IBM has acquired Cast Iron Systems, the #1 SaaS & Cloud Integration Company. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Cast Iron has completed thousands of customer integrations around the world since 2001. The acquisition enhances IBM's business integration software portfolio, which leads the industry in marketshare. With Cast Iron, IBM clients are enabled with fast and flexible SaaS and Cloud application integration in days and empowered with access to today's SaaS and Cloud-based applications with simple integration into existing applications and processes. Further, Cast Iron provides the lowest cost and highest returns on investments in Cloud and SaaS models.
In today's competitive global business environment, companies are recognizing the need to reduce complexity and cost. To do so, many organizations are using a software as a service (SaaS) model through cloud computing. Analysts estimate that by 2013, worldwide SaaS revenue will grow to $16 billion. The challenge businesses face in reaping the full potential of SaaS is integration — making new cloud-based applications work with the disparate systems running in their data centers. In the past, this involved time-consuming and resource draining coding work.
IBM is already known for industry-leading application integration capabilities for both on-premise and business to business applications. With the addition of Cast Iron Systems to its software portfolio, IBM is able to offer clients a complete platform to integrate cloud applications from leading providers including salesforce.com, Amazon, NetSuite and ADP with on-premise applications, such as SAP and JD Edwards. Using Cast Iron's hundreds of pre-built templates, expensive custom coding can be eliminated, allowing cloud integrations to be completed in the space of days, rather than weeks or longer. These results can be achieved using a physical appliance, a virtual appliance or a cloud service with attractive entry and pay-as-you-go pricing.
Together, IBM and Cast Iron Systems will drive tremendous business value and the adoption of SaaS & Cloud supporting today's dynamic business networks. Read the full press release announcing this acquisition.