An overview of the week in deals in the Irish and global technology sector.
Microsoft closes Skype acquisition
Tech giant Microsoft has closed its US$8.5bn acquisition of internet telephony provider Skype, Microsoft has announced. Skype will function as a new business division within Microsoft.
Microsoft and Skype will remain focused on connecting people across all devices and accelerating both companies’ efforts to transform real-time communications for consumers and enterprise customers.
Skype CEO Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Skype Division of Microsoft immediately, reporting directly to Ballmer.
The Skype division will continue to offer its current products to millions of users globally. Longer term, Skype will also be integrated across Microsoft products to broaden Skype’s reach and accelerate its growth as a fundamental way people communicate online.
Microsoft acquires indie game developer Twisted Pixel
Microsoft has acquired independent game developer Twisted Pixel, best known for the creation of Splosion Man and Kinect game The Gunstringer.
Twisted Pixel was founded in 2006 and is located in Texas, US. The company has developed games exclusively for the Xbox 360 and PC.
The team of developers will join Microsoft Studios to further work on the Xbox 360 platform.
IBM to acquire Platform Computing
Technology giant IBM has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire software company Platform Computing. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2011, subject to conditions.
Platform Computing is a privately held company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is considered a global leader in cluster and grid management software for distributed computing environments.
By combining Platform Computing’s software with IBM systems and software, IBM said it can better serve enterprise clients who are turning to technical computing to cut the cost and complexity of managing and analysing massive amounts of data in a timely fashion.
Storyful enters joint venture with Tweetminister
Curated news service Storyful has entered into a partnership with high-profile UK political news aggregator Tweetminister that will see the two online brands collaborate and co-develop new apps.
Through the partnership, Storyful and Tweetminster say they will integrate their respective technologies into each others’ B2B commercial services, effectively leveraging on each others’ sales pipelines.
The two companies have also announced plans to co-develop a new application that will be launched over the next few months.
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