IBM Deepens Hybrid Cloud Strategy With Nordcloud Buy

IBM picks up Finnish cloud company Nordcloud to advance its position in the hybrid cloud market. In other news, Capgemini and AWS joined hands to extend the digital cloud platform for SAP solutions.

In a bid to strengthen its hybrid cloud game, IBM disclosed that it is buying the fast-growing Finnish cloud startup NordcloudOpens a new window to “turbocharge its hybrid cloud consulting ability.” 

IBM’s bid to bolster its enterprise position in hybrid cloud clearly ties in with its previous string of acquisitions. In October, the Armonk-based tech giant announced it plans to spin off its 109-year old legacy company to focus on a $1 trillion hybrid cloud market opportunity. The company has been on an acquisition spree, and Nordcloud marks IBM’s fourth acquisition in just two months. 

In November, IBM picked up Opens a new window two startups — Instana to advance its hybrid cloud and AI strategy and SAP consulting partner TruQua to streamline financial processes with cloud and AI. Around mid-December, the cloud computing and storage heavyweight acquiredOpens a new window Canadian fintech company Expertus Technologies to boost its digital payments solutions.

As cloud wars intensify, IBM is going all-in on the hybrid cloud. Talking about the latest deal, John Granger, SVP, cloud application innovation, and COO, IBM global business services, saidOpens a new window , “IBM’s acquisition of Nordcloud adds the kind of deep expertise that will drive our clients’ digital transformations as well as support the further adoption of IBM’s hybrid cloud platform. Nordcloud’s cloud-native tools, methodologies and talent send a strong signal that IBM is committed to deliver our clients’ successful journey to cloud.”

Why Hybrid Cloud Is a Good Selling Point 

Undeniably, 2020 saw a greater focus on cloud and digital transformation. And amid all the hype about transitions, hybrid cloud emerged as a winner, promising organizations with a highly secure and resilient architecture. But what’s more striking about this deal is that in the highly competitive cloud landscape, Big Blue trails behind industry juggernauts AWS, Microsoft Azure, and the rapidly growing Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Not just that, per this rankingOpens a new window , Big Blue is also behind the Chinese cloud giant Alibaba. Sitting at a distant fifth position, IBM is staking its enterprise future on the $200 billionOpens a new window cloud consulting services space. 

To extend its position in hybrid cloud consulting, IBM is peddling its “open and flexible approach to advising, building, moving and managing clients’ hybrid environments (that) gives enterprises the freedom to choose from multiple providers to best meet their business and IT needs.”

 “This acquisition is the latest example of how IBM is expanding the breadth and depth of its hybrid cloud offerings to manage complex integrations – of technologies, people and processes,” the statement noted. 

Also Read: Hybrid Cloud Settles In for the Long Haul. Here’s What to Consider Before Migration

Meanwhile, in other news, Capgemini and AWS inked a partnership to expand Digital Cloud Platform for SAP solutions to help customers modernize their business with greater agility and improve return on investment (ROI) by up to 50%.

Capgemini’s Digital Cloud Platform features ready-to-use software components, libraries, and microservices, that will reduce cost and complexities for customers running their SAP workloads. This collaboration will enable customers to leverage AWS services, including Amazon SageMaker and AWS IoT Greengrass, while maintaining their SAP implementations using Capgemini’s expertise for SAP.

Nico Steenkamp, VP, global Amazon partner executive at Capgemini, saidOpens a new window , “Capgemini’s Digital Cloud Platform for SAP solutions brings proven migration tooling as well as pre-built SAP templates that solve common problems. Our pre-built templates provide customers access to AWS, ensuring that industry best practices and regulatory standards are met.”

By banking on AWS, Capgemini will transform business processes embedded in SAP software and help businesses become more responsive and resilient in the ever-changing technology landscape. 

Cloud has been a clear winner during the pandemic. As more companies continue to depend on cloud computing heavily, cloud vendors are ramping up their efforts to improve their services and stay relevant in the competitive cloud market. It will be interesting to see if these acquisitions will boost IBM’s market position and give strong competition to existing players such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft.

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