IBM, VMware Make Big Data Cloud Acquisitions
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and VMware (NYSE: VMW) both have made Big Data-related acquisitions. IBM snapped up data discovery and navigation firm Vivisimo, while VMware announced its purchase of cloud data analytics startup Cetas Software.
Armonk has Big Data in its sights with the Vivisimo deal. In its release, IBM said the acquisition “accelerates IBM’s Big Data analytics initiatives” by enabling enterprises “to access, navigate and analyze the full variety, velocity and volume of structured and unstructured data without having to move it.” Vivisimo’s software is designed to capture and deliver data from a broad range of sources, independent of format or location. It also gives users a single, enterprisewide view of the data, which in IBM’s estimation facilitates better decision-making.
“Navigating big data to uncover the right information is a key challenge for all industries,” said Arvind Krishna, GM of Information Management, IBM Software Group, in a prepared statement “The winners in the era of big data will be those who unlock their information assets to drive innovation, make real-time decisions, and gain actionable insights to be more competitive.”
When the acquisition is finalized, Vivisimo’s employees will join IBM’s Software Group. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. IBM will integrate Vivisimo technology into its Big Data offerings.
Meanwhile, Richard McDougall, Application Infrastructure CTO at VMware, touted his company’s Cetas buy in a VMware company blog:
“There is a growing opportunity to augment application’s capabilities with analytics. In this context, I am excited to announce VMware’s acquisition of Cetas Software, an early stage Cloud Data Analytics company.”
McDougall made several points prior to the blog announcement, giving us a look at VMware’s appraisal of the shifting technology landscape shaping enterprise data technologies in the era of Big Data and the cloud:
- The traditional relational database is no longer the one-size-fits-all solution for the needs of online applications with optimized variants used to store longer-term data
- The present volume of information is driving the need for “Fast Data” technologies, such as in-memory databases. “Fluid Data” solutions, like NoSQL, can interact with data in multiple formats and are able to change data models as needed
- The rise of cloud computing is accompanied by the need to employ and virtualize data technologies for “Cloud Delivery”
McDougall said Cetas technology has lowered the Big Data analytics barriers to entry for smaller companies. Its analytics offerings can operate “at a scale of hundreds of terabytes and billions of events for online companies and enterprises,” he said, noting the “key use cases” Cetas provides are online apps analytics, IT and operational analytics and enterprise Hadoop analytics.
