IBM has dramatically expanded the availability of its software portfolio on AWS Marketplace to 92 countries, the company announced on 6th May. This expansion goes well beyond the initial regions of Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States where IBM’s software was previously accessible.
The global rollout spans 18 African nations, including South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco, underscoring IBM’s commitment to driving innovation and digital transformation across the continent. By leveraging the power of AWS Marketplace, customers in these markets can now effortlessly discover, test, purchase, and deploy IBM’s cutting-edge software solutions directly on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform.
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“Cloud marketplaces continue to emerge as the fastest-growing route to market for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) software, expected to increase to US $45 billion by 2025, up 84% CAGR over five years,” according to a study by Canalys. These marketplaces streamline the buying cycle, consolidate billing, and facilitate rapid scaling of software deployments.
Uri Bechar, the vice president of software engineering at Redis, a leading open-source data platform, emphasised the significance of this collaboration: “Both IBM and AWS play a huge role in our success. Buying IBM software in AWS Marketplace gives us more flexibility, enables us to use our committed spend, and ultimately makes the entire process easier so we can deploy faster and start seeing value from our investments.”
At the heart of IBM’s AWS Marketplace offerings lies its watsonx AI and data platform, enabling enterprises to build, scale, and govern AI workloads with ease. Key components like watsonx.data, a fit-for-purpose data store built on an open data lakehouse architecture, and watsonx.ai, a next-generation enterprise studio for AI builders, are now readily available. Additionally, IBM’s AI Assistants – watsonx Assistant and watsonx Orchestrate – further enhance the platform’s capabilities, with watsonx.governance expected to follow soon.
Matt Yanchyshyn, General Manager of AWS Marketplace and Partner Services at AWS, emphasised the collaborative spirit behind this expansion: “IBM’s global expansion with AWS Marketplace opens up innovation opportunities for our joint customers across the world. By leveraging the speed and simplified procurement capabilities of AWS Marketplace, customers can now more easily access IBM’s cutting-edge solutions, enabling them to accelerate their digital transformation and drive innovation at scale.”
Beyond AI and data solutions, IBM’s portfolio on AWS Marketplace encompasses a wide range of offerings, including the flagship database Db2 Cloud Pak for Data, automation software like Apptio, Turbonomic, and Instana, as well as the IBM Security and Sustainability software portfolios – all built on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS. Flexible licensing options, such as SaaS and subscription models, further enhance the procurement experience for customers.
Complementing the software offerings, IBM is launching 15 new IBM Consulting professional services and assets on AWS Marketplace, exclusively designed for AWS. These services align with client needs and demand, focusing on data and application modernisation, security services, and tailored industry-specific solutions, with generative AI capabilities included in select services.
“Cloud computing is currently experiencing remarkable growth in South Africa as local companies are increasing their digital migration to meet the expectations of increasingly digital-first consumers and maintain a competitive advantage against competitors in the digital marketplace,” said Ria Pinto, General Manager and Technology Leader at IBM SA. “By availing IBM’s portfolio of software on AWS Marketplace, we are expanding the points of entry for local organisations, both large and small, to have quick and easy access to IBM’s leading AI, data and cloud solutions, accelerating the secure modernisation of IT infrastructures and digital transformation of our enterprise landscape.”
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