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IBM moves into clouds and social networks

IBM and Irish industry develop a cloud computing centre which may offer businesses the virtualisation and web 2.0 performance they crave.

By Asavin Wattanajantra, 20 Mar 2008 at 12:03

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IBM and the Industrial Development Agency of Ireland IDA Ireland have announced Europe's first cloud computing centre.

The new building in Dublin will serve as a hub delivering cloud computing research and services to satellite facilities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

IBM said experts from the centre would work directly with business from these countries, so they can adopt cloud computing solutions which it claims will move forward tech research and business development.

"Responding to demand in the market, we are moving fast to build an integrated cloud computing operation," said Dr Willy Chiu, vice president of high performance on demand solutions at IBM software group.

He continued: "The centres can bring skills and expertise to serve our clients in building their own new enterprise data centre... We will also address the need for open interoperability standards."

Cloud computing is where IT infrastructure with dynamic shared computing resources are virtualised and accessed as a service. IBM said it had the potential to replace the traditional data centre model where companies own their own hardware and software systems.

IBM also said that cloud computing was attractive to small to large businesses as it is a green technology, with need fuelled by the growth in business collaboration, connected devices, real-time data streams and Web 2.0 applications.

One of the Dublin centre's first products is the 'IBM idea factory for cloud computing' which the company says will allow business professionals to use Web 2.0 technology and social networking for the development of business ideas.

The Irish government said that the centre's Dublin location was important for the country's business technology.

"IDA Ireland and IBM have a proactive long-standing relationship in advancing the Irish business and the implementation of strategic high value knowledge based research and development investments," said MicheÃ¡l Martin TD, Irish government minister for enterprise, trade and employment.