CloudBurst will roll out SOA and WebSphere apps into an internal cloud environment. But is there a difference between “internal cloud” and “utility infrastructure”?

IBM Corp. on Thursday launched a hardware appliance to deploy service oriented architecture and WebSphere applications in an internal cloud computing environment.

The WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance provides virtual images that can be customized and deployed in a cloud, according to the company. It’s bundled with WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition, a version of its application server optimized for virtual server environments.

“It’s very much geared to a specific purpose,” said Sandy Carter, vice-president of SOA, business process management and WebSphere with IBM in Somers, N.Y. That purpose is to cloud-enable IBM’s 7,000 SOA and 100,000 WebSphere customers.

The appliance will save time and money, automate deployment and best practices, and lower maintenance costs, Carter said.
CloudBurst) is built on the principals of SOA,” and reaps highest efficiency in an SOA environment, but will work in any WebSphere shop, she said.

An internal cloud is not just another name for a virtualized environment, Carter insisted.

It’s a little bit different,” she said. Cloud computing is a consumption model. “The user only sees the service. They don’t need to know anything about the technology or the implementation.

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