IBM’s Acquired a Cloud Migration Firm
Cast Iron Systems has been acquired by IBM to shore up its cloud migration portfolio. Cast Iron has notably helped thousands of company become cloud friendly including several high profile firms such as Dow Jones, NEC and Time Warner. The marriage between IBM and Cast Iron makes sense because IBM’s cloud strategy plays along nicely with Cast Iron’s future endeavors.
Craig Hayman is the General Manager of IBM WebSphere. In an interview, Hayman mentions, “The integration challenges Cast Iron Systems is tackling are crucial to clients who are looking to adopt alternative delivery models to manage their businesses.” In relation to IBM’s acquisition of Cast Iron, Hayman says, “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.”
“Better business outcomes” is the hallmark of IBM. Execs at IBM were impressed with the headway that Cast Iron has been able to make. For example, when Cast Iron helped a pharmaceutical organization integrate their on premises data warehouse into Salesforce’s CRM platform, the end result was up-to-date information for both end users and internal employees alongside a cost savings of $250,000 per year.
Ken Comme candidly talked about this integration by saying, “Through IBM, we can bring Cast Iron Systems’ capabilities as the world’s leading provider of cloud integration software and services to a global customer set.” Comme went on to say, “Companies around the world will now gain access to our technologies through IBM’s global reach and its vast network of partners. 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.”
While much of details surrounding the acquisition have not yet been made public, we do know that IBM will absorb Cast Iron’s 75 person staff.
