IBM and Box link up to integrate enterprise cloud offerings
It’s a match made in cloud.
IBM and Box have announced a partnership that’s already been labeled “huge,” “wide-ranging,” and “major.”
Box will fold IBM Watson analytics and security into its current capabilities, and allow users to store their data on the IBM Cloud. IBM, meanwhile, will incorporate Box into its email and enterprise applications, products, and services. And speaking of apps, the two companies will work together to create even more for the iOS platform.
Box brings 37 million registered users of its enterprise cloud storage and collaboration platform to the equation, while IBM brings one of the world’s largest cloud solutions and robust network security that Box users crave. The deal provides Box users with robust, global cloud storage on IBM’s cloud infrastructure as well.
So, why did Box turn to IBM over a growing field of enterprise cloud providers? Box CEO Aaron Levie, just five months removed from taking his company public, may have said it best today on Twitter:
Extremely pumped to be partnering with the company that literally invented business computing. twitter.com/BoxHQ/status/6…
Levie also told the Wall Street Journal that he sees the partnership as a “blueprint for where enterprise technology is going to go.”
Forbes explains further:
“The integration of Box and IBM has been in the works for nine months, Levie told Forbes, and combines Box’s strength with end users with IBM’s reach and strength in big data and analytics with customers who need highly secure platforms for their work like government, financial services and healthcare.”
End users will likely take particular note of the Apple side of the news. IBM in April announced its first round of MobileFirst for iOS apps, which target the healthcare industry. Users of IBM’s enterprise apps on Apple products will see Box integrated into those apps in the coming months.
On the potential for an IBM-Box-Apple collaboration, Levie told Forbes, “You could envision a scenario where all three companies would want to work on something together.”
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