IBL News | New York
Unable to beat AWS or the next two cloud providers (Azure and Google Cloud), IBM has joined AWS by signing a multi-year collaboration agreement. IBM will make a variety of its software available as a service on AWS Marketplace.
The deal includes joint investments to make it easier for companies to consume IBM’s offerings and integrate them with AWS. There will be integrated go-to-market, developer training, and software development programs for vertical markets, such as travel, oil, and gas.
The IBM offerings on AWS will cover technologies such as AI, security, and sustainability. The products are built on Red Hat OpenShift Service and cloud-native apps on AWS.
Other services currently available on AWS Marketplace include IBM API Connect, Db2, IBM Maximo Application Suite, IBM Security ReaQta and Security Trusteer, Security Verify, and Watson Orchestrate.
With Arvind Krishna as CEO at IBM, the big blue has set partnerships with both long-time business partners and competitors alike, such as Salesforce, SAP, and Microsoft Azure.
The company also made open source more integral to its software strategy, evidenced by the $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat.
Also, IBM has doubled down on its commitment to hybrid clouds, while AWS and Microsoft have battled for leadership in the public cloud market.
At the end of 2021, AWS controlled 33% of the cloud infrastructure services market, with Azure owning 22% and Google Cloud with 9%. IBM — the owner of Softlayer — is fifth behind Alibaba in the low single digits, according to market researcher Statistica.
According to experts, IBM has failed to distinguish what its value is compared to competitors, especially when targeting data scientists and developers.
