News – Windy Haven USA Inc.

IBM to Acquire Applications Software Technology LLC, Bolstering Oracle Expertise to Help Clients Transform Their Operations

ARMONK, N.Y., Jan. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced its intent to acquire Applications Software Technology LLC¹, a global Oracle consultancy. Applications Software Technology brings deep expertise driving business transformations with Oracle Cloud Applications, including for clients in the public sector such as local government and K-12 education.

Public sector cloud transformations frequently face issues that include difficulty transitioning legacy systems, scarce skills or high security and compliance requirements. This acquisition will further enhance IBM’s Oracle solutions to help clients across North America, the UK and Ireland address those complexities and drive lasting results in their digital transformations with Oracle Cloud Applications. It will build on IBM’s 2024 acquisition of Accelalpha, expanding IBM’s ability to help clients deploy, manage and drive value from their Oracle cloud solutions.

“Public sector clients’ cloud transformations often require a consulting partner with industry, domain and technology expertise,” said Kelly Chambliss, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting, Americas. “The acquisition of Applications Software Technology will boost IBM’s public sector and Oracle Cloud Application skills to help clients confidently navigate their business transformations.”

Applications Software Technology’s large team of consultants brings expertise across the Oracle Cloud Applications Suite, particularly around Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) including Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Oracle Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM), and Oracle Fusion Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ), as well as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), JD Edwards, and NetSuite. Applications Software Technology also brings expertise and partnerships with Salesforce and MuleSoft, specializing in public sector solutions and more.

This acquisition supports IBM’s open ecosystem approach which allows us to meet clients where they are, bringing together whatever technology and expertise are needed across our expanding partner ecosystem to solve the client challenge.

Applications Software Technology has been an Oracle partner since 1996 and a leading provider of Oracle solutions covering areas like business process redesign and Oracle Cloud deployment. In addition to its strong public sector presence, Applications Software Technology also serves commercial clients in the manufacturing, energy and consumer packaged goods industries.

“We are excited to join IBM and open up new opportunities for our people and expand transformative solutions to deliver business outcomes for our customers,” said Justin Winter, CEO, Applications Software Technology. “Applications Software Technology and IBM have complementary capabilities, client relationships, service offerings and values around our people, innovation and commitment to client success. Together, we will continue to grow in the market for cloud transformation solutions.”

Headquartered in Lisle, Illinois, Applications Software Technology has teams across the US, UK, Canada and India. Notable past acquisitions contributing to its growth include Symatrix Limited, 9EDGE Inc. and Computer Technology Resources Inc. Applications Software Technology is currently a portfolio company of funds managed by Recognize Partners LP. Upon close, Applications Software Technology will join IBM Consulting.

IBM and Oracle’s partnership spans almost 40 years. IBM was named a Leader in the 2023 IDC MarketScape for Oracle Implementation Services Ecosystem Worldwide².

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

For more information on Applications Software Technology, visit https://astcorporation.com/

Walmart GoLocal and IBM Collaboration Makes Last-Mile Delivery Easier for Retailers

NEW YORK, NY, Jan 13, 2025 – Walmart GoLocal, Walmart’s white-label delivery service for retailers, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced the integration of Walmart GoLocal into IBM Sterling Order Management, combining a leading order management platform with last-mile delivery. IBM retail clients that sign up with Walmart GoLocal can now quickly integrate Walmart GoLocal’s suite of last-mile delivery solutions into their business system.

Last-mile is often considered the most difficult and costly step in the supply chain, and can be further complicated by rising consumer expectations around shortened delivery timeframes. Walmart GoLocal offers a full range of last-mile solutions to any retailer looking to improve their last-mile delivery and better serve their customers.

The new collaboration aims to simplify the operational workflow for IBM clients looking to partner with Walmart GoLocal for their deliveries. When an order is placed and ready to ship, IBM’s order management system allows for the selection of a delivery service provider, now including Walmart GoLocal’s extensive suite of delivery capabilities including same-day, next-day, multi-day, scheduled, batched deliveries and big & bulky. Additionally, the integration is designed to be user-friendly and highly customizable, mitigating the need for extensive development or complex modifications.

“As a last-mile delivery partner built by retail, for retail, Walmart GoLocal is committed to streamlining the last-mile delivery process for our clients,” said Rina Hurst, vice president of Walmart GoLocal. “By integrating Walmart GoLocal into IBM Sterling, we’re taking convenience to the next level. IBM customers can now tap into Walmart GoLocal’s extensive last-mile delivery network and robust suite of delivery capabilities, empowering them to enhance efficiency and grow their business.”

“I’m excited to see IBM’s expertise in order management and interoperability paired with Walmart GoLocal’s experience and scale, driving innovation and success in inventory optimization and last-mile delivery,” said Chris Townsend, global managing director for Walmart at IBM.

Walmart GoLocal and IBM will showcase their collaboration at the National Retail Federation 2025 conference and expo (NRF 25) and will host a joint fireside chat at IBM Booth #4639 with Hurst and Townsend on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 11:30 am ET.

For more information on Walmart GoLocal, visit www.walmartgolocal.com. For more information on IBM, visit https://www.ibm.com/us-en.

About Walmart GoLocal

Walmart GoLocal offers businesses white-labeled, reliable delivery and fulfillment solutions. Backed by Walmart’s deep retail and logistics expertise, Walmart GoLocal partners with retailers and other businesses to activate delivery and fulfillment solutions to grow and scale their businesses. Launched in August 2021, Walmart GoLocal has enabled millions of deliveries for businesses nationwide with a 98%+ on-time, same-day delivery rate and no hidden fees. For more information on Walmart GoLocal, visit www.walmartgolocal.com.

IBM Brings the Speed of Light to the Generative AI Era with Optics Breakthrough

New co-packaged optics innovation could replace electrical interconnects in data centers to offer significant improvements in speed and energy efficiency for AI and other computing applications

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – Dec. 9, 2024: IBM has unveiled breakthrough research in optics technology that could dramatically improve how data centers train and run generative AI models. Researchers have pioneered a new process for co-packaged optics (CPO), the next generation of optics technology, to enable connectivity within data centers at the speed of light through optics to complement existing short reach electrical wires. By designing and assembling the first publicly announced successful polymer optical waveguide (PWG) to power this technology, IBM researchers have shown how CPO will redefine the way the computing industry transmits high-bandwidth data between chips, circuit boards, and servers.

Today, fiber optic technology carries data at high speeds across long distances, managing nearly all the world’s commerce and communications traffic with light instead of electricity. Although data centers use fiber optics for their external communications networks, racks in data centers still predominantly run communications on copper-based electrical wires. These wires connect GPU accelerators that may spend more than half of their time idle, waiting for data from other devices in a large, distributed training process which can incur significant expense and energy.

IBM researchers have demonstrated a way to bring optics’ speed and capacity inside data centers. In a technical paper, IBM introduces a new CPO prototype module that can enable high-speed optical connectivity. This technology could significantly increase the bandwidth of data center communications, minimizing GPU downtime while drastically accelerating AI processing. This research innovation, as described, would enable:

Lower costs for scaling generative AI through a more than 5x power reduction in energy consumption compared to mid-range electrical interconnects, while extending the length of data center interconnect cables from one to hundreds of meters.
Faster AI model training, enabling developers to train a Large Language Model (LLM) up to five times faster with CPO than with conventional electrical wiring. CPO could reduce the time it takes to train a standard LLM from three months to three weeks, with performance gains increasing by using larger models and more GPUs.
Dramatically increased energy efficiency for data centers, saving the energy equivalent of 5,000 U.S. homes’ annual power consumption per AI model trained.

“As generative AI demands more energy and processing power, the data center must evolve – and co-packaged optics can make these data centers future-proof,” said Dario Gil, SVP and Director of Research at IBM. “With this breakthrough, tomorrow’s chips will communicate much like how fiber optics cables carry data in and out of data centers, ushering in a new era of faster, more sustainable communications that can handle the AI workloads of the future.”

Eighty times faster bandwidth than today’s chip-to-chip communication

In recent years, advances in chip technology have densely packed transistors onto a chip; IBM’s 2 nanometer node chip technology can contain more than 50 billion transistors. CPO technology aims to scale the interconnection density between accelerators by enabling chipmakers to add optical pathways connecting chips on an electronic module beyond the limits of today’s electrical pathways. IBM’s paper outlines how these new high bandwidth density optical structures, coupled with transmitting multiple wavelengths per optical channel, have the potential to boost bandwidth between chips as much as 80 times compared to electrical connections.

IBM’s innovation, as described, would enable chipmakers to add six times as many optical fibers at the edge of a silicon photonics chip, called “beachfront density,” compared to the current state-of-the-art CPO technology. Each fiber, about three times the width of a human hair, could span centimeters to hundreds of meters in length and transmit terabits of data per second. The IBM team assembled a high-density PWG at 50 micrometer pitch optical channels, adiabatically coupled to silicon photonics waveguides, using standard assembly packaging processes.

The paper additionally indicates that these CPO modules with PWG at 50 micrometer pitch are the first to pass all stress tests required for manufacturing. Components are subjected to high-humidity environments and temperatures ranging from -40°C to 125°C, as well as mechanical durability testing to confirm that optical interconnects can bend without breaking or losing data. Moreover, researchers have demonstrated PWG technology to an 18-micrometer pitch. Stacking four PWGs would allow for up to 128 channels for connectivity at that pitch.

IBM’s continued leadership in semiconductor R&D

CPO technology enables a new pathway to meet AI’s increasing performance demands, with the potential to replace off-module communications from electrical to optical. It continues IBM’s history of leadership in semiconductor innovation, which also includes the first 2 nm node chip technology, the first implementation of 7 nm and 5 nm process technologies, Nanosheet transistors, vertical transistors (VTFET), single cell DRAM, and chemically amplified photoresists.

Researchers completed design, modeling, and simulation work for CPO in Albany, New York, which the U.S. Department of Commerce recently selected as the home of America’s first National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), the NSTC EUV Accelerator. Researchers assembled prototypes and tested modules at IBM’s facility in Bromont, Quebec, one of North America’s largest chip assembly and test sites. Part of the Northeast Semiconductor Corridor between the United States and Canada, IBM’s Bromont fab has led the world in chip packaging for decades.

Wasabi Expands Data Management Offerings for UK Customers

Liverpool Football Club will leverage Wasabi AiR to securely power AI-driven content

BOSTON —Wasabi Technologies today announced it is expanding their data management offerings for customers with the addition of IBM Cloud’s London data center to Wasabi’s storage regions. Wasabi’s ability to leverage IBM’s Multizone Region (MZR) addresses the need to help joint customers address their evolving regulatory requirements and leverage AI and other emerging technologies with a secured, enterprise cloud platform.

The influx of data associated with AI has the potential to fuel numerous business innovations, but it also introduces complexities where data resides and requires regulatory and global compliance considerations. Wasabi’s deployment of a new storage region in IBM’s London MZR aims to help new and existing UK customers utilizing Wasabi AiR, an intelligent media storage solution for the sports, media, and entertainment segment address their data residency requirements. Wasabi AiR customers such as Liverpool Football Club (LFC) in the Premier League, will be able to access and leverage key sports data, securely across a hybrid cloud infrastructure and unlock the joint power of this expansion. This underscores Wasabi’s role as a trusted Official Partner and provider for LFC, reinforcing Wasabi’s strategic positioning within the industry.

IBM and Wasabi are both committed to helping clients innovate with AI, while addressing the data management and resiliency needs of their workloads. IBM Cloud MZRs are composed of three or more data center zones with each being an Availability Zone. This is designed so that a single failure event can affect only a single data center rather than all zones – the aim is to deliver consistent cloud services and greater resiliency. Clients hosting workloads on IBM Cloud MZRs in any country can run mission-critical workloads to keep business up and running.

“Wasabi’s expanded footprint with IBM’s London data region allows Wasabi to address the evolving regulatory and performance needs of our UK customers,” said Marty Falaro, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Wasabi. “By leveraging IBM’s Multizone Region infrastructure, we’re able to support AI-driven requirements with secured, high-performance storage. We’re excited to work closely with IBM to deliver scalable data solutions that empower organizations to unlock the full potential of their data.”

Last year, IBM and Wasabi began collaborating to drive data innovation across hybrid cloud environments for sports, media and entertainment clients such as the Boston Red Sox. This collaboration is designed to enable enterprises to run applications across any environment—on premises, in the cloud or at the edge—and help users to cost efficiently access and use key business data and analytics in real time.

“We’re excited to support Wasabi’s growth into the IBM Cloud London MZR,” Alan Peacock, general manager, IBM Cloud. “We’ve invested to help ensure partners have access to a diverse set of capabilities in the regions they operate in. Our work with Wasabi will enable their clients to benefit from the security, resiliency and performance capabilities of our cloud platform.”

IBM Expands its AI Accelerator Offerings; Announces Collaboration with AMD

IBM Cloud to Deploy AMD Instinct™ MI300X Accelerators to Support Performance for Generative AI Workloads and HPC Applications

November 18, 2024 – Armonk, NY – IBM and AMD have announced a collaboration to deploy AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators as a service on IBM Cloud. This offering, which is expected to be available in the first half of 2025, aims to enhance performance and power efficiency for Gen AI models such as and high-performance computing (HPC) applications for enterprise clients. This collaboration will also enable support for AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators within IBM’s watsonx AI and data platform, as well as Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® AI inferencing support.

“As enterprises continue adopting larger AI models and datasets, it is critical that the accelerators within the system can process compute-intensive workloads with high performance and flexibility to scale,” said Philip Guido, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, AMD. “AMD Instinct accelerators combined with AMD ROCm software offer wide support including IBM watsonx AI, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI and Red Hat OpenShift AI platforms to build leading frameworks using these powerful open ecosystem tools. Our collaboration with IBM Cloud will aim to allow customers to execute and scale Gen AI inferencing without hindering cost, performance or efficiency.”

“AMD and IBM Cloud share the same vision around bringing AI to enterprises. We’re committed to bringing the power of AI to enterprise clients, helping them prioritize their outcomes and ensuring they have the power of choice when it comes to their AI deployments,” said Alan Peacock, General Manager of IBM Cloud. “Leveraging AMD’s accelerators on IBM Cloud will give our enterprise clients another option to scale to meet their enterprise AI needs, while also aiming to help them optimize cost and performance.”

IBM and AMD are collaborating to deliver MI300X accelerators as a service on IBM Cloud to support enterprise clients leveraging AI. To help enterprise clients across industries, including those that are heavily regulated, IBM and AMD intend to leverage IBM Cloud’s security and compliance capabilities.

Support for Large Model Inferencing: Equipped with 192GB of high-bandwidth memory (HBM3), AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators offer support for the largest model inferencing and fine tuning. The large memory capacity can also help customers run larger models with fewer GPUs, potentially lowering costs for inferencing.
Enhanced Performance and Security: Offering AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators as a service on IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC, as well as through container support with IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service and IBM Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud, can help optimize performance for enterprises running AI applications.

For generative AI inferencing workloads, IBM plans to enable support for AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators within IBM’s watsonx AI and data platform, providing watsonx clients with additional AI infrastructure resources for scaling their AI workloads across hybrid cloud environments. Additionally, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI and Red Hat OpenShift AI platforms can run Granite family large language models (LLMs) with alignment tooling using InstructLab on MI300X accelerators.

IBM Cloud with AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators are expected to be generally available in the first half of 2025. Stay tuned for more updates from AMD and IBM in the coming months.

To learn more about IBM’s GPU and Accelerator offerings, visit: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/gpu

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

IBM “AI in Action” Report Identifies Key Characteristics of Businesses That Consider Themselves Leaders in AI

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) released a new report called AI in Action that highlights artificial intelligence strategies of businesses considered “AI Leaders.” The report is based on a survey, conducted on behalf of IBM by Harris Poll, of 2,000 companies across the U.S., U.K., India, Japan and Germany.

According to the findings, of the 2,000 businesses surveyed, 15% reported being far ahead of their peers when it comes to leveraging AI to maximize value across their business. The report defines these businesses as “AI Leaders.” The remaining 85% of respondents were classified as “Learners.”

“Of the organizations that were considered AI Leaders, two-thirds reported that AI has already driven 25% or greater improvement in their revenue growth rate,” said Shobhit Varshney, VP & Sr. Partner, Americas AI Leader, IBM Consulting. “We dove into the data to uncover how these AI Leaders were implementing AI within their businesses that could help others learn from their success.”

The report identified four key findings that may explain the outcomes achieved by AI Leaders:

Investment: 71% of AI Leaders describe their organizations as being very aggressive with respect to making investments in AI, compared to 19% of Learners.
AI Data Management: AI Leaders were far more likely to express confidence in their ability to access and effectively manage their organization’s data to support AI initiatives (61% vs. 11% of Learners).
Strategic Focus & Alignment: AI Leaders were more likely to report that their C-suite was fully aligned with IT leadership on what it would take to achieve AI maturity (72% vs. 36% of Learners). Further, data found that AI Leaders were 80% more likely to invest in four use cases: customer experience, IT operations and automation, virtual assistants and cybersecurity.
Ability to Customize: AI Leaders were more than twice as likely to express confidence in their ability to customize their AI efforts to achieve optimal value. (72% of Leaders vs. 33% of Learners) In practice, 61% of Leaders reported using APIs to create their own solutions (vs. 28% of Learners).
For the full report, including country-specific data, visit https://www.ibm.com/think/reports/ai-in-action. Is your company an AI Leader? Click HERE to take the quiz and find out.

The research for this report was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of IBM from 20 February through 24 April 2024. The survey was conducted among IT and business decision-makers in the US, Japan, Germany, the UK and India. The decision-makers had to possess a deep knowledge of their company’s AI-based tools or processes in all their forms and work for large companies with either an annual revenue of more than USD 500 million or a company size of more than 1,000 employees.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

About The Harris Poll

The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running market research firms in the US, tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963. It’s now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. It works with clients in 3 primary areas: building a 21st-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Its mission is to provide insights and advisory to help leaders make the best decisions possible.

IBM Selected as Official Fan Engagement and Data Analytics Partner for Scuderia Ferrari HP

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Ferrari S.p.A. to become the official Fan Engagement and Data Analytics Partner of Scuderia Ferrari HP, the most renowned Formula 1 team, starting in 2025.

The partnership brings together two iconic and enduring brands, both driven by a passion for innovation and a commitment to progress. IBM and Scuderia Ferrari HP will conceive, develop, and deliver world-class digital experiences to bring racing enthusiasts closer than ever to the racing team.

IBM and Scuderia Ferrari HP will develop a fully reimagined mobile app to be unveiled during the 2025 season. This includes applying IBM’s technology and consulting expertise to analyze and transform Ferrari’s massive volume and variety of data – both current and historical – into custom insights, personalized content, and innovative features designed to supercharge the fan experience. IBM will also provide its new cutting-edge technology and data-driven solutions to increase speed and production.

“In Formula 1, seconds matter whether it’s on or off the track. The ability for Scuderia Ferrari HP to quickly deliver world-class insights from their abundant data will only happen through the benefit of technology,” said Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at IBM. “Bringing together its passionate fanbase, historic prominence, and the latest innovative data and analytics solutions uniquely positions Scuderia Ferrari HP to grow global engagement while also modernizing and scaling its digital operations.”

“We are proud to launch this partnership with IBM, one of the most prestigious companies in the world offering technology and consulting expertise,” said Lorenzo Giorgetti, Chief Racing Revenue Officer at Ferrari. “Our two companies share values such as the pursuit of excellence and the desire to always keep pushing the boundaries in our respective spheres of activity, as well as combining our technology and skills to pursue the highest quality and cutting-edge technology. IBM, like Ferrari, seeks out talented people to grow its team and it is therefore the perfect partner to bring a new dimension to motorsport enthusiasts and our loyal fans at a time when Formula 1 has never been so popular with youngsters. The collaboration with IBM will see us offering Scuderia Ferrari HP fans unprecedented experiences that will open the doors of the Scuderia to the outside world, as well as collaborating together on many other fronts to create activations that will generate value for both brands.”

For more than 30 years, IBM has partnered with some of the most iconic sporting organizations – including Wimbledon, the US Open, the Masters Tournament and ESPN Fantasy Football – working side-by-side to modernize their digital infrastructure and bring these marquee events to life for millions of fans around the world. These partnerships are powered by the same data and analytics technology used by IBM clients across industries to build enhanced customer experiences, help their employees reach new levels of productivity and make more informed, data-driven business decisions.

Cognizant Launches Global FinOps Center of Excellence, New Solutions Built with IBM Technology to Tackle Enterprise Modernization Challenges

TEANECK, N.J., Nov. 6, 2024 – Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced the debut of a new FinOps[1] Center of Excellence (CoE), built on IBM’s leading FinOps software and Cognizant’s cloud and developer platforms. The global innovation center harnesses the strengths of Cognizant’s industry and technology expertise, combined with IBM solutions, to help global clients address challenges, including escalating costs, around AI readiness, cloud governance and architecture modernization.

Alongside the CoE announcement, Cognizant launched extensions of its Cognizant® Skygrade™ and Flowsource™ platforms that are designed to integrate with IBM Apptio, Turbonomic, watsonx.governance and watsonx Code Assistant for Z. The solutions bring together Cognizant’s deep engineering capabilities with IBM’s powerful tools to help enterprise clients transition to modern architectures and streamline cloud management operations.

“Modern businesses face significant challenges in managing complexity, operational risks, and cost overhead due to the pervasive impact of technical debt and aging applications,” said Prasad Sankaran, EVP and Global Head, Software and Platform Engineering, Cognizant. “Cognizant and IBM are committed to offering clients the ability to effectively realize cloud and AI-native solutions at enterprise scale.”

Cognizant and IBM aim to help clients operate more efficiently and innovate quickly and responsibly by jointly focusing on the following areas:

Mainframe Modernization: Modernizing mainframe applications designed to increase agility and innovate faster through code modernization leveraging watsonx Code Assistant for Z, and supporting adoption of a hybrid cloud strategy to maximize the value of mainframe investments.
FinOps: Aiming to provide visibility and accountability over cloud costs, optimize usage, and implement real-time production adjustments to eliminate waste in multi-cloud environments.
AI Governance: Aiming to responsibly implement and drive AI governance across the enterprise, leveraging watsonx.governance to help ensure that AI systems are fair and transparent, with tools for AI quality and compliance capabilities integrated into development and operations processes.
“Optimizing cloud, AI and mainframe solutions are priorities for C-suite leaders the world over,” said Stephen Smith, General Manager, IBM Service Partner Ecosystem. “Exploiting automation and AI to reduce manual operations and accelerate productivity will help clients to realize more value from their hybrid cloud environments, reduce technology costs and the barriers to innovation.”

IBM Brings Apptio Product Portfolio to the Microsoft Cloud to Help Organizations Make Informed Technology Planning Decisions

ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that it is bringing the Apptio portfolio of enterprise agile planning (EAP), IT financial management, and cloud FinOps solutions to Microsoft Azure. In addition, IBM announced their global expansion of IBM Software availability on the Azure Marketplace making it easier for customers to buy software directly on the marketplace while using their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment.

As IT leaders grapple with growing technology budgets and managing new generative AI-fueled compute needs, they are facing increasing pressure to prove the value of their investments.

Now available on the Azure Marketplace, IBM Targetprocess EAP software helps portfolio managers and finance teams plan and manage budgets and align their workforces across various technology priorities, while applying technology business management (TBM) industry best practices. As a native software-as-a-service solution from IBM’s acquisition of Apptio, Targetprocess integrates with Azure DevOps to provide simplified management, increased efficiencies and potential cost savings by allowing clients to use Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments.

As a leader in IDC’s MarketScape for Worldwide Value Stream Management and Agile Project and Portfolio Management and Gartner’s Enterprise Agile Planning Magic Quadrant, IBM Targetprocess enhances Azure DevOps’ capabilities, providing end-to-end visibility from the team level up. It also supports various Agile frameworks, including SAFe, and offers flexibility to align with each organization’s business practices – providing a single source of truth for tech spend and labor allocation.

IBM Expands Software Availability on the Azure Marketplace
IBM is also expanding the global availability of its software portfolio to 14 additional countries on the Azure Marketplace. IBM Software offerings will be available to clients in countries including Australia, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The Azure marketplace is a preferred choice for enterprise IT purchases, and IBM offerings on the Azure Marketplace enable customers to purchase software how they want to, while drawing down on their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment investments. This facilitates access to IBM technologies including Aspera on Cloud SaaS, Netezza SaaS, SingleStoreDB SaaS, Streamsets, IBM Planning Analytics SaaS, and webMethods Integration Suite. Additionally, watsonx.ai, watsonx.data and watsonx.governance are available as a customer managed service on the Azure Marketplace.

“Thousands of clients are already using the Apptio portfolio to optimize their IT investments, but many of our joint customers need the flexibility to use it on the Microsoft DevOps platform,” said Nick Otto, Head of Global Strategic Partnerships, IBM. “Bringing IBM Targetprocess to the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, along with expanded availability of other IBM Software around the world, enables us to support clients on their digital transformation journey with the ease and simplicity of purchasing on the marketplace.”

“Today’s announcement illustrates how IBM and Microsoft are empowering customers to efficiently use IT resources and adapt to evolving tech needs, especially with the rise of cloud-based AI innovation,” said Dinis Couto, GM, GSI Commercial Partners at Microsoft. “Our collaboration will enhance decision-making, increase productivity and enhance IT management for organizations of all sizes.”

Microsoft has also agreed to adopt Apptio’s capabilities in parts of their own organization.

IBM’s collaboration with Microsoft is grounded in a shared vision for hybrid, multi-cloud business transformation, satisfying customer needs by running the right workloads in the right places. We share a heritage and proven track record of delivering industry first innovations, and IBM is one of Microsoft’s technology and Consulting partners that provide expertise to support many of Microsoft’s product areas.

IBM also brings nearly 50 IBM Consulting offerings on the Azure Marketplace. These offerings are available globally and focused on helping clients drive business transformation with hybrid cloud, generative AI, data and application modernization, security services, and tailored industry-specific solutions including IBM Consulting Azure OpenAI, IBM Consulting Connect 360, IBM Consulting Banking Operations GenAI Co-Pilot and IBM Security Strategy Services for Microsoft Azure. IBM Consulting also brings over 50,000 Microsoft certifications and a dedicated team of experts trained in the latest Microsoft technologies to helping clients get the most out of them.

IBM Targetprocess is the first Apptio product on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. IBM also intends to make IBM Apptio Costing and Planning available in the marketplace in Q4 2024. IBM Cloudability is currently under consideration.

IBM Advances Secure AI, Quantum Safe Technology with IBM Guardium Data Security Center

IBM Guardium Data Security Center provides unified, SaaS-first data security capabilities amid hybrid cloud, AI, and quantum transformation

New software part of IBM’s comprehensive approach for protecting hybrid cloud and AI

ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — As hybrid cloud-, AI-, and quantum-related risks upend the traditional data security paradigm, IBM (NYSE: IBM) is launching IBM Guardium Data Security Center – allowing organizations to protect data in any environment, throughout its full lifecycle, and with unified controls.

IBM Guardium Data Security Center provides a common view of organizations’ data assets, empowering security teams to integrate workflows and address data monitoring and governance, data detection and response, data and AI security posture management, and cryptography management together in a single dashboard. IBM Guardium Data Security Center includes generative AI capabilities to help generate risk summaries and boost security professionals’ productivity.

The center features IBM Guardium AI Security, software to help protect organizations’ AI deployments from security vulnerabilities and data governance policy violations at a time when generative AI adoption – and the risk of “shadow AI,” the presence of unsanctioned models – is surging.

IBM Guardium Data Security Center also features IBM Guardium Quantum Safe, software that helps clients to protect encrypted data from the potential risk of future cyberattacks driven by bad actors who gain access to cryptographically relevant quantum computers. IBM Guardium Quantum Safe builds upon expertise from IBM Research – including IBM’s post-quantum cryptography algorithms – and IBM Consulting.

“Generative AI and quantum computing provide immense opportunities, but they also bring new risks,” says Akiba Saeedi, Vice President, IBM Security Product Management. “During this transformative time, organizations need to improve their crypto-agility and carefully monitor their AI models, training data, and usage. IBM Guardium Data Security Center – with its AI Security, Quantum Safe, and other integrated capabilities – provides comprehensive risk visibility.”

IBM Guardium Quantum Safe helps organizations gain visibility and manage enterprise cryptographic security posture to address vulnerabilities and guide remediation. It allows organizations to enforce policies based on external, internal, and government regulations by pulling crypto algorithms used in code, vulnerabilities detected in code, and network usages into a single dashboard for security analysts to monitor policy violations and track progress – without having to piece together information distributed across various systems, tools, and departments. Guardium Quantum Safe offers customizable metadata and flexible reporting so that critical vulnerabilities can be prioritized for remediation.

IBM Guardium AI Security manages security risk and data governance requirements for sensitive AI data and AI models. It helps discover AI deployments, address compliance, mitigate vulnerabilities, and protect sensitive data in AI models through a common view of data assets. IBM Guardium AI Security integrates with IBM watsonx and other generative AI SaaS providers. For example, IBM Guardium AI Security helps discover “shadow AI” models and then shares them with IBM watsonx.governance, so they no longer elude governance.

An integrated approach for a transformative time

Hybrid cloud-, AI-, and quantum-era risks mean key data – from medical records and financial transactions to IP and critical infrastructure – require new forms of protection. During this transformative time, organizations urgently need a trusted partner and an integrated approach to data security – not a patchwork of point solutions. IBM is pioneering this integrated approach.

IBM Guardium Quantum Safe dovetails with broader Quantum Safe offerings from IBM Consulting and Research. The software is powered by technology and research developed by IBM Research. Several of IBM Research’s post-quantum cryptography algorithms were recently standardized by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), marking a crucial milestone to protect the world’s encrypted data from the risk of bad actors who may gain access to cryptographically relevant quantum computers to carry out cyberattacks in the future.

IBM Consulting’s Quantum Safe Transformation Services leverage these technologies to help organizations define risks, inventory and prioritize them, confront them – and then scale the process. IBM Consulting’s cybersecurity bench includes scores of professionals with experience in cryptography and quantum safe technology. Dozens of clients in telecommunications, finance, government, and other industries leverage IBM Quantum Safe Transformation Services to help safeguard their organizations against future risks and present risks like harvest now, decrypt later.

IBM today is also adding decentralized identity features to its Verify portfolio: IBM Verify Digital Credentials enables users to store and manage their own credentials. The feature digitizes physical credentials like drivers’ licenses, insurance cards, loyalty cards, and employee badges, which can then be standardized, stored, and shared with comprehensive security, privacy protection, and control. IBM Verify is an IAM (identity access management) solution that protects identity across the hybrid cloud.

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.

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