IBM Cloud

5 Things to Know about the IBM Hybrid Cloud Ecosystem

By Larry Greenemeier

IBM is doubling down on its strategy to help partners deliver the best hybrid cloud capabilities with Red Hat OpenShift at the core. An important part of that strategy is equipping clients to modernize mission-critical workloads with Red Hat OpenShift and IBM Cloud Paks in any cloud environment—including IBM public cloud.

With the combination of our services organization and our partner ecosystem, clients have never been in a better position to accelerate their cloud journey.

Here are 5 things to know about IBM’s Hybrid Cloud Ecosystem:

1. IBM created the Hybrid Cloud Ecosystem this year as part of its strategy to address the $1.2 trillion hybrid cloud opportunity.
Ecosystem partners play a major role in helping clients modernize applications and migrate mission critical workloads to the cloud. And as clients choose a hybrid cloud approach as their path forward, built around Red Hat OpenShift, our services organization and our partner ecosystem will accelerate and scale adoption. Together with the power and flexibility of Red Hat’s open, hybrid cloud portfolio and IBM’s technology and deep industry expertise, this ecosystem will have access to the open technology tools businesses worldwide need to accelerate their cloud journey.

2. Clients benefit most when they’re supported by an ecosystem of partners working together to offer the best platforms, products and services.
Working alongside our partners, we can help clients accelerate their go-to-market strategy by providing a greater level of scale, resources and capabilities. By using IBM Cloud Paks, IBM and its partners are delivering integrated solutions that help clients fully realize the benefits of the IBM public cloud and accelerate the impact of cloud-driven digital transformation.

3. IBM’s robust partner ecosystems can help partners and clients leverage technologies such as cloud, 5G, Edge and more, to achieve business transformation.
That includes supporting ecosystem partners with IBM’s technical expertise, resources and scale. We are working closely with partners to support architectural reviews, creating proofs of concept, and running cloud pilots and developing, training, and staffing innovation centers where businesses can co-develop solutions alongside IBM and its partners. We’re also providing onboarding, migration and technical enablement services to help businesses modernize operations with cloud-native technologies.

4. A Hybrid Cloud Ecosystem is only as good as the partners who sign onto it.
The IBM Hybrid Cloud Ecosystem reflects the deep and broad relationships that IBM has forged in the tech community over decades. Flagship partners include Infosys, Movius, Ribbon Communications, Sysdig, Tech Mahindra, Intellect Design, Persistent Systems, Wipro, TCS, and EY.

5. An important part of our ecosystem strategy involves activating partners around IBM Cloud for Financial Services.
Last week, alongside Bank of America, we shared news of advances to IBM Cloud for Financial Services. Part of that news was the announcement that in just the past three months, more than 30 partners have joined the secure financial services ecosystem we’re building. We’re working closely with each of these partners, as well as our clients, to create a secure financial services ecosystem where banks, ISV partners and SaaS providers can transact with confidence. 

Look for IBM’s partner ecosystem to evolve and grow as the company continues to invest in both the program and in the IBM public cloud itself. Through these partner collaborations, we can provide a greater level of scale, resources and capabilities to help companies migrate even their most sensitive workloads to the cloud.

To learn more about IBM’s Hybrid Cloud Ecosystem, read CNN's interview of Bob Lord, IBM’s SVP of Cognitive Applications, Blockchain and Ecosystems.