TOKYO, July 14, 2011 - IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a broad expansion of its cloud computing services for customers in Japan and in the Asia Pacific region with the opening of a new IBM Cloud Data Center in Japan and a dedicated data center for LotusLive, IBM's cloud collaboration service.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

The new facilities will extend IBM's globally-integrated cloud delivery network of cloud computing centers that serve in over 50 countries around the world with centers based in Singapore, Germany, Canada, and the United States; and 13 global cloud labs, of which seven are based in Asia Pacific - China, India, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.

The new IBM Cloud Data Center located in Makuhari, Japan delivers IBM's SmartCloud enterprise-class services which include a broad spectrum of secure managed services, to run diverse workloads across multiple delivery methods both public and private.

For the first time, enterprise clients in Japan can select key characteristics of a public, private and hybrid cloud to match workload requirements from simple Web infrastructure to complex business processes, along five dimensions, including:

    --  Security and isolation
    --  Availability and performance
    --  Technology platforms
    --  Management Support and Deployment
    --  Payment and Billing

New offerings will increase customer choice with the potential for end-to-end management of service delivery from the server and operating system to the application and process layer.

It allows customers to expand production along with other workloads like web sites, batch processing, development and test and other initiatives while reducing deployment time from days to minutes via automation and rapid provisioning with over 30% reduction in costs versus traditional environments.

LotusLive Expansion

In addition, IBM announced it will open a dedicated data center for LotusLive, IBM's cloud-based collaboration services, in Japan. The data center, which will be available later this year, is designed to allow customers in Japan to more easily move to the cloud.

LotusLive(TM) offers integrated social collaboration tools that combine a company's business social network with capabilities such as file storing and sharing, instant messaging, Web conferencing and activity management. This secure integration allows users to share and edit information, host online meetings and manage activities easily inside and outside company boundaries.

The Japan data center is designed to help improve network performance and increase business opportunities for LotusLive users. The center will allow clients, who cannot take their data outside the country due to security and regulatory compliance, to work in a security-rich cloud environment.

About IBM Cloud Computing

IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models and manages millions of cloud based transactions every day. IBM assists clients in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centers. For more information about IBM cloud solutions, visit www.ibm.com/ibm/jp/cloud/ or www.ibm.com/smartcloud.

Press Contact:Steve TomascoManager, Media RelationsIBM Cloud Computing917-687-4588Stomasc@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM