IBM deprecates its first cloud storage platform – www.computing.co.uk

IBM launched Bluemix less than two years ago

IBM is killing off its first attempt at cloud object storage - after less than two years.

The cloud is a useful tool, offering high speeds for fast development and storage - but the downside of that speed is evident in IBM's latest decision: turning off a service that it launched in December 2015, because it is obsolete.

Bluemix's Object Store v1 is a SaaS solution, designed to store unstructured data. It didn't last long: IBM refers to it as a 'tech preview connector', and it was made a private service in February 2016.

In an attempt to get users to upgrade to the newest v3 (a simple case of copying data and updating an app), the firm has said, 'We will now be deleting all existing instances after 30 days i.e. on August 24, 2017. We recommend users to unprovision the Object Storage v1 service and switching to v3, before August 24, 2017. Please copy over any data and point Analytics for Apache Spark applications to use the Object Storage v3 service.'

The fact that IBM is shutting down the service after only 20 months may concern some users, especially as they are being forced to manually move their data: platform upgrades for SaaS are usually non-disruptive.

V3 of IBM's Object Store needs to be superior to its predecessors; Gartner's recent Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Server ranked IBM in the 'Leader' category, marking a firm with a relatively complete vision but low ability to execute on that vision. The research firm said the cloud feature-set 'has not improved significantly since the IBM acquisition [of SoftLayer] in mid-2013; it is SMB-centric, hosting-oriented and missing many cloud IaaS capabilities required by midmarket and enterprise customers.'

Gartner added, 'IBM has, throughout its history in the cloud IaaS business, repeatedly encountered engineering challenges that have negatively impacted its time to market. It has discontinued a previous attempt at a new cloud IaaS offering, an OpenStack-based infrastructure that was offered via the Bluemix portal in a 2016 beta. Customers must thus absorb the risk of an uncertain roadmap. This uncertainty also impacts partners, and therefore the potential ecosystem.'

Go here to read the rest:
IBM deprecates its first cloud storage platform - http://www.computing.co.uk

Related Posts

Comments are closed.