An overview of the week in deals in the Irish and global technology sector.
IBM finishes acquisition of Platform Computing
Technology giant IBM has completed its acquisition of Platform Computing, a company that works in cluster, grid and cloud management software for distributed computing environments. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
IBM announced its definitive agreement to acquire Platform Computing, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in October 2011.
Platform Computing works to help clients create, integrate and manage shared computing environments that are used in compute- and data-intensive applications.
These technical and high performance computing (HPC) applications are used in product development, critical business decisions and breakthrough science in financial services, manufacturing, digital media, oil and gas, life sciences, government, research and education.
By combining Platform Computing’s software with IBM systems and software, IBM aims to better serve enterprise clients who are turning to technical computing to accelerate application performance, improve infrastructure flexibility and reduce time to results.
IBM intends to support Platform Computing’s software on heterogeneous systems and continue to work with many of Platform Computing’s existing partners.
Platform Computing will be integrated into IBM Systems and Technology Group.
DeskStream acquires NI cloud start-up WorldDesk at CES
Desktop virtualisation software provider DeskStream has acquired Belfast start-up WorldDesk. The deal was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but the financial details have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2010, WorldDesk will continue to be based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and its employees, including co-founders Jonathan Chesney and Claire Moore, will join DeskStream.
Rao Cherukuri founded Silicon Valley start-up DeskStream in 2007. The company has development centres in California and in Hyderabad, India. It will adopt the WorldDesk name and branding with immediate effect, with the financial terms of the deal closing in Q1 2012.
By taking WorldDesk into its portfolio, DeskStream will take control of the start-up’s cloud-based workspace delivery platform prototype built on Dropbox.
CEO Cherukuri pointed to how the collusion of DeskStream’s thin client technology and the work WorldDesk has done on the management and delivery of workspaces from the cloud could have the “potential to transform the mobile computing market”.
FeedHenry in global business app deal with Telefónica Digital
Irish technology company FeedHenry has won a lucrative contract with Telefónica Digital to launch a platform that enables businesses of any size to build their own mobile apps.
O2 will launch the service in the UK during Q1 2012 before being rolled out to other Telefónica markets.
The subscription-based platform will enable any enterprise – from SMEs to multinational corporates – to create apps and deploy them across Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and Nokia operating systems, as well as the mobile web.
Under the exclusive agreement, O2 will be the only communications provider in the UK to provide a route to market for the FeedHenry Mobile Application Platform, which allows apps to be developed in standard web technologies – such as HTML5, JavaScript and CSS – and deployed across all major mobile devices with a single click.
O2 will act as a one-stop shop for the service, managing the contractual and billing relationship with the customer.
Crucially, the partnership will give enterprise customers access to a wide range of security features and functionality, including mobile application management, secure VPN & HTTPS connections, security and encryption toolkits.
US fuel cell start-up ClearEdge Power in US$500m deal with Austrian firm
In what is being termed as one of the largest-ever deals in the stationary fuel cell industry, Oregon-based start-up ClearEdge Power has just signed a US$500m agreement to provide 50 megawatts (MW) of clean energy generation from fuel cells to Güssing Renewable Energy GmbH in Austria.
Güssing Renewable Energy is aiming to produce 50MW of energy generation from fuel cells in the Republic of Austria by 2020, so in the first phase of the US$500m agreement, ClearEdge Power will aim to deliver 8.5MW of clean energy over the next 36 months.
ClearEdge Power president and CEO, Russell Ford said the deal was a “significant milestone” for both the company and the stationary fuel cell market.
He spoke about the role that scalable, continuous onsite power systems can play in achieving environmental sustainability.
Under the agreement with ClearEdge Power, Güssing Renewable Energy has agreed to sell, install and service ClearEdge systems in Austria and the company is also planning to gain a foothold in other western European markets.
LogMeIn acquires Bold Software
Cloud-based remote access, support and collaboration solutions provider LogMeIn, Inc.’s portfolio of web-based services aimed at customer care organisations looks set to expand, now that the company has acquired Bold Software, LLC for US$16.5m in cash.
Bold Software is a provider of web chat and customer communications software. Its BoldChat product line is a live chat and click-to-call customer service solution used by retail, financial services, manufacturing, software and telecommunications organisations.
LogMeIn plans to continue to offer BoldChat as a standalone offering while integrating the BoldChat service with its other product lines to deliver a suite of cloud-based customer care services. This is expected to include its flagship remote support offering, LogMeIn Rescue.
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