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By Mel Duvall
IBM has gone live with a new cloud-based software development and testing tool, which is targeting enterprise customers, government agencies, and other organizations.
According to IBM, the launch of the platform comes after it successfully tested its capabilities in a beta program. The company is working with partners in cloud management, cloud security, and software and development and support to provide a suite of applications on the IBM cloud.
IBM noted that the average enterprise devotes up to 50 percent of its entire technology infrastructure to a development and test environment. However, up to 90 percent of that infrastructure can remain idle. By taking advantage of a cloud-based development and testing environment, IBM believes it can help enterprises reduce IT labor costs by 50 percent, improve quality and greatly reduce time to market.
One of the companies using the service is PayPal, the online payments processor. PayPal said it is using the IBM cloud to give its software developers a platform to test new applications for smartphones. "We want to provide a very simple way to make payments available on all platforms including mobile applications," Osama Bedier, PayPal's vice president of platform and emerging technologies, said in statement.
"We look forward to seeing the payments innovations our developers can create through the IBM cloud and bringing the wallet into the cloud," added Bedier.
Another organization that used the beta service was the Collaborative Software Initiative (CSI), a company that uses the power of communities to develop software. CSI said it tapped the IBM cloud service to develop and test an educational portal product -- an online community connecting teachers, administrators, education experts and charitable foundations. The portal is used to request, propose and refine ideas to improve public education.
IBM has forged partnerships with a number of software vendors to build out the capabilities of its cloud service. It said it is working with RightScale and Kaavo to help customers manage and provision cloud resources to facilitate deployment of applications and workloads in the cloud. It is also working with Navajo Systems to provide security services, and Silanis for a secure e-signature service, such as e-contracts. Other initial partners include Aviarc, Wavemaker, Corent, AppFirst and SOASTA.
IBM also said it is introducing a new cloud-based software delivery lifecycle offering from its Rational business unit, as well as an online cloud computing resource center on IBM developerWorks. DeveloperWorks is an online technical resource with 8 million registered developers.
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