IBM is out with a new big data service for the cloud. The tech giant said on Tuesday its service, called IBM Navigator on Cloud, will allow business content to be more usable across the enterprise.

The company noted that an estimated 2.5 billion gigabytes of data are generated every day by companies, with 80 percent being composed of such unstructured content as contracts, claims forms, permit applications and social media. To utilize this data, companies need to access a variety of sources.

The new service, IBM said, will allow knowledge workers to more effectively collaborate by synchronizing content and making it available from any browser, desktop or mobile device. Navigator on Cloud, available in the IBM Cloud Marketplace and built on the company's SoftLayer cloud platform, offers Enterprise Content Management capabilities to users who are generally familiar with content management tools.

'Unmet Need'

As an example, IBM noted that a field maintenance worker on a mobile device can call up the latest schematics for a piece of equipment, take photos of a part in need of repair, update a repair document, and synchronize all of this back to the cloud for other workers on other mobile devices to use immediately.

Doug Hunt, general manager of Enterprise Content Management at IBM, said in a statement that the service fulfills "an unmet need in the marketplace by providing a new service that combines enterprise grade security, governance and integration with mobile and Web apps that are easy to interact with and use." Users, he said, get a "simple and easy experience to learn, try, and buy."

Roger Kay, an analyst with industry research firm Endpoint Technologies Associates, noted for us that IBM is "using SoftLayer as their delivery layer," as they build up their cloud capabilities. He said the service "isn't entirely new, as it's adapting a big data service for SoftLayer."

One year ago this month, IBM announced it had entered into an agreement to buy SoftLayer Technologies, a large cloud computing infrastructure provider.

London Data Center

Last week, the company announced that SoftLayer is opening a data center in London. This is number 15 of the data centers the company has opened worldwide, as it spends $1.2 billion to extend its cloud services in Europe and worldwide. The new center, which can handle up to 15,000 physical servers, offers services that meet in-country data residency requirements, such as regulated businesses in the UK that need to keep sensitive data physically in the country.

Also on the cloud front, IBM announced Wednesday the latest version 5 of its Connections cloud and on-premises social software for connecting and collaborating inside and outside of organizations. The new version offers an integrated suite, analytics, content management tools, file sync and document sharing. IBM has been ranked by IDC as the global market share leader for enterprise social software.