Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Thursday, March 28, 2024

Red Hat Buys OpenStack Integrator eNovance 

Red Hat is acquiring privately-held eNovance, an open source cloud computing service provider, for about 50 million euros ($67.8 million) in cash along with 20 million euros ($27.1 million) in Red Hat common stock. The deal is subject to adjustments at closing, which is expected later this month, the companies said.

Founded in 2008, eNovance is expected to strengthen Red Hat's ability to strengthen its OpenStack integration services as cloud service providers and enterprises begin building large infrastructures based on OpenStack.

"OpenStack is best deployed and integrated in a continuous and seamless manner," eNovance co-founder and CEO Raphael Ferreira, said in a statement announcing the deal.

Along with Ferreira, other eNovance cofounders are Nicholas Marchal and Pierre Molin. The company has about 110 employees in offices at Paris, Montreal, San Francisco and Bangalore, India. Among its 150 global customers are big telecommunications companies like Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson along with Cisco Systems.

The integration services provider has deep ties to the OpenStack community, and is the only European "gold member" of the OpenStack Foundation.

Red Hat noted that eNovance has previously focused primarily on building up their serviced business. "Although integration details will be finalized after closing, we intend to combine our product development activities and teams to enhance Red Hat's OpenStack products and services," Red Hat said in a statement outlining details of the agreement.

Red Hat added that the acquisition "represents a rapid and immediate global expansion of our OpenStack services capabilities."

Last fall, Red Hat partnered with eNovance to deliver OpenStack integration to unidentified joint customers. Their partnership was extended in May 2014 in an effort to move "carrier-grade" features.

into OpenStack. The collaboration included moving network functions virtualization and other telecommunications features into OpenStack. The new offerings are built on the Linux operating system, the KVM hypervisor, and the OpenStack cloud controller, the partners said.

Red Hat said eNovance specializes in a broad range of OpenStack services, including Ceph, the software storage platform used for distributed object, block, and file storage. Red Hat just acquired Inktank, the company behind Ceph, back in May.

Red Hat is banking that systems integration services along with eNovance's engineering expertise will help meet what it claims is growing demand for enterprise OpenStack consulting, design and deployment.

Red Hat is scheduled to update its financial guidance and discuss how the eNovance acquisition will affect its fiscal 2105 first quarter earnings after the close of financial markets on June 18.

The open source operating system vendor has been on a roll of late, introducing the latest version of its keystone operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, earlier this month. That was followed by the introduction of its enterprise virtualization suite, RHEV 3.4, its commercial implementation of the KVM hypervisor.

About the author: George Leopold

George Leopold has written about science and technology for more than 30 years, focusing on electronics and aerospace technology. He previously served as executive editor of Electronic Engineering Times. Leopold is the author of "Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom" (Purdue University Press, 2016).

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