Canadian businesses have a simpler way to adopt and build out hybrid clouds thanks to a partnership between BCE Inc. (Bell Canada), Canada’s largest telecommunications company, and IBM.

The partnership, which expands the cloud computing services available through Bell Business Cloud, will give businesses across Canada access to the IBM Cloud via a secure, high-speed private connection from Bell Canada.

“IBM Cloud supports Bell’s new client offerings to help companies gain more control of their data, improve application performance and efficiencies with enhanced collaboration, centralize IT management, reduce costs and achieve greater efficiencies,” said Nevil Knupp, Vice President of Cloud at IBM Canada in an IBM news release.

The new services address the needs of businesses that are looking for a reliable and secure connection to the cloud that doesn’t rely on sending data over the public Internet.

The partnership extends Bell’s cloud capability and connectivity service, added Michael LaPalme, Director of Product Management at Bell Business Markets.

“It helps bring IT credibility and capability to the story. It creates a more compelling value proposition and greater value for our customers,” he said.

Expanded cloud services

The new cloud computing services include the following:

• Bell Cloud Connect provides secure IP connectivity to the IBM cloud, giving users access to network, server, storage and application resources.

• Bell Cloud Compute offers a secure, scalable, self-serve environment for managed virtual machines that improve operational performance while reducing costs.

• Bell Cloud Backup provides access to IBM Cloud to protect customer data and applications through a secure backup location, as well as ensures availability of data and applications.

The goal of the services, LaPalme said, is to allow access to the public cloud as if it’s another resource on their network

Bell’s Business Cloud in partnership with IBM is available across Canada to all midsize and large businesses. Existing customers can take advantage of all of the new services.

Creating a cloud ecosystem

Bell Canada’s partnership with IBM, similar to Verizon and Google’s plan to develop a joint infrastructure-as-a-service offering, is part of Bell Canada’s cloud ecosystem and is the first of a select group that the company is considering, LaPalme said. Bell is talking with other cloud service providers about being a part of that ecosystem.

“We have prioritized companies that have public capabilities that complement what we do,” he said. “One thing that has become clear is the cloud is not the domain of one provider. Customers are looking to many providers. And this ecosystem will satisfy that requirement.”

Photo by William Greene via Flickr CC