Category Archives: IBM

Black Duck, Box, IBM, News & Analysis, Open Source

Box, IBM and Black Duck announce security offerings amid open source vulnerabilities

Security concept with padlock icon on digital screenTwo more services have been launched with the aim of shoring up the security of the cloud, as its popularity sees it becoming increasingly targeted for attack.

File sharing company Box has launched a customer-managed encryption service, KeySafe, in a bid to give clients more control over their encryption keys without sacrificing the ease of use and collaboration features of Box. Meanwhile UK-based open source security vendor Black Duck has been recognised under IBM PartnerWorld’s ‘Ready for IBM Security Intelligence’ designation.

Box’s KeySafe aims to centralise sensitive content in the cloud, and promises new levels of productivity and faster business processes. Box Enterprise Key Management (EKM) uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a dedicated hardware storage module (HSM) to protect keys used to encrypt sensitive data. Box also has a service that integrates with AWS Key Management Service so customers can control their encryption keys. The service is intended to be simple and uses a software-based technology that doesn’t need dedicated HSMs.

Box says it can never access a customer’s encryption keys, which the customer owns. The main selling points of KeySafe, in addition to this independent key control, are unchangeable usage policies and audit logs and a ‘frictionless end user experience’ with simple data. Pricing is to be based on size.

In another security announcement, Black Duck’s new offering through IBM follows a research finding that 95% of mission critical apps now contain open source components, with 98% of companies using open source software they don’t know about. With 4,000 new open source vulnerabilities reported every year, Black Duck claims that cloud computing is creating greater vulnerabilities.

IBM has announced that Black Duck Hub has been validated to integrate with IBM Security AppScan in order to identify and manage application security risks in custom-developed and open source code. The hub now provides a clarified view within IBM Security AppScan which will help spot problems quicker. Black Duck Hub identifies and logs the open source in applications and containers and maps any known security vulnerabilities by comparing the inventory against data from the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) and VulnDB.

“It’s not uncommon for open source software to make up 50 per cent of a large organisation’s code base. By integrating Black Duck Hub with AppScan, IBM customers will gain visibility into and control of the open source they’re using,” said Black Duck CEO Louis Shipley.

containers, IBM, Interviews

IBM: “The level of innovation is being accelerated”

Angel DiazDr. Angel Diaz joined the research division of IBM in the late nineties, where he helped co-author many of the web standards we enjoy today. Nowadays, he’s responsible for all of IBM’s cloud and mobile technology, as well as architecture for its ambient cloud. Here, ahead of his appearance at Container World (February 16 – 18,  Santa Clara Convention Center, CA,) later this month, BCN caught up with him to find out more about the tech giant’s evolving cloud strategy.

BCN: How would you compare your early days at IBM, working with the likes of Tim Berners-Lee, with the present?

Dr. Angel Diaz: Back then, the industry was focused on developing web standards for a very academic purpose, in particular the sharing of technical information. IBM had a strategy around accelerating adoption and increasing skill. This resulted in a democratization of technology, by getting developers to work together in open source and standards.If you fast forward to where we are now with cloud, mobile, data, analytics and cognitive you see a clear evolution of open source.

The aperture of open source development and ecosystems has grown to include users and is now grounded on solid open governance and meritocracy models. What we have built is an open cloud architecture, starting with an open IaaS based on Open Stack, open PaaS with Cloud Foundry and an open container model with the Open Container Initiative and Cloud Native Computing Foundation. When you combine an open cloud architecture with open APIs defined by the Open API Initiative, applications break free. I have always said that no application is an island – these technologies make it so.

What’s the ongoing strategy at IBM, and where do containers come into it?

It’s very much hybrid cloud. We’ve been leveraging containers to help deliver hybrid applications and accelerate development through devOps, so that people can transform and improve their business processes. This is very similar to what we did in the early days of the web – better business processes means better business. At the end of the day – the individual benefits. Applications can be tailored to the way we like to work, and the way that we like to behave.

A lot of people in the container space, say, wow, containers have been around a long time, why are we all interested in this now? Well, it’s gotten easier to use, and open communities have rallied around it, and it provides a very nice way of marrying concepts of operations and service oriented architecture, which the industry missed in the 2000s.

What does all this innovation ultimately mean for the ‘real world’?

It’s not an exact analogy, but if we remember the impact of HTML, JavaScript – they allowed almost anyone to become a webmaster. That led to the Internet explosion. If you look at where we are now, what we’re doing with cloud: that stack of books you need to go buy has been reduced, the concept count of things you need to know to develop an application, the level of sophistication of what you need to know in order to build an application, scale an application, secure an application, is being reduced.

So what does that do? It increases participation in the business process, in what you end up delivering. Whether it’s human facing or whether it’s an internal business process, it reduces that friction and it allows you to move faster. What’s starting to happen is the level of innovation is being accelerated.

And how do containers fit into this process? 

Previously there was this strict line: you develop software and then operate it and make tweaks, but you never really fundamentally changed the architecture of the application. Because of the ability to quickly stand up containers, to quickly iterate, etc., people are changing their architectures because of operations and getting better operations because of it. That’s where the microservices notion comes in.

And you’ll be talking at Container World. What message are you bringing to the event?

My goal is to help people take a step back and understand the moment we’re in, because sometimes we all forget that. Whether you’re struggling with security in a Linux kernel or trying to define a micro service, you can forget what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

We are in a very special moment where it’s about the digital disruption that’s occurring, and the container technology we’re building here, allow much quicker iteration on the business process. That’s one dimension. The second is that, what IBM’s doing, in not just our own implementation of containers, but in the open source world, to help democratize the technology, so that the level of skill and the number of people who build on this grows.

Catalogic Software, hybrid cloud, IBM, News & Analysis

IBM and Catalogic Software combine to slash costs of data management

IBM and Catalogic Software have jointly launched a new set of systems which combine Catalogic’s copy data manager ECX with IBM’s storage offerings, in a bid to help clients trim the excessive costs of duplicate data.

The objective is to make DevOps and Hybrid Cloud initiatives easier and less wasteful for IBM clients by automating storage and data management, creating self-service options and creating access to Catalogic software though IBM’s RESTful API management.

Catalogic’s ECX is described as a virtual appliance that runs on a client’s existing infrastructure and acts as a lever of power over storage controllers, storage software systems and hypervisors. IBM claims it has validated the system through months of testing and the two can work in tandem to improve the operations of the core data centre. The combination of the two creates new tools that are necessary for supporting new workload environments and use cases, according to a Catalogic statement.

Today’s core data centre architecture and associated processes don’t lend themselves to agility and flexibility, though they are reliable and secure. Catalogic’s ECX has given IBM a method of creating the former, without sacrificing the latter, said IBM. The key to this is making the storage infrastructure more flexible so that data can be virtualised and kept in one place rather than endlessly replicated for a variety of different project teams. One of the benefits is that live environments can support key IT functions that rely on copies of production data without having to massively expand the data footprint. ECX and IBM’s service services can jointly create a culture of

elasticity and sharing of cloud resources across a variety of functions including Disaster Recovery, Test and Development, Analytics and other departments.

The lower operating costs of cloud resources and saved manual efforts through ECX’s cloud automation will bring up to a 300% return on investment, claims IBM.

Among the systems that ECX can now combine with are IBM’s Storwize family of hybrid flash/HDD systems, the SAN Volume Controller, FlashSystem V9000, Hybrid Cloud Operations with IBM SoftLayer and IBM Spectrum Protect.

“Copy data management can significantly improve data access and availability and create remarkable cost savings,” said Bina Hallman, VP of IBM Storage and Software Defined Systems.

IBM, Internet of Things, IoT, News & Analysis, Wind River

Wind River and IBM to integrate their IoT clouds

IoT cloud iconIntel’s IoT software subsidiary Wind River is to work with IBM to make Industrial IoT projects run smoother and more efficiently. The two companies will work together on a series of initiatives aimed at clarifying their processes for each other, offering guidance to third parties and simplifying the task of integrating their respective systems with each other.

A published series of instructions, which IBM describes as ‘edge to cloud recipes’ aims to guide customers on how to integrate services from the IBM Watson IoT Cloud Platform with products from the Wind River Helix portfolio.

Any customers who use the recipes could, in theory, connect industrial devices running Wind River software to the IBM Watson IoT Cloud Platform and get access to IBM Bluemix cloud services and analytics. This, says Wind River, will help IoT developers develop smart connected devices more easily by cutting the time they’ll spend searching for relevant information and variables.

The IBM and Wind River ‘recipes’ and reference material will also help users with tasks such as device management and help users to apply IBM’s machine learning to the IoT. Other guidance that Wind River intends to offer clients and partners includes help on managing devices and systems in different vertical markets. Among the specialities on which guidance is available are smart buildings, transport, factory automation and the health sector.

Under the arrangement Wind River and IBM will provide elements that can be combined for a complete ‘edge-to-cloud’ IoT solution (a system connecting remote peripherals to the cloud). Detail is available on a range of Wind River operating systems, including VxWorks, Rocket and Pulsar Linux and Helix Cloud (Wind River’s family of software as a service offerings). Instructions are available on how to integrate each of these, in turn, with a range of IBM systems including IBM Watson IoT Cloud Platform, IBM Bluemix, and IBM IoT Real-Time Insights for processing device data.

distributed storage, IBM, News & Analysis, Storage as a Service, Western Digital

Western Digital and IBM in distributed storage license agreement

StorageIBM and Western Digital have announced that they are entering into an intellectual property sharing arrangement, in the form of a formal patent cross-license agreement. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

According to a statement on Western Digital’s website it has bought 100 patent assets from IBM, which relate to IBM inventions for distributed storage, object storage and emerging non-volatile memory. Western Digital said the intellectual property has been selected to be used in conjunction with its existing portfolio of 10,000 patents and patent applications.

Non-volatile memory is an emerging technology sector contested by Intel, Micron and HGST, with technologies such as 3D XPoint and Phase Change Memory. IBM demonstrated its own PCM device in May 2014.

IBM has led the annual list of U.S. patent recipients for 23 consecutive years. In 2015 it broke its record for the number of patents (7,355 patents) it applied for. Though it is developing new inventions across a diverse range of technology fronts, IBM has said that it is putting a strong emphasis on developing cognitive systems and cloud platforms as the company positions itself to try to regain leadership in a new era of computing.

The challenge IBM is undertaking is to find a way to help humans and machines connect across the cloud and collectively be more productive than they have ever been before, according to Thomas Malone, director of the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT.

This particular agreement is about making rapid advancement and monetising of new data storage solutions, according to Western Digital. “We are building on our long-standing relationship and look forward to future collaborations and business opportunities,” said Mike Cordano, chief operating officer for Western Digital.

cloud video, IBM, M&A, News & Analysis, Ustream

IBM buys streaming service Ustream to boost its cloud video portfolio

IBM2IBM has announced another cloud video acquisition with the intention to purchase video streaming service provider Ustream. The new acquisition will become part of IBM’s Cloud offering to enterprises. Financial details were not disclosed.

Ustream has developed a cloud model to support live and on-demand video streams. It currently has 80 million viewers per month from customers including NASA, Samsung, Facebook, Nike and The Discovery Channel. It has a San Francisco base and a development office in Budapest, Hungary with data centres in California, Amsterdam and Tokyo.

The newly-formed IBM Cloud Video Services unit is now comprised of IBM’s R&D labs and acquisitions such as Clearleap, Ustream, Aspera and Cleversafe, as well as its own R&D inventions.

In December BCN reported how IBM had bought video service provider Clearleap which aims to create APIs for every type of device on which video can be watched. The unit will offer video services including open API development, digital and visual analytics, management and a promise of consistent delivery across global industries.

In addition IBM’s R&D has led to 1,000 patents of its own in areas such as visual analytics and indexing and searching large collections of videos and digital images.

The foundation of the Ustream portfolio is the open Ustream Development Platform which helps clients to create custom video apps to run video on any device and embed video into any application. IBM will integrate Ustream’s development platform into Bluemix to allow clients to provide distinct video services to developers.

The Ustream portfolio includes Ustream Demand, which lets marketers collect and automate leads into marketing workflows and Ustream Align, for secure internal employee communications. Ustream Pro Broadcasting offers large scale live video streaming.

Unit General Manager Braxton Jarratt said IBM estimates there is a target market for cloud-based video services and software worth a potential $105 billion, because companies now communicate with customers and employees through video, webcasts, conference keynotes, training and customer care. Since video is expensive to manage and provide, Upstream’s understanding of how cloud computing can help rationalise costs is invaluable, according to Upstream CEO Brad Hunstable. “We’ve built a video platform that is easy-to-use, yet incredibly scalable and powerful. It is these qualities that made us an ideal addition to IBM’s portfolio,” said Hunstable.

Financial Results, IBM, News & Analysis, Quarterlies

IBM Q4 figures indicate painful cloud transition

IBMAnalysts have warned that IBM faces a transformation that could make it a leaner operator – and potentially meaner one for staff.

IBM’s reported on revenue of $22.1 billion for Q4 of 2015, down 9% compared to the same quarter last year, indicate that its cloud and analytics sales growth is failing to offset declines in traditional business. The $4.5 billion earnings on that revenue, however, were better than expected by Wall Street analysts.

Total cloud revenue for the IT vendor and cloud service hybrid was $10.2 billion, but its as-a-service sales were $4.5 billion. According to IBM it has a run rate of $5.3 billion for cloud delivered as a service and its analytics revenue was up 7% on the same period in 2014.

With IBM now generating 35% if its sales income from cloud, analytics, mobile, social and security it’s in the middle of a painful turnaround which has led to a prolonged period of underperformance, according to Wall Street analyst Kulbinder Garcha at Credit Suisse. Large parts of IBM’s traditional business are being cannibalised by the Cloud, warned Garcha. The sales of hardware, operating systems and non cloud services are still a significant part to IBM’s vital functions, said the analyst, since they account for more than 40% of IBM’s business.

As enterprises move to the cloud, there is a danger they will migrate to one of the big three cloud suppliers with IBM still in transition, said analyst Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca. However, enterprises may prioritise the value of IBM’s consultancy skills over the lower prices of the top three cloud service providers (AWS, Googe and Azure) according to Longbottom. “I still believe that IBM will remain a major force in the IT world, it just has to make sure it positions and messages itself effectively to its existing customers and to its prospects,” said Longbottom.

There is still a danger for IBM staff as the company enters a stage of metamorphosis. “IBM’s cost of sale for cloud will be lower than its cost of sale for hardware, operating systems and software in the old world, which is good for the company. “However, this will also result in a lot of excess human resource fat in the company,” said Longbottom. “Expect redundancies leading to a far leaner IBM in the future.”

IBM, Intel, News & Analysis, VMware

VMware beefs up security, announces IBM and Intel collaborations

VMWare campus logoVMware has moved to patch flaws in several of its services and has worked with Intel Security to beef up its protection of mobile cloud systems.

In a security announcement on its web site VMware told clients that versions of VMware ESXi, Workstation, Player and Fusion for Windows suffer from a kernel memory corruption which could be exploited.

Earlier this week VMware announced that it is working with Intel Security on two joint mobile initiatives involving AirWatch. It has also joined the Intel Security Innovation Alliance.

The two vendors will allow clients to share mobility data via the McAfee Data Exchange Layer, a component within Intel Security’s system. The integration of AirWatch with Intel Security technologies will help customers get more out of their existing security investments, resolve mobile threats more quickly and reduce operational costs, claims VMware. Additionally, Intel Security has joined the AirWatch Mobile Security Alliance (MSA).

The alliance formed by Intel Security and VMware addresses three areas of enterprise security:  data protection, threat detection and prevention and security management with integrated workflows.

Mobile business transformation will run its course much quicker if companies can get their foundation security system to work with their mobility assets, according to Noah Wasmer, VP of mobile engineering and product management for end-user computing at VMware. “This partnership with Intel Security will deliver a complete mobile security solution. McAfee Data Exchange Layer will communicate essential threat intelligence that can help drive faster response and remediation,” said Wasmer.

News of another partnership was announced on the VMware site, which unveiled a new VMware IBM Partner Hub. This new sales enablement portal has been modified to make it easier for IBM partners to get sales assets, training and event information pertaining to the two companies’ joint efforts on Cloud, Systems, Networking, Mobility and Resiliency. Access is restricted to those with an IBM or VMware email address.

Artificial intelligence, cognitive computing, IBM, News & Analysis, Watson

IBM unveils plans for Watson supercomputer to lead the cognitive era

Toward Digital EncryptionIBM CEO Ginni Rometty used the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to showcase a range of new partnership projects that will help supercomputer Watson usher in the ‘Cognitive Era’.

Among the new advances promised are health and fitness programmes, robotic apps for banking retail and hospitality, intelligent home appliances and computers that understand and adapt to human behaviour.

Under Armour and IBM have jointly developed a new cognitive coach that gives athletes evidence-based advice on health and fitness-related issues, Rometty revealed. The system combines IBM Watson’s technology with data from the 160 million members of Under Armour’s Connected Fitness community.

Meanwhile Watson is being used by Medtronic to bring its analytics powers to diabetes management. A joint effort by both companies means that hypoglycemic events can be predicted three hours in advance and neutralise deadly health events.

The cloud has infused Watson into Softbank Robotics’ ‘empathetic’ robot Pepper, boosting its thought processing powers so it can understand and answer questions. This, argued Rometty, could be applied to businesses such as banking, retail and hospitality.

Rometty said IBM and SoftBank Robotics will tap into data and knowledge across the IoT so Watson-powered Pepper robots can make sense of the hidden meaning in social media, video, images and text. This, Rometty said, brings in a new era in computing where systems understand the world in the way that humans do: through senses, learning and experience.

Appliance maker Whirlpool is being hooked into the Watson IoT cloud to create new cognitive products and services, such as an oven that can learn about its user’s eating habits, health issues and food preferences. IBM demonstrated Whirlpool’s Jen-Air oven equipped with the Chef Watson cooking app.

The developments mark a new cognitive era of computing, where IT works around humans, a reversal of the standard practise, according to IBM. “As the first system of the cognitive era, Watson infuses a kind of thinking ability into digital applications, products and systems,” said John Kelly, senior VP of IBM Research and Solutions Portfolio.

A Watson software development kit (SDK) is available to give developers the chance to tailor the interaction experience. IBM will give clients access to Watson APIs and various pre-packaged applications designed to address a variety of personal and professional needs.

AT&T, IBM, News & Analysis, Telco Cloud

IBM Cloud to run AT&T’s managed app and hosting

IBMAT&T and IBM are to extend the scope of their 20 year working relationship partnership as IBM takes over the telco’s cloud based networking, application and hosting services.

In a new development AT&T will transfer its managed application and hosting service unit into IBM’s Cloud portfolio. IBM will acquire equipment and access to the AT&T data centres that currently host the services.

The new arrangement is about integrating networks and cloud workloads more easily with each vendor’s IT environments, according to a statement from IBM, which pledged to continue running the managed app and hosting services AT&T provides today. AT&T will continue to provide the security, cloud networking and mobility it currently contributes to the partnership. The two companies will collaborate on creating new services, IBM said.

“Today’s announcement is an expansion of our relationship with AT&T and continuing collaboration,” said Philip Guido, IBM General Manager of Global Technology Services for North America. “With AT&T we’ll deliver IBM Cloud and managed services that evolve to meet clients’ business objectives.”

On Thursday IBM announced details of another collaboration, Project Hyperledger, as part of its involvement in the Linux Foundation. The project brings a number of vendors together to develop blockchain security technology. The objective is to create an enterprise grade, open source distributed ledger framework for the cloud. It also aims to encourage developers to create applications that can use blockchain technology to make cloud based financial transactions verifiable and secure enough to meet strict compliance regulations.

Partners in the Linux Foundation blockchain project include Accenture, ANZ Bank, Cisco, J.P. Morgan, the London Stock Exchange Group, VMware and Wells Fargo.

IBM will contribute tens of thousands of lines of its existing codebase and its corresponding intellectual property to this open source community. Another partner, Digital Asset, is contributing the Hyperledger mark, as well as code and developer resources. R3 is contributing a new financial transaction architectural framework designed to meet the requirements of its global bank members and other financial institutions.

All technical contributions will be reviewed by the foundation’s technical steering committees.

“Blockchain’s distributed ledgers will transform industries from banking and shipping to the Internet of Things,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation, “it needs a cross-industry, open source collaboration to advance the technology for all.”