IBM Advances Hybrid Capabilities to China, Unveils Bluemix Local

BEIJING - 01 Dec 2015: IBM (NYSE: IBM ) today announced it will expand the availability of IBM's hybrid cloud capabilities to China through the launch of Bluemix Local, its cloud computing platform that allows enterprises to quickly build apps in a secure manner and deploy them across public, private and on-premises environments.

The delivery of Bluemix Local brings Chinese enterprises and developers the speed and ease of hybrid app development on Bluemix behind a client’s firewall. Built on an open architecture to provide increased flexibility, Bluemix Local frees up the time that organizations have traditionally spent managing infrastructure and moving data and apps between disparate cloud environments.

China is home to 10 percent of the entire global population of developers, according to analyst firm IDC.¹ This explosive growth puts developers in a key position to answer the Chinese government’s call to grow and nurture local entrepreneurship and innovation.

"As the pace of innovation within China's thriving tech and developer ecosystem grows faster than ever, so does the demand to significantly expand how cloud can be used to quickly build intelligent and connected apps," said Steve Robinson, general manager, IBM Cloud Platform Services. “Today's news builds on IBM's recent collaboration with 21Vianet and establishes Bluemix as the premier cloud platform for helping developers and companies embrace this shift.”

IBM recently announced collaboration with 21Vianet, Inc., a carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, to make Bluemix available throughout the country. The collaboration aims to usher in a new era of hybrid cloud -driven innovation and next-generation cognitive, analytics and IOT app development for developers and enterprises in China.

IBM launched Bluemix with a $1 billion investment in 2014, and since then it has grown rapidly to become the largest Cloud Foundry deployment in the world. The open-standards-based Bluemix catalog includes over 120 tools and services spanning categories of big data, mobile, Watson, analytics, integration, DevOps, security and Internet of Things.

Ernie Hu, General Manager of IBM Greater China Group, Cloud and Systems Software, said, “China is experiencing a wave of mass innovation from its booming tech community and developer population. IBM's Cloud Computing platform aims to accelerate this innovation, and has the impact to transform industries throughout the country by making it easier than ever for businesses and entrepreneurs to build, deploy and run next-generation apps in any environment."

Bluemix Local is especially significant for organizations in industries such as banking, healthcare and financial services, who must follow strict mandates and internal policies for how security, compliance and sensitive customer data is handled outside of their corporate network. For most organizations, a hybrid cloud approach is the preferred model for connecting these worlds in a seamless way.

“This is a significant milestone for Bluemix and for Cloud Foundry,” said Sam Ramji, CEO of Cloud Foundry Foundation. “Cloud Foundry is a global phenomenon and IBM is responding very effectively to demand. China is becoming a major market for Cloud Foundry, the industry’s standard for platform-as-a-service.”

New capabilities of Bluemix Local include:

• Relay technology, created by IBM cloud development teams, that ensures all cloud environments remain current. Relay can instantly sync updates across environments, allowing enterprises to experience the same cloud content and visibility, regardless of location.
• Through its write-once, run-anywhere feature, users can swiftly build apps in the cloud that stitch together existing systems, and connect data and API's into a single environment, while keeping apps current across all platforms.
• With a private catalog and API Management services, enterprise clients can create, publish, manage and monetize their own APIs.
• A single admin console that puts enterprises in control of their entire cloud platform with visibility through a single dashboard, including real-time releases, updates and patches.

¹ Source: IDC 2014 Worldwide Software Developer and ICT-Skilled Worker Estimates, #244709, December 2013