IBM Brings Bob to Self-Hosted and Air-Gapped

IBM has made a major move by bringing its agentic software development tool, Bob, to self-hosted and air-gapped environments. This capability allows organizations to leverage advanced AI assistance without needing to transmit their source code outside secure perimeters, with the self-hosted option now generally available to enterprise customers.

This approach addresses strict security constraints by requiring customers to source, license, and host a supported model themselves. IBM has not published formal pricing details for this deployment method and currently directs prospective buyers to submit demo requests.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

When deployed in a self-hosted setup, Bob does not come bundled with a default model. Instead, customers must bring their own from IBM's approved list, which is organized by specific deployment methods:

• Processing code and development context entirely inside the customer environment.
• Integrating seamlessly with existing highly secure enterprise infrastructure.
• Ensuring that sensitive source codes and build artifacts never leave the local network.

IBM illustrates this capability with a practical example: a bank could run on-premises inference for core banking workloads while routing less restrictive tasks to an approved external model. Developers maintain a consistent core Bob experience across both scenarios, while platform and security teams retain strict control over the underlying architecture.