The report recognized IBM as a leader in providing the right mix of private, public and hybrid cloud capabilities that are ideal for federal agencies with unique requirements compared to the private sector.  According to the report, "this sets IBM SoftLayer up to play a leading role in serving the 'hybrid/mixed' cloud requirements of government entities which, to date have shied away from leveraging public cloud-only offerings."     

IBM recently opened SoftLayer Federal cloud centers in Ashburn, Va., and Dallas. These centers were built to meet Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) requirements for government workloads. 

Additionally, the report calls out IBM's Bluemix Platform as a Service (PaaS) as a "game changer" for the federal government.  Bluemix runs on IBM's SoftLayer infrastructure and allows for the speedy and agile development of new born-on-the-cloud applications for an increasingly mobile, socially connected and data intensive world. 

According to the report, "IBM is on a path to provide services and solutions to all layers of the cloud stack, and that coupled with its deep industry knowledge positions it to deliver innovation for new cloud workloads. IDC believes that this IBM capability, coupled with its strong Bluemix open standards based PaaS environment, which simplifies application development in the cloud, is a game changer." 

"The federal government has three priorities when it comes to cloud – security, flexibility and innovation," said Anne Altman, General Manager, U.S. Federal and Government Industries at IBM. "Flexibility means a hybrid model with more security, control and ability to balance on-premise, private and public applications. Innovation is what we are offering with our Bluemix platform that allows a broad ecosystem of independent software developers and partners to create apps for citizens, and gives agencies a powerful platform to deliver new services." 

According to IDC's recent federal cloud computing forecast, federal spending on cloud solutions will top $3 billion by the end of 2014, and the federal government is expected to spend more than $9 billion on cloud computing by 2018^[2].

In addition to the SoftLayer cloud centers, IBM also offers its FedRAMP-certified SmartCloud for Government. IBM also built one of the industry's first cloud data centers dedicated to workloads from the Department of Defense at impact levels 3-5 that can handle higher-risk unclassified data. The IBM Cloud Managed Services for Government-Department of Defense (CMS for Defense) is located at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) in West Virginia, which is owned by the Department of the Navy.

The IDC MarketScape report can be accessed as an attachment at the end of the press release in the IBM news room here.

About IDC MarketScape:

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT (information and communications technology) suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor's position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT and telecommunications vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.

About IBM Cloud Computing

IBM is the leading enterprise platform for Cloud with an unmatched portfolio of open cloud solutions to enable clients for the hybrid cloud era with integration, control over data and expertise. IBM Cloud has helped more than 30,000 clients around the world.  Today, IBM has 100+ cloud SaaS solutions, thousands of experts with deep industry knowledge helping clients transform and a growing global network of cloud centers.  Since 2007, IBM has invested more than $7 billion in 17 acquisitions to accelerate its cloud initiatives. IBM holds 1,560 cloud patents focused on driving innovation. For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud. Follow us on Twitter at @IBMcloud and on our blog at www.thoughtsoncloud.com. Join the conversation #ibmcloud.

^[1] IDC MarketScape: U.S. Government Private Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) 2014 Vendor Assessment, doc #252460, November 2014

^[2] IDC Press Release, U.S. Federal Cloud Forecast Shows Sustained Growth Through 2018, According to IDC Government Insights, September 2014.

CONTACT: Mitchell Derman, mderman@us.ibm.com, 571-216-8712

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SOURCE IBM