IBM, Red Hat team with French tech giant Atos for cloud efforts

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – IBM and Red Hat continue to drive for morre business in the growing cloud ecosystem, this time in partnership with France-based tech giant Atos.

In a deal announced Tuesday, Atos will devote resources and services from its 110,000 employee to drive enterprise digitalization efforts utilizing IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Raleigh-based Red Hat Open Shift. The focus is hybrid cloud offerings for clients that utilize public and private platforms.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

IBM acquired Red Hat for $34 billion, driving to capitalize on cloud markets estimated to be worth $1 trillion. Acquisitions and partnerships are helping fuel that effort, the Atos deal being the latest over the past few months.

The companies say they will also deploy artificial intelligence and automation solutions to help customers speed up digital efforts, improve productivity and reduce costs.

“This alliance marks a new step in Atos’ strategy to provide concrete business applications to its customers by working with the world-class leader IBM to power the next wave of innovation. It also resonates with our industry-specific approach focused on delivering tangible business outcomes,” said Nourdine Bihmane, head of Decarbonization Business Line and head of Growing Markets at Atos. “IBM and Atos share a similar vision of an AI and data-driven digital transformation. Together, we will address some of the most pressing challenges facing organizations today to optimize their operations within plants, buildings and public infrastructure.”

Key points of emphasis according to the companies:

Asset Lifecycle Management Solutions – will leverage IBM Maximo to help enterprises optimize assets to further accelerate digital transformation and address risk. Benefits for clients will include the ability to identify areas for improvement within and across plants, real-time operations visibility and KPI(s) to ensure business continuity.
Asset Monitoring and Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) Optimization Solutions – will leverage IBM Maximo to increase asset optimization and reduce capital expenses. Benefits for clients will include a predictive approach to MRO with decreased unplanned downtimes and increased asset lifetimes, resulting in the reduction of capital expenses.
Packaging, Transportation and Logistics Optimization Solutions – will optimize product packaging, transportation and logistics while reducing expenses.
SMART Waste/Energy Monitoring and Optimization Solutions – will leverage IBM Watson and Red Hat OpenShift to help manufacturers and waste management companies optimize energy consumption.

IBM employs several thousand people across North Carolina. Red Hat remains based in Raleigh.