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IBM on Monday announced cloud-focused deals with VMware and Apple at its InterConnect conference.

The strategic partnership with VMware would facilitate IBM's positioning in the hybrid cloud services territory and help the company grow its cloud service offerings, according to IBM.

Enterprises that use VMware technologies will be able to run services on 45 IBM Cloud data centers around the world in a seamless manner, IBM said. Services include preconfigured VMware SDDC environments -- VMware vSphere, NSX and Virtual SAN on the IBM Cloud.

Deepening Relationship

IBM will develop and market new hybrid cloud services covering workload migrations, disaster recovery, capacity expansion and data center consolidation.

"The way we see it is that IBM has its cloud data centers, and with the current ability in the software-defined data center, we can fortify the ability to move those workloads and take advantage of already proven solutions as well as IBM's global footprint. So it's a channel partnership at this point," VMware spokesperson Alex Goldsmith said.

"We've been working with IBM for a number of years -- 13 to 14 years overall -- but this is a deepening of our relationship," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Swift on the Server

IBM and Apple have been working together to develop enterprise mobility solutions, and Monday's announcement to bring open source Swift to the cloud and developers was a byproduct of that partnership.

Bringing Swift to the server will break down barriers between front- and back-end development, giving enterprises a single language to build rich experiences and back-end business logic, IBM said. Benefits include increased speed and efficiency. Using Swift on the server also introduces a simpler, more secure toolchain for end-to-end application development.

IBM, the first major cloud provider to allow app development in native Swift, outlined three ways in which developers can begin experimenting with the programming language: by using the Swift Sandbox, which allows users to quickly and easily experiment with the code; by using Bluemix and Kitura to build and deploy end-to-end apps; and sharing Swift resources by exchanging, creating and using code via packages on Bluemix that's accessible to the global developer community.

Companies will benefit from a simplicity and economy of resources that was previously lacking, said Michael Gilfix, vice president of MobileFirst product management at IBM.

"With this preview, IBM demonstrates its commitment to enabling Swift to be used for server-side app and service delivery, making Swift a true end-to-end development language. This will dramatically reduce the learning curve for developers as they extend their mobile apps with server-side capabilities," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"At IBM, Swift is already being used to quickly create powerful mobile apps for iOS devices. With Swift, mobile developers are able to write safer, more reliable code that results in richer app experiences for customers using the apps to interact with your business," Gilfix said.

"As a part of the Swift collaborative effort," he added, "IBM will continue to build and pave a path towards widespread use of Swift on the IBM cloud to enable this new generation of developers."