IBM introduced its object storage service through Bluemix cloud. Considering the market leaders in the cloud business, IBM took entry quite late.

However, IBM acquired and provided object storage service earlier through SoftLayer from 2013. Now, both the services will remain available separately.

According to the Venture Beat report, an IBM spokesperson stated that the new service is based on the OpenStack open-source cloud software and it is targeted at individual developers.

Amazon web service has announced similar service in the market in March 2006 that is almost 10 years earlier. Therefore, the launch of beta availability of object storage on Bluemix by IBM is taking late entry in the market.

Now, it is quite evident that IBM is trying to compete with AWS along with Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. Introducing and maintaining two different object storage services is not a matter of joke. IBM is aiming to be one of the leading market players in cloud infrastructure business on general purpose.

If IBM would not wish to outshine its competitors, they wound not have launched both the object storage services one after another. The challenge is quite difficult keeping the entire competitive scenario of the present market in mind.

In addition, as per the eWeek news, IBM announced it is expanding the availability of its hybrid cloud capabilities in China through the launch of Bluemix Local. Bluemix Local is behind-the-firewall cloud computing platform of IBM. This service enables enterprises to build apps and deploy them across public, private and on-premises environments in a safe and fast manner.

The Bluemix Local will provide ease of hybrid app development and speed on the IBM Platform behind a firewall of any Chinese organization. In order to provide enhanced flexibility, Bluemix Local is built on the basis of open architecture. Moreover, in order to accelerate digital transformation at the start-up level, NASSCOM united with IBM by introducing Techstartup.in in Delhi on the Bluemix only.

According to the Economic Times Telecom report, as part of its commitment to the global startup community, IBM will offer up to $120,000 of free IBM Cloud credits for local qualified startups to use as they build their businesses on IBM Cloud.

In the cloud business, the attacks can come from several directions like sudden geographic expansion, price cuts, feature release and more. So did the IBM, they unveiled new storage services, expanded their services and may be more surprises are waiting in future. Although market experts are still not sure whether they compare IBM with Microsoft, Google or Amazon, the revenue run rate of IBM is quite promising.