IBM to plough $1.2bn into cloud

IBM is planning to build 15 new datacentres around the world in an effort to build up its cloud offering.

Big Blue will spend $1.2bn (£734.2m) on the new sites which will be set up in London, Washington DC, Mexico City, China, Hong Kong, Japan, India and Canada. It also plans to expand to the Middle East and Africa next year.

Last June, IBM committed to cloud with its estimated $2bn buyout of SoftLayer, a hosted infrastructure and cloud firm. Reuters reported that IBM claimed the acquisition added 2,400 clients to its global base.

The tech giant is no stranger to splashing the cash on emerging technology areas, as last April it committed to investing $1bn into its flash business.

In a statement, IBM said: "This global expansion is aimed at accelerating into new markets based on growing client demand for high-value cloud."

According to analyst IDC, the cloud market has entered the second phase of its development as commoditisation across the market kicks in. It added that by 2017, spending on public cloud will soar to $107bn.

Back in May last year in a filing to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that the authority had launched an investigation into the way IBM reports its cloud revenues. The firm said it was cooperating with the SEC on the matter.

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