IBM has announced plans to extend its global partnership with Box to provide enterprises with the choice to store data regionally in Europe and Asia on the IBM Cloud . IBM Cloud will be available as part of Box's new Box Zones technology, which will enable businesses to adopt Box and store their data in select regions for the first time. IBM will also leverage Box Zones to support hybrid cloud deployments.
"Organizations want to tap into all of the benefits of the cloud while retaining the security, performance, control and other attributes they might achieve with local data center infrastructure," said John Morris , general manager, IBM Cloud Object Storage. "With Box Zones and the IBM Cloud, enterprise customers across Europe and Asia will soon have the choice to leverage the IBM Cloud global footprint locally, and uniquely support hybrid cloud and on-premises deployments, integrating data between Box Zones and on-premises content repositories."
Global organizations increasingly want to choose where their data is stored, managed and accessed for a variety of local compliance mandates, data regulation and performance concerns. IBM brings the global reach of its Cloud Data Centers in 16 countries worldwide, combined with the ability to help clients support data in hybrid cloud environments as they integrate and combine data across on-premises and cloud.
"Box Zones enables us to combine Box's rich, intuitive content management experience and collaboration tools with IBM Cloud's powerful global infrastructure to overcome many of the data storage concerns faced by businesses in Europe and Asia," said Aaron Levie , cofounder and CEO, Box.
Box Zones plans to leverage IBM Cloud Object Storage services to enable Box and IBM clients to store and manage their increasing volumes of unstructured data locally via the cloud in a number of specific regions acrossEurope and Asia . IBM Cloud Object Storage combines technology from the recently acquired leading object storage company, Cleversafe , with the IBM Cloud , offering clients a consistent architecture and interfaces across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.
Since announcing the partnership in June 2015 , IBM and Box have announced several deep integrations and product innovations.For instance, IBM and Box recently introduced a new version of the IBM MobileFirst for iOS Expert Seller app that is built on Box Platform, providing the power of Box's enterprise content management capabilities, deployed at scale to any organization.