IBM acquires Blue Box; to accelerate open hybrid clouds

IBM said yesterday it had acquired Blue Box Group, Inc, a managed private cloud provider built on OpenStack.

Blue Box is a privately-held company based in Seattle that provides businesses with a simple, private cloud as a service platform, based on OpenStack, for an undisclosed sum.

This acquisition will enable IBM to deliver a public cloud-like experience within the client's own data centre, relieving organisations of the burden of traditional private cloud deployments.

"Enterprises are seeking ways to embrace all types of cloud to address a wide range of workloads, IBM said in a statement.

It added, "Today's announcement reinforces IBM's commitment to deliver flexible cloud computing models that make it easier for customers to move to data and applications across clouds and meets their needs across public, private and hybrid cloud environments."

With Gartner forecasting that 72 per cent of enterprises will be pursuing a hybrid cloud strategy this year, it is increasingly important for companies to leverage multiple models while maintaining consistent management across their cloud platforms.

Through Blue Box, IBM will help businesses rapidly integrate their cloud-based applications and on-premises systems into OpenStack-based managed cloud.

Blue Box will also strengthens IBM Cloud's existing OpenStack portfolio, with the introduction of a remotely managed OpenStack offering to provide clients with a local cloud and increased visibility, control and security.

With Forrester Research recently finding that more than twice as many firms use or plan to use IBM Cloud as their primary hosted private cloud platform than the next closest vendor, Blue Box is a strategic fit into the IBM Cloud portfolio.

IBM general manager of Cloud Services Jim Comfort, said, ''The acquisition of Blue Box accelerates IBM's open cloud strategy making it easier for our clients to move to data and applications across clouds and adopt hybrid cloud environments."

IBM currently plans to continue to support Blue Box clients and enhance their technologies while allowing them to take advantage of the broader IBM portfolio.

IBM total cloud revenue --- covering public, private and hybrid engagements ---was $7.7 billion over the previous 12 months at the end of March 2015; it grew more than 60 percent in first quarter 2015. IBM's cloud delivered as a service business, a subset of the total, includes IaaS.