IBM opens Chennai public cloud data centre

IBM, the $92.8-billion Armonk, New York-based global technology giant, on Tuesday opened its first public cloud data centre in Chennai as part of its initiative to comply with growing demand from regulators and customers to locate their servers within their geography.

Interacting with Deccan Herald, IBM India MD Vanitha Narayanan said the initiative is part of the company’s global investment of $1.2 billion. “It is IBM’s second data centre in India after the first one in Mumbai, which offers private cloud computing services,” she said.

A public data centre is a location hosted by a third-party service provider and allows access to various stakeholders. Globally, public data centres are mainly used for hosting things like email or citizen services.

Besides helping government initiatives like ‘Digital India’ and ‘Smart Cities’, the data centre will help IBM tap into data sensitive sectors like banking, financial services, and telecom that often require that data be hosted in local data centres.

Even though large companies and government can avail this facility, IBM says that the flourishing startup ecosystem can also make use of it as it provides the flexibility to scale up.

As part of its initiative to work with startups, IBM has also announced its partnership with Nasscom to launch Techstartup.in, a hub wherein the Indian startup ecosystem — which includes angels, mentors, investors, academia and venture capitalists — can interact with each other to grow cloud computing.

“Our cognitive computing technologies like Watson and other cloud computing services will help startups to differentiate themselves in this intensely competitive landscape,” said Narayanan.

IBM also also launched two initiatives — Works Premium and a cloud certification programme — to enable developers in India and around the globe to access tools and skills to compete and innovate in the global marketplace.