IBM Cloud Paks deliver a containerized software solution to build contemporary cloud-native applications as well as to modernize traditional applications. Enterprises can choose from a variety of Cloud Paks to run their workloads.
Cloud Pak System
Think of Cloud Paks as an IBM certified middleware layer composed of open source software and IBM’s own enterprise software products. It takes away the pain involved in assembling and orchestrating multiple containers when deploying and managing an enterprise workload.
IBM turned to Red Hat to build the foundation of Cloud Paks. At the bottom of the stack, there is Red Hat Enterprise Linux, a proven enterprise operating system. The next layer is powered by Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, one of the few enterprise-ready container orchestration platforms available today. The OpenShift Container Platform manages a set of containers deployed as a part of Cloud Pak.
There are 5 Cloud Paks available from IBM:
1. Applications
IBM Cloud PaK for Applications includes everything to deliver a complete and consistent experience to build, deploy, and manage applications based on modern agile DevOps processes. The integrated solution stack comes with mainstream developer tools, runtimes, modernization toolkits, and DevOps tools to tackle the application lifecycle management (ALM) of cloud-native apps. Cloud PaK for Applications, customers instantly gain access to IBM WebSphere, Deploy and Velocity solutions through UrbanCode, production-ready OpenJDK distribution and IBM Mobile Foundation.
2. Data
IBM Cloud Pak for Data is a fully-integrated data and AI platform that modernizes the process of collecting, organizing and analyzing data, and to infuse AI in business applications. This stack was formerly called IBM Cloud Private for Data. This Cloud Pak includes a variety of IBM products to manage end-to-end data processing and machine learning pipelines. From DB2 Warehouse to Watson Knowledge Catalog to Watson Studio to Watson Assistant, the platform has everything to build data-driven, AI-powered applications.
3. Integration
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration is a hybrid integration platform with built-in features including templates, prebuilt connectors and an asset repository. It comes with API lifecycle management, data integration tools to acquire data from SaaS applications, enterprise messaging, event streaming based on Apache Kafka and a secure gateway to extend the data center to the public cloud. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration brings the power of traditional enterprise application integration (EAI) to cloud-native environments.
4. Automation
IBM Cloud Pak for Automation includes the automation software for creating and deploying modern automation applications and services. It integrates with IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to support routine task automation. IBM has partnered with Automation Anywhere to support automated bots to pull information from different sources to help fill out the forms more quickly and accurately. The platform has in-built workflow and decision-making tools to accelerate automation.
5. Multicloud Management
IBM Cloud Pak for Multicloud Management offers consistent delivery for event management, application and infrastructure management and multicluster management. Customers can manage applications running in an on-premises data center, public cloud and at the edge. The platform can collect and organize events generated by applications running in disparate environments.
IBM Cloud Paks can be deployed in data centers, on private and public clouds, and in pre-integrated systems. All the Cloud Paks utilize a common set of operational services such as security and identity services, logging, monitoring and auditing. IBM ensures the security of Cloud Paks by scanning them for known image vulnerabilities as part of the standard build procedures.
Customers can procure hyperconverged appliances with in-built Cloud Paks or deploy them in existing infrastructure. IBM Cloud Pak System is a fully integrated, hyperconverged infrastructure built with VMware, Red Hat, and IBM software. The appliance runs vSphere, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenShift and IBM Cloud Paks.
Cloud Paks are an important part of IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy. The company is betting big on Kubernetes and OpenShift to deliver open source and proprietary software as containers.
