IBM Opens Cloud Computing Center in Dublin

IBM has opened a new cloud computing data center in Dublin, Ireland, which will allow customers to run applications hosted on IBM's hardware. The Dublin facility is the first IBM cloud computing center in Europe, and will also serve the Middle East and Africa.

The initiative marks another step by IBM into cloud computing. In November IBM introduced Blue Cloud, a utility computing initiative designed to help customers run efficient grid-based platforms in enterprise data centers. The initiative is built around the Apache Project's Hadoop, an open source platform for utility computing that integrates elements of Google's infrastructure management software.

The new facility also continues the development of Dublin as a major data center market. Microsoft (MSFT) has announced a new $500 million data center in Dublin, while Digital Realty Trust (DLR) is building a new Eircom data center in addition to two existing facilities spanning 140,000 square feet that are fully leased.