The company is expanding its cloud business to Spain. With the introduction of a new cloud multi-zone region, it can also welcome a new customer with CaixaBank, one of the largest financial institutions in Europe.
This week IBM announced its first IBM Cloud Multi-zone Region (MZR) in Spain. Big Blue also unveiled a new agreement with CaixaBank, a leading financial group in Spain, to boost the bank’s digital capabilities by joining this MZR and embracing IBM Cloud for Financial Services.
IBM has been a technology partner of CaixaBank for more than 50 years. Under this agreement, CaixaBank will launch its CloudNow project which aims to evolve business core applications, improve efficiencies and reinforce its innovative vision of financial services with increased availability and resiliency.
A multi-zone region specially designed for EU clients
To help scale hybrid cloud adoption, IBM’s new MZR seeks to enable European clients to deploy mission-critical workloads with high levels of security, and address their data sovereignty and regulatory compliance requirements. IBM’s expanded footprint signals its continued investment to help foster business growth in Europe. The move will also create hundreds of jobs in Spain, the company says.
IBM MZRs have three or more data centers with each being an individual Availability Zone. This is so that a single failure event can affect only a single data center rather than all zones. This allows for consistent cloud services and greater resiliency to help clients continuously run mission-critical workloads.
CaixaBank and other enterprises across Europe will have access to our security, automation, and Red Hat capabilities, along with IBM Cloud’s network, helping clients address their data sovereignty and compliance regulations as they move along their hybrid cloud journey.
IBM CEO, Arvind Krishna, commented on the deal. “IBM is proud to provide CaixaBank with a technology platform that is designed to deliver the highest levels of trust, security and privacy,” he said.
“IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI solutions will help CaixaBank strengthen its business model and improve its customer experience. This partnership is a great example of our commitment to apply the power of technology to help business and society thrive,” he added.