IBM acquires Blade Network Technologies

Blade specialises in software and devices for the virtualisation requirements of cloud computing environments. Its customers are from 26 industry verticals, including automotive, telecom services, education, government, healthcare, defence and finance.

IBM and Blade have worked together since 2002 and more than half of IBM System x BladeCenters use Blade products.

“For example, faster data transport enables faster decisions important for analytics workloads," said Brian Truskowski, General Manager, IBM System Storage and Networking. "Blade will increase IBM's System Networking development, sales, support, skills and awareness and help IBM build smarter systems that are optimised for client requirements."

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2010.

"Blade views this as a great opportunity to continue working with the ecosystem of technology providers that have helped make our company successful while allowing our technology to become a more central part of the data center," said Vikram Mehta, CEO of Blade.

Blade named Sydney-based Observatory Crest as its distributor for Australia and New Zealand back in June.