IBM Closes Platform Computing Acquisition

IBM has completed its purchase of Platform Computing

The Platform Computing acquisition gives IBM more fuel for its Smarter Planet initiative and more ammo in the high performance computing space, the company said. Platform Computing's management software helps clients create, integrate and manage shared computing environments used in compute- and data-intensive applications like simulations, analytics and computer monitoring.

"The acquisition of Platform Computing will help accelerate IBM's growth in smarter computing -- a key initiative in IBM's Smarter Planet strategy -- by extending the reach of our HPC offerings into the high growth segment of technical computing," said Helene Armitage, general manager, IBM Systems Software, in a statement. "Our intent is to enable clients to uncover insights from growing volumes of data so they can take actions that optimize business results."

IBM said it will integrate Platform Computing into its IBM Systems and Technology Group and will integrate Platform Computing's software with its own management and analytics tools. IBM said it will support Platform Computing's software on heterogeneous systems and will work with many of the company's existing partners.

IBM's closing of the Platform Computing acquisition comes amid a sort of shopping spree for the tech titan, which is averaging roughly one major acquisition a month. IBM this year has already acquired Green Hat, a testing tool vendor.

And IBM closed out 2011 with the December acquisition of Emptoris, a developer of supply chain analysis applications, in a move that IBM said will further accelerate its Smarter Commerce initiative.