IBM has unveiled a cloud-based data storage system for firms to store and access their documents and project and business data.

The IBM Smart Business Storage Cloud is being combined with new consulting services.

Big Blue said its cloud storage service was being launched as many traditional storage cloud solutions "have mostly been limited to 'sandbox' use, for secondary or tertiary copies of data or for use in development and test environments". IBM said this data does not have to be frequently accessed and does not tend to grow in volume so quickly.

The IBM Smart Business Storage Cloud is a private cloud offering that uses low cost clustered hardware. The system is built to make use of a client’s existing security and authentication infrastructure. A lightweight managed service is on offer to help firms manage their cloud environment on an ongoing basis.

IBM said many firms had also expressed concerns about vendor lock-in with currently available cloud systems, especially for data storage where migration costs into and out of the cloud can be costly. IBM is offering full support for standard file access protocols, so that moving data into and out of the storage cloud is as simple as a file copy operation.

IBM Smart Business Storage Cloud is the first of IBM's cloud-based storage offerings, intended to be implemented either on the client's site or as part of their strategic outsourcing capabilities. IBM said it was also developing a business-grade public cloud platform for data storage, which will be offered with flexible consumption models and a self-service user interface to fully abstract the technology from the end user.