IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat is the most significant step in its endeavour to lead in this high-value segment of IT industry. One of the most significant challenges associated with hybrid multi-cloud deployments is achieving interoperability, portability and security compliance of applications across multiple cloud environments. The use of open-source cloud development platforms provides an effective way to overcome these challenges as well as manage workloads across multiple clouds.
“This is a game-changer for the cloud market as we are two best-in-class hybrid cloud providers that together will help companies move to the next chapter of the cloud while addressing the issues around portability, management consistency, security and remaining open to avoid vendor lock-in. This will enhance the growth of Red Hat’s and IBM’s businesses as we sell more of our data and AI software on containers across multiple platforms, and more of our services, from app modernisation to multi-cloud managed services,” says Karan Bajwa, MD, IBM India.
Rajish Rajan, Chief Solutions Officer, Cateina Technologies – one of IBM’s hybrid cloud integration partners – states, “We are also looking forward to the shift to open source, being fuelled by IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat. We already have a strong relationship with Red Hat and the sync-up of both companies can open up new opportunities. We are expecting the AI stack to be a game changer in the coming years. We started with building a product on API mining, which is something that goes hand-in- hand with API gateways and the hybrid integration. Going forward, Watson would be of interest for this, and so will everything on the AI platform.”
Seconding Rajan’s thought Tanmay Sharma, EVP – Sales, iMicron, a cloud specialist, comments, “We also see the opportunities available on open-shift Kubernetes which is going to become the next story where we can offer customers the next level of cloud services, with complete neutrality and independence in terms of infrastructure
management. We intend to work alongside IBM and transform the next level of cloud environment by offering differentiated software and hardware service.”
While partners and IBM are gearing up for building synergies and opening new line of services and products, IBM is also pushing its partners to take on the digital opportunities that are all about Chapter 2 of digital transformation – moving from experimentation to true transformation by leveraging AI, cloud, data, etc. IBM’s channel ecosystem strategy aligns with the goal of advancing its leadership position in high-value segments of the IT industry including multi-cloud, holistic AI, security and Blockchain.
“Our next-generation partner framework will make it easier and faster for partners to reach more clients with IBM and be rewarded for their investment. It helps them shift to higher value, higher growth areas and deliver differentiated offerings aligned to AI, cloud, security, etc. This is part of IBM’s objective to create mutual value and provide a better end-to-end experience when working with IBM,” adds Lata Singh, Director – One Channel, IBM India / South Asia.
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