Acquisitions Abound: IBM, Rackspace, RedHat, AppFog

IBM, Rackspace, Red Hat and AppFog have announced acquisitions recently:

IBM to acquire Kenexa.  IBM and talent management software provider Kenexa (KNX) announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for IBM to acquire Kenexa for $1.3 billion. Kenexa develops business analytics software that helps enterprises manage human resources.  A recent global IBM study revealed that 57 percent of CEOs identified social business as a top priority and more than 73 percent are making significant investments to draw insights into available data. "Every company, across every business operation, is looking to tap into the power of social networking to transform the way they work, collaborate and out innovate their competitors," said Alistair Rennie, general manager, social business, IBM. "IBM is uniquely positioned to help clients generate real returns from their social business investments, while helping them gain intelligence into the data being generated in these networks to be more competitive in their markets."

Rackspace to acquire Mailgun.  Rackspace Hosting (RAX) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mailgun, Inc., a Y Combinator startup. Mailgun will be integrated into the Rackspace portfolio, making integration with cloud-based email services into applications and web sites easier. Built for developers, Mailgun provides a powerful set of APIs that allows users to send, receive, and track email easily from within their applications – without managing an email server or becoming an expert in email setup, operations and deliverability. “Rackspace is dedicated to providing the tools that our customers need to build their technology stack on the Rackspace Open Cloud,” said Pat Matthews, senior vice president of corporate development at Rackspace. “Mail is a core component of nearly every website and application today. Our customers are asking for this and Mailgun is the right company to help us deliver it in a tightly integrated way.”

Red Hat Purchases BPM from Polymita.  Red Hat (RHT)  announced it has acquired business process management (BPM) technology developed by Polymita Technologies S.L. Augmenting its JBoss Enterprise Middleware integration software offerings the acquisition allows Red Hat to enter the BPM software segment. “The ability to change rapidly is an absolute necessity for businesses in today’s enterprise environment. Organizations that do not empower their business users to quickly and effectively modify automated business processes forfeit the ability to remain agile, competitive and relevant,” said Craig Muzilla, vice president and general manager of middleware at Red Hat. “Polymita’s technology enhances Red Hat’s JBoss Enterprise Middleware portfolio and specifically complements JBoss Enterprise BRMS and jBPM.”

AppFog acquires Nodester.  AppFog announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Nodester, an open source Node.JS Platform-as-a-Service. “AppFog was incredibly impressed from day one with the market-leading community that Nodester has built,” said Lucas Carlson, CEO, AppFog. “And now that Node is now tied with PHP for having the most number of applications running – so bringing our operational excellence and poly-infrastructure support to the loyal Nodester users; is a win for everyone.”  “The Nodester community is passionate about the open source public, private, and hybrid cloud PaaS services.  I looked at the various leading PaaS providers out there and it became clear that the only one that matched our vision and mission was AppFog,” said Chris Matthieu, founder of Nodester. “Partnering with the leader will give our Node.JS developers the very best PaaS solution as Node.JS continues to grow and extend into the Enterprise.”