IBM has confirmed an agreement to acquire London-based app testing firm Green Hat for an undisclosed fee.
Green Hat offers developers a virtual, cloud-based test environment for applications, meaning developers don't have to build their own testing lab.
The company will join IBM's Rational Software division and its offering looks likely to be rolled into Big Blue's Collaborative Lifecycle Management offering.
This acquisition extends IBM's leadership in driving business agility and software quality.
The testing solutions will also be offered through IBM Global Business Services' Application Management Services
"This acquisition extends IBM's leadership in driving business agility and software quality by changing the way enterprises can manage software development cost, test cycle time and risk," said Kristof Kloeckner, general manager at IBM Rational.
"Together, we offer the most complete solution available today for agile software development and testing, with flexible options such as the cloud. Green Hat's application virtualisation capabilities will help our customers accelerate their delivery of business critical software."
Peter Cole, CEO Green Hat, welcomed the move, saying the company was looking forward to taking its offering to IBM customers, "who have a growing business need to better manage their complex testing environments."
Green Hat was already an IBM partner and will bring 2,000 customers over to IBM when it moves.
Big Blue is looking to bolster its cloud-based offerings, although still does not offer any major public cloud Platform-as-a-Service or Infrastructure-as-a-Service products to rival Microsoft's Azure or Amazon Web Services. Many expect IBM to produce some major cloud initiatives over the next year.
This month saw Ginni Rometty finally take up the president and CEO reins from Sam Palmisano at IBM, yet it is unlikely she will enforce a shakeup akin to those brought by Leo Apotheker at HP last year.
