ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM)
today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to
acquire Cleversafe, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of
object-based storage software and appliances. The acquisition will
strengthen IBM's leadership positions in storage and hybrid cloud
and support clients' drive to next generation mobile, social and
analytics applications. Financial terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
Once the deal closes, IBM will integrate the Cleversafe
portfolio into its IBM Cloud business unit to give clients
strategic data flexibility, simplified management, and consistency
with on-premise, cloud, and hybrid cloud deployment
options.
As companies race to digitally transform their businesses they
are faced with several unique challenges, including the rapid
growth of unstructured data (images, audio, and video) and finding
the proper balance between on-premise and cloud storage
deployments. The emergence of new storage technologies, such as
object storage delivered through Cleversafe, allows companies to
store and manage massive amounts of data more efficiently while
meeting the demands of data-intensive workloads delivered via the
cloud. IDC estimates that 80 percent of new cloud
applications are predicted to be big-data intensive.
"Today a massive digital transformation is underway as
organizations increasingly turn to cloud computing for innovative
ways to manage more complex business operations and increasing
volumes of data in a secure and effective way," said Robert LeBlanc, Senior Vice President, IBM
Cloud. "Cleversafe, a pioneer in object storage, will add to our
efforts to help clients overcome these challenges by extending and
strengthening our cloud storage strategy, as well as our
portfolio."
Founded in 2004, Cleversafe is a privately held company based in
Chicago and a recognized market
leader[1] with more than 350 patents in object-based, on-premise
storage solutions that enable clients to scale to exabytes of
storage, or billions of gigabytes. Clients across multiple
industries use Cleversafe for large-scale content repository,
backup, archive, collaboration and storage as a service.
"IBM is an innovator and leader in cloud and storage and we're
excited about the opportunities that lay ahead once this
transaction closes," said John
Morris, President and CEO of Cleversafe. "Together with IBM
we can extend our object storage leadership position to address the
broadest set of workloads for clients with the most expansive set
of object-based solutions."
Cleversafe's Dispersed Storage Network (dsNetĀ®) solutions
enhance on-premise storage options for clients and service
providers with low-cost, large scale active archives and
unstructured data content stores. The solutions complement IBM's
software defined Spectrum Storage portfolio for data protection and
backup, tape archive, as well as a high performance file and object
solution where the focus is on response time.
The dsNet solutions and technologies will be integrated into the
IBM Cloud to enhance IBM's Infrastructure as a Service, SoftLayer
and the SoftLayer Object Storage services platform, providing
clients a hybrid cloud deployment model that offers greater choice
of geography, performance, cost optimization and flexibility.
Following close of the deal, clients will be able to use
SoftLayer cloud services and IBM Bluemix, IBM's
Platform-as-a-Service, to create dynamic and innovative
applications with the Cleversafe technology as a foundational
content repository and data archive.
The planned acquisition underscores IBM's continued commitment
to data storage innovation including investments across Flash,
Software Defined Storage and Cloud Storage environments over the
last five years alone. IBM continues to offer one of the most
comprehensive storage portfolios in the industry, created through
both acquisitions and innovations from IBM Research and
Development.
Cleversafe employs approximately 210 people. The deal is
expected to close later this year following customary closing
conditions including regulatory clearances.
Contact Information
Mike
Zimmerman
IBM Media Relations
(914) 766-4935
mrzimmerman@us.ibm.com
[1] IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Object-Based
Storage 2014 Vendor Assessment report.
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SOURCE IBM