IBM to buy Turbonomic for Over $1.5 Billion

IBM has agreed to acquire Turbonomic, a provider of software that helps companies monitor the performance of their business applications, the latest in a series of cloud computing acquisitions by the tech giant.

The transaction values Turbonomic at between $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 11,100 crores) and $2 billion (roughly Rs. 14,800 crores), people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. The deal would be IBM's largest since it acquired Red Hat for $34 billion (roughly Rs. 2,51,650 crores) in 2019.

The acquisition is IBM's 11th since Arvind Krishna became Chief Executive last year. Krishna has been leading a major transformation, doubling down on the hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence areas.

IBM plans to integrate Turbonomic's Application Resource Management software with Instana and its other recent acquisitions, as well as keeping partnerships with Cisco following the transaction.

Turbonomic provides companies with software to boost the real-time performance and compliance of their applications. It last raised $70 million (roughly Rs. 520 crores) from Trend Forward Capital and Highland Capital Partners at a valuation of $963 million (roughly Rs. 7,130 crores) in September 2019, according to PitchBook Data. Other backers of the company include Bain Capital Ventures and Cisco.

Turbonomic has previously partnered with IBM, including an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement in May 2020.