The last few weeks have been tough for IBM. IBM has been touted as a Cloud leader by a number of analyst and research firms yet at the same time investment analysts keep telling investors to sell IBM stock. IBM, to me, still has that dinosaur stigma: slow moving and highly susceptible to the next big species-threatening meteor. When I think IBM, I still picture a room full of tape reel mainframes the size of refrigerators.
So, how does a company shake something like that off? How can IBM reinvigorate and revitalize? How can a dinosaur survive a holocaust? It partners with a company that is on the rise – or, it climbs aboard a rocket ship to the Cloud, if you will.
Yesterday, in "Microsoft Get Big" I talked about how Microsoft is doing big things that is contrary to what pundits thought it could do. And, so it seems that I'm not the only one that believes Microsoft's Cloud stock is in an upward blast.
Today, Microsoft and IBM have announced a wide-ranging partnership. In a press release posted only minutes ago, the announcement has been made that the two companies will work together as Cloud partners.
Specifically, the deal will allow…
- IBM and Microsoft to make key IBM middleware such as WebSphere Liberty, MQ, and DB2 available on Microsoft Azure.
- Windows Server and SQL Server to be offered on IBM Cloud.
- IBM and Microsoft to work together to deliver a Microsoft .NET runtime for IBM’s Bluemix cloud development platform.
- IBM to expand support of its software running on Windows Server Hyper-V to support hybrid cloud deployments, and allow the companies to plan to make IBM Pure Application Service available on Azure.
The full press release is here: IBM and Microsoft to offer greater choice in the hybrid cloud
