Big Blue and Alcatel SA are linking hands to offer data centre services for enterprise networks, ASPs and service providers, the two firms announced Monday.
However, the companies are leaving up for speculation just what those data centre services are. A spokesperson for IBM said that the discussions between the companies were ongoing and that final plans had yet to be hammered out.
Still, it is likely that IBM will be providing the data centre design and implementation services, and Alcatel the communications gear and applications. Big Blue's hardware and software may also be incorporated in the offerings as well, but IBM declined to comment.
IBM claims that the market for creating data centers could be worth as much as $100 billion over the next three years.