IBM launches four new US data centers in latest cloud expansion
After a series of major cloud expansions overseas, IBM Corp. is turning its attention back to the U.S.
The technology giant today announced the launch of four new U.S. data centers that will provide access to its extensive range of infrastructure and development automation services. Two are located in Dallas, Texas, while the other pair is set to serve the Washington, D.C. area. The latter facilities will presumably cater to the public sector, where IBM already boasts a strong market presence.
The company works with federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration as well as numerous municipal governments. Moreover, IBM is also targeting public sector organizations abroad as part of an effort that recently saw it launch a new data center in Britain. The facility is located on site leased from Ark Data Centres Ltd., the main infrastructure provider to the U.K. government.
IBM has worked with many public sector agencies since the mainframe era, which gives it something of an edge on the sales front. However, the company is still behind Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft Corp’s Azure in the big picture. Both are working hard to maintain their respective positions in the cloud market.
AWS last week announced the availability of Amazon Lex, a chatbot development service that is based on the deep learning technology powering its popular Echo smart speakers. IBM is likewise working to build out a line of managed artificial intelligence tools in an effort that centers on its Watson cognitive computing system. The most recent additions to the portfolio arrived a few days ago in the form of two new services for analyzing customer activity data and processing video content.
Image: Wikimedia
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