IBM Bolsters SoftLayer, Hybrid Cloud Offerings

New products and services introduced at IBM Pulse in Las Vegas will give IBM‘s (IBM) customers and partners even more to work with when it comes to deploying hybrid and private cloud environments, but Big Blue is also adding to its offering for Big Data in the cloud.

Much of the announcement revolves around the latest development for SoftLayer, which was acquired almost a year ago and has since become sort of a backbone to IBM’s cloud initiatives. Within that aspect of the news, IBM has announced integration of IBM Power Systems into SoftLayer cloud infrastructure, which Big Blue noted will be a stepping stone to deliver “a level and breadth of services beyond what has traditionally been available for the cloud.”

Additionally, IBM made a few other cloud-related announcements at Pulse:

“Once our development teams began testing Power Systems in the SoftLayer environment, Power’s competitive advantage immediately became clear,” said Lance Crosby, IBM SoftLayer CEO, in a prepared statement.  “The performance and efficiencies inherent in Power Systems are a real game-changer—particularly when it comes to building out modern, adaptable cloud environments that can handle the next level of Big Data coming our way.  The combination of SoftLayer and Power Systems will allow us to take cloud computing to a new level, providing customers with services they hadn’t thought were possible.”

As an example of a hybrid cloud deployment, IBM also talked up its work with entertainment and technology company Music Mastermind, which deployed a hybrid cloud solution based on IBM’s SoftLayer cloud service and iDataPlex systems technology. Music Mastermind’s flagship product is mobile game Zya; and IBM has recently been putting itself forward as a key provider of cloud for the gaming industry.