IBM Cloud for Performance Intensive Workloads (HPC & AI Enabled Infrastructure)

Service scope

Service constraints: The platform is a 24x7 available service. Any planned maintenance will not impact availability. Access to the service is via CLI, RESTful API or the IBM Cloud Portal.
System requirements: Internet access to reach IBM Cloud portal

User support

Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
Support response times: Within 24 hours
User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AAA
Phone support: Yes
Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support: Web chat
Web chat support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AAA
Web chat accessibility testing: Visit https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/overview/accessibility?topic=overview-accessibility-platform#accessibility-features-for-ibm-cloud for more information of accessibility
Onsite support: No
Support levels: IBM provides free basic level support protection included with an IBM Cloud subscription or pay-as-you-go account. Advanced support is recommended for environments with a limited number of business-critical applications. Premium Support is for mission-critical environments that have a strategic dependency on IBM Cloud; IBM provides a dedicated Technical Account Manager with this support tier. The support policies for Platform and Infrastructure Services are available in the IBM Cloud UI and provide details of available support options, as well as information on access, support business hours, severity classification, and support resources and limitations. IBM uses commercially reasonable efforts to respond to support requests; however, there is no specified response time objective for basic level support. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, support is available only to Client (and its authorized users) and not to any end users of Client’s solutions. Client is solely responsible for providing all customer support and services to its end users. An online support forum is available at no charge at https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/forumshome or join the IBM’ development community at https://developer.ibm.com/community/. Both monitored by IBM developers and employees.
Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started: We provide comprehensive online documentation (available through the IBM Cloud Dashboard), tutorials, deployable architectures, free online training course and hundreds of tutorials and articles available on our IBM Developer portal.
Service documentation: Yes
Documentation formats: HTML
End-of-contract data extraction: IBM is a data processor and will not access or own client data. Client can use standard technology to extract their data. If required, IBM Cloud Data Transfer Service With IBM Cloud® Data Transfer Service, you can send a USB 2.0 or 3.0 compatible device to an IBM Cloud data center to be connected directly to your network. The device is housed in a dedicated rack and is mounted as an iSCSI target. Advanced Format drives are now supported as well. Our Data Transfer Service is ideal when you need to transfer large amounts of data without using our Private Network and is a service offered free-of-charge to all IBM Cloud customers for two weeks of usage. When a customer cancels any physical or virtual server, all data is erased using Department of Defense (DoD) 5220.22-m standards.
End-of-contract process: Services in IBM Cloud infrastructure are generally billed on an hourly on monthly basis. When services are de-provisioned access to the service is removed from the account. When a customer cancels any physical or virtual server, all data is erased using Department of Defense (DoD) 5220.22-m standards.

Using the service

Web browser interface: Yes
Using the web interface: Users can create new applications & services, manage those services, configure services and instances, manage role-based access and teams, they can view alerts and status, they can access documentation all through the IBM Cloud Dashboard. Web interface accessibility standard - None or don’t know
Web interface accessibility standard: None or don’t know
How the web interface is accessible: IBM Cloud includes the following major accessibility features: Keyboard-only operation and operations that use a screen reader (for more information visit https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/overview/accessibility?topic=overview-accessibility-platform#accessibility-features-for-ibm-cloud)
Web interface accessibility testing: N/A
API: Yes
What users can and can't do using the API: We have more than 3,000 documented methods across 180 discrete services. Our internal management system and our customer portal was built specifically to use it. All customers have full, free access to our entire automated portfolio of services—from management and monitoring to information retrieval from IBM Cloud accounting, inventory, and DNS systems. Control every aspect and action on your IBM Cloud infrastructure via API. we support SOAP, XML-RPC, or REST protocols, C#, PERL, PHP, Python, Ruby, and VB.net API clients. IBM Cloud Development Network Developer Community and Knowledgebase for the IBM Cloud IaaS API Search for specific API services and methods, read development-focused blogs, and connect with other developers to share tips, ideas, and best practices at the IBM Cloud Development Network (SLDN). Message Queue and Object Storage Control Service-specific Optimization Additional APIs built specifically for IBM Cloud message queue and object storage services provide extended features and functionality.
API automation tools: Ansible

Chef

SaltStack

Terraform

Puppet
API documentation: Yes
API documentation formats: HTML

PDF
Command line interface: Yes
Command line interface compatibility: Linux or Unix

Windows

MacOS
Using the command line interface: IBM Cloud CLI provides a unified way for you to interact with your applications, virtual servers, containers, and other components in IBM Cloud through a command line interface. It also leverages command line tools from Docker, and the OpenStack community when you interact with specific compute types. IBM Cloud CLI helps you handle the environment settings when these community tools are used. The commands in IBM Cloud CLI are organized by name spaces, to provide a structural overview. If you are using Bash or Zsh, the autocomplete feature in IBM Cloud CLI provides suggestions and allows you to complete commands and their arguments. These features make it easier for you to find and use the right commands. The IBM Cloud CLI command line interface is not supported by Cygwin. Use the IBM Cloud CLI in a command line window other than the Cygwin command line window

Scaling

Scaling available: Yes
Scaling type: Automatic

Manual
Independence of resources: The architecture of IBM cloud services maintains logical separation of client data. Internal rules and measures separate data processing, such as inserting, modifying, deleting, and transferring data, according to the contracted purposes.
Usage notifications: Yes
Usage reporting: API

Email

Other
Other usage reporting: Linkage to systems for example Pager Duty

Analytics

Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
Metrics types: CPU

Disk

Memory

Network

Other
Other metrics: Host ping and IPMI statistics

DNS Response

Performance monitoring

DHCP response

LDAP response monitoring

25x7x365 NOC monitoring

Automated reboot for monitoring failure
Reporting types: API access

Real-time dashboards

Regular reports

Resellers

Supplier type: Reseller (no extras)
Organisation whose services are being resold: IBM

Staff security

Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom

European Economic Area (EEA)
User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0

Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402

Physical access control, complying with another standard

Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
Data sanitisation process: Yes
Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation

Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Backup and recovery

Backup and recovery: Yes
What’s backed up: Virtual machine images

Files

Databases
Backup controls: Standard services are available for backup via the CLI, API and the customer portal
Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery

Multiple datacentres
Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
Backup recovery: Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: Private network or public sector network

TLS (version 1.2 or above)

IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Bonded fibre optic connections
Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability: IBM provides service level agreements (SLAs) for IBM Cloud services. Service levels based on downtime do not include time related to exclusions, UI unavailability, or time to reload, configure, enable, or access content or include other services indirectly affected by an outage (Downtime). SLAs are available only if Client is compliant with the Agreement terms and do not apply to any third party including Client’s end users. SLAs do not apply to beta, experimental, trial, or no-charge Cloud Services. SLAs are not a warranty and are Client’s exclusive remedy for IBM’s failure to meet a specified service level. IBM will validate SLA claims based upon information provided and IBM system records. IBM provides a 99.95% availability SLA for Platform Services: i) configured for high availability and distributed across multiple IBM Cloud public regions; or ii) provisioned across multiple dedicated or local environments in geographically separated data-centers. In addition, IBM provides a 99.9% availability service level for multiple instances of a Platform Service provisioned within a single dedicated or local environment.
Approach to resilience: Available on Request
Outage reporting: From time to time, events occur in the IBM Cloud that require IBM Cloud to take action. Sometimes these events are unexpected and sometimes there are planned maintenance activities required to keep the Cloud operating at its peak condition. While IBM Cloud makes every effort to isolate our customers from these events, sometimes it becomes necessary to take certain equipment off-line. Regardless of the impact to our customers, it is always necessary to be transparent, timely and informative. We believe it is best to put our customers in control of their Cloud experience, and so our policy is to push information to our customers that explicitly subscribe to this process on the customer Portal. Therefore it is important that our customers understand how to make notifications work for them

Identity and authentication

User authentication: 2-factor authentication

Username or password

Other
Other user authentication: Within the Customer Portal, external, two-factor authentication may be activated to add additional protection when logging into the Portal. This additional layer of security protects the account from unverified access, ensuring devices, data and account information are protected. This external authentication is available in two forms: Symantec Identify Protection is our most commonly used external authentication tool, providing a dynamic security code used in addition to the username and password when accessing the Customer Portal. PhoneFactor authentication provides out-of-band authentication via phone call, SMS or mobile app. External authentication may be added per user for a small monthly fee.
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: IBM maintains individual role-based authorization of privileged accounts that is subject to regular validation. A privileged account is a duly authorized IBM user identity with administrative access to a Cloud Service, including associated infrastructure, networks, systems, applications, databases and file systems
Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
Management access authentication: 2-factor authentication

Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)

Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)

Dedicated link (for example VPN)

Username or password
Devices users manage the service through: Dedicated device on a government network (for example PSN)

Dedicated device over multiple services or networks

Any device but through a bastion host (a bastion host is a server that provides access to a private network from an external network such as the internet)

Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: Bureau Veritas Certification Holding SAS – UK Branch
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 19/12/2018
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/A
ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
CSA STAR certification: Yes
CSA STAR accreditation date: 16/10/2017
CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: N/A
PCI certification: Yes
Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: Will confirmed at call-off contract level via on-line template
PCI DSS accreditation date: Confirmed at call-off contract level
What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: To be confirmed at Call-off contract level via online template
Cyber essentials: Yes
Cyber essentials plus: Yes
Other security certifications: Yes
Any other security certifications: ISO 27017

ISO 27018

Cloud Security Alliance - STAR registrant

Cloud Security Alliance - STAR registrant

SOC 1,2,3

https://www.ibm.com/uk-en/cloud/compliance

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
Security governance certified: Yes
Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001

Other
Other security governance standards: ISO 27017, ISO 27018, Cloud Security Alliance - STAR registrant, Privacy shield framework, EU Model clauses, SOC 1,2,3
Information security policies and processes: IBM has an Information Technology (IT) Security policy that establishes the requirements for the protection of IBM's worldwide IT systems and the information assets they contain, including networks and computing devices such as servers, workstations, host computers, application programs, web services, and telephone systems within the IBM infrastructure. IBM’s IT Security policy is supplemented by standards and guidelines, such as the Security Standards for IBM's Infrastructure, the Security and Use Standards for IBM Employees and the Security Guidelines for Outsourced Business Services. Such are reviewed by a cross-company team led by the IT Risk organization every six months. IBM has a dedicated Vice President of IT Security who leads a team responsible for IBM's own enterprise data security standards and practices. Responsibility and accountability for executing internal security programs is established through formal documented policies. IBM Services teams also have dedicated executives and teams who are responsible for information and physical security in the delivery of our client services.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Configuration and change management approach: IBM Cloud follows best practices for systems management including change management. Note that on provisioning of a server, that server and its monitoring and management become the client's responsibility, meaning that the client is responsible for implementing overall service management and process. The entire IBM Cloud platform is built on top of a technology called Infrastructure Management System (IMS). All automated operations and functionality in the IBM Cloud platform are controlled by IMS. This includes provisioning and de-provisioning of services, logging, billing and alerts IBM Cloud operational management includes reporting and alert vulnerabilities and incidents.
Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach: With each Cloud Service, as applicable and commercially reasonable, IBM will a) perform penetration testing and vulnerability assessments before production release and routinely thereafter, b) enlist a qualified and reputable independent third-party to perform penetration testing and ethical hacking at least annually, c) perform automated management and routine verification of underlying components’ compliance with security configuration requirements, and d) remediate any identified vulnerability or noncompliance with its security configuration requirements based on associated risk, exploitability, and impact. IBM takes reasonable care to avoid Cloud Service disruption when performing its tests, assessments, scans, and execution of remediation activities
Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach: IBM maintains and follows policies requiring administrative access and activity in its Cloud Services’ computing environments to be logged and monitored, and the logs to be archived and retained in compliance with IBM’s worldwide records management plan. IBM monitors privileged account use and maintain security information and event management policies and measures designed to a) identify unauthorized administrative access and activity, b) facilitate a timely and appropriate response, and c) enable internal and independent third party audits of compliance with such policies. IBM systematically monitors the health and availability of production Cloud Service systems and infrastructure at all times.
Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Incident management approach: IBM: 1)Maintains and follows incident response policies aligned with NIST guidelines for computer security incident handling, and will comply with data breach notification requirements under applicable law. 2)Investigates security incidents, including unauthorised access or use of content or the Cloud Service, of which IBM becomes aware, and, if warranted, define and execute an appropriate response plan. 3)Promptly notifies Client upon determining that a security incident known or reasonably suspected by IBM to affect Client has occurred. 4)Provides Client with reasonably requested information about such security incident and status of applicable remediation and restoration activities performed or directed by IBM.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Separation between users

Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
Virtualisation technologies used: Other
Other virtualisation technology used: We support: VMware, Citrix XenServer, VMWare ESXi, Microsoft® Windows® Server Hyper-V®, Virtuozzo container and Hypervisor , KVM
How shared infrastructure is kept separate: The architecture of IBM cloud services maintains logical separation of client data. Internal rules and measures separate data processing, such as inserting, modifying, deleting, and transferring data, according to the contracted purposes. We use virtualisation and containerisation technologies to isolate organisations workloads on shared infrastructure and strict controls are in place to ensure segregation of data.

Energy efficiency

Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
Description of energy efficient datacentres: Read all about it here: https://www.ibm.com/ibm/environment/climate/datacenter_energy.shtml

Social Value

Fighting climate change
Tackling economic inequality
Equal opportunity
Wellbeing

Fighting climate change

Softcat are dedicated to reducing our environmental impact and actively promoting sustainability. Our commitment to sustainability is a core aspect of our business strategy, driving us to innovate and lead in the creation of a more sustainable future for our company and the communities we serve. This commitment is embedded in our policies, operating procedures, and training programs.

We are proud to be the first FTSE 250 company to be awarded 5-star status in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

We aim to achieve a Carbon Net-Zero Value Circle by 2040 by prioritising renewable energy, reducing natural resource use, minimising waste, and safeguarding biodiversity in compliance with environmental legislation.

At Softcat, we have taken significant steps towards securing renewable energy across our organisation, reducing our scope 1 & 2 emissions. We had the target of using 100% Renewable Energy across all our locations by 2024. We successfully delivered against this target ~2 years early.

In May 2023 we took delivery of 15 electric vehicles, replacing all existing fossil-fuelled company cars used by employees for business means. The implementation of the EV pool fleet will see a saving of over 80 tons of CO2e per year. A huge impact on our Net Zero targets.

Tackling economic inequality

As a value-add reseller, Softcat outsources the products, services, and solutions through our extensive network of partners, to best suit the needs of our broad client base. We always consider and promote SMEs and local providers where appropriate, particularly for the products and services we offer via the G Cloud framework.

We remain dedicated to improving employability and educational awareness across schools, colleges, and universities to help break down the barriers to joining technology organisations.

We work collaboratively with many schools that are close in proximity to our offices, to ensure we are actively supporting the community as well as schools from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

We visit the schools to talk about the IT sector and the roles in our organisation, as well as promoting work-experience opportunities during the summer. In particular, we actively encourage students from diverse backgrounds to engage in work experience to appreciate the roles available in our sector.

For ambitious school and college leavers, a Softcat Apprenticeship is a great first step into the world of work, with 94% of our apprentices offered a permanent position at Softcat post apprenticeships, which goes to show the amazing opportunity available with us.

We were ranked 1st in IT & Consultancy, and 10th overall in by RateMyApprenticeship.com - Best 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2023-2024 list.

Softcat now also offer 12 month paid internships to University students looking to complete a year in industry as part of their undergraduate studies.

Equal opportunity

Our approach to diversity and inclusion is introduced first during our induction training, as part of our Softcat values, outlining responsibility to uphold our principles. This message is reinforced by our process and policies, networks, Allyship Training and Inclusion Awareness campaigns.

Softcat supports diversity and inclusion through various networks including:
- Supporting Women in Business (SWIB)
- The Ethnic and Cultural Network
- The Pride Network
- The Family Network
- The Empowering Disability and Neurodiversity Network (EDN)
- The Faith at Work Network
- Armed Forces & Veterans Network
These networks aim to create a supportive and inclusive work environment for all employees, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, or family commitments.

Our allyship programme, Stronger Together, is a mixture of event and workshop-based training available to all staff. Programme topics include, bias, power, privilege, and being a greater ally.

Inclusion Awareness campaigns include race, disability, sexual orientation, gender, faith, and caring responsibilities. These sessions highlight and celebrate minority groups, through panel sessions, Q&A sessions and training, providing an opportunity to discuss and understand ways to be more inclusive.

Our efforts to improve diversity and inclusion have been incredibly successful. Since 2020, the number of female employees below management level has increased to 35%, and the number of ethnic minority employees rose to 17%.

Wellbeing

At Softcat, all employees are provided with access to our multidimensional wellbeing programme which includes flexible work arrangements, free nutritious breakfast, mental health support, employee benefits scheme, health and wellbeing week activities, and online workshops.

Giving back to the community is an innate part of who we are as a company. All Softcat employees are therefore given two volunteer days per year to support a charitable or community cause.

Each of our 10 regional offices also support local charities through fundraising, donations and events. For example, our Manchester office has raised over £30,000 for the WeLoveMCR charity. This funding has supported young, disadvantaged Manchester citizens in gaining qualifications to broaden their work opportunities and supporting local groups in delivering indispensable services that enable community cohesion.

Pricing

Price: £0.19 a unit
Discount for educational organisations: Yes
Free trial available: Yes
Description of free trial: A free IBM Cloud account is a Pay-as-you-go account and includes access to 50+ products with a free tier, supported by trail software licensing, as appropriate. Only pay for what you use beyond the free tier. No fees or upfront commitments, cancel anytime.
Link to free trial: Www.cloud.ibm

IBM Cloud for Performance Intensive Workloads (HPC & AI Enabled Infrastructure)

Features

Benefits

Service documents

Framework

Service ID

Contact

Service scope

User support

Onboarding and offboarding

Using the service

Scaling

Analytics

Resellers

Staff security

Asset protection

Backup and recovery

Data-in-transit protection

Availability and resilience

Identity and authentication

Audit information for users

Standards and certifications

Security governance

Operational security

Secure development

Separation between users

Energy efficiency

Pricing

Service documents

Cookies on Digital Marketplace

IBM Cloud for Performance Intensive Workloads (HPC & AI Enabled Infrastructure)

Features

Benefits

Pricing

Service documents

Framework

Service ID

Contact

Service scope

User support

Onboarding and offboarding

Using the service

Scaling

Analytics

Resellers

Staff security

Asset protection

Backup and recovery

Data-in-transit protection

Availability and resilience

Identity and authentication

Audit information for users

Standards and certifications

Security governance

Operational security

Secure development

Separation between users

Energy efficiency

Social Value

Pricing

Service documents