Ari Kugler to Discuss IBM’s IBM i Cloud Strategy in Symmetry Webinar

November 8, 2011 Alex Woodie

Ari Kugler, IBM‘s director of business development for the IBM i business, will discuss IBM’s cloud strategy for the IBM i platform in a keynote address this Thursday during a free Cloud University webinar presented by IBM i cloud hosting provider Symmetry Corp.

IBM’s cloud business strategy for the IBM i platform has become a mixed message. On the one hand, the company has strongly endorsed efforts by ISVs and business partners to set up IBM i-based cloud systems and sell the services to customers who would be unwilling to buy and run their own IBM i gear. Symmetry Corp. is an excellent example of this business model.

On the other hand, IBM has been reluctant to launch any sort of its own IBM i-based cloud hosting program, as it has done with System x servers and will soon do with AIX servers. There isn’t even a dedicated cloud business development program for IBM i, as there is for every single other IBM platform, including System z.

So it is with great interest that Kugler kicks off Symmetry’s Fall 2011 Cloud University with his keynote, titled “IBM i and the Cloud.” The 45-minute presentation and Q&A is scheduled for Thursday, November 10, at 1 p.m. CST.

There are two other Cloud University session scheduled after Kugler’s keynote. Symmetry’s Dan Wilhelms and Andy Quaas will present a session on cloud-based high availability and disaster recovery at 2 p.m. CST. Symmetry’s partner Real Vision Software will present a case study on an IBM i cloud-based implementation of the Real Vision Imaging (RVI) solution at 3 p.m. CST.

You can sign up to listen to Kugler’s keynote and participate in the rest of Symmetry’s Fall 2011 Cloud University at http://www.sym-corp.com/as400/knowledge-center/50-cloud-university-fall-2011.