Adds to existing European footprint in London and Amsterdam, targets data-location-sensitive clients

FedRAMP-compliant facilities will be dedicated to government IaaS cloud

Provider installs cloud PoPs in Equinix, Telx, CoreSite, Terremark, Pacnet, Interxion and TelecityGroup data centers.

IBM has committed $1.2 billion towards cloud investment and data center expansion. The first of 15 data centers planned for 2014, in Hong Kong, will open this week for online orders.

IBM is kicking cloud expansion into high gear this year, planning to invest $1.2 billion in expanding its cloud infrastructure to 15 new data centers worldwide.

Soflayer, an IBM company, now hosts over 130 million gamers worldwide. The company continues to enjoy good traction amongst the gaming vertical.

SoftLayer has partnered with Cloudera to offer its flavor of Apache Hadoop on SoftLayer's bare metal infrastructure. Expanding capabilities among Big Data continues to be a major focus for cloud providers.

The acquisition of SoftLayer by IBM was one of the most noteworthy deals of the last year. SoftLayer CEO Lance Crosby provides an update on life as an IBMer. "“IBM is hyperfocused on cloud,” says Crosby.

As IBM closes its acquisition of SoftLayer, the companies outline their synergies and highlight a recent win with a "born on the cloud" customer that represents the constituency IBM hopes to capture with the cloud deal.