As part of its $1.2 billion cloud investment IBM opens a SoftLayer datacentre in Frankfurt, Germany-- the first in the country, one offering performance with adherence to European security and privacy regulations.

It complements the other European IBM cloud facilities in Amsterdam, London and Paris, and increases redundancy options and geographic diversity within EMEA.

"Data privacy regulations in the EU are among the most stringent in the world, and Germany has one of the strongest policies," SoftLayer says. "While all our cloud data centers have SoftLayer's same strict standards for security and privacy, the new Frankfurt facility will allow German companies and clients to benefit from in-country data storage, a requirement in many industries to comply with German data protection laws."

IBM's Softlayer joins the Equinix Cloud Exchange, providing customers in 9 markets across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific with access to the IBM portfolio of cloud-based enterprise service via the platform.

SoftLayer in the Cloud Exchange allows customers to build hybrid clouds with IBM infrastructure as a public component.

Meanwhile the Equinix Cloud Exchange also gets further enhancements, including API functionality allowing for scalable, private and secure connections to cloud services with "near real-time" provisioning.

In a bid to bolster its position as cloud service provider Ingram Micro names HP veteran Stan Clark as Cloud Solutions VP. He reports to the distie's Global Cloud Computing executive VP, Nimesh Dave.

As Ingram Micro puts it, Clark will be identifying and recruiting strategic cloud partners, developing new industry vertical services and solutions and managing partner experiences within the product market and management, vendor management and cloud solutions teams.

"Channel resellers and vendors who are serious about establishing and growing a credible cloud services and solutions portfolio need to take a serious look at the investments Ingram Micro is making to make cloud accessible and profitable," Clark says. "I am thrilled to join such a dynamic team of business-minded technology professionals and help channel partners 'Realise the Promise of Technology' by using Ingram Micro's cloud services and solutions. Together, we can build a strategic advantage that will not only benefit their business, but also bring tremendous gains to their customers."

Accenture and Microsoft announce a cloud team up-- the Accenture Hybrid Cloud Solution for Microsoft Azure, a hybrid cloud platform delivered Avenade, the two company's IT services joint venture.

The platform promises new technologies handling the migration and management of applications between private and public clouds, all on demand, at speed and from a single console.

It is built on components from the 3 companies involved, namely the Microsoft Azure (provides hyper-scale and hybrid capabilities connected to Windows Server with Hyper-V, System Center and Azure Pack), the Accenture Cloud Platform (supports multi-platform environments with self-service provisioning and centralised management dashboard) and Avenade customer support.