IBM Set to Acquire Cloud Provider SoftLayer
IBM Set to Acquire Cloud Provider SoftLayer by UCStrategies Staff
SoftLayer Technologies is being acquired by IBM, for the rumored amount of $2 billion, but official financial terms have not been released. Dallas, Texas-based SoftLayer is a cloud computing infrastructure supplier and the world’s largest privately held cloud computing infrastructure supplier, according to IBM. The deal is expected to go through in Q3 of this year.
There will also be some reorganization of cloud services operations at IBM, and this will be done in order to create a new Cloud Services division which merges SoftLayer with the company’s current IBM SmartCloud offerings. The move is expected to strengthen IBM’s cloud computing offerings, and will put IBM in more direct competition with Amazon Web Services and Rackspace.
This is a logical move for IBM, according to the company’s channel partners, particularly from a technology perspective, and will ensure that the company can broaden the reach of its cloud service capabilities. Additionally, there are potential advantages if SoftLayer’s nimble business and channel processes can be adopted by IBM; this will certainly help in the fast-moving cloud market.
Champion Solutions Group is an IBM partner based in Boca Raton, Florida. The company’s president and CEO, Chris Pyle, said: “I think it's a good move for IBM.” He commented on the business processes which SoftLayer employs, and how it makes it easier for channel partners to on-board customers and upsell extra capacity like adding virtual machines.
Speaking highly of IBM’s SmartCloud technology, Pyle stated that the company is not nimble like SoftLayer, Amazon and other cloud infrastructure service providers. He added: “I'm hoping that IBM will follow SoftLayer's channel strategy.”
IBM is hoping to gather greater speed and agility in the cloud market. The company, in a statement, said: “IBM is acquiring SoftLayer to make it easier and faster for clients around the world to incorporate cloud computing by marrying the speed and simplicity of SoftLayer's public cloud services with the enterprise-grade reliability, security and openness of the IBM SmartCloud portfolio.”
IBM added: “SoftLayer accelerates IBM's ability to integrate public and private clouds for its clients, with flexibility that provides deployment options that enable a faster, broader transformation for small, medium and large businesses with a range of performance and security models.”
Technology for the public, private and hybrid cloud systems is featured in the SmartCloud portfolio from IBM. The senior vice president of IBM Global Technology Services, Erich Clementi, noted that the SoftLayer acquisition “will accelerate the buildout of [their] public cloud infrastructure.
Customers are able to choose whether to operate their cloud applications on either dedicated or shared servers, and this is possible as it is one of SoftLayer’s value propositions. Of particular interest is that the company has successfully served online gaming companies, and over 60 have started to use SoftLayer; this has occurred in the last two quarters.
Perficient is an IBM premier business partner, and the general manager of IBM industry solutions at that company, Ruth Minj, said: “We're seeing an increased need from our clients for help with how best to leverage cloud computing technologies, whether [through a] public, private or a hybrid approach.”
Minj added that the SoftLayer acquisition will “further strengthen our ability as [an IBM partner] to offer our clients with solution offerings that are cloud-based, lower upfront IT investments, and gain faster returns on investment.”
Across the U.S., Asia and Europe, SoftLayer runs 13 data centers which serve 21,000 customers. Ten cloud computing centers are run by IBM across five continents.
SoftLayer’s operations and IBM’s SmartCloud product and services portfolio will merge as a result of the new Cloud Services division, and according to IBM, will “provide a broad range of choices to both IBM and SoftLayer clients, ISVs, channel partners and technology partners.” IBM added: “SoftLayer's services will complement the existing portfolio with its focus, simplicity and speed.”
IBM’s own cloud applications will be made available over time via SoftLayer; this includes Smarter Cities and Smarter Commerce. One of IBM’s key targets is to make an impact in cloud computing, and by 2015, the company expects to reach a cloud-related revenue of $7 billion. (CY) Link