IBM to support online startups

The International Business Machine is an American multinational consulting and technology corporation. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to technology. It was founded 103 years ago in New York. IBM now joined the bandwagon by announcing a similar programme to give startups and entrepreneurs around the world up to $1, 20,000 worth of credits to use its cloud computing technology and take advantage of its global network of enterprise clients, consultants, and innovation centres.

IBM has launched BlueMix in India. It is a free platform for startups to develop and host mobile applications within minutes. Google, MS, and Amazon are rapidly growing online startup community in India and across the globe by offering free software credits, mentorship, marketing support, investor introduction, and even funding.

IBM BlueMix will add to the already growing ecosystem of the platforms like Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine, Citrix Xen App Environment, Sales Force Heroku, and Amazon Elastic Bean Stalk all of which are being pushed by corporations through their startup accelerators and entrepreneurship program to Indian Developers. Entrepreneurs will get access to IBM cloud infrastructure from SoftLayer, one of its subsidiaries, and its cloud platform called BlueMix for app development.

As part of programme called 10,000 startups launched by software lobby Nasscom in March 2013, Google offers up to $20,000 total credits for its Google cloud platform. Startups can use Google apps for six months. Microsoft offers Azure Credits, and BizSpark subscribers are eligible to a $150 monthly amount of cloud computing resources through Microsoft developer network subscription benefits, free from the Windows Azure Platform. While these announcements are good for startups, they caution the use of cloud to the technology solutions or platforms of the companies that offer them.