TORONTO and MONTREAL - Feb. 1, 2011 -- IBM today unveiled one of the most advanced computing facilities in Canada, the IBM Compute Cloud Centre, the company’s first cloud delivery centre in Canada in order to address the growing demand from enterprises to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and access new technologies such as analytics and mobile computing.

With the new $42 million IBM Compute Cloud Centre, Canadian businesses can securely develop, host and test applications while paying only for the computational power they use. The platform represents an evolutionary opportunity for organizations to capitalize on the cloud computing model to further grow their social and business applications. Confidential information is protected and kept securely resident in Canada in accordance with Canadian privacy laws.

Among the first clients to take advantage of the IBM Compute Cloud Centre’s offerings in Canada are VisionMax, a Canadian-based custom software development firm offering IT solutions, and Buchanan Technologies, an IBM Canada business partner and IT professional services firm:

    * “There’s a great competitive advantage to providing geographic specific cloud delivery capabilities for customers and ISV’s,” said Stephen Sweett, President, Buchanan Technologies.

“Buchanan Technologies is pleased to work with the IBM Compute Cloud Centre and have access to IBM’s global knowledge base as we evolve our own capabilities to meet the growing demand for secure information management in the financial services and public sector.” *

    * “At VisionMax we customize solutions to meet our customers' needs,” said David McDougall, President, VisionMax. “But no matter what industry our clients are in, being able to capitalize on the flexibility of the Cloud with help from IBM makes good business and financial sense.”

According to Canadian IDC analyst, Mark Schrutt, in his recent report Cloud Computing: The Next Form of Outsourcing, "IBM becomes the first Tier 1 multinational IT service provider to establish Canadian cloud delivery capabilities, in a market that is expected to grow by more than 40% over the next three years, breaking the C$1billion mark by 2015. IBM's global cloud footprint is impressive and is a critical component in addressing some of the technical issues around cloud such as latency. More importantly, at least for the Canadian market, IBM Smart Business Compute Cloud provides an in-country solution for buyers concerned about data residency."

The new IBM Smart Business Compute Cloud Centre complements IBM’s existing dedicated network of 17 data centres across Canada. It will offer a pay-as-you-go service providing customers with access to a Canadian commerce portal where usage charges for virtual servers, selected software images and storage capacity will be available on a per-hour basis.

“This is an innovation investment in Canada that will help Canadian businesses capture the promise of new computing models to drive productivity and increase competitiveness,” said Bruce Ross, President, IBM Canada. “IBM’s breadth of global expertise in cloud computing will provide Canadian organizations with an unparalleled level of service and reliability as they drive innovative business transformation.”

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Source: IBM