September 23, 2021 By Briana Frank 4 min read

IBM Cloud Satellite now extends benchmark, financial services-level controls into any environment, providing a reliable set of security, compliance and risk management controls.

A hybrid, multicloud platform drives up to 2.5x the value of a single cloud approach [1] and potentially faster time to market. Application modernization is the key to unlocking that value, especially by containerizing applications to make them infrastructure agnostic and running them in either public or private environments. But the challenges are formidable — latency, data residency policies, version control and the need for end-to-end application security.

Build Fast. Securely. Anywhere.

IBM Cloud Satellite addresses these challenges by extending consistent, on-demand, fully managed cloud services that run across your on-premises, edge and public cloud environments — even those of other cloud vendors. This brings the modern architecture of public cloud to you; IBM’s catalog of PaaS services is deployed into your environment, so they are co-located with your data. The result is drastically reduced network latency, as artificial intelligence (AI), Kubernetes, database, and security services — to name a few — are operating where the data resides.

These same services can be deployed simultaneously and consistently across all environments where you create a Satellite location, which means consistent versions, consistent identity and access policies and a consistent set of developer tools, regardless of environment. This simplifies management while dramatically enhancing developer productivity. For example, in cloud workshops where IBM developers and solution architects collaborated with client DevOps teams to co-create an application, we’ve seen time-to-market slashed by 67% [2].

What’s new: Extend financial services-level controls into any environment

IBM Cloud Satellite now extends benchmark, financial services-level controls into any environment, so you can get a consistent set of security, compliance and risk management controls anywhere — on other clouds, on-premises or at the edge. This applies industry-leading Keep Your Own Key (KYOK) encryption via IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services and enables consistent security audit event logging and compliance monitoring with IBM Cloud services, including the following features:

  • Enable workload portability and a consistent developer experience building and running secure, compliant apps between the public cloud and distributed locations. 
  • Offload some of the update/management burden for security measures for distributed workloads.
  • Vigorously control data movement — especially protected information — between and within your environments and IBM Cloud Satellite. Policy and access controls limit visibility and transfers.

In the near future, we will include the ability to operate regulated workloads using additional IBM Cloud services, IBM software and ISVs in distributed cloud deployments:

  • Operate regulated workloads with confidence using services, software and ISVs across clouds, at the edge and on-premises with the benchmark security and compliance controls that financial institutions require.
  • Use these pre-configured controls — deployed consistently across environments — to reduce compliance costs and avoid the risks associated with siloed control development.
  • Take a comprehensive approach to remote access across clouds, at the edge, and on-premises — IAM, networking, configuration management, encryption and more, corresponding to local laws, NIST, FISMA and similar standards bodies.

Client success stories

Launched in March 2021, the IBM Cloud Satellite team quickly won the Red Dot: Best of the Best Award, given to design work that demonstrates very high design quality and creative performance. Already, Satellite and IBM’s PaaS portfolio of services are being leveraged in a variety of ways.

The Lumen platform and IBM Cloud Satellite can deploy data-intensive applications like video analytics across highly distributed environments, such as offices and retail spaces, and take advantage of infrastructure designed for single-digit millisecond latency. Because the application can be hosted on Red Hat OpenShift via IBM Cloud Satellite from the close proximity of a Lumen edge location, cameras and sensors can function in near real-time to help improve quality and safety. For example, cameras can detect the last time surfaces were cleaned or flag potential worker safety concerns. Additionally, customers across geographies can better address data sovereignty by deploying this processing power closer to where the data is created.

“Our enterprise customers can now extend IBM Cloud services across Lumen’s robust global network, enabling them to deploy data-heavy edge applications that demand high security and ultra-low latency. By bringing secure and open hybrid cloud capabilities to the edge, our customers can propel their businesses forward” — Paul Saville, SVP Enterprise Product Management and Services at Lumen

The University Medical Center Mainz — which provides inpatient and outpatient care to more than 350,000 people in approximately 60 clinics each year — is working with IBM to digitize clinical processes, such as facilitating the secured exchange of healthcare data and streamlining COVID-19 testing and vaccination.

The solutions have been designed and implemented by IBM within the span of several weeks by leveraging IBM’s hybrid cloud capabilities and deep industry expertise via IBM Global Business Services (GBS). With IBM Cloud Satellite, the University Medical Center Mainz can access cloud services securely and efficiently, helping them maintain their compliance with the high data protection requirements by keeping their data in their on-premises data center. The hardware and data are always under the sovereignty of the University Medical Center. This collaboration is designed to make it possible for the University Medical Center to meet their objectives as they quickly digitize processes and work to improve patient care.

Learn more

  • If you would like to know more about IBM Cloud Satellite, hybrid services and industry workloads, join us for “Cloud without Compromise,” an on-demand discussion with a broad array of technologists across industries.
  • Stand up your next app project through our “Garage” co-creation workshop. It’s developer-to-developer, from start to finish. Try a free discovery session.
  • For a self-serve experience, check out our demo on the product page.

[1] The right hybrid cloud strategy enables agility at scale

[2] Hybrid cloud solutions

More from Announcements

More accessible than ever: IBM Envizi ESG Suite now available in seven languages

2 min read - The capture, management, and reporting of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data is a topic of global relevance. IBM Envizi is making this process more accessible with this latest release of Envizi in seven languages. Customers can now view the IBM Envizi ESG Suite interface in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian-Portuguese, and Japanese.  Translated functionality includes key areas of the IBM Envizi user interface including home pages, summary pages, popular dashboards and PowerReports, menus, buttons, browse grids, search and…

Introducing IBM Sterling Order Management on Microsoft Azure

4 min read - IBM and Microsoft believe in providing you with the power of choice so you can leverage the industry-leading omnichannel fulfillment capabilities of Sterling Order Management Software (OMS) along with your existing skills and investment in native Azure services.  IBM and Microsoft provide you with the ability to confidently deploy Sterling OMS on Azure using Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO) or Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), with the added flexibility of using multiple native Azure services. The reference architecture details are available…

IBM TechXchange underscores the importance of AI skilling and partner innovation

3 min read - Generative AI and large language models are poised to impact how we all access and use information. But as organizations race to adopt these new technologies for business, it requires a global ecosystem of partners with industry expertise to identify the right enterprise use-cases for AI and the technical skills to implement the technology. During TechXchange, IBM's premier technical learning event in Las Vegas last week, IBM Partner Plus members including our Strategic Partners, resellers, software vendors, distributors and service…

Introducing Inspiring Voices, a podcast exploring the impactful journeys of great leaders

< 1 min read - Learning about other people's careers, life challenges, and successes is a true source of inspiration that can impact our own ambitions as well as life and business choices in great ways. Brought to you by the Executive Search and Integration team at IBM, the Inspiring Voices podcast will showcase great leaders, taking you inside their personal stories about life, career choices and how to make an impact. In this first episode, host David Jones, Executive Search Lead at IBM, brings…

IBM Newsletters

Get our newsletters and topic updates that deliver the latest thought leadership and insights on emerging trends.
Subscribe now More newsletters