HP And IBM Focus on Cloud Managed Services in New Zealand

A recent market research has revealed that vendor organizations such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM (News - Alert), EMC, Kaseya, Revera and Gen-I are focusing on cloud based services for enhanced reseller possibilities. The research concentrates on the evolving cloud services market in New Zealand. IBM and HP are capitalizing on the managed services to move rapidly to supply infrastructure solutions. Cloud services represent rapidly evolving markets, and other resellers are moving in as well to fill niches in vertical markets and local hosting that provide attractive opportunities.

Resellers can help navigate the customers through using cloud services as well as managing this new mix of services. Resellers form the connecting bridge between the customers and the partners and can help them in gaining a better understanding of cloud infrastructure, with services such as transfer of workloads to the cloud, whether it is a private or public cloud. There is an urgent need for organizations to realize how to manage a hybrid mix of services that include in-house, hosted or outsourced, and the cloud.

Based on HP’s Cloud Service Automation and BladeSystem Matrix products suite, HP released CloudSystem on January 27, 2011, a comprehensive cloud offering which has been designed to provide a solution for enterprise and service provider clients seeking to implement hybrid cloud services. Some of the key concerns in using cloud computing include the need to gain visibility and management control of both physical and virtual environments, as well as ensuring that the data is secure, protected and compliant, and delivering on the promise of rapid provisioning and high service levels. While choosing the best cloud computing method, the organizations need to be clear on understanding where and how their portfolio of technology services can benefit from cloud sourcing, compare the cloud against traditional delivery models and then select the best method of service delivery to get what they need done, at the right cost and in the right time. Other factors include security, the openness of the infrastructure, automation, resilience and seamless delivery.

IBM, as a leading provider in managing IT services, has shifted its focus to cloud computing by moving away individual customization toward standardization. IBM provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) with corporate storage locally hosted in a virtualized private environment for those who are reluctant about sending their data offshore, while still needing to take advantage of public cloud costs and capabilities. Cloud is opening a number of opportunities for resellers and from an IBM perspective, resellers are the channel to market for infrastructure Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings to the mid-market. 

Carolyn John is a Contributor to TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell