IBM has committed over $1.2 billion to expand its global cloud footprint with additional centres planned for the Middle East region by 2015.

The global cloud market is set to grow to $200 billion by 2020, driven largely by businesses and government agencies deploying cloud services to develop products, market, and manage their supply chains in transforming their business practices, according to estimates.

IBM’s latest investment includes a network of cloud centres designed to bring organisations greater flexibility, transparency and control over how they manage their data, run their business and deploy their IT operations.

The company plans to deliver cloud services from 40 centres worldwide this year in 15 countries and five continents, while it will open 15 new centres worldwide adding to the existing global footprint of 13 global data centres from SoftLayer and 12 from IBM.

Erich Clementi, senior vice president of IBM Global Technology Services, said: "IBM is continuing to invest in high growth areas. Last year, IBM made a big investment adding the $2 billion acquisition of SoftLayer to its existing high value cloud portfolio.”

The announcement follows another high-profile investment of more than $1 billion for establishing the IBM Watson Group, which was revealed recently.

The new business unit is dedicated to the development and commercialisation of cloud-delivered cognitive innovations. - TradeArabia News Service