IBM today announced plans to go online with its commercial cloud service for software development and testing. IBM, which already delivers a test and development cloud, is now allowing enterprise and government clients to test and develop on an IBM Cloud. Following a successful beta program, IBM is working with partners in cloud management, cloud security and software development and testing support to provide businesses with a unique mix of flexibility, scalability, enterprise-grade security and control for development and test on the IBM Cloud.  

The average enterprise devotes up to 50 percent of its entire technology infrastructure to development and test, but typically up to 90 percent of it remains idle. IBM has seen that taking advantage of cloud computing within development and testing environments can help reduce IT labor costs by 50 percent, improve quality and drastically reduce time to market.

IBM's new Smart Business Development & Test on the IBM Cloud allows enterprise clients to expand on internal development and test efforts with instant access to resources through IBM's secure, scalable cloud delivery model, IBM software and application lifecycle management capabilities. IBM's enterprise-friendly approach to cloud complements clients' current data centers and traditional development efforts, helping clients:

• Reduce provision cycle times from weeks to minutes
• Eliminate software defects by up to 30 percent.
• Reduce time required for test and quality assurance
• Enable rapid redeployment of environments across multiple IT projects

PayPal, the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online, is extending its global payments platform, PayPal X into the cloud. PayPal is working with the IBM Cloud Labs to allow its ecosystem of developers to not only innovate on the IBM cloud, but to quickly monetize new applications developed and made available via smart phones. "We want to provide a very simple way to make payments available on all platforms including mobile applications," said Osama Bedier, PayPal's vice president of platform and emerging technologies. "The IBM cloud provides a platform for developers to come together as a community, to create, develop and test new applications. We look forward to seeing the payments innovations our developers create through the IBM cloud and bringing the wallet into the cloud."

The Collaborative Software Initiative is a company that engages the power of communities to develop and deliver new high value enterprise software.  CSI has developed an advanced new collaboration portal product for its partner Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations (STCI).  Together they deployed the system as the Department of Education's new Open Innovation Portal -- an online community connecting teachers, administrators, education experts, and charitable foundations to request, propose, and refine ideas to improve public education in the United States.  "We used IBM's cloud environment to develop, test, and now deliver this very visible application because of its focus on open technology and its inherent scalability," said Evan Bauer, CTO, The Collaborative Software Initiative.

Partner Ecosystem

IBM is building an ecosystem of partners to deliver the most complete and comprehensive cloud computing solutions to clients. This ecosystem comprises existing and new cloud partners in the IT industry that intend to work with IBM and complement the IBM Cloud in key areas. For example, RightScale and Kaavo can help customers manage and provision cloud resources to facilitate more effective deployment of applications and workloads in the cloud, while Navajo Systems can provide additional security for cloud-based applications and Silanis' e-signature process management can enable secure e-transactions and e-contracts. Aviarc, Wavemaker and Corent can enable development of applications on the cloud, while VMLogix can provide manual, functional, and compatibility testing; AppFirst can provide performance monitoring; or SOASTA CloudTest can deliver load and performance testing -- all taking advantage of the IBM Cloud.

IBM Business Partner and IBM software delivery services beta participant, Trinity Software, works with federal government agencies and clients faced with complex IT administration scenarios and mandatory requirements for compliance and security when developing in the cloud. "Our customers often have barriers to scalability and limited resources for deploying quickly," said Russell Stanley, principle quality management engineer, Trinity Software Solutions. "IBM Rational's software delivery services for cloud computing can be internal or external and scaled to fit on demand, while streamlining testing with minimal overhead. With the additional reduction of risk IBM enables in the cloud, we can prioritize quality."

New Developer Tools and Resources

Today, IBM is also introducing new Rational software delivery lifecycle solutions in the cloud. Rational Software Delivery Services for Cloud Computing v1.0, includes a collection of Rational's market-leading products and capabilities helping clients harness the agility and flexibility of the cloud. Development and delivery teams can more effectively collaborate and quickly develop, test, and deploy new technology-based business initiatives.

Additionally, IBM is launching a new, online cloud computing resource center on IBM developerWorks, the industry's largest technical resource with 8 million registered developers, IT professionals, and students worldwide.  The new developerWorks Cloud Computing resources provide a single point of entry to beta and production cloud environments, as well as a place for visitors to learn how to make the most of cloud computing initiatives.  

The new resource center will include cloud articles, videos, blogs and hands-on virtual workshops for IT professionals new to cloud or interested in developing cloud infrastructures or applications. developerWorks will host cloud-focused forums and online communities and provide no-charge access to IBM software to help developers get started. The new resource center will include cloud articles, videos and hands-on virtual workshops for IT professionals new to cloud or interested in developing cloud infrastructures or applications. developerWorks will host cloud-focused forums, blogs and online communities and provide no-charge access to IBM software to help developers get started.

In 2010, IBM also will begin a new series of cloud computing workshops at its 40 worldwide IBM Innovation Centers to support ISV business partners seeking cloud skills.

Development & Test for Private Clouds and on the IBM Cloud

IBM has offered a private cloud solution for development and test since June 2009, and now offers development and test services in three flexible delivery models:

• IBM Smart Business Development & Test Cloud ? a private cloud service behind the client's firewall, built and managed by IBM.  The service now includes enhanced capabilities for collaborative cloud development using Rational Software Delivery Services for Cloud Computing.
• IBM Smart Business Development & Test on the IBM Cloud ? application development and test featuring Rational Software Delivery Services for Cloud Computing over IBM's secure, scalable cloud.
• IBM CloudBurst offerings for Development & Test ? IBM CloudBurst is a pre-integrated set of hardware, storage, virtualization and networking, with a sophisticated built-in service management system to allow clients to rapidly deploy an internal/private cloud environment. WebSphere CloudBurst is a hardware appliance which rapidly dispenses and manages IBM middleware products delivered as virtual images into a private cloud in the form of reusable and customizable patterns.

"Workload characteristics continue to drive the rate and degree of standardization of IT and business services," said Rich Esposito, vice president, IT Strategy & Architecture and Middleware Services, IBM. "Standardization is key to bringing discipline, efficiency and simplicity to the most complex corners of big businesses."

IBM understands that not every kind of computing task will move to a cloud environment, so the company is helping clients identify cloud computing opportunities by workload. Some workloads will remain on premise, but others are ripe for external cloud environments, including development and test.

For clients who need help determining workload and delivery model choices, IBM delivers Cloud Infrastructure Strategy and Design Services. Based on proven methodologies and intellectual property earned through more than 100 client engagements and first-of-a-kind cloud projects, these integrated design services give clients a ready-to-build blueprint for cloud. The services are integrated into IBM's private workload optimized clouds.

Details and availability

The new open cloud environment includes support for Linux -- through Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell -- and Java. Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud is powered by Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, the Red Hat branded and supported KVM offering.  The enterprise cloud allows clients to work with their own images as well as images from IBM Mashup Center, Lotus Forms Turbo, WebSphere Portal Server, Lotus Web Content Management, and IBM Information Management and WebSphere brands that can be configured per their selection.

Smart Business Development & Test on the IBM Cloud will be available in the second quarter of 2010 in The United States and Canada, and it will roll out globally throughout 2010.  

For more information on IBM's cloud computing portfolio, research and labs please visit, ibm.com/cloud.