IBM has purchased Boston-based network and IT infrastructure automation company Pliant for an undisclosed fee. Pliant offers a platform to simplify infrastructure automation for software developers to quickly deploy API-enabled workflow automation in response to IT demands. It is its second acquisition of 2024, after a deal in January for Georgia-based “application modernization” company Advanced in the US.
In December, IBM also agreed to pay Germany-based business software and analytics company Software AG $2.1 billion for its StreamSets and webMethods businesses. The company has acquired more than 40 companies since 2020. Pliant will slot into IBM’s expanding software portfolio, which also includes SevOne, Cloud Pak for Network Automation (CP4NA), Hybrid Cloud Mesh (HCM), IBM NS1 Connect, and Edge Application Manager
IBM’s strategy is to provide enterprises with a suite of products for infrastructure observability, connectivity, control, and automation across hybrid cloud environments. The deal for Pliant, founded in 2017, will see IBM add capabilities to automate network and IT infrastructure tasks, specifically, and to abstract their functions to the application layer via application programming interfaces (APIs), or a command line interface (CLI) .
Pliant has a library of out-of-the-box integrations with third party vendors. It integrates via an API to access the “full stack” via low-code “building blocks”. This enables provisioning and management of infrastructure within applications themselves, giving developers in-app control over infrastructure resource management, traffic management, and configuration management of both network and IT infrastructure, plus public clouds.
It is offered as client-managed software and an as-a-service product. IBM is trying to grow an enterprise infrastructure management portfolio based on low-code and no-code tools, to be accessible to a wider range of developers and engineers. A statement said: “Pliant delivers a centralized platform that serves as a force multiplier, ensuring end-to-end systems interact seamlessly – providing exponential value to your business.”
It continued: “As enterprise network environments become increasingly dynamic, complex, and disparate, IT teams need automation tools to maximize value throughout their technology stack. With the acquisition of Pliant, IBM will provide clients the ability to radically simplify the automation of their infrastructure and network with a tool that securely automates, integrates, and connects the platforms, services, and applications within their environments.”
