IBM has completed the acquisition of cloud infrastructure company SoftLayer to supplement its cloud service division for an undisclosed amount.
IBM had previously announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with the Dallas-based company in June.
SoftLayer will be incorporated into IBM’s new cloud services division which combines SoftLayer with IBM SmartCloud into a global platform. The new division, led by GM James Comfort, will provide a broad range of choices to both IBM and SoftLayer clients, ISVs, and channel and technology partners.
“Cloud computing provides a profound and transformative change in business and government,” says Comfort. “With SoftLayer in IBM’s portfolio, it will be easier and faster for organisations to adopt game-changing cloud services.”
SoftLayer will enable IBM to deliver what it claims to be an industry first: marrying the security, privacy and reliability of private clouds with the economy and speed of a public cloud. SoftLayer offers a breakthrough capability that provides a cloud “on ramp” for born-on-the-Web companies, government and the Fortune 500.
SoftLayer joins the more than a dozen strategic cloud acquisitions IBM has made since 2007 designed to accelerate its cloud initiatives. IBM cloud revenue grew by 80% percent in 2012 and it expects annual cloud revenue to reach $7-billion by the end of 2015.