Since 1945, researchers at IBM have continued to stretch the boundaries of science and technology. One such recent innovation that uses automatic analytics to increase cloud computing performance and reduce costs by dynamically moving workload between cloud centres has recently been given a patent (U.S. Patent #8,676,981 B2 “Routing Service Requests Based on Lowest Actual Cost within a Federated Virtual Service Cloud”).
 
IBM’s patented invention automatically pools cloud computing resources from disparate cloud centres, enabling clients to improve performance and save money by reducing the amount of manual intervention needed to allocate hardware, software and services. The automated technique enables users have more control over where and how their cloud workloads are run and facilitates optimal use of a cloud infrastructure.
 
“Cloud delivery models are evolving and maturing and are creating new possibilities for end-users and third-party service providers to lower costs for IT deployments as they enter new markets and create new solutions,” said Leonard Hand, IBM Master Inventor and lead inventor on the patent. “Our patented invention will give users more control over their cloud deployments so that they can extract the most value from their IT resources at the most optimal cost.”
 
The new patent can help streamline the management of local and geographically dispersed cloud hubs, while improving application performance and responsiveness by lowering latency of cloud deployments.
 
It could also be used by Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and channel resellers who leverage cloud infrastructure from third-party providers to build and deliver value-added solutions. MSPs could use IBM’s invention to isolate and automatically support their customers’ specific workload demands and truly enable usage-based-consumption pricing models.