IBM buys Platform Computing

IBM has bought Platform Computing, a Canadian cluster and grid management software developer for distributed computing environments.

While financial terms of the deal with the privately owned firm were not disclosed, IBM said its products would help better serve enterprise clients using high-performance computing (HPC) environments to reduce the time, cost and complexity of managing and analysing massive amounts of data.

Helene Armitage, IBM Systems Software general manager, said its targeting of HPC users would also complement its ongoing 'smarter computing strategy'. IBM stated earlier this year that its "Smarter Planet" projects were estimated to drive $10 billion ( 6.4 billion) in revenue by 2015.

"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," she said.

Platform counts Red Bull Racing, CERN, Citigroup and energy firms Gaselys and Statoil among its clients. Most are drawn from financial services, manufacturing, digital media, oil and gas, life sciences, government, and research and education industries with HPC requirements.

Its HPC management software creates, integrates and manages shared computing environments used in resource-intensive applications such as simulations, computer modelling and analytics.

IBM said Platform's software will complement its own HPC platforms, including System x, BladeCenter, Power Systems and System Storage, as well as Tivoli management and WebSphere application infrastructure products from its software portfolio.

In addition to the revenue driven by IBM's Smarter Planet projects, the IT giant will also be hoping to tap the combined opportunity for HPC servers, storage and systems software, predicted by IDC to grow over 8 percent annually to $18.5bn (11.8 billion) by 2014.

Platform's 500 employees worldwide will transfer the IBM Systems and Technology Group. While IBM said the company's independent software vendor (ISV), original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and other partnerships will continue unchanged.

A 25-year veteran enterprise technology expert, Miya Knights applies her deep understanding of technology gained through her journalism career to both her role as a consultant and as director at Retail Technology Magazine, which she helped shape over the past 17 years. Miya was educated at Oxford University, earning a master’s degree in English.

Her role as a journalist has seen her write for many of the leading technology publishers in the UK such as ITPro, TechWeekEurope, CIO UK, Computer Weekly, and also a number of national newspapers including The Times, Independent, and Financial Times.