IBM makes an Impact on Business Partners
Vendor uses Las Vegas conference ito unveil finance deals and schemes to help partners improve their cloud offerings
IBM has unveiled a raft of initiatives aimed at its Business Partners and startup companies to help them bulk up their cloud offerings.
First, the vendor is offering Cloud Application Providers the option of acquiring IBM software for use in their SaaS offerings as a monthly rental subscription.
With the pricing model announced at its Impact 2011 conference in Las Vegas today, IBM claims ISVs will be able to offer their clients the ability to get new capabilities up and running in a short amount of time without large upfront capital or ongoing staffing to maintain the applications and hardware systems.
Big Blue claims its model allows ISVs to build and deliver their SaaS applications with IBM software – such as IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM DB2 – and scale up or down the software licences needed monthly based on an annual commitment.
Claudio Bessa, international and new business director for Brazil-based IBM Premier Partner TOTVS, welcomed the initiative.
“As an ISV providing our own ERP software to various industries, we now have several clients opting for cloud-based delivery of our technology," he said. "Through the monthly rental pricing from IBM, we can better manage our monthly finances and have the opportunity to grow or shrink the licences needed on a monthly basis based on our own deployment patterns.”
In addition, IBM will provide financing programmes specifically designed for its Business Partners that are building cloud computing environments.
These include a zero per cent financing offer, providing predictable monthly payments on eligible IBM hardware, software and services solutions. There are also lease options for select hardware, software and services.
For the larger infrastructure deployments, IBM is offering initial payment deferrals of up to six months, offerings Business Partners a way of avoiding large upfront cash outlays.
Jim Corgel, general manager, ISV and developer relations at IBM, said: “More and more clients are asking IBM and our partners to provide them with cloud capabilities around the globe, ranging from the flexible delivery of software applications to building private and public clouds.
"IBM's business partner community is essential to our ability to support these demands, and we are committed to providing the industry's best resources and opportunities to help our partners grow their business through the cloud.”