To assist Canadian clients in meeting their evolving regulatory needs and utilizing technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI) with IBM’s business cloud platform, IBM has announced the development of its new Cloud Multizone Region (MZR) in Montreal, Quebec. Predicted for the first half of 2025, the new Montreal MZR will expand upon the debut of IBM Cloud’s Toronto MZR in 2021 and its current data centers in Montreal.
The goal of IBM‘s sovereign cloud capabilities and ongoing investment in the Quebec region is to support Canadian businesses in meeting their expanding needs and maintaining local, secure data.
The IBM Montreal MZR is being developed to help Canadian clients meet their data sovereignty and regulatory compliance requirements, as well as to enable them to deploy AI and mission-critical workloads with high levels of security, in light of the constantly evolving requirements faced by regulated industries like federal and financial services. This includes assisting them in their journeys to show that they adhere to the Protected B Medium Profile of the Government of Canada, a security level established by the government for assets and sensitive data.
With workloads on IBM Cloud, Canadian clients in even the most strictly regulated industries may benefit from IBM’s enterprise cloud platform as they meet local regulatory requirements.
“Our goal is to assist Canadian businesses show their compliance and maintain data security, all while empowering them to spur development and innovation,” said Alan Peacock, General Manager of IBM Cloud. “IBM’s new Cloud MZR in Quebec is set to provide exceptionally robust and efficient digital infrastructure that can be leveraged to expand, spur growth, and enhance competitiveness for enterprises throughout the province and across industries, including those in highly regulated sectors like financial services, government, and healthcare.”
Hybrid Cloud Capabilities
Three Availability Zones will make up the IBM Montreal MZR, which is intended to give clients the reliability, consistency, and availability they need to execute mission-critical workloads. The new IBM MZR, which will be powered by 100% renewable electricity, will be available to SmartWorks, a division of Harris Computer Systems, and other businesses across Canada. Its innovative hybrid cloud capabilities include access to IBM Power Virtual Server and VMware as a Service, along with SAP and HPC as a Service. IBM Cloud also provides a high-performance, adaptable, AI-optimized infrastructure for IBM Watsonx, with bare metal and virtual server GPU choices, as customers throughout Canada adopt AI.
“It is essential that we provide services promptly and in close proximity to our customers’ data locations in order to assist them in meeting their data sovereignty obligations, as we work to support our clients in the utilities sector in fulfilling their missions,” said Sharat Balachandran, VP, Research & Development, SmartWorks, a division of Harris Computer Systems. “We have a long history of working with IBM as an inventive supplier in Canada, and we are pleased to see that they are still committed to the area. IBM will be able to solve latency with the new Montreal MZR, enabling us to deliver high-speed services right to our users’ doorsteps and demonstrating our continued commitment to adhering to the most recent legislative requirements to safeguard and maintain data domestically.”
IBM hopes to assist clients throughout Canada in expediting cloud adoption by providing access to its enterprise cloud platform, which is tailored for highly regulated sectors.
For instance, IBM Cloud for Financial Services, backed by a burgeoning ecosystem of over 130 fintechs and technology partners, is engineered to expedite the digital transformations of financial institutions, emphasizing data sovereignty, security, compliance, and trust. The platform also incorporates industry-specific security and controls.
The IBM Payments Center, a division of IBM Consulting, offers Payments-as-a-Service capabilities, such as Checks-as-a-Service, which clients can utilize to gain access to the advantages of a managed, secure cloud-based platform that can scale up and down to accommodate fluctuating electronic payment and check volumes.
IBM’s increased presence in Canada will enable businesses all throughout the country to take use of technologies like generative AI on a secured cloud platform as they meet the most recent regulatory requirements.
