Can IBM learn from SoftLayer?

Forrester Research

IBM didn't just pick up a hosting company with their acquisition of SoftLayer this week, they picked up a sophisticated data center operations team -- one that could teach IBM Global Technical Services (GTS) a thing or two about efficiency when it comes to next-generation cloud data centers. Here's hoping IBM will listen.

Despite all the press and Twitter rhetoric, this is less a cloud buy than it is a technology and customer acquisition move by IBM. While on the surface, IBM SmartCloud Enterprise  and SoftLayer may seem to be competing offerings, there is virtually no overlap here. IBM's public cloud/managed hosting offering is aimed mainly at IBM's existing large enterprise customers and designed more to accommodate their efforts to transition traditional applications to the cloud model. SoftLayer is a hybrid cloud service built mainly for web-centric small- to medium-sized businesses. Under the covers, IBM has been learning just how automated a cloud platform really needs to be, whereas SoftLayer started from the philosophy of "automate everything possible." Like most leading public cloud players, SoftLayer has programmed and scripted nearly all infrastructure administration functions via their unique cloud controller and made it accessible via API to their customers; they think manual provision is only a last resort. They also think commodity first, like most clouds do, but, like IBM, believe very much in strong base SLAs of availability and performance. This is why SoftLayer offers dedicated servers (bare metal and provisioned in hours) and a common high-speed dedicated network within and between their data centers. The way they approach and manage their data centers reflects this fast, cheap, and programmable approach. 

SoftLayer also isn't your typical hosting company, as SoftLayer blends hosting and cloud purposely. Their automation and management approach treats dedicated infrastructure and virtual, multitenant infrastructure as a common pool of resources.

OpenStack vs. CloudStack? No.

SoftLayer was one of Citrix' first and most vocal reference customers for both the XenServer hypervisor andtheir CloudStack IaaS software. IBM is strategically aligned with OpenStack. But this is not a CloudStackversus OpenStack story. SoftLayer's automation and management of their environment is not dependent on CloudStack. SoftLayer simply leverages CloudStack as one mechanism for VM deployment. SoftLayer already provides the OpenStack Swift object storage service as part of their offering (a legacy of the CloudStack deal). 

Where this could get messy is through the integration (a process a lot of companies who have been acquired by IBM call Bluewashing, which was also the basis for my creation of the term Cloudwashing). IBM said their planned integration model will leverage SoftLayer “as-is” via API integrations, so IBM can more quickly deliver SoftLayer services to market. Over time, however, SoftLayer will clearly become part of the SmartCloud family and will be included in a move towards a more unified architecture based around KVMand OpenStack. That likely will take the form of a new-generation cloud platform that launches side by side with the existing CloudStack-based service. This approach is not dissimilar to Rackspace's cloud strategy. The other Texas-based cloud leader launched their OpenStack-based cloud service next to their legacy Rackspace Cloud service. Customers can launch new workloads in either Rackspace cloud service but the clear go-forward platform is Rackspace Open Cloud. 

Which SmartCloud Cloud Is Right For You?

Given the different focuses, both in customer base and operational model between SoftLayer and IBM SmartCloud Services, it is likely the two will remain separate for some time. Likely, SoftLayer will be positioned as the preferred service for next-generation Systems of Engagement  — more of a true cloud  — letting IBM reposition SmartCloud Enterprise as more a hybrid architecture supporting Systems of Record. It would be wise to keep the focus of their integration efforts around the initial stated focus — between these services. As has been stated before in this blog, business services are not either System of Engagement or System of Record but are a hybrid of the two, and different parts of your business services will be better served by different deployment environments. Keeping this from being a problem requires strong integration between the deployment types, which customers will value. 

Integration between services, however, isn't a strength of either company. SoftLayer, as observed by Forrester Analyst Lauren Nelson in her Forrester Wave of Hosted Private Cloud Services, has two separate portals and a mix of API sets (which are mostly SOAP, not REST). IBM has long been accused of being well integrated only so long as you ask IBM Global Services to do the integration work for you. 

In moving both SmartCloud and SoftLayer to an OpenStack foundation, IBM has the opportunity to ensure strong integration while distinguishing each service and preserving the needs of their two separate and unique customer bases. IBM also has the opportunity to discount what made SoftLayer unique and treat it as simply a market consolidation move. This would benefit no one.

If IBM GTS plays their cards right, they will be a more relevant cloud provider through this move and one that appeals to a broader and more diverse customer base.

James Staten is a senior analyst at Forrester who serves infrastructure & operations professionals. This post was originally published on Forrester Blogs. Republished with permission. Lauren Nelson, Henry Baltazar, and Dave Bartoletti contributed to this blog post.