Academica Drives Services Innovation with IBM PureSystems

HELSINKI, Oct. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Finnish IT outsourcing services and data center services provider Academica will use PureSystems to power its new datacenter.  The integrated design and management capabilities of IBM PureSystems will allow Academica to rededicate time formerly spent on IT maintenance and support to driving customer service support and developing new services.

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As a result of this new allocation of resources, Academica will be able to focus on expanding its business by improving services to meet evolving customer requirements, while maintaining the high quality performance of its systems well into the future.

"Academica is expanding rapidly, and IBM's new PureSystems technology enables us to make a significant leap forward to a new, sturdy production environment," said Marko Vanninen, Managing Director, Academica. "Our solution, built around the IBM PureFlex and XIV storage system, has the scalability required to meet our future needs."

The new technology platform underpins Academica's strategy to develop new business models and serve its customers better. The high levels of integrated design dramatically reduces system maintenance and management requirements, providing improved business agility so that new services can be developed and deployed more rapidly. Academica also expects improved levels of customer service, as they exploit the system capabilities to be able to satisfy individual customer needs through different service level packages, as well as being able to provide customized reporting and billing. Similarly, customers can benefit from a more detailed view of the acquired capacities all the way to the virtual machine level.

"IBM PureSystems is a flexible architecture to support client needs today –and tomorrow. Its simple, integrated management keeps operational costs down whilst delivering the performance and flexibility you need now," said Mika Vainio-Mattila, Systems and Technology group country executive, IBM Finland. "It is designed to support multiple generations of future technologies so also delivers long-term investment protection."

Announced in April, the IBM PureSystems portfolio includes PureApplication, PureData and PureFlex Systems. The systems family offers clients an alternative to current enterprise computing models, where multiple and disparate systems require significant resources to set up and maintain. PureFlex System enables organizations to more efficiently create and manage an infrastructure. PureApplication System helps organizations reduce the cost and complexity of rapidly deploying and managing applications. PureData System is tuned for cloud computing and can consolidate more than 100 databases on a single system. In addition to the common web application patterns supported by PureApplication System, the combination of both PureData and PureApplication Systems can be used for end to end transaction workloads.

For IBM Business Partners, PureSystems creates a new opportunity to help clients solve the complexity of enterprise IT, reduce costs and encourage innovation. From resellers to distributors and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), more than 700 Business Partners are supporting IBM PureSystems. PureSystems currently run tens of thousands of existing ISV applications across four operating environments including Windows, Linux, AIX, and IBM i operating system. Additionally, Business Partners have created more than 200 new solutions and applications that are optimized to run on PureSystems. These patterns of expertise, which span 20 industries, can be accessed through the IBM PureSystems Centre. They include leading solutions from some of the world's largest ISVs, including ERP systems and applications for the banking, marketing, healthcare and energy industries

To help address the new opportunity that PureSystems presents, IBM is also providing training, marketing, certifications and technical validation support to business partners.  For instance, dozens of IBM Innovation Centers in cities such as Bangalore, Dublin, Johannesburg and Shanghai are helping Business Partners develop and test their applications using IBM PureSystems. Business Partners can also bring their clients to IBM Innovation Centers to see PureSystems technology at work. 

For more information on IBM PureSystems visit: www.ibm.com/press/pure

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SOURCE IBM