ARMONK, N.Y. — IBM acquired the telecom consulting and professional services firm Sentaca to help clients use hybrid cloud computing to innovate around 5G and edge computing.
The deal is intended to accelerate IBM’s hybrid cloud consulting business by adding “critical skills” to help communications service providers (CSPs) and media companies modernize on multicloud platforms, according to IBM this month.
IBM believes Sentaca’s domain expertise, assets, and client relationships will help it meet CSP market demand and “strengthen its position” as a systems integrator in the emerging network and 5G markets.
The deal closed on January 31. Financial details were not disclosed.
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Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Sentaca, founded in 2008, also has an office in Toronto, according to its website.
Sentaca supports digital transformation, next-generation networks and improved customer experience (CX) for CSPs and media companies. For instance, the firm’s technology consultants build and migrate mission-critical applications on leading cloud service providers and open-source platforms, like Red Hat OpenShift and OpenStack.
Sentaca will join IBM Consulting’s Hybrid Cloud Services business to help solve clients’ strategic and technology challenges, such as cost of ownership, monetization, scalable and secure architecture, as well as “address opportunities,” including 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and streaming, that can “accelerate the creation and delivery of new services.”
Over 140 telcos are served by IBM, including through its subsidiary Red Hat. IBM helps co-create solutions for telcos, while supporting them on their network transformation journeys and enabling new revenue streams that “deliver value to consumer and enterprise clients.”
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“Our goal is to help modern networks thrive in an open, hybrid cloud environment that will bring edge and 5G to life for enterprises and consumers,” said John Granger, SVP, IBM Consulting.
“The proliferation of mobile devices, wireless connectivity, and new media platforms is driving convergence among telco, media, and entertainment.”
Phil O’Neill, CEO of Sentaca, said his firm is “excited to join the IBM team.”
O’Neill said the deal will give the firm access to resources and platforms to “deliver on even larger and more ambitious enterprise cloud transformation projects within the telco and media industry sector.”
IBM’s cloud acquisition spree
IBM’s acquisition of Sentaca is its latest in a string of over 20 acquisitions, inducing 10 in consulting, since Arvind Krishna became CEO in April 2020. The acquisitions are intended to “bolster” IBM’s hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities
For instance, IBM acquired several cloud consulting firms in 2021, Nordcloud, Taos, BoxBoat and SXiQ, which expanded its multicloud transformation and management capabilities in North America and Europe.
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