IBM Acquires CSL to Advance the Cloud on System z

IBM boosts its System z portfolio by acquiring CSL International, Actian leverages previous acquisitions to launch new cloud and big data platforms and EastWest Bank selects HP to build a private cloud for updating its infrastructure.

IBM acquires CSL International.  As a strategic investment to further its System z portfolio, IBM has announced a definitive agreement to acquire CSL International. Privately held CSL is a leading provider of virtualization management technology for IBM's zEnterprise system. CSL's CSL-WAVE software enables companies to monitor and manage thei z/VM and Linux on System z environments using a powerful and easy-to-use interface. The zEnterprise System enables clients to host the workloads of thousands of commodity servers on a single system. "As clients create smarter computing environments, they are looking for ways to manage IT costs and complexity without sacrificing security or the ability to scale," said Greg Lotko, IBM business line executive, System z. “The response by clients to the advantages of Linux on System z have been tremendous, with the shipped capacity nearly doubling in 1Q13 year to year. With the acquisition of CSL International, IBM expands its cloud virtualization capabilities, making it even easier for clients to take advantage of Linux on System z."

Actian Launches DataCloud and big data analytics platforms. Actian announced its plans to leverage the assets from its recent acquisitions of ParAccel, Pervasive Software and Versant Corporation by offering two new platforms, the Actian DataCloud and ParAccel Big Data Analytics Platforms, to tackle the challenges of the Age of Data. the DataCloud platform integrates cloud and on-premises applications while providing robust data quality and other data services. It offers three tiers of data and application integration: invisible connect - a prebuilt one-click integration between existing SaaS applications, Basic Connect for prepackaged applications, and Advanced Connect for enterprise-grade environments. The big data analytics platform is unconstrained analytics - a real-time, high-performance platform extracting analytic value from data while removing constraints around size, speed and complexity of analytics.  “We believe that every company, no matter its size, should harness the promise of big data and analytics, and we’ve invested hundreds of man-years and millions of dollars to deliver two scalable, completely modern platforms that marry our decades of data expertise with innovative, cutting-edge architectures,” said Steve Shine, chief executive officer of Actian. “To win in the Age of Data, organizations must become action-enabled enterprises with access to unconstrained analytics and frictionless data integration. Our modular approach delivers the quickest time to value with phenomenal scalability to future-proof your business.”

HP builds private cloud for EastWest Bank.  HP (HPQ) announced that EastWest Bank has selected HP Converged Infrastructure to streamline IT operations, reduce costs and scale its IT infrastructure in response to increasing customer transactions. The upgraded infrastructure includes HP 3PAR StoreServ T400 Storage System and HP ProLiant DL360 Servers. EastWest Bank realized that its legacy IT infrastructure hindered productivity, and began evaluating solutions from IBM, EMC and HP. “Our previous system didn’t give us enough flexibility to meet our daily business needs; the infrastructure was limiting because we were unable to allocate storage between systems,” said Randy Evangelista, vice president and head, Information Technology Group, EastWest Bank. “By implementing HP Converged Infrastructure, we’ve taken an important step towards building a private cloud and delivering a dynamic and flexible IT environment that can keep pace with our business demands.”