(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — In an effort to broaden its array of cloud computing services, IBM (www.ibm.com) has acquired Cast Iron Systems (www.castiron.com), a privately held company based in Mountain View, CA, that provides cloud integration software, appliances and services.
Having completed thousands of cloud integrations around the world for financial institutions, media and entertainment companies and retail organizations, Cast Iron Systems’s clients include Allianz, NEC, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Dow Jones, Schumacher Group, ShoreTel, Sports Authority, Time Warner, Westmont University and many others. According to IBM’s Monday announcement, its acquisition of Cast Iron Systems expands IBM’s industry-leading business process and integration software portfolio, which grew more than 20 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
IBM anticipates the global cloud computing market to grow at a compounded annual rate of 28 percent from $47 billion in 2008 to $126 billion by 2012, due largely to the fact that organizations must reduce the complexity and cost of their IT operations in order to remain agile and competitive. A key challenge businesses face in successfully adopting cloud delivery models, however, is integrating the disparate systems running in their data centers with new cloud based applications.
“The integration challenges Cast Iron Systems is tackling are crucial to clients who are looking to adopt alternative delivery models to manage their businesses,” IBM WebSphere general manager Craig Hayman said in a statement. “The combination of IBM and Cast Iron Systems will make it easy for clients to integrate business applications, no matter where those applications reside. This will give clients greater agility and as a result, better business outcomes.”
In the past, integration was a long and costly process requiring laborious coding work. With the acquisition of Cast Iron Systems, however, IBM improves its ability to help businesses rapidly integrate their cloud-based applications and on-premise systems, allowing cloud integrations to be completed within days, rather than weeks or longer. IBM will be able to offer clients a complete platform to integrate cloud applications from providers including Salesforce.com, Amazon, NetSuite and ADP with on-premise applications, such as SAP and JD Edwards.
The addition of Cast Iron Systems to its portfolio also advances IBM’s capabilities for a hybrid cloud model, which lets enterprises blend data from on-premise applications with public and private cloud systems.
Cast Iron Systems president and chief executive officer Ken Comée said that its merging with IBM will help its cloud integration software and services reach a global customer set. “Companies around the world will now gain access to our technologies through IBM’s global reach and its vast network of partners,” Comée said in a statement. “As part of IBM, we will be able to offer clients a broader set of software, services and hardware to support their cloud and other IT initiatives.”
No related posts.
