IBM focus on integrated AI

Source: IBM Services – soaring falcon in clouds.

HCL Technologies will pay US$1.8 billion for select IBM software products which represents a market of more than US$50 billion.

Both companies announced a definitive agreement on 7 Dec 2018. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2019, subject to completion of applicable regulatory reviews.

The software products include:

Appscan for secure application development,
BigFix for secure device management,
Unica (on-premise) for marketing automation,
Commerce (on-premise) for omni-channel eCommerce,
Portal (on-premise) for digital experience,
Notes & Domino for email and low-code rapid application development, and
Connections for workstream collaboration.
HCL and IBM have an ongoing IP Partnership for five of these products.

“We continue to see great opportunities in the market to enhance our Mode-3 (Products and Platforms) offerings,” said C Vijayakumar, President & CEO, HCL Technologies.

“The products that we are acquiring are in large growing market areas like Security, Marketing and Commerce which are strategic segments for HCL. Many of these products are well regarded by clients and positioned in the top quadrant by industry analysts.” he said.

The large-scale deployments of these products provide HCL with a great opportunity to reach and serve thousands of global enterprises across a wide range of industries and markets.

“In addition, we see tremendous potential for creating compelling ‘as-a-service’ offerings by combining these products with our Mode-1 and Mode-2 services,” said Vijayakumar.

“Over the last four years, we have been prioritizing our investments to develop integrated capabilities in areas such as AI for business, hybrid cloud, cybersecurity, analytics, supply chain and blockchain as well as industry-specific platforms and solutions including healthcare, industrial IOT, and financial services,” said John Kelly, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and Research.

“These are among the emerging, high-value segments of the IT industry. As a result, IBM is a leader in these segments today.

“We believe the time is right to divest these select collaboration, marketing and commerce software assets, which are increasingly delivered as stand-alone products. At the same time, we believe these products are a strong strategic fit for HCL, and that HCL is well positioned to drive innovation and growth for their customers,” said Kelly. fiinews.com