With the new PureSystems models, IBM says even organizations with limited IT skills and resources can sift through massive data volumes to discover business-critical trends. The new tech also promises to help organizations develop cloud-based systems by making it easier to provision, deploy and manage a secure cloud environment.

IBM's news includes PureData System for Analytics to capitalize on Big Data opportunities; a smaller PureApplication System to accelerate cloud deployments for a broader range of organizations; PureApplication System on POWER7+ to ease management of transaction and analytics applications in the cloud; and SmartCloud Desktop Infrastructure to ease management of virtual desktop solutions.

A Growing Challenge

With its PureSystems advancements, IBM is working to solve what it sees as a real challenge across all industries: organizations of various sizes need simpler and faster ways to analyze massive amounts of data and better meet client needs.

According to IDC, the market for Big Data technology and services will reach $16.9 billion by 2015, up from $3.2 billion in 2010. At the same time, an IBM study found that almost three-fourths of leaders surveyed indicated their companies had piloted, adopted or substantially implemented cloud in their organizations -- and 90 percent expect to have done so in three years. While the demand is high, IBM said, many organizations do not have the resources or skills to embrace it.

"Overall, there is much to like in these new IBM PureSystems offerings," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "By significantly enhancing performance and developing discrete new classes of solutions, the company proves that its cloud and analytics strategies are anything but one-trick ponies.

"Just as importantly, the new solutions reflect what has been a constant theme in businesses: that as technology evolves, so do the capabilities and needs of its users. As IT's current 'comprehension' era proceeds, we believe that successful vendors will be those that, like IBM, clearly understand and proactively address this point to their customers' benefit."

Pure Analytics Power

The IBM PureData System for Analytics is powered by Netezza technology. IBM acquired Netezza for $1.7 billion in 2010. Now, the technology is a strategic part of the IBM Big Data Platform, an integrated architecture that helps organizations achieve smarter analytics by leveraging workload-optimized systems.

The Nielsen Co., an information and measurement company, has Big Data needs. The company offers clients insights by leveraging Netezza technology to deliver complex analytic capabilities.

"Recently, Nielsen tested two major competitors with their latest products to tackle our highly complex analytic workload," said John Naduvathusseril, chief data architect at Nielsen. "Both vendors did not match up on consistent performance, simplicity, data refresh speed and overall performance of our reporting needs. Other vendors require customization, which we cannot sustain, and they still did not deliver the kind of performance as the PureData System for Analytics."