IBM and AT&T announce strategic alliance, could be worth ‘billions’

IBM and AT&T recently announced a strategic alliance that is set to last multiple years. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but IBM said it is worth “billions of dollars.” The agreement will allow the two tech giants to modernize internal software applications, provide infrastructure support, create new edge computing solutions, and manage workloads and applications through open source platforms. Here’s a rundown of the specific changes and how they might impact the experience for customers.

IBM and AT&T  deal: Networking solutions

Under the agreement, IBM will make AT&T Business its primary provider of software-defined networking. This means that AT&T Business will use its own technology, including things like 5G, Edge Compute, and IOT, to transform IBM’s networking solutions. AT&T Business is already IBM’s strategic global networking provider. But this new agreement builds on that relationship even further.

Infrastructure support

Going forward, IBM will be the main cloud provider and developer for AT&T Business’s operational applications. The company will also help to manage the AT&T Communications IT infrastructure, both on-premises and in the cloud. Basically, this will let AT&T Business build and deploy its internal application workloads more efficiently.

Edge computing

To help enterprise customers make use of 5G network speeds, Internet-connected devices, and sensors on the edge of the network, the two companies are also collaborating on new edge computing platforms. The goal is to help businesses transform and speed up the user experience for their customers using 5G technology.

Open source technology

AT&T Business also plans to continue its use of Red Hat’s open source platform to manage workloads for the company’s internal applications. Since IBM recently acquired Red Hat, AT&T Business will have even more access to Red Hat’s Linux and OpenShift platforms, which should improve the foundation for workload portability and interoperability and simplify the experience overall.

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