PureSystems will become a foundation pillar of IBM’s software and cloud strategy, even more so than the company’s effort to offer true multi-tenant services through the IBM SmartCloud.That much became apparent in the last week as IBM began to talk through what role Pure Systems will play in its Websphere strategy.

“IBM is far more comfortable selling products for internal data centers than it is with selling cloud services,” said John Rymer, a software industry analyst with Forrester Research in a recent interview. “SmartCloud’s biggest obstacle to success in my view is IBM’s business model. Simple as that.”

You can see what Rymer means when you analyze PureSystems converged infrastructure technology. It integrates the compute, storage and networking. Everything is virtualized.  But everything is also open. And that’s the crux of Rymer’s curiosity.

It is important to note that the PureSystems family includes PureApplications Systems and PureFlex. PureApplications is a platform system designed and tuned for transactional web and database applications.  PureFlex combines compute, storage, networking, virtualization and management into a single infrastructure system.

IBM’s PureSystems strategy reflects on the state of the storage business.

EMC and NetApp are building out converged infrastructures. Like IBM, they want to control what Wikibon CTO David Floyer calls the “managed stack.”

In particular, IBM wants  to reach out to the smaller organizations that do not want the hassle of managing its own data centers.

Service providers have done this very well by bundling infrastructure technology and offering it  as a service. Profits come through economies of scale. Smaller enterprise shops have used these service providers to outsource IT.

IBM, EMC, HP and the rest are offering their own bundled packages with converged infrastructure offerings.  All of these companies understand that the new convergence requires new dimensions to the type of storage they offer. This means having snapshot capability for backing up data and a catalog to keep up with the snapshots.

By adding application integration , IBM potentially makes the bundle more appealing.

“The money is not in the storage, it is in the perception that the data is safe,” Floyer said.

I think it’s a fair theory that PureApplication Systems will integrate into the entire IBM software catalog.

As Rymer says, it comes down to the business model. The multi-tenant model is a better fit for Amazon Web Services (AWS). Its self-serve environment gives developers an infrastructure for  developing applications. Developers can use use AWS for any app. IBM SmartCloud offers IBM applications for use through the SmartCloud, that are offered as part of an overall solution.

These small, bite size subscription deals do not fit the IBM model, which is to sell seven to eight figure deals to large enterprises.

“Cloud is about subscriptions, not supersized deals,” Rymer said. “Very disruptive.”

It is this model that makes PureSystems a bit of a mystery. PureSystems is designed as an open system.

“PureSystems commoditizes systems for certain application scenarios,” Rymer said. “How does PureSystems allow customization? What are the limits and tradeoffs? I don’t know yet.”