Fortunately, the cloud—a profound evolution of IT with revolutionary implications for business and society—is creating new possibilities and enabling more efficient, flexible and collaborative computing models. Cloud-based services allow companies to radically change how they service consumers, run their businesses and outpace competitors. Alphinat, a Montreal-based company, worked with IBM to enable

1. Alphinat SmartGuide
virtual appliance on the
IBM PureFlex System
Rapid deployment of online application development
capability on a flexible, integrated system
Today, business users and consumers expect every touch point to be
Highlights valuable, personalized, self-serviced and customized to the device they are
using at that moment. It is nearly impossible to remain competitive by
●● ● ●
Substantially reduce deployment time offering new products and services in a traditional, non-web-accessible
and effort
manner. Businesses must continually pursue innovative methods for
●● ● ●
Enable rapid delivery of selling and delivering products and services, as well as invoking new
SmartGuide’s capabilities
ways to provide support and documentation, all while ensuring
●● ● ●
Utilize the performance and virtualization increasingly stringent regulatory compliance.
strengths of the IBM PureFlex System
Fortunately, the cloud—a profound evolution of IT with revolutionary
implications for business and society—is creating new possibilities and
enabling more efficient, flexible and collaborative computing models.
Cloud-based services allow companies to radically change how they
service consumers, run their businesses and outpace competitors.
Alphinat, a Montreal-based company, worked with IBM to enable
their clients to more rapidly deploy their development capabilities on
IBM’s industry-leading systems, including the IBM PureFlex System.
Alphinat SmartGuide is an online application-development tool that
makes it possible to build web-driven applications rapidly. This ultra-fast
development speed is important for many reasons, not the least of which
is the rate at which cloud-based computing is growing. IBM developed
a new service capability which helps ISVs prepackage applications into
virtual images and appliances, easily deployable into cloud environments.
Together Alphinat and IBM performed a first-of-a-kind initiative to
package and automate SmartGuide.

2. KVM provides an open platform for cloud IBM provides assistance and resources to build ready-to-deploy
enablement virtual images and software virtual appliances. The IBM Virtual
IBM and Alphinat are members of the Open Virtualization Appliance Factory is a set of Web 2.0 tools, services, and pro-
Alliance, a consortium that fosters the adoption of open virtual- cesses that simplify and automate the process of making ISV
ization technologies including kernel-based virtual machine solutions ready for cloud deployment. The service is hosted by
(KVM) and encourages interoperability and accelerates expan- IBM and benefits include:
sion of the ecosystem of third party solutions around KVM.
This alliance complements other open-source communities that
●● ●
Entry into cloud computing with reduced up-front
manage the development of the kernel-based virtual machine investment
hypervisor and its associated management capabilities for Linux
●● ●
ISVs can focus on their core competency rather than
and Microsoft Windows applications. KVM virtualization infrastructure concerns
appealed to Alphinat because of its compelling performance,
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Automation and self-service—two of the compelling
scalability and security, which makes it ideal for deployments attributes of cloud computing
to large-scale cloud computing.
From prototype to deployment with
Virtual appliances are software delivery enabled through less effort
virtualization. The power behind virtual appliances lies in SmartGuide uses drag-and-drop techniques to let you design
the ability to freely share them among different hypervisors. and integrate online applications with your existing business
They provide everything necessary to run the applications in a logic so that you can use mashups and other techniques to
virtualized environment that has been configured and tuned for accomplish the following:
that application. This includes the preconfigured application
and all of the operating system services important to the appli- ●● ●
Build web self-service and diagnostics tools for call agents
cations’ performance. The result: a simplified deployment. and clients to quickly find answers and resolve problems.
●● ●
Automate forms-based processes to drive higher business
Virtual appliances not only simplify the deployment of process compliance and user adoption rates.
applications for individual users but also power next-generation ●● ●
Create product configuration guides, calculators, quote
cloud computing architectures. Curtis Page, Alphinat Chief generators and assisted selling solutions to make recommen-
Operating Officer, agrees: “Alphinat packaged SmartGuide dations and reduce the sales cycle. You can design it so it is
solution platform as a DMTF OVF [Desktop Management like having your best employee right next to the customers,
Task Force Open Virtualization Framework] compliant virtual guiding them every step of the way.
appliance and accelerated cloudification, to lower risk, cost and ●● ●
Design interactive tools that guide users through complex
cut automation process by a factor of 10.” tasks spanning multiple departments.
Rather than spending considerable time to build a specialized With its visual and intuitive assembly mechanism, SmartGuide’s
distribution with applications, independent software vendors ease of use allows business analysts to take an active part in the
(ISVs) like Alphinat can focus on their application while development process, allowing them to create business logic
dynamically and use prebuilt decision trees to direct the
2

3. rapid-development paths. Compared to traditional development Easy integration allows you to consolidate systems and applica-
methods, SmartGuide can save from 50 to 80 percent. What’s tion workloads in order to reduce the total cost of ownership
more, the prototype is the deployment and, even though the for your IT infrastructure. In doing so, you can simplify and
resulting applications are cloud-ready, they can also be brought reduce data center complexity and sprawl. The workloads can
back to the local host for deployment. Either way, the ease of be managed intelligently and controlled from a single point of
using the development tool makes it essentially a one-of-a-kind management, and the environment provides dynamic scalability
application-builder on any cloud anywhere. to help meet service levels. New capabilities can be delivered
rapidly to help improve time to market for new services and
SmartGuide makes it easy for organizations to constantly evolve capacity can be added cost-effectively to handle changes in
their online service offerings to keep up with ever-increasing demand.
client expectations—resulting in greater cost-effectiveness,
customer satisfaction and employee productivity. The power of the PureFlex System comes from an infrastruc-
ture that is deeply integrated, open, born virtualized, and
IBM PureFlex System—agility and dynamically and simply managed from a single vantage point.
flexibility redefined It delivers built-in virtualization across servers, storage and
The IBM PureFlex System is the ideal deployment platform networking within the system to enable superior automation
for virtual appliances like Alphinat SmartGuide, as well as for and workload speed and optimization. Open and flexible, it
the cloud-ready applications that SmartGuide helps you create. works with existing investments and offers a choice of system
The PureFlex System is purpose-built to take on the IT impli- architectures, operating systems, enterprise storage, hypervisors,
cations of a smarter planet—providing an expert integrated and network switches so users can highly tune the system to
system that combines the flexibility of general purpose systems selected workloads or a single purpose.
and the simplicity of an appliance with integrated expertise.
Built on open standards, the PureFlex System combines IBM’s efforts in cloud computing help optimize services to
compute, enterprise storage, networking, virtualization and meet the specific needs of enterprises. The PureFlex System
management into a single structure. But unlike its predecessors, can integrate a full set of middleware with elastic runtimes
it is able to mitigate IT complexity without compromising the and data in the infrastructure system. It is a flexible, workload-
f lexibility that companies need to truly tune systems to the tasks aware platform designed to be easy to deploy, customize,
their businesses demands. safeguard and manage in a traditional or private cloud
environment—ultimately helping to efficiently share
Many organizations run applications on more than one IT resources to improve the economics of IT.
platform, maintaining parallel operating environments with
multiple management schemes. With the PureFlex System, Together the PureFlex System and Alphinat can help you
you can combine IBM POWER7® and Intel processor-based quickly deliver IT using cloud services with superior perfor-
compute nodes running supported versions of IBM i, Microsoft mance and manageability, all integrated in an open system
Windows, AIX® and Linux in the same chassis, with shared ready to support cloud environments. The goal is to deploy
storage and a single, integrated Flex System Manager. This new services in hours or less, rather than days, weeks or
f lexibility helps accelerate deployments into cloud or virtualized months—allowing IT to play a more strategic role in the
environments. organization.
3

4. Why IBM?
IBM has built on knowledge, expertise and technology gained
from decades of experience and investment in IT solutions for
business problems and integrated it into the PureFlex System.
And with a commitment to open standards you can integrate
IBM solutions with other elements of your own environment © Copyright IBM Corporation 2012
with your network of partners, customers and suppliers. Systems and Technology Group
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
With the technical and industry expertise of IBM Business
Partners like Alphinat and our combined ability and skill to Produced in the United States of America
April 2012
integrate it all together for you—along with an unwavering
commitment to your success—you can rely on IBM and your IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, and IBM PureFlex are trademarks of
IBM PureFlex System for your Alphinat solutions. International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other
countries or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked
on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol
For more information (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law
trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published.
To learn more about the benefits of IBM PureFlex System and Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in
Alphinat to deliver IT integrated in an open system ready to other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at
support cloud environments, please contact your IBM market- “Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
ing representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the follow- Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States,
ing websites: other countries, or both.
●● ●
ibm.com/pureflex Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
●● ●
alphinat.com United States, other countries, or both.
Alphinat and SmartGuide are trademarks of Alphinat Corporation in
Additionally, IBM Global Financing can help you acquire the Canada, other countries, or both.
IT solutions that your business needs in the most cost-effective Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service
and strategic way possible. We’ll partner with credit-qualified marks of others.
clients to customize an IT financing solution to suit your Not all offerings are available in every country in which IBM operates.
business goals, enable effective cash management, and improve
The performance data discussed herein is presented as derived under
your total cost of ownership. IBM Global Financing is your
specific operating conditions. Actual results may vary.
smartest choice to fund critical IT investments and propel
THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED
your business forward. For more information, visit:
“AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR
ibm.com/financing IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF
NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according to the
terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided.
SmartGuide is not an IBM product or offering. SmartGuide is sold or
licensed, as the case may be, to users under Alphinat’s terms and conditions,
which are provided with the product or offering. Availability, and any
and all warranties, services and support for SmartGuide is the direct
responsibility of, and is provided directly to users by, Alphinat.
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