News
IBM Buys Microsoft Gold Partner Neudesic in Cloud-Focused Play
- By Gladys Rama
- February 16, 2022
To raise its cloud and multicloud prospects, tech industry stalwart IBM announced its acquisition of Neudesic, a Microsoft National Systems Integrator and gold competency partner, for an undisclosed amount.
Announced by the two companies Wednesday, the deal would fold Neudesic's cloud and data consultancy business -- comprising roughly 1,500 employees across the United States and India -- into IBM's own consulting arm that's focused on hybrid cloud. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded 20 years ago, Irvine, Calif.-based Neudesic has deep expertise in Microsoft technologies, inclcuding SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Dynamics and, most pertinent to IBM's interests, Azure. It also offers solutions around data and artificial intelligence (AI), including an accelerator program.
The Neudesic acquisition would significantly galvanize IBM's ongoing efforts around hybrid cloud and AI, according to John Granger, senior vice president of IBM Consulting.
"As one of the leading cloud platforms, Microsoft Azure is key to many of our clients' ability to modernize and innovate," he said in a prepared statement. "Neudesic adds deep Azure cloud, data engineering and data analytics expertise to accelerate our clients' hybrid cloud journeys."
IBM has been on acquisition streak since naming Arvind Krishna as CEO in the spring of 2020, acquiring over 20 companies with cloud and hybrid cloud expertise in the space of two years. The Neudesic acquisition "builds upon IBM's prior acquisitions of cloud transformation capabilities last year," Granger said.
For Microsoft, the IBM-Neudesic deal opens significant opportunities to bring Azure capabilities to an even bigger customer pool.
"Customers are driving incredible acceleration across Microsoft cloud services, and it's more important than ever to have trusted partners, like IBM, skilled in our technology," said Microsoft Executive Vice President Judson Althoff. "Neudesic and Microsoft are enabling enterprises to achieve their business outcomes with our Azure platform, leveraging a combination of services and IP. With this acquisition, IBM Consulting is gaining even more capabilities and assets to help customers succeed on their digital transformation journeys."