IBM courts SME market with new LinuxONE 4 Express

IBM unveiled a new pre-configured model of its LinuxONE enterprise computing system tailoured for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – the LinuxONE 4 Express.

According to IBM, the rack-mounted system brings enterprise-class security, resilience and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to smaller organisations seeking to craft an integrated hybrid cloud technology strategy. The company’s 2022 Data Security Report found 83% of surveyed firms sped adoption of cloud solutions during the pandemic, often leaving disjointed setups obstructing newer technologies.

“Startups and SMEs are at the heart of enabling employment-rich economic growth for South Africa. Nevertheless, they are not immune to macro challenges throttling the economy. As a result, they are turning to digitisation to be agile, efficient and innovative in order to thrive,” said Ria Pinto, General Manager and Technology Leader, IBM South Africa.

Built with IBM’s Telum processor, LinuxONE 4 Express has availability exceeding “eight nines,” as per the company – suiting workloads requiring resilient infrastructures to meet regulations. Its stack also enables on-chip AI inferencing, facilitating analysing sensitive data where it resides.

The release cited use cases around digital assets and medical imaging, as the system’s confidential computing features aid handling sensitive data. IBM stated consolidating workloads onto the LinuxONE 4 Express instead of running them on compared x86 servers can lower total cost of ownership by over 52% in five years.

IBM and partners offer solutions tailored for the platform spanning cloud, security and AI, as shoring up sustainability and cybersecurity grow imperative across sectors like banking, per the company.

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