If your enterprise IT shop is looking gloomily at next year's budget -- which wouldn't be surprising if you listened to this week's IE Radio interview with investor and prognosticator Jon Fisher -- it may be time to look at cloud computing if you haven't done so yet.

Sure, lots of organizations still have security concerns about clouds. And there are lots of questions around issues like the integration of cloud services. But IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM)'s announcement this week of software development and testing clouds could encourage some wary adopters.

IBM's range of options for enterprise software development and testing includes remote use of IBM development platforms as well as IBM's own networks. The vendor calls it a "private cloud service behind the client's firewall, built and managed by IBM."

Of course, this won't likely be cheap -- hard to know for sure, though, since pricing hasn't been publicly disclosed. Like any enterprise-level solution, a test-and-development cloud involves a big financial commitment to one vendor.

Still, IBM says its test-and-development cloud will significantly shorten the time it takes organizations to get apps up and running. The vendor also claims its cloud can reduce capital and licensing costs associated with application development by 50 to 75 percent; reduce operating/personnel costs by 30 to 50 percent; and reduce software defects by 15 to 30 percent. All of these figures, says Big Blue, are based on input from a collaborative trial involving more than 100,000 participants.

At least one analyst thinks it's a message tailor-made for IBM's enterprise customers. "Typically most of the savings customers realize from this sort of offering accrue by getting out from under the IT infrastructure required for development (which tends to consume a significant amount of computing assets) and the complex management/administration processes required," states Charles King, principal analyst with research firm Pund-IT Inc. , in an email. "Generally speaking, the bigger the company the greater the development effort and cost."

All this should at least tempt big firms formerly on the fence. And there are a few early customers for further encouragement: IBM says PayPal and the Collaborative Software Initiative (a software development company) have already taken the plunge. PayPal is using IBM's cloud to speed up the creation of smartphone payment systems. CSI has developed a public education portal with another development partner.

It's the longer-term picture, though, that may be most interesting here. Cloud services have surfaced in backup and storage, hosted email, and some specialized development environments. Other big IT suppliers, such as Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), offer related services. IBM itself has offered private cloud assistance for over a year. But the packaging and scale of this are different.

There's a "partner ecosystem," "multiple delivery models," and "a new, online cloud computing resource center" on IBM's developerWorks portal that will feature videos, online communities, forums, blogs, and "no-charge access to IBM software to help developers get started."

It's a massive effort that continues IBM's long-term strategy to identify specific enterprise "workloads" that fit the cloud model, then stake a grand claim.

And that could help advance the state of enterprise cloud services in general.

"Anytime a major industry influencer such as IBM announces they're going to embrace 'actual' hosted cloud infrastructure services, it's a good thing for the industry at large. It proves what the rest of us have known for a while. The cloud is real and here to stay," says Reuven Cohen, founder of Enomaly, a cloud infrastructure software vendor.

Pund-IT's King thinks IBM has a broader plan in mind: "I also think IBM is after bigger game than what amounts to a simple hosted services offering. Basically, by leveraging its cloud resources and expertise for clients’ development efforts the company can help alleviate customers’ pain and also offer them a ringside seat to see just how and how well IBM’s approach to the cloud can work. Over the long term, I expect the Smart Business Development & Test service to help ease the way for IBM’s broader cloud infrastructures design and sales efforts."

In other words, get ready for bigger, more serious IT clouds.

— Mary Jander, ThinkerNet Editor, Internet Evolution

This blog is part of Internet Evolution's IT Clan, which addresses the continuing impact of the Internet on enterprise networks, applications, and management. Register here to join the IT Clan's conversation, and you just might win something unspeakably cool.