IBM has announced the opening of a new IBM Cloud Data Center in Korea, in collaboration with SK Holdings C&C. Located outside of Seoul in Pangyo, the new data center is designed to support growing cloud adoption and customer demand across the country.
According to IDC, the public cloud services market in Korea is expected to grow from $445 million in 2015 to approximately $1B in 2019.
The new data center in Pangyo is IBM’s ninth Cloud Data Center in the Asia-Pacific region, and part of the company’s growing global network of 47 Cloud Data Centers. With access to a local on ramp for IBM and SK Holdings’ Cloud services, Korean enterprises and start-ups can accelerate their digital transformation, business innovation and global expansion.
“A key part of our cloud strategy is to fuel new ecosystems to spur innovation and collaborate with companies who understand the local market,” said Robert LeBlanc, senior vice president, IBM Cloud. “That’s 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 gives Korean customers the ability to compete on a global scale.”
IBM’s network of Cloud Data Centers offers both global reach and the opportunity to keep data local to client locations – whether for performance, security or flexibility. Clients in Korea would be able to benefit from faster time-to-market, improved performance, support for industrial-strength public and hybrid cloud, and access to IBM’s global network of 47 Cloud Data Centers so they can manage their data more securely and efficiently across global markets to drive expansion.
Modeled after IBM’s standardized pod design, the new facility in Korea will have the capacity for thousands of physical dedicated servers and offer the full range of cloud infrastructure services, including bare metal servers, virtual servers, storage, security services and networking. With services deployed on demand and full remote access and control, customers would be able to create their ideal public, private, or hybrid cloud environments.
SK Holdings C&C
The new Cloud Data Center builds on the existing partnership between IBM and SK Holdings C&C, with more than 20 local companies already using their joint hybrid cloud capabilities across the gaming, IT, manufacturing and retail industries.
“Companies all over the world are seeking for new business and profit opportunity throughout digital transformation,” said Jung-ho Park, CEO of SK Holdings C&C. “The new Cloud Data Center provides one-stop cloud converting service of existing IT system and infrastructure, and become the base camp to support digital innovation for customers’ businesses by converging digital technologies such as IoT, Big data and AI.”
