The world is getting into hybrid as the future

The future of cloud computing points to hybrid clouds, same as the future of the work place might also be the hybrid. For many, the vision is a model that combines remote work and office time.

At present, companies are managing in varied ways. Some have given employees permission to continue working remotely until at least 2021. Others have recalled staff to the workplace on different schedules and in staggered groups. Still others are leaving it entirely up to individual workers to decide where to base themselves. However, businesses around the world are also starting to think about the longer term, including alternative ways to structure work communication and hours as well as physical presence.

A mix of both public and private clouds, the hybrid cloud is the best of both worlds. A well-designed hybrid cloud roadmap takes advantage of the low-cost efficiency, scalability and agility of public cloud resources, yet has the high security and data governance of a private cloud.

IBM will list its IT infrastructure services unit, which provides technical support for 4,600 clients in 115 countries and has a backlog of $60 billion, as a separate company with a new name by the end of 2021. The new company will have 90,000 employees and its leadership structure will be decided in a few months, Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh said.

In a blog, Arvind Krishna, Chief Executive Officer called the move a “significant shift” in the 109-year-old company’s business model. We made progress in 2020 growing our hybrid cloud platform as the foundation for our clients’ digital transformations while dealing with the broader uncertainty of the macro environment,” Krishna said. “The actions we are taking to focus on hybrid cloud and AI will take hold, giving us confidence we can achieve revenue growth in 2021.

The company is planning to spin off its managed infrastructure services division, a web-hosting and IT infrastructure unit, which will free up more resources for Krishna’s AI and hybrid cloud push. That spin-off is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

As per IBM, a hybrid cloud approach with IBM can help your enterprise in many ways. It has clearly definded, its growth to come from its greater focus on it’s open hybrid cloud platform and AI. To drive growth, the strategy must be rooted in the reality of the world we live in and the future our clients strive to build.

Today, hybrid cloud and AI are swiftly becoming the locus of commerce, transactions, and over time, of computing itself. This shift is driven by the changing needs of our clients, who find that choosing an open hybrid cloud approach is 2.5 times more valuable than relying on public cloud alone.

IBM generated annual net income of $9.4 billion on revenue of $77.1 billion in 2019 and has a market capitalization of $112.2 billion, as of December 15, 2020. It operates through five business segments: Cloud & Cognitive Software, Global Business Services, Global Technology Services, Systems, and Global Financing.

IBM has set its sights on becoming a leader in cloud computing, a strategic push underscored by its 2019 acquisition of Red Hat. Red Hat was acquired by IBM for approximately $34 billion, which broke the record for the largest software acquisition in history.

Previously, IBM had build its foundation strong by acquiring Cognos , who is strong in Business Intelligence and Performance Management Software and SoftLayer Technologies Inc. , was a recognised leader into the segment of Cloud Computing Infrastructure. IBM has also acquired Instana, a leading enterprise observability platform. Instana continuously and automatically discovers, maps, and monitors all hosts and applications, whether they are running on bare metal, virtual machines, or containers.

With the acquisition of Instana, IBM offers industry-leading, AI-powered automation capabilities to manage the complexity of modern applications that span hybrid cloud landscapes. Clients get a leading enterprise observability platform to drive automated remediation, powered by Instana’s contextualized data with metrics, traces, profiles, and dependency mapping. In addition, existing IBM monitoring clients will have a path forward to preserve their existing investment and take advantage of the modern observability features of Instana.

IBM also announced, it has acquired TruQua, an IT services and consulting company focused on SAP's finance and analytics technologies. Big Blue said the deal will support its hybrid growth strategy and expand its breadth of consulting services.

IBM announced that it is acquiring Taos, a cloud managed services provider, with a strong focus on public cloud computing platforms. At the same time, Deloitte Consulting shared that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of HashedIn Technologies, a software engineering and product development firm specializing in cloud native technologies.

IBM has acquired Milwaukee-based Salesforce consultant 7Summits. 7Summits has 66 employees in Milwaukee. The company has more than 200 employees across the country in Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Austin and San Francisco. Together, they will deliver more business value for our collective clients through AI-powered solutions that deliver Intelligent Experiences at speed, while delighting engaged audiences.

IBM also offers IBM Cloud Pak® solutions, an AI-infused software portfolio that runs on Red Hat OpenShift. These solutions can help organizations advance digital transformation with data insights, prediction, security, automation and modernization, across any cloud environment.

With the all the acquisition, IBM got stronger and able to address any kind of demand. The new generation of hybrid cloud enables you to build and manage across any cloud with a common platform, allowing you to skill once, build once and manage from a single pane of glass.