IBM Floats Cloud for SK Telecom, Korea's Largest Mobile Carrier

Strategic Insights -

IBM has announced the creation of its first cloud for a private sector company in Korea, partnering with SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile carrier. This cloud is built on IBM's Smart Business Development & Test Cloud and designed to provide developers with the necessary infrastructure to test, develop, and publish new mobile apps. The cloud is expected to enable SK Telecom to launch up to 20 new services by the end of this year, including sports news feeds and a photo service. This cloud deployment is part of SK Telecom's strategy to transition its entire IT infrastructure to the cloud, aiming to achieve faster time-to-market and lower barriers to entry for new services.

Key Takeaways:

  • IBM has created its first cloud for a private sector company in Korea, partnering with SK Telecom.
  • The cloud is built on IBM's Smart Business Development & Test Cloud and designed to support the development and testing of new mobile apps.
  • The cloud is expected to enable SK Telecom to launch up to 20 new services, including sports news feeds and a photo service, by the end of this year.
  • The cloud deployment is part of SK Telecom's strategy to transition its entire IT infrastructure to the cloud.
  • SK Telecom's cloud will include 80 systems, including x86 System x and blade servers, Xen virtualization, and IBM middleware and Tivoli Service Automation Manager software.
  • IBM's Tivoli Service Automation Manager software is considered key to a successful enterprise cloud project, as it orchestrates hundreds or thousands of services in a workload-optimized fashion.
  • The deal marks IBM Global Services' involvement in the project, but the financial details remain undisclosed.

Statistics:

  • SK Telecom has 24 million customers, representing over half of the Korean market.
  • The cloud is expected to enable SK Telecom to launch up to 20 new services by the end of this year.
  • SK Telecom's cloud includes 80 systems, combining x86 System x and blade servers, Xen virtualization, and IBM middleware and Tivoli Service Automation Manager software.

Sources:

  • [IBM's official announcement](https://www.ibm.com/)
  • [SK Telecom's press release](https://www.sktelecom.com/)