IBM is becoming a CTERA reseller to ship enterprise file services integrated with its SoftLayer, Cleversafe-based, object storage, and fully support it. CTERA provides a cloud storage gateway for file sync and share, and data protection, plus a NAS appliance. It has just gained $25m in a funding round; no doubt the VCs were given a foretaste of Big Blue’s intentions towards CTERA to help loosen their wallets. What’s happening is that IBM and CTERA are creating “an enterprise-ready platform for secure and accelerated enterprise file services.” The idea is that IBM’s Cloud Object Storage gets a CTERA file services front end. The integrated file/object setup can be deployed on-premises, in the SoftLayer cloud or in a hybrid on-prem/cloud setup.