The new center will provide Colombian companies with cloud computing and Big Data services, which will enable organizations to transform their business to meet the growing demands of the local and international markets and to offer flexible, high quality and personalized services for their customers. The new facility expands the US$8 million investment IBM made in Colombia when the company opened a datacenter in 2011.

From the 100 most important Colombian companies defined by the 2012 Colombian Superintendency's* Report, 88% of those companies are IBM clients, which together account for approximately 40% of the country's' industry GDP.

Through the new data center, IBM looks forward to contributing and further strengthening business innovation in the local banking, healthcare, food, insurance and oil & gas industries, among others, allowing them to benefit from a new wave of transformation in services with cloud, Smarter Systems and Big Data capabilities that help drive economic growth, sustainable development and social progress.

With the help of IBM business expertise and best practices, cloud computing allows clients to efficiently deliver new services to their customers, expand into new markets, incorporate mobile devices, and grow revenue.

According to Colombian consulting firm Vision Growth Consulting, "Colombia is one of the fastest growing countries outsourcing datacenter services in Latin America, with an estimated 15.3% growth of the data center services market in Colombia in 2013, mainly driven by cloud computing, among others, which is already a reality in the country."

"In the current competitive environment, Colombia companies are looking for high value solutions that help them solve complexity through innovation and business insight by addressing organic growth and productivity issues. Our new datacenter and our professionals aim to contribute to the private and public companies' development and the countries progress. This new invesestment showcases our clients' trust in our expertise and services, as well as the commitment IBM has made to the country' growth", said Francisco Thiermann, General Manager IBM Colombia.

IBM was recently named by IDC as the global leader of professional services on Cloud technology, due to its deep knowledge and experience in developing innovative solutions, supporting a large amount of customers, research and innovation, its global investments and strong commitment to help large companies to transform their business with Cloud technology.

IBM has made multi-million-dollar investments in Latin America since 2009, opening nine IT Services Centers located in Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay, which provide round-the-clock services. Globally, IBM delivers global scale, talent and technology based on business expertise and a global network of more than 70 Service Delivery Centers and more than 400 Data Centers in 170 countries covering more than 40 languages.

*Source: Superintendency's of Societies, Public Services, Homecare, Surveillance, Solidarity Economy, Family Allowance and Private Security, Finance and National Healthcare among others, based on national Chamber Commerces' data from 2012.