Overview

In today’s digital-first world, 71% of executives cite the lack of a robust hybrid cloud strategy as a major barrier to realizing the full benefits of digital transformation[1]. Without seamless workload management, secure data flow, and compliance across environments, organizations risk falling short of their innovation goals.

IBM addresses this challenge with a powerful trio: IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS), watsonx AI, and the Satellite Connector. Together, they enable secure, scalable, and intelligent AI integration into mission-critical enterprise applications.

Securely Accessing Mission-Critical Data: Power Virtual Server & watsonx Integration via Satellite Connector & Agents

IBM Power Virtual Server clients can flexibly deploy AI in a hybrid cloud environment. Clients can host enterprise applications with mission-critical data on PowerVS and use Digital Assistant to interact with watsonx SaaS services through the Satellite connector. This integration unlocks a world of possibilities for enhancing business operations with advanced AI capabilities.

For example, consider a scenario where a banking official is investigating fraudulent transactions. Initially, they must gain access to the classified fraud transactions, either directly via database systems or indirectly through Database Administrators (DBAs). In the former case, proficiency in SQL-like syntax is required, while in the latter scenario, relying on others for data retrieval can be time-consuming and hinder productivity.

This challenge can be addressed by integrating PowerVS with watsonx. In this setup:

• Enterprise data is stored on PowerVS.
• watsonx, with its AI capabilities, extracts meaningful insights from the enterprise data.
•  Satellite Connector ensures secure and reliable data communication and transfer between PowerVS and watsonx components.

This integration streamlines the fraud investigation process, enabling the banking official to focus on deriving insights rather than grappling with data access and retrieval issues.

Power Virtual Server 

IBM Cloud customers utilizing Power Virtual Server can seamlessly connect to watsonx Generative AI services, also hosted within IBM Cloud. This setup facilitates the swift creation of Gen AI services, securely utilizing their enterprise data stored in Power Virtual Server. It guarantees optimal uptime and robust security for both AI and mission-critical enterprise applications

watsonx services

IBM watsonx is a comprehensive AI platform that empowers businesses to build and deploy custom, trusted Artificial Intelligence solutions at scale. A key component of watsonx is its Large Language Models (LLMs), which are advanced AI systems capable of understanding and generating human-like text. These LLMs can be fine-tuned for specific tasks, enabling them to provide insights, answer questions, summarize documents, translate languages, and even create content. Another significant feature is the introduction of watsonx agents, which are AI-powered virtual assistants designed to automate and simplify complex tasks. These agents can interact with various data sources, applications, and services, providing users with automated, contextual assistance. Together, LLMs and Agents in watsonx foster a more intuitive, efficient, and personalized AI experience, making it easier for organizations to harness the power of AI for their unique needs.

IBM Satellite Connector        

IBM Satellite Connector provides secure TLS tunneling between applications and services that need to communicate in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Now available for Power, it ensures encrypted communication between AI services and enterprise data and can be downloaded here

What is the Toolkit with IBM Satellite Connector?

The Toolkit with IBM Satellite Connector is a DIY framework designed to help businesses build and personalize Generative AI and agent-driven applications on IBM PowerVS. It leverages the Satellite Connector to securely bridge IBM watsonx SaaS services with enterprise data hosted on PowerVS, using TLS tunneling for encrypted communication. 

Toolkit with Satellite connector is open-sourced at GitHub: PowerVS watsonx SatelliteConnector Based Toolkit and documentation is available on:  IBM Cloud docs

Key Benefits

• Secure Data Access: TLS tunneling via Satellite Connector ensures secure communication between watsonx services (e.g., watsonx.ai) and PowerVS-hosted data.
• Reduced Development Time: Pre-built components and APIs simplify integration and accelerate time-to-value.
• Customizability: Modular architecture allows tailoring to a wide range of Gen AI use cases.
• Hybrid Cloud Ready: Designed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, enabling flexible deployment strategies.

Reference Architecture

The reference architecture includes:

• Databases: Oracle, PostgreSQL, and SAP HANA on PowerVS.
• Enterprise Applications: Domain-specific apps (e.g., core banking systems).
• API Layer: REST/Flask-based APIs for communication with watsonx services.
• Digital Assistant Layer: Integrates with existing web UIs for conversational interfaces.
• Satellite Connector: Deployed on IBM Cloud to enable secure data tunneling.
• Watsonx Services: Includes Foundation Models, Prompt Lab, and Watson Machine Learning for model deployment and tuning.

Why Choose the Toolkit?

If your organization is exploring Generative AI but is concerned about data security, integration complexity, or customization needs, the Toolkit with Satellite Connector offers a compelling solution. It provides a secure, scalable, and adaptable foundation for building AI-powered applications that align with your business goals.

The toolkit is ideal for organizations looking to:

• Rapidly prototype AI use cases and minimize development effort.
  • The toolkit expedites Gen AI application development for proof-of-concept purposes, leveraging pre-trained foundation models from watsonx available LLMs or utilizing the BYOM (Bring Your Own Model) feature. Clients can also design custom agents in watsonx Agent Lab or export and deploy agents created externally on watsonx.
• Ensure enterprise-grade data security.
  • The Satellite Connector component ensures secure data access from watsonx SaaS to enterprise data on Power Virtual Server through TLS tunneling, addressing the client's security concerns.
• Customize AI applications to fit domain-specific needs
  •    Some potential use cases for the Toolkit with Satellite Connector include Automated Quote Generation, Intelligent Order Processing, Automated Contract Generation, Automated Claim Creation, Intelligent Claims Assessment, and Premium Calculation.

Please share your contact information to meet with the AI team for IBM Power to discuss how to get started exploring this exciting technology.

^{[1]: https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/transformation-index}