On August 26, 2015, IBM announced that it had ported Blue Box’s managed OpenStack private-cloud software to its SoftLayer cloud. The service was designed to handle OpenStack deployment, updates, and management for customers. IBM’s announcement also described an on-premises deployment option; it does not establish that the specific Blue Box service is available today.
What IBM announced
IBM had acquired Blue Box Group earlier in 2015. IBM’s 2015 annual report records the acquisition in the second quarter and describes Blue Box’s business as hosted, managed, production-grade OpenStack private clouds for enterprise and service-provider markets.
The August 26 announcement reported that IBM had brought Blue Box’s private-cloud software to SoftLayer. The managed service was intended to take on the work of deploying, updating, and managing an OpenStack instance. IBM executive Angel Diaz said the port took less than 90 days after the acquisition and described that speed as evidence of Blue Box’s flexibility: “We think the fact that it took us less than 90 days to make the port shows how flexible Blue Box really is.” The timing and characterization were Diaz’s statements in the 2015 announcement, not an independent performance assessment.
Where customers could run it
The announcement described two deployment choices. The key distinction was whether the private cloud ran on the customer’s premises or in SoftLayer; the report did not provide a feature-by-feature comparison of the options.
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| Deployment choice | Where the private cloud ran | What the announcement established |
|---|---|---|
| On-premises | At the customer’s premises | Listed as an available deployment option in the 2015 announcement; infrastructure operations and service terms were not detailed in the report. |
| SoftLayer | In IBM’s SoftLayer cloud | The announcement’s newly reported port; the managed offering was described as handling OpenStack deployment, updates, and management. |
IBM’s announcement and the annual report describe the offering’s intent and market, but do not specify pricing, service-level terms, technical sizing, or a detailed division of operational responsibilities for each deployment choice.
What the launch does—and does not—tell you now
This is a historical launch story, not confirmation of a currently purchasable Blue Box service. IBM Support’s Softlayer page, modified March 30, 2022, describes SoftLayer as infrastructure underlying IBM Bluemix; it does not establish the present availability, name, pricing, or purchase path of this particular Blue Box private-cloud service. Anyone evaluating it as a current option would need confirmation directly from IBM.
The 2015 report also cited more than 40 data centers around the world, attributing that period-specific figure to Diaz. It should be read as context for the announcement, not as a statement of IBM or SoftLayer’s current footprint.
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Sources
- Data Center Knowledge, “IBM Launches Blue Box Private OpenStack Cloud Services on SoftLayer,” August 26, 2015 — launch details, Diaz’s comments, and the period-specific data-center figure.
- IBM, Annual Report 2015 — Blue Box Group acquisition timing and description of its business.
- IBM Support, “Softlayer,” modified March 30, 2022 — limited context on SoftLayer infrastructure, not confirmation of Blue Box service availability.
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