As companies require higher levels of flexibility from their IT, cloud computing is becoming increasingly important. Building on the benefits of server virtualisation, cloud computing can improve resource utilisation to help you make your business processes more efficient. With the right hardware, a cloud computing infrastructure can help lower costs and improve your return on your IT investment.
IBM System x® and IBM BladeCenter® x86 systems provide robust platforms for cloud computing. Only IBM offers X-Architecture® technology, including MAX5 memory expansion, simple-swap drives, Predictive Failure Analysis, eXFlash SSD technology and light path diagnostics on x86 servers. These advances enable System x and BladeCenter x86 systems to deliver leadership performance, simple scalability, and extreme reliability. Whether you deploy an integrated “quick start” solution, or do your own integration, IBM x86 cloud solutions can help transform your data center into a highly responsive IT environment that can quickly respond to changing business demands.
Benefits
With IBM x86 cloud solutions you can:
- Rapidly deploy a comprehensive data center with minimal disruption
- Improve reliability and uptime with tested configurations that incorporate best practice architecture and design
- Reduce complexity with simplified management and support for heterogeneous environments
- Adapt to changing requirements with the ability to scale without major infrastructure changes
- Improve business resiliency with an IT infrastructure designed to have no single point of failure
Cloud software
IBM SmartCloud Entry provides a fully integrated software stack for transforming a virtualised environment to a cloud environment. An intuitive self-service portal allows users to get up and running quickly. Built-in workload metering and additional tools enable tight controls and planning.
Integrated solutions
IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud provides solutions for both virtualisation and cloud. Additional customisation and services are available as reference configurations through IBM and IBM Business Partners.
For virtualisation: IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud provides a comprehensive, converged solution that brings together the hardware, software and services needed to quickly establish a robust virtualised environment.
For cloud: IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud also provides a cloud solution. This can be achieved by adding IBM SmartCloud Entry (US) software when purchasing BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud from IBM or an IBM Business Partner. The end result is a robust, fully integrated, private cloud solution that is reliable, secure and scalable.
Reference configurations
Reference configuration for VMware on System x with IBM SmartCloud Entry provides an affordable, easy to deploy private cloud architecture with configurations based on leading-edge technology from IBM, VMware and Juniper Networks
Reference configuration for Hyper-V on System x with Microsoft Hyper-V Cloud provides a robust private cloud architecture designed for any size organisation with configurations based on industry-leading hardware and software from IBM and Microsoft.
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Read customer success stories
Virtustream builds a cloud computing platform with a difference based on smarter computing solutions from IBM
By selecting cloud-ready IBM technology to support its cloud platform, Virtustream has gained the rock-solid reliability and performance to ensure it consistently meets enterprise clients’ service level agreements (SLAs). On the basis of its own tests, Virtustream discovered that the IBM System x had the capacity to scale up to 112.5% more virtual machines than the competing offerings the company benchmarked.
MacromatiX rings up smart IT growth With IBM BladeCenter H and System x
MacromatiX needed an infrastructure solution that would improve availability and transaction speeds for its cloud services amid exponential business growth. The IBM solution provides a flexible, scalable virtualised environment that processes transactions 20 percent faster and increases availability to near 100 percent.
Digital Medics and IBM created an elastic private cloud, which can be easily scaled to handle very high peaks in workload.
By providing the ideal support for Digital Medics’ medical imaging solution, the IBM infrastructure contributes to impressive cost savings for clinicians, with one hospital client estimating savings of up to 300,000 EURO a year. Advanced data compression and automated storage management cut data storage costs by more than 50%.
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IBM SmartCloud Entry on System x
Affordable, robust private cloud solutions ideal for departmental, retail and branch offices.