctant support
to Cloud based infrastructure at the enterprise level, it is quite obvious that
they are struggling between protecting their existing cash cow and thinking
about long term strategies for their future relevance.

Today, IBM made a series of announcements, under their blue cloud banner, to
make us believe that they are serious about Cloud Computing. It includes

• A backup and recovery service for desktops and laptops in IBM’s Cloud (using
  Tivoli)
• A Secure platform to test Cloud Applications before putting into production
  systems (Skytap, beware)
• A partnership with Juniper networks to install public-private hybrid clouds.
  Depending on the resource needs, enterprises can extend their private clouds to
  public clouds with a click of a button
• A new IBM dashboard to manage cloud computing environment
• Appointment of enterprise cloud computing czar

Check out the techmeme discussions for analysis by different experts about
this announcement from IBM. Today’s announcement is not earth shattering and, if
you ask James Urquhart, disappointing. As I have mentioned in this
space, if we want to push Cloud Computing into the enterprise space, we can only
do it by taking along reluctant giants like IBM and Microsoft. We cannot ignore
them and still succeed as it is happening in consumer and small business
space.