IBM Eye

IBM announced on Saturday an agreement to acquire Softek Storage Solutions Corporation, a privately held company based in Vienna, Virginia. They have been an IBM partner for as long as they’ve been independent from Fujitsu (1996) and have good penetration in the Fortune 1000, claiming 60% of them as customers. Interestingly, Softek just bought Enigma Data Solutions, a mainframe software developer, in November.

Softek helps companies manage data, assisting with data uptime management, transferring data from one environment to another, as well as assisting with backup recovery plans for businesses. IBM has installed Softek’s flagship TDMF product “on thousands of services engagements worldwide” making it a decent idea for IBM to dip at both ends of that pond. Per Hoovers:

The company’s products are used to monitor, provision, and manage enterprise storage assets (including servers, mainframes, and networked storage devices). Softek also offers software for implementing storage area networks (SANs), monitoring service levels, and backing up and recovering data, as well as professional services such as consulting and data migration.

Financial terms were not disclosed and I haven’t caught and online whispers, but I would guess the acquisition to be in the . The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the agreement, Softek will become part of the Storage and Data Services business unit in IBM Global Technology Services.

Bob Hoey, IBM worldwide vice president of sales, zSeries, makes his comical sales pitch for IBM mainframes.

Mainframe - The Art of the Sale, Lesson One

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