IBM SmartCloud Application Services [EOL] Reviews

It wasn’t more than two years ago that during an IBM conference I discovered IBM had no less than nine independent global “Cloud” initiatives. Since then, IBM has concentrated more squarely on a primary goal to produce a unique and singular public infrastructure service for the enterprise.  In 2012, IBM’s SmartCloud will become one of the best and most comprehensive cloud service offerings to date. But within this service there are multiple offerings.  Let’s break down the different services available in IBM’s SmartCloud Enterprise.

IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+

IBM’s largest cloud service offering is the SmartCloud Enterprise and Enterprise+, with Enterprise+ being available in the United States early 2012 (a global deployment is planned for by the end of 2012). IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+ offers a cost-effective scalable cloud infrastructure; in other words, the Enterprise+ and SmartCloud Enterprise are both a cloud model known as an infrastructure as a service (or IaaS).



In an IaaS model, the client is paying for a cloud service offering that is housed, ran and maintained by a separate owner; in this case, IBM. This cloud offering allows a company to have a method of creating, updating, maintaining and even scaling an enterprise-wide system without the cost-prohibitive task of purchasing the hardware to make this possible.

So what exactly does that mean in terms of IBM’s SmartCloud? With Enterprise and Enterprise+, IBM is offering companies of all sizes a way to host enterprise-class, security-rich and cost-saving private clouds that aide in business growth. To put it another way, Enterprise and Enterprise+ are the base of a pyramid, the foundation of a structure that must be sound and sturdy before anymore building (i.e. business growth) can happen. And if the infrastructure is the base, then the next phase of construction is the platform.

IBM SmartCloud Application Services

Sitting nicely between IaaS and SaaS is the type of cloud offering known as platform as a service (PaaS). And IBM recently made a big move with the recent launch of their PaaS offerings. This new service allows enterprises to take advantages of a set of cloud-delivered services while still being able to have control over development, deployment, management and integration.

In our pyramid analogy, IBM’s Application Services sit right on top of the foundation. It provides a set of automated services and tools that can be customizable to your business’ unique needs. The service offerings include enterprise-grade security, Java and cross-platform support with no vendor lock-in. Run on the SmartCloud Enterprise and Enterprise+ (the IaaS foundation), they are designed for enterprise workloads. Other application services include application lifecycle, resources, environments, management and integration services.

Smaller software offerings

For businesses to take true advantage of IBM’s SmartCloud Enterprise, they need to find both standard and custom solutions that work with their specific needs. So to complete the pyramid (i.e. tailor the technology system to a company’s unique plan), the “builders” must top off their work with the right software for completion. And IBM’s solution in this instance is the third and final cloud offering, the software as a service model (SaaS).

In the SaaS model, businesses can plug in a ready-made application to get them up-and-running in a certain area. In what is called a “vertical solution”, IBM’s service offerings include customer relationship management software (CRM), human resources (HR) applications, and financial applications. Instead of overhauling your current system with an IaaS model or doing major tweaks with a PaaS option, integrating software for a specific need is a quick fix to a persistent issue.

With the options available and the many advantages to each, I’m sure there is one question that comes to mind when considering a cloud:

Which cloud model is right for your business?

And that depends on the kind of solution you’re looking for. If you’re happy with your current system and just want to beef up a few departmental needs, a SaaS solution will to the trick. If you’re ready go from a paper-based system (complete with file cabinets and copy machines) to something that’s entirely housed on the web, investing in an IaaS cloud service model can save you countless amounts in both hardware and physical space. If you’re somewhere in between – a solid infrastructure in place but nothing more – then using a PaaS cloud offering to customize what’s on top of your sturdy foundation is a good option.

With IBM’s wide array of cloud service offerings, most companies will find the hardware, platform and/or software they need to grow their business. In addition to their excellent customer support, IBM offers a trusted unmatched speed and a trusted infrastructure that can help you take your business to the next level.

Disclosure: My company is an IBM partner

At its European Analyst event held in Madrid last week, IBM unveiled its latest developments around its Platform as a Service offering. IBM SmartCloud Application Services, as it is branded, marks a bit more than one year since its launch in a beta variant.

IBM SmartCloud Application Services has two flavors for its PaaS offering:

- SmartCloud Enterprise, which addresses mostly the hybrid and public cloud model and addresses the mid-market
- SmartCloud Enterprise+, which focuses on single tenant, dedicated platforms for large clients

PAC believes that the lengthy / heavy branding of IBM’s Cloud platform may be a bit confusing for its customers, even for the most Cloud-educated of them. IBM SmartCloud Application Services with the option for SmartCloud Enterprise or SmartCloud Enteprise+ may puzzle potential clients. This comes in the context of the broader SmartCloud branding. For instance, IBM SmartCloud Foundation focuses on selling appliances and products/technologies (e.g. IBM PureSystems) that enable private and hybrid cloud environments, while IBM SmartCloud Services (within which IBM SmartCloud Application Services is part of) focuses on managed cloud services.

It is questionable how well the prospects will remember all of IBM’s brandings and how much portfolio confusion that may create with the prospects, given the relatively close naming of distinct classes and sub-classes of its offerings, and particularly considering the still widespread lack of education in the marketplace around IaaS and PaaS.

It remains to be seen how easily the market will interpret and digest IBM’s Cloud portfolio and what will be the traction of the sales teams trying to push the different offerings. Obviously, one can debate that naming matters less since the IBM PaaS sale is about communicating directly with the client. Such assumption is valid mostly when pushing the PaaS directly, yet it may be questionable in the case of IBM’s channel strategy (i.e. the public PaaS offer).

While IBM’s offering seems complex and not straightforward when compared to the ones of fast-emerging competitors like Amazon Web Services and Google Compute Engine / Google Cloud Platform, IBM’s strength is undoubtedly residing in its customer trust and intimacy built with the upper mid-market and large clients throughout the decades. When it comes to managing complexities, security, richness of the middleware stack (hence development environment options), application deployment and delivery methodologies, IBM’s lead is massive.

Even in relation to traditional competitors (e.g. Oracle, Microsoft, HP) that look to equally evolve into the PaaS market, IBM defines two points of differentiation for its SmartCloud Application Services:

- The DevOps methodology: it stems from the Rational Software group and it focuses on integration and collaboration between the development team and the operations team in order to smoothen operations throughout the application lifecycle

- Built-in Patterns of Expertise: this major differentiation point is shared with the PureSystems portfolio, the hybrid offering from IBM which provides pre-configured/ pre-defined architectures and components for application development environments

Largely supported through the pre-configured patterns from PureSystems, IBM is readying its SmartCloud Application Services beyond the more conventional application workloads (e.g. SAP), offering pre-configured Java-derived platform environments for Cloud native programming models (e.g. PHP, Ruby on Rail).

Nevertheless, the SmartCloud Application Services is clearly focused to take advantage of the SAP hosting opportunity out there, especially given IBM’s industrialization around SAP environments. For instance, with the PaaS offering, IBM promises to cut the time for new SAP system configurations from 1-2 weeks down to roughly one day or for SAP Database Refresh from 2-3 days to about half a day.

PAC believes that IBM has a distinct advantage in positioning for opportunities around SAP PaaS environments since the company has been one of the largest SAP hosting providers at global level. SAP application lifecycle via PaaS is one of the areas that IBM can confidently approach since it has been one of the few large infrastructure hosting providers with a deep understanding of the SAP domain.

IBM runs 8 Points of Delivery (out of which two in Europe: 1 in Ehningen and 1 in Montpelier) for its SmartCloud Application Services at present and is planning to accelerate to 15 the number of worldwide Data Centers capable to exploit this service in 2013 (e.g. 1 in Barcelona, 1 in the UK).

Evidently, IBM’s major challenge for its SmartCloud Application Services offering is to attract the ecosystems on the platform. The adoption will critically depend on IBM’s ability to convince SIs to hop on the platform. IBM has put up three reference names of early adopter SIs/ISVs that have started to operate on the platform: CLD Partners, Haddon Hill Group and Onetree Solutions.