IBM releases enterprise cloud portfolio

IBM unveiled a portfolio of products and services for the enterprise cloud computing market, which the company claims builds on lessons learned from earlier cloud initiatives, reports CNET News.

Targeted at providing standardised platforms for specific computing workloads, the products and services, unveiled under the Smart Business and IBM CloudBurst monikers, aim to change the way IT organisations build and deliver IT services.

"Cloud is an important new consumption and delivery model for IT and business services," Erich Clementi, GM of enterprise initiatives at IBM, said in a statement.

Novell has announced the Novell Compliance Management Platform extension for SAP environments, a cost-effective solution for managing access and security challenges across both SAP solutions and non-SAP systems, states PR-USA.net.

With Novell provisioning capabilities, customers can integrate the identity and security information in their SAP solutions with other business applications to reduce the time spent on manual IT compliance.

The Novell Compliance Management Platform version 1.0 has recently been certified by SAP for integration with the SAP BusinessObjects Access Control application.

IBM is offering millions of companies and consumers the chance to save hundreds of dollars on each of their Microsoft Office licences by providing support for Microsoft Office 2007 with the newest version of Lotus Symphony, IBM's free of charge productivity software suite, says PR Newswire.

This could translate into millions of dollars in savings at many large companies that are looking for financial relief in the current economy.

The ability to import Microsoft Office 2007 files into Symphony means that Microsoft Office customers can save on licensing costs by switching to Symphony while retaining access to, and easy use of, the contents of their Office files.