The 10 Biggest IBM Stories Of 2010

4. IBM's Cloud Computing Push

IBM expects cloud computing to add significant growth to its business even while acknowledging that it will cannibalize much of its existing business. In 2010 IBM laid the groundwork for that transformation for itself and its channel partners.

IBM boosted its "cloud cred" with such new products as the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance and its BlueWorks Live cloud computing business process management suite. IBM also acquired Blade Network Technologies, a developer of data center switching technology, in a move to optimize IBM servers for cloud computing.

IBM also prepared its channel partners for cloud computing. In March it debuted a cloud-based software development and test service for partners, and in October launched its Cloud Computing Lab platform. IBM is also preparing to launch a cloud-computing-specific partner program in early 2011.

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