IBM has announced that International Data Corporation (IDC) has identified the IBM Cloud as the second leading global IaaS provider according to its Worldwide Semi-Annual Public Cloud Services Tracker, 2H 2015. The tracker looked at both individual cloud service providers and overall market revenue while assessing the complete gamut of Infrastructure as a Service capabilities including provisioning servers (virtual and bare metal), storage, and networking options.

In its methodology, IDC says that, "cloud services are about what the customer buys, not how the service provider delivers it." The firm goes on to say that its definition of cloud services focuses on what the customer sees and experiences versus how things get delivered. Those choices are important but they don't belong in the definition of an offering category like "cloud services." This takes us out of the religious wars over what the best implementation architectures and technologies are.

"We're glad to see IDC recognize the momentum IBM Cloud is making as our investments in data center expansion continue to pay off," says Jim Comfort, chief technology officer for IBM Cloud. "We're seeing customer uptake across the board for all our IaaS capabilities, which allows them to easily pick and scale the IT resources they need to create their ideal public, private or hybrid cloud environments. It all comes down to enabling choice and providing the right mix of services."

IBM Cloud delivers fast, easy and automated access to public, private and hybrid cloud services to help clients digitally transform. IBM Cloud is a growing collection of services including analytics, mobile, networking, storage, Internet of Things and cognitive computing. With more than 47 global cloud data centers, IBM helps companies securely manage and gain insight into their data no matter where it resides.