IBM moves ahead with Cloud Computing platform build

IBM plans to spend USD300 million this year to build 13 "cloud computing" data centres. Sites selected across 10 countries are reported to include China, Japan, Turkey, Poland, France and the United States. The acquisition last year of Arsenal Digital Solutions, will provide the rack-mounted storage appliances for information and applications data. There does not appear to be an indication yet of the size of these centres.

This investment follows on from the establishment of cloud computing research centres - around 200 researchers worldwide (in China, Ireland, South Africa) and the company is also collaborating with universities and government agencies including the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and Kyushu University in Japan.