On June 1, IBM announced the opening of its newest computing facility, a Hong Kong data center that will support its SoftLayer cloud-based offerings. The company opened the Hong Kong data center to strengthen its presence in the Asian market place, as well as to provide additional resources for increasing client needs, noted SoftLayer CEO Lance Crosby.
The tech giant acquired SoftLayer Technologies in July 2013, when the business was just a small startup. IBM hoped the investment in SoftLayer would bolster its position in the cloud computing sector, according to Barron’s. SoftLayer offerings include on-demand cloud infrastructure services supported by bare metal and virtual servers, cloud storage and networking capabilities accessible from a single platform.
Steve Millunovich of UBS noted that the demand for cloud services is steadily increasing as the computing sector increasingly shifts in that direction.
“Crosby suggested that eventually 60 to 80 percent of computing could be done in public cloud, including anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of traditional ‘system of record’ back-end processing depending on the industry,” Millunovich wrote. “If that project is close to correct, IBM has no choice but to embrace cloud in all forms.”
Part of IBM’s strategy for moving toward a more cloud-heavy environment is the establishment of the new SoftLayer Hong Kong data center, which is one of 15 new facilities it plans to open in the near future. IBM invested $1.2 billion in the large-scale data center project to boost its service footprint in Asia and other regions throughout the world.
The new Hong Kong data center is being supported by SoftLayer network architecture, and has the capacity to support over 15,000 physical servers. The facility also has specially designed network connectivity resources from vendors including Equinix, providing high-speed throughput with less than 40 milliseconds of latency.
Currently, the company operates a Singapore data center and has network points of presence in Tokyo and Hong Kong as well.
