Hello everyone and welcome back to the Cognixia podcast. Every week, we get together to talk about the latest happenings, bust some myths, discuss new concepts, and much more from the world of emerging digital technologies. From cloud computing to DevOps, containers to ChatGPT, and Project management to IT service management, we cover a little bit of everything weekly to inspire our listeners to learn something new, sharpen their skills, and move ahead in their careers.
In today’s episode, we talk about the acquisition of HashiCorp by IBM. If you have been keeping up with the news, we are sure this news would have caught your attention. IBM is all set to acquire the San Francisco-based HashiCorp for $6.4 billion, with the deal expected to close by the end of this year.
According to the announcement, the acquisition of HashiCorp is part of an effort to broaden IBM’s hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and AI portfolio. Eventually, IBM plans to build a complete end-to-end platform using HashiCorp’s resources. The press release from IBM had Arvind Krishna sharing that IBM’s and HashiCorp’s combined portfolios would help clients manage growing applications and infrastructure complexity as well as create a comprehensively hybrid cloud platform designed for the AI era.
In the same press release, the CEO of HashiCorp, Dave McJannet opined that IBM’s leadership in the hybrid cloud along with its rich history of innovation make it an ideal home for HashiCorp as they enter the next phase of their growth journey.
So, what does HashiCorp do and what value does it bring to the IBM table?
HashiCorp makes the HashiCorp Cloud Platform for critical lifecycle management and security applications with options for integration with major cloud providers like Google Cloud Platform and Amazon AWS. In the fiscal year 2024, HashiCorp reported a revenue of $583.1 million.
With the acquisition deal, HashiCorp would get access to a much wider customer base and the opportunity to work closely with IBM on multi-cloud automation deployments. Here, we would also like to mention that Terraform by HashiCorp has often been regarded as the industry standard for infrastructure provisioning in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
In today’s competitive environment, AI has taken just about everything by storm, including cloud companies and platforms. A cloud platform would be left significantly behind in the market if it did not offer AI integrations and enablement. This is something HashiCorp could add huge value to the IBM products. HashiCorp brings the infrastructure that is suited for Generative AI products. HashiCorp’s tools in this regard are best fit for heterogeneous, dynamic, and complex environments. The sheer number of AI offerings and applications can sometimes be extremely overwhelming for users, and HashiCorp’s tools can help strengthen IBM products to keep the users sharp yet comfortable. Moreover, the public cloud environment has been so transformative that it is very clear now that multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments are the way forward. This is a reality, after all, we all need to face and accept now.
This strategic move positions IBM as a one-stop shop for businesses seeking robust, hybrid cloud infrastructure with a focus on security and automation. HashiCorp’s expertise in multi-cloud management tools like Terraform, coupled with IBM’s Red Hat acquisition, creates a powerful platform for businesses to seamlessly navigate across various cloud environments. This empowers users and consumers with greater flexibility and control over their cloud deployments, fostering innovation and agility.
Additionally, the combined strengths of IBM and HashiCorp hold immense potential for the burgeoning field of Generative AI. HashiCorp’s infrastructure management solutions combined with IBM’s leading AI tools like Watson can pave the way for the development and deployment of large-scale, secure Generative AI applications. Imagine AI models that can design new materials, generate realistic simulations, or create personalized content – all facilitated by a robust and scalable cloud infrastructure. This convergence will ultimately benefit users and consumers by accelerating the development and accessibility of powerful Generative AI solutions across various industries.
Generative AI models can be resource-intensive. Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments allow you to distribute the workload across different cloud providers, leveraging their varying strengths and pricing models. This ensures you have the resources needed to train and run complex AI models without breaking the bank. Additionally, these environments offer greater flexibility in scaling resources up or down based on the specific needs of your AI model. You can leverage the on-demand nature of cloud resources to optimize costs and avoid overprovisioning. Multicloud and hybrid cloud environments allow you to store and process this data in locations that comply with specific regional regulations or your internal security policies. You can leverage the security features offered by different cloud providers to create a multi-layered defense for your data, minimizing the risk of breaches or unauthorized access.
So, what do both companies gain from this acquisition?
IBM stands to gain HashiCorp’s expertise in the cloud infrastructure and applications space.
HashiCorp, in return, stands to gain IBM’s valuable support and access to a much, much wider customer base.
And, what do the customers get?
Well, they get more options as we will see new products built by the combined expertise of both IBM and HashiCorp being made and offered.
Will HashiCorp get dissolved and come to an end? Well, according to the deal, HashiCorp gets to retain its brand name and brand identity as a sub-division of IBM.
This means more freedom and control for you, the user, to move your cloud stuff around however you see fit. Imagine being able to pick the perfect cloud service for each project, without getting stuck in a single one!
This merger, we believe, is going to be huge from the perspective of Generative AI. Imagine AI that designs killer new materials, creates mind-blowing simulations, or even writes you a personalized poem – all thanks to the smooth-running cloud infrastructure built by IBM and HashiCorp. This means even small businesses and startups can get their hands on powerful AI tools, which is pretty darn cool. Get ready for a wave of AI-powered products and services that cater directly to you, the consumer. The future is looking mighty personalized!
Now, this is something really exciting, won’t you say? We don’t know about you, but we are sure excited to see how this acquisition pans out and what it leads to. Maybe once the new products are launched we will do another episode talking about those. Who knows but we do know it is going to be awesome!
And with that, we come to the end of this week’s episode of the Cognixia podcast. We will be back again next week with another exciting new episode.
Until then, happy learning!
