Thanks to IBM’s creation of a code storehouse to encourage collaboration, Big Blue has provided a big boost to open-source development in the cloud.
The company’s new DeveloperWorks Open platform opens a door to open-sourcers who have wanted better access to IBM’s expertise and techniques in cloud and mobile technologies. The platform launched with about 50 projects – among them, apps that span the banking and insurance, healthcare, and retail industries, as well as cloud data analytics technologies such as Agentless System Crawler.
DeveloperWorks Open also contains instructional materials on the technologies via how-to videos and blogs created to help developers surmount any rough spots.
IBM has a history of working with the open-source community, having contributed at various times to projects such as OpenStack, Linux, and Spark. But IBM Vice President of Cloud Technology and Architecture Angel Diaz said in a statement on the DeveloperWorks Open site that this latest initiative pumps fresh energy into IBM’s cloud-based efforts.
“IBM firmly believes that open source is the foundation of innovative application development in the cloud,” Diaz said. “With DeveloperWorks Open, we are open-sourcing additional IBM innovations that we feel have the potential to grow the community and ecosystem and eventually become established technologies.”
IBM also has extended access to its Bluemix cloud software development platform to about 200 academic institutions worldwide. The Academic Initiative for Cloud lets students and faculty at these institutions build applications without charge and is intended to give up-and-coming developers familiarity with IBM’s cloud services.
