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.
Platform Computing management software helps clients create, integrate and manage shared computing environments that are used in resource-intensive applications, such as simulations, computer modeling and analytics. These technical and high performance computing (HPC) applications fuel product development, critical business decisions and breakthrough science in financial services, manufacturing, digital media, oil and gas, life sciences, government, and research and education.
Data management
Across enterprises, application complexity and the amount of data continues to grow, driving the need for more compute capacity. 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.
“IBM considers the acquisition of Platform Computing to be a strategic element for the transformation of HPC into the high-growth segment of technical computing and an important part of our smarter computing strategy,” said Helene Armitage, general manager, IBM Systems Software.
“This acquisition can be leveraged across IBM as we enhance our IBM offerings and solutions, providing clients with technology that helps draw insights to fuel critical business decisions or breakthrough science.”
Platform Computing has more than 2,000 clients, including CERN, Citigroup, Infineon, Pratt & Whitney, Red Bull Racing, Sanger Institute, Statoil and University of Tokyo.
“Platform Computing’s software has a proven track record over the past 19 years of helping clients to accelerate innovation, business analytics and IT services while being easy to deploy and manage,” said Dr Songnian Zhou, CEO, Platform Computing.
“Our market-leading software has enabled broad adoption of commodity clusters and enterprise grids around the world. This acquisition will enable Platform Computing to better serve our customers by leveraging the IBM solution portfolio and extend the reach of our pioneering distributed computing software for broader enterprise adoption.”
Platform Computing’s operations as of the closing of the acquisition will be integrated into IBM Systems and Technology Group.
