IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a self-hosted deployment option for IBM Bob, its agentic software development platform, allowing organizations to run the tool within on-premises, private-cloud, sovereign-cloud, and air-gapped environments.

The self-hosted version is designed for enterprises that face security and compliance requirements restricting the use of public AI platforms, particularly those handling sensitive source code, regulated data, or mission-critical infrastructure. The deployment model allows organizations to run AI software development and modernization capabilities without moving code or data to external services.

Enterprises can run supported models on premises, including in air-gapped environments, using models they have licensed, or connect IBM Bob to external model services through hybrid configurations.

"Organizations need AI that operates inside environments they have control over, especially when working with sensitive code and regulated data," said Neel Sundaresan, GM of AI and Automation at IBM. "Bob's self-hosted deployment provides a way for enterprises to bring agentic AI directly to those environments so they can benefit from the technology while maintaining security, compliance, and operational control."

According to a June 2026 report by IBM's Institute for Business Value, 68% of surveyed executives said meeting data residency and sovereignty requirements across geographies is challenging. A separate report from Futurum Research projects that hybrid and edge deployments will capture 44% of the AI infrastructure market by 2030, while public cloud share is projected to decline to 46% in the same period.

IBM Bob was previously described by the company as a platform that moves beyond code generation to assist teams with broader software delivery and modernization tasks.