AT&T and IBM Create Breakthrough Global Cloud Service for Businesses

AT&T

and IBM

today announced a business agreement to deliver a highly secure, first-of-its-kind "network-enabled" cloud service that uses private networks rather than the public Internet. The companies are combining AT&T virtual private networking and IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+ cloud capabilities with breakthrough technology from AT&T Labs to create a new, fast and highly-secure shared cloud service. Targeted to Fortune 1000 companies globally, the service will be offered in early 2013 as a powerful new option for clients who are deploying cloud solutions that demand high levels of security and availability. Many businesses often cite security as a key inhibitor to cloud computing adoption. When customers of the new service connect to IBM cloud computing resources across AT&T's virtual private network, the innovative technology tightly integrates the security protections of both, allowing customers to quickly and reliably shift information or applications between their own data centers (private clouds) and this new cloud service. This is critical for businesses that want the flexibility of the cloud but also need to protect applications and data as they