IBM launches Smart Cloud Foundation services

IBM has unveiled a series of new services designed to help enterprises manage cloud computing services.

The company said that its Smart Cloud Foundation platform would allow administrators to maintain and troubleshoot cloud computing environments for both desktop and mobile applications and services.

For management of cloud services, IBM is offering the Smart Cloud Control Desk and Monitoring platforms.

The tools will allow administrators to handle events and problems on cloud services as well as manage and distribute workloads across cloud servers.

For mobile applications, the Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices platform will allow management and policy enforcement on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Symbian smartphones and tablets.

Additionally, the company is rolling out the SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center. The cloud tool is designed to manage virtualised cloud storage systems.

The Smart Cloud Foundation will aim to solve what IBM sees as a shortfall in on-premise virtualisation platforms.

With data volumes continuing to expand, IBM believes that enterprises will soon be challenged to keep up with growing numbers of virtual server images.

"Virtual images are tripling every two years, outpacing the doubling in compute power and essentially flat IT budgets. With current operating practices, every two years, you'd need 1.5 times the physical infrastructure to support cloud and twice the labour," said IBM Tivoli software general manager Daniel Sabbah.

"We are delivering a much higher level of control over cloud service delivery allowing our customers to quickly, easily and affordably move to higher levels of value beyond virtualisation."