IBM Acquires Another Cloud Firm, Platform Computing
IBM and Platform Computing have finalized the deal for the private cloud company's IBM acquisition which Big Blue initially had announced in October. The Toronto, Ontario-based company is a provider of cluster, grid and cloud management software for distributed computing environments. IBM announced that the acquisition will enhance its position in the cloud computing space. Neither Platform Computing nor IBM revealed the financial terms of the purchase.
It is no wonder that the Canadian company has been a beam in Big Blue's eye. It has more than 2,000 clients. And of the top 30 largest global enterprises, 23 use Platform Computing's software to create, integrate and operate shared computing environments for simulations, computer modeling and analytics, this according to IBM's announcement.
The general manager of IBM System Software, Helene Armitage clarified, "The acquisition of Platform Computing will help accelerate IBM's growth in smarter computing, a key initiative in IBM's Smarter Planet strategy, by extending the reach of our HPC offerings into the high growth segment of technical computing." Then she continued, "Our intent is to enable clients to uncover insights from growing volumes of data so they can take actions that optimize business results.”
As Cloud computing expands and more companies pile on to service their companies and others, IBM continues to remain in the forefront by acknowledging that it must make acquisitions that will keep it edgy and vital. As application complexity and data aggregation grow significantly, the need increases for more computing capacity and high-performance, low-latency management and analytics tools.
Platform Computing’s software coupled with IBM's high-performance systems and software, will be extremely attractive to IBM clients who, to remain competitive, must embrace cloud computing to accelerate application performance, improve infrastructure flexibility and reduce time to results.
Platform Computing now will be integrated into IBM Systems and Technology Group. Big Blue will support Platform Computing’s software on heterogeneous systems. And it has claimed that it intends keep the status quo in working with many of Platform Computing’s existing partners.
After acquiring Green Hat and Platform Computing, since the beginning of 2011 IBM has acquired a total of 8 companies, including i2 (Intelligence Analytics) and DemandTec (Cloud-based Retail Analytics). It is determined not to let anyone rain on its parade!
Follow Technorati