Mohen Daar

IBM has opened a cloud computing development laboratory in Hong Kong that builds on the technology and expertise of Outblaze Limited, the company whose messaging assets IBM acquired in January and used as a foundation for its LotusLive offerings.

The new development and services center, IBM's tenth cloud computing lab worldwide, would help develop Web 2.0, cloud mail and collaboration software, the company said. The Hong Kong development team will identify best practices for IBM's cloud messaging business in such areas as security, privacy and stability.

The lab, which IBM described as "a major expansion of (its) Web-based mail and collaboration capabilities," also will play a role in IBM's efforts to develop hybrid IT systems that combine elements of cloud computing with on-premise technology.

The Hong Kong facility will be part of IBM's China Development Laboratory, which has more than 5,000 developers.

"Strategically located near emerging growth markets, we expect that the new laboratory and IBM's LotusLive platform will play an important role in helping clients here and around the world to take advantage of the growth in Web 2.0 collaboration," said Matthew Wang, Vice President of the IBM China Development Laboratory and the company's Asia Pacific North Cluster Laboratories.

The Outblaze acquisition in January was widely seen as critical to IBM's overall cloud-computing efforts and making its Lotus applications available through the Internet. IBM acquired the company's messaging service assets, adding the technology to its LotusLive online social networking and collaboration offerings, which include Web-based e-mail, instant messaging, file-sharing, Web meetings and project management software.

The global cloud computing market is expected to grow from $47 billion in 2008 to $126 billion by 2012, IBM said, citing various market estimates.