Customers throughout Fetsund, Norway will now have local access to a complete portfolio of IBM cloud services after IBM opened a new cloud data center in the region. The IBM Cloud data center according to IBM will support growing cloud adoption in the Nordics.
Other services consumers in the region will enjoy include IBM Bluemix, Watson and analytics capabilities.
The new facility in Norway is IBM’s 48th global cloud data center and the 12th in Europe. It is part of the company’s growing global data center network, enabling businesses, from large enterprises to start-ups, to digitalize business and operations, and drive innovation.
“We are committed to providing global and local clients the fastest and easiest onramp to the IBM Cloud to accelerate their digital transformation,” said Robert LeBlanc, senior vice president of IBM Cloud. “This investment will provide Nordic customers, especially those in regulated industries, with more flexibility to manage and gain insight into data within the region.”
Many clients in the Nordics, like Cxense, EVRY, KONE, Opera and Sapa Group have already embraced IBM Cloud services. KONE, for example, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of elevators, escalators, automatic doors, and turnstiles, is working with IBM Cloud to connect its global maintenance operations of more than one million elevators, escalators and building doors to cloud-based services. By gathering the vast amounts of data from equipment operations and using sophisticated analysis and connectivity running on IBM’s global infrastructure, downtime can be minimized and repairs carried out more quickly.
“We enable our partners and clients to keep their data securely within the country while being able to leverage existing IT investments, which is a key differentiator for IBM,” said Arne Norheim, CEO of IBM Norway. “Local access to IBM’s global network of public cloud data centers provides the ideal flexibility for our customers. The new cloud data center is designed to fuel support for innovation and quick adoption of new solutions that will help improve business efficiency.”
The IBM Cloud data center in Norway offers the full range of IBM Cloud infrastructure services, including bare metal and virtual servers, storage, security services, and networking. These services can be deployed on demand with full remote access and control, allowing customers to create their ideal public, private, or hybrid cloud environments.
The facility connects to all IBM’s public data centers on the continent and around the world in order to help customers transfer and replicate their data in multiple locations. Customers can quickly balance or reroute workloads between multiple locations.
The new cloud data center will also accelerate the commitment of IBM to foster the growth of cognitive and artificial intelligence technologies throughout the region. Developers will have access to Bluemix – IBM’s Cloud innovation platform – and more than 150 APIs and services spanning key areas such as cognitive, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and big data.
IBM Cloud is already being used by well-known clients and partners in the Nordic region. Below is a summary of some marquee customers and partners:
