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Cloud-based Power platform for developers; 'Ready for Smarter Commerce' solutions tuned for cloud, mobile and social; PartnerWorld program enhancement for cloud; FlashSystem V840 with integrated virtualization software

February 11, 2014

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- At PartnerWorld Leadership Conference, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new development capabilities, programs, education, and offerings to help Business Partners capture opportunities driven by the strategic areas of cloud computing, big data and analytics, mobile computing, social business, Watson and security.

Included in today's announcements are:

• The Power Development Platform, an application development cloud that provides solution developers with no-charge access to IBM Power Systems servers to build, port and test applications;*
• The 'Ready for Smarter Commerce' PartnerWorld Offering, which creates a new ecosystem that gives clients access to pre-built Business Partner solutions with validated integration to cloud, mobile and social capabilities;
• PartnerWorld Program enhancements to drive growth and profitability for Business Partners delivering solutions and services via the cloud;
• The new FlashSystem V840 Enterprise Performance Solution, which is designed to integrate IBM's virtualization software with its most advanced all-Flash array.
   

"As the world is being transformed by cloud, mobile, social, big data and analytics, we need to enable our Business Partners to transform with it so they can take full advantages of the opportunities these changes bring," said Tom Rosamilia, Senior Vice President, IBM Systems & Technology Group and Integrated Supply Chain. "Our goal is to provide our Business Partners with the broadest set of capabilities, programs, incentives and solutions in the industry, allowing them to move to higher-value opportunities and achieve greater success."

Power Development Platform
Accessible through IBM's PartnerWorld program, the Power Development Platform provides developers worldwide with remote access to the latest IBM POWER7 and POWER7+ processor-based servers running Linux, AIX and IBM i operating systems. This online resource is ideal for Linux developers, who need powerful, modern servers to handle the new wave of open, collaborative applications developed for big data, mobile and social business computing.

Once up and running on the platform, developers have access to the same hardware platform -- Power Systems – that, together with Linux, powers IBM Watson's cognitive computing solutions. Additionally, the platform includes a new Linux porting image with IBM DB2 10.x, IBM WebSphere 8.5.5, and the latest Linux development tools for Power. The platform also serves as an entry point to the full IBM Software Group Software Access Catalog, which contains current versions of hundreds of downloadable IBM software applications. 

'Ready for Smarter Commerce'
At a time when Chief Marketing Officers, VPs of eCommerce and other business leaders face increased pressure to deliver new capabilities very quickly, the 'Ready for Smarter Commerce' PartnerWorld program identifies Business Partner solutions based on open standards to accelerate innovation and time to value. The new ecosystem is expected to deliver 150 new 'Ready for Smarter Commerce' solutions this year led by Business Partners and built on IBM Smarter Commerce capabilities such as IBM Commerce, IBM Digital Marketing Optimization and more.  

Among the first Business Partners to join the news ecosystem are:

• Invodo, a leading provider of e-commerce video solutions, which is already helping retailers quickly create, deploy and measure the sales impact of video content across their Web sites;
• Shoutlet, an enterprise social media marketing platform, which is working with IBM to help clients measure the impact of social media campaigns. By integrating with IBM's Digital Marketing Network, Shoutlet is helping marketers streamline social campaign management while employing IBM analytics to unlock insight into how those efforts are driving sales across multiple properties.

Business Partners interested in participating in the program can learn more at:
https://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/page/isv_com_dvm_techval_smarter_commerce.

PartnerWorld Program Enhancements for Cloud
As the global opportunity for cloud-based client solutions grows to $200 billion by 2020, Business Partners must have consulting and design skills across different cloud architectures and deployment models to help them capitalize on that opportunity.** IBM has deployed a new interactive, education platform called ThinkAcademy to help Business Partners develop the skills needed to capture the opportunity and modified the PartnerWorld membership-level criteria to recognize Business Partners' cloud achievements.

In addition, IBM has assembled the PartnerWorld Cloud Benefit Guide, a catalog of cloud resources aligned to major business support functions, to help Business Partners maximize success and profitability. This includes the introduction of a new Cloud services mark, an IBM ingredient brand mark to promote awareness of a Business Partner's use of IBM technologies. Another enhancement is the PartnerWorld SatScor, IBM's free client satisfaction survey to promote referral marketing and improve sales success.  Business Partners have the opportunity to earn more with positive client feedback, which increases the SatScor.

Virtualized Flash Storage
IBM underscored its commitment to helping clients improve the economics of their datacenters with the announcement of the new FlashSystem V840 Enterprise Performance Solution, which is designed to directly integrate IBM's virtualization software with the FlashSystem 840.

The solution is at the heart of a new approach to data management, called Software Defined Flash, which enables increasing data volumes to be stored, accessed and analyzed – in real-time – through flash-optimized data virtualization. When integrated into platforms like IBM FlashSystem, data virtualization can help clients deploy new arrays into heterogeneous environments quickly and easily; conduct massive data migrations automatically and transparently; and manage greater varieties of workloads on the fly through such features as real-time compression, snapshots, and EasyTier.

**Global cloud opportunity projection based on internal IBM Market Insights estimates.

SOURCE IBM