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By Charles Cooper, 20 August 2008 08:28

NEWS

IBM is investing $300m in cloud computing.

Big Blue is using that money to equip 13 data centres around the world with infrastructure that will let customers access a bevy of cloud-based computer services in the event service disruptions take down their networks.

The investment also constitutes the biggest investment IBM has ever made in this area, according to Brian Reagan, who directs the company's Global Strategy and Portfolio Management group.

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1. Silicon Valley
2. Bangalore
3. London
4. Tokyo
5. Boston
6. Cambridge
7. Shanghai
8. Tel Aviv
9. Seoul
10.Beijing
11.Chennai
12.Pune
13.Singapore
14.Helsinki
15.Moscow
16.Hong Kong
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18.New York
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He said: "You either would have dedicated seats or essentially a replica of your work centre at that data centre - shared or dedicated. By using a lot of these virtualisation techniques, when you want to move your workspace from your office we would be able to transparently move your applications and desktop so you'd be up and running."

Although it's nearly impossible to guarantee 100 per cent up time in the event of a man-made or natural disaster, Big Blue is treading on familiar terrain. Cloud computing dates back several decades to the era when mainframes ruled the computing roost.

IBM's latest move is to provide cloud-based storage on a as-needed basis. In the event of a service disruption, the company says its data centres would be able to electronically process the shift in information from customer sites in order restore service in a reasonable amount of time.

Some of the technology IBM is employing here comes from its acquisition late last year of Arsenal Digital Solutions, whose rack-mounted storage appliances will provide the storage for information and applications data.

Earlier this month, it announced plans to spend around $400m to add cloud computing data centres in North Carolina and Tokyo.