IBM will invest almost $400 million on cloud computing centers in the U.S. and Japan. Cloud computing lets organizations remotely access a vast network of computers that can be tapped on-demand.
In the U.S., IBM will spend $360 million to build a state-of-the-art data center at its facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The company will renovate a building on its campus, aiming to reuse 95 percent of the original building's shell and recycle 90 percent of the materials from the original building.
The new cloud computing center in Tokyo will provide large companies, universities and government agencies immediate access to experts who can help them deploy cloud computing environments. Both new centers will link to seven other IBM cloud centers around the world.
"Cloud computing is fundamentally about re-engineering the world's computing infrastructure, to enable game-changing -- even life-changing -- applications," said Willy Chiu, Vice President, IBM High Performance On Demand Solutions. "To IBM, cloud computing is much more than the normal evolution of a data center."
Data centers are the backbone of information technology (IT) infrastructure for businesses and other organizations, with powerful servers and storage systems running technology including software applications, email and web sites. IBM owns and operates more than 8 million square feet of data center space -- more than any other company in the world.