IBM’s Bob wants to move in: Agent available for on-prem deployment

Bob, IBM’s agentic software development platform is now available to run on premises and in private clouds, sovereign clouds, and air-gapped environments to give users more control over their data.

IBM is hoping to lure companies operating in heavily regulated environments or managing sensitive source code and regulated data. In such environments, running AI operations means that they are under some restrictions as to where that code can be deployed.

That’s a concern for the 68% of executives who told IBM that meeting data residency and sovereignty requirements across geographies is challenging.

“The future of enterprise AI will depend on security, governance and sovereignty,” said Neel Sundaresan, GM of AI and Automation, IBM. “Organizations need AI that operates inside environments they have control over, especially when working with sensitive code and regulated data.

Bob was originally announced a year ago. IBM updated Bob in July, including new multi-agent capabilities, parallel tool calling, and built-in cost and use analytics. That same month it also announced help for developers wishing to modernize applications built on RPG and COBOL.