IBM announced it is teaming up with Amazon Web services to provide software developers with pay-as-you-go access to development and production versions of IBM Information Management database servers, IBM Lotus content management, and IBM WebSphere portal and middleware products, all running on Novell's SUSE Linux on Amazon EC2 (Elastic Cloud Computing). In addition, customers with current IBM software licenses can apply those licenses to take advantage of the AWS-based offerings. While major vendors such as Oracle, Sun, and Red Hat already host systems with AWS, industry observers say IBM's endorsement makes AWS-and the cloud model in general-a bona fide enterprise platform. As the vendors put it: "Developers now have easy access to IBM's line of robust, industrial-strength software products and can build highly scalable applications which take full advantage of the new and flexible licensing model."

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