RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Further intensifying its cloud computing efforts, IBM on Monday disclosed it is acquiring a Finnish firm in a deal that it says will “turbocharge” Big Blue’s capabilities.

“Our clients are increasingly taking a more holistic approach to application modernization that allows them to operate across a traditional IT environment, private cloud and public clouds,” says John Granger, senior vice president of IBM’s Cloud Application Innovation and chief operating officer of Global Business Services.

“IBM’s acquisition of Nordcloud adds the kind of deep expertise that will drive our clients’ digital transformations as well as support the further adoption of IBM’s hybrid cloud platform. Nordcloud’s cloud-native tools, methodologies and talent send a strong signal that IBM is committed to deliver our clients’ successful journey to cloud.”

It’s the fifth acquisition in the cloud space since Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna earlier this year. He also was recently named IBM’s chair and spearheaded IBM’s acquisition of Raleigh-based Red Hat last year as a key to its cloud strategy.

Nordcloud, which has some $61 million in cloud-related services revenues, is based in Finland and launched in 2011. It has some 450 employees.

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The firm’s focus is to help customers migrate to cloud services and has certifications from IBM’s biggest cloud competitors – Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

IBM sees the cloud as a $1 trillion market opportunity – but not for a while. Research firms Gartner and IDC forecast cloud-related services to be worth more than $200 billion in 2024.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.

“IBM’s hybrid cloud approach is very complementary with our cloud-native approach to helping clients migrate, manage and modernize in the cloud,” said Fernando Herrera, chairman and founder of Nordcloud, in a statement.

“As an experienced partner in today’s cloud ecosystems, we work with all of the public cloud providers for the good of our clients throughout Europe. I am very excited to embrace IBM’s open innovation mindset and help grow its global footprint.”

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