SK-IBM cloud alliance targets gov't, financial sector

By Yoon Sung-won

SK C&C and IBM Korea said Thursday that they have begun operation of a cloud data center (CDC) here.

The partners pledged to provide more agile hybrid cloud services to help clients speed up the digital transformation of their business structures.

“In partnership with IBM, we will expand our business portfolio to artificial intelligence (AI), smart factories, big data and integrated logistics based on the success of our CDC,” SK C&C President and CTO Lee Ho-soo said during a press conference in Seoul, Thursday.

IBM Korea General Manager Jeffrey Rhoda said, “One of our key cloud business strategies is to cooperate with a local business that understands the market. With SK, we will also cooperate for cognitive AI technology and network system security, too.”

Last October, the two companies agreed to jointly push for new technology business including the establishment of a CDC here.

Located in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, the new CDC is in a ten-story building designed to survive earthquakes. The data center also has an advanced security system provided by SK Infosec.

Clients can access their allocated server in the CDC to establish and run their business systems. Because the CDC in Pangyo is connected to over 40 IBM global data center network, clients can access the international chain. The two companies said their clients can transfer data within IBM’s cloud data center networks free of charge.

“In the second phase of cloud computing, it is important to realize actual applications such as blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), analytics and our Watson cognitive AI to create value,” IBM Cloud Senior Vice President Robert LeBlanc said.

Pointing out that existing cloud services from retail and telecom businesses here have remained on the business-to-consumer level, the two companies said they will provide services tailor-made for enterprises, based on their long-accumulated knowhow in the business-to-business sector.

“Business are shifting from traditional IT systems to new models such as cloud, big data, IoT and mobility,” SK Holdings C&C Digital and Finance Business Group Executive Vice President Lee Ki-yeol said. “We can be the best partner for them because we understand the B2B sector.”

Based on the CDC, the two said they combined IBM’s SoftLayer and SK’s Cloud Z to provide a hybrid cloud service. This allows clients to tap into the openness and agility of public cloud systems while maintaining their private data on their on-premise systems.

Lee also said the two partners will comply with regulations in the domestic cloud services market, aiming at attracting clients such as financial institutions and government agencies.

As the government is likely to release its standards that define relatively less sensitive data that can be stored in cloud networks next month, service providers are keen on winning bids from the financial and government sectors.

As Amazon Web Service (AWS) and Microsoft have been boosting their presence in the Korean cloud service market with their own CDCs here, Lee said the SK-IBM alliance has strength in dealing with large-scale projects especially in the financial sector and thus has more potential for attracting new clients.

“Amazon has been doing well, but their clients are mostly from certain industries such as gaming, app development and web portals,” Lee said. “But government and financial sectors are completely different ecosystems. We have never failed in handling massive data migration projects for the financial sector here. Amazon may feel threatened by the birth of the SK-IBM alliance.”