IBM has opened its first cloud data center in Cornaredo, Milan to cater for the fast-growing Italian cloud market, creating a local IBM Cloud presence that offers the full range of IBM Cloud infrastructure services, including bare metal and virtual servers, storage, security services, and networking. The new IBM Cloud center, powered by SoftLayer infrastructure, comes with capacity for up to 11,000 servers, a power rating of 2.8 megawatts, and a Tier III design. Part of IBM's $1.2 billion investment in 2014 to expand its global cloud footprint, the Milan data center expands the total number of IBM Cloud data centers to more than 40 worldwide, which includes 24 SoftLayer data centers. The IBM Cloud data center in Milan joins existing SoftLayer EMEA cloud centers in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam and connects to IBM Cloud's growing network of facilities around the world.
According to IBM, these existing points of presence and data centers already provide low-latency connections across the EMEA region, but with the addition of the Milan data center, local customers and end users will see even better performance. From the new location, connections to SoftLayer services within Europe are less than 30 milliseconds, which means data can be transmitted quickly -- key for a wide range of computing needs, including real-time bidding (RTB), big data, and analytics applications.
Marc Jones, chief technology officer for SoftLayer, an IBM Company
The Italian IT sector is changing as startups and enterprises alike are increasingly turning to the cloud to optimize infrastructure, lower IT costs, create new revenue streams, and spur innovation. The Milan data center extends the unique capabilities of our global platform by providing a fast, local onramp to the cloud. Customers have everything they need to quickly build out and test solutions that run the gamut from crunching big data to launching a mobile app globally.
Nicola Ciniero, General Manager, IBM Italy
This data center represents a financial and technological investment made by a multinational company that has faith in this country's potential. Having an IBM Cloud presence in Italy will provide local businesses with the right foundation to innovate and thrive on a global level.
