Don't Bet Against IBM

Big Blue forked over $34 billion.

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ARMONK/RALEIGH (Rixstep) — They paid $34 billion. IBM, aka 'Snow White', aka 'Big Blue', did. They bought Red Hat.

Jim Whitehurst of Red Hat says:

'Joining forces with IBM gives Red Hat the opportunity to bring more open source innovation to an even broader range of organizations and will enable us to scale to meet the need for hybrid cloud solutions that deliver true choice and agility.'

The acquisition redefines the cloud market for business. Red Hat's open hybrid cloud technologies are now paired with the unmatched scale and depth of IBM's innovation and industry expertise, and sales leadership in more than 175 countries.

Together, IBM and Red Hat will accelerate innovation by offering a next-generation hybrid multicloud platform. Based on open source technologies, such as Linux and Kubernetes, the platform will allow businesses to securely deploy, run and manage data and applications on-premises and on private and multiple public clouds.

Ginni Rometty of IBM says:

'Businesses are starting the next chapter of their digital reinventions, modernizing infrastructure and moving mission-critical workloads across private clouds and multiple clouds from multiple vendors. They need open, flexible technology to manage these hybrid multicloud environments. And they need partners they can trust to manage and secure these systems. IBM and Red Hat are uniquely suited to meet these needs. As the leading hybrid cloud provider, we will help clients forge the technology foundations of their business for decades to come.'

Jim Whitehurst adds:

'We think open source has become the de facto standard in technology because it enables these solutions. Joining forces with IBM gives Red Hat the opportunity to bring more open source innovation to an even broader range of organizations and will enable us to scale to meet the need for hybrid cloud solutions that deliver true choice and agility.'

IBM's cloud revenue has grown from 4 percent of total revenue in 2013 to 25 percent today. Red Hat's fiscal year 2019 revenue was $3.4 billion, up 15 percent year-over-year.

Frank Gens of IDC says:

'With the acquisition of Red Hat, and IBM's commitment to Red Hat's independence, IBM is well positioned to help enterprises differentiate themselves in their industry by capitalizing on open source in this emerging hybrid and multi-cloud world.'

IBM and Red Hat have deep open source values and experience. The two companies have worked together for more than 20 years to make open source the default choice for modern IT solutions. Red Hat Enterprise Linux alone is expected to contribute to more than $10 trillion worth of global business revenues in 2019. By 2023, an additional 640,000 people are expected to work in Red Hat-related jobs.

This is massive. This is YUGE.

Don't bet against IBM.

See Also
Red Hat: IBM Closes Landmark Acquisition of Red Hat for $34 Billion