Mergers and Acquisitions, Enterprise, Mergers and Acquisitions, Content

IBM Acquires Telco Consulting Firm Sentaca for 5G and Hybrid Cloud Services

BARCELONA, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 26: A logo sits illumintated outside the IBM booth on day 2 of the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2019 on February 26, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. The annual Mobile World Congress hosts some of the world’s largest communications companies, with many unveiling their latest phones and wearables gadgets like foldable...

BARCELONA, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 26: A logo sits illumintated outside the IBM booth on day 2 of the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2019 on February 26, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. The annual Mobile World Congress hosts some of the world’s largest communications companies, with many unveiling their latest phones and wearables gadgets like foldable screens and the introduction of the 5G wireless networks. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

IBM has acquired Sentaca, a software consulting firm and cloud migration specialist that supports telcos and communications service providers (CSPs). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This is technology M&A deal number 150 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2022. See more than 1,000 technology M&A deals for 2022, 2021, and 2020 listed here.

How Sentaca Fits In IBM Acquisition Strategy

Through acquisitions such as Sentaca, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has been pivoting the company toward hybrid cloud and associated IT consulting opportunities. Indeed, IBM has now acquired more than 20 companies since Krishna was named CEO in April 2020, the company noted. Most of the IBM acquisitions have been small tuck-in deals rather than lofty, high-price SaaS business purchases. 

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna

To further improve its profit mix, IBM has also sold off such business units as the Kyndryl managed infrastructure business and Watson for Healthcare components.

The overall M&A and divestiture strategy appears to be paying dividends based on IBM's improved Q4 2021 financial performance.

Sentaca, founded in 2008, has 95 employees listed on LinkedIn. That team will tuck into IBM Consulting's Hybrid Cloud Services business to help customers capitalize on 5G, IoT, streaming and other growth opportunities.

IBM's overall business has been plenty busy in the telco sector. The evidence: More than 80% of the world's largest telcos work with IBM, and more than 140 telcos are served by IBM and Red Hat, the technology companies indicated.

IBM Acquires Sentaca: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the Sentaca acquisition, IBM Consulting Senior VP  John Granger said:

"Our goal is to help modern networks thrive in an open, hybrid cloud environment that will bring edge and 5G to life for enterprises and consumers. The proliferation of mobile devices, wireless connectivity, and new media platforms is driving convergence among telco, media, and entertainment, which makes our acquisition of Sentaca all the more valuable for our clients."

Added Phil O'Neill, CEO of Sentaca:

"Sentaca's deep knowledge and experience of telecom networks, coupled with our expertise in hybrid multi-cloud and automation services and solutions, is a perfect fit to compliment IBMs telco/5G strategy. We are very excited to join the IBM team and to be in a position to access additional resources and platforms to deliver on even larger and more ambitious enterprise cloud transformation projects within the telco and media industry sector."

So what's next? One answer involves the IBM Think 2022 conference for partners and customers, which appears set for May.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.

Related

You can skip this ad in 5 seconds