IBM Sets Up New Cloud Data Center in South Korea

by YuGee / Aug 30, 2016 06:42 AM EDT

HANOVER, GERMANY - MARCH 10: A symbolic data cloud is seen at the IBM stand at the 2014 CeBIT technology Trade fair on March 10, 2014 in Hanover, Germany. CeBIT is the world's largest technology fair and this year's partner nation is Great Britain. (Photo

IBM opened its latest cloud data center in South Korea, making the total number of global IBM cloud data centers to 47, and continued its expansion into the Asian market with its launch.

According to eweek.com, the new data center comes as the Korean market is growing rapidly. The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that the cloud services market in South Korea will likely increase from US$445 million last year to US$1 billion three years from now, and IBM is ready to tap into that opportunity.

Big Blue (IBM's nickname), launched its new facility in cooperation with SK Holdings C&C. The new operation is the company's ninth cloud data center in the Asia-Pacific region and is located in Pangyo, a city outside of Seoul.

The Senior Vice President of IBM Cloud, Robert LeBlanc said, "A key part of our cloud strategy is to fuel new ecosystems to spur innovation and collaborate with companies who understand the local market. That is why we chose to partner with SK Holdings C&C in Korea. Together, we are able to bring the local expertise, platform and data services that give Korean customers the ability to compete on a global scale."

Aside from this, IBM also mentioned that the new Korean data center will aid the development of cognitive computing and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and will advance the use of IBM's Bluemix cloud development platform.

The CEO of SK Holdings C&C, Park Jung Ho, said, "Companies all over the world are seeking new business and profit opportunity throughout the digital transformation. The new cloud data center provides one-stop converting service of existing IT system and infrastructure, and will become the base camp to support digital innovation for customers' businesses by converging digital technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and AI."

IBM also previously declared its plans to create a new cloud-based health care solution for a hospital in Asia based on IBM's LinuxONE enterprise servers. The new solution will incorporate health data to aid doctors in providing more personalized care to patients.