IBM spin off iCluster to Rocket Software

Rocket Software (Newton, MA, USA) has announced  that it has closed the acquisition of the iCluster business from IBM (Armonk, NY, USA). iCluster offers software for High Availability/Disaster Recovery (HA/DR) for IBM i. The iCluster team will be joining Rocket Software’s global organization of more than 900 employees and become a new brand – Rocket iCluster – within the Rocket Storage, Networks and Compliance business unit.

Rocket Software, an Independent Software Vendor,  was founded in 1990 with an initial focus on developing and delivering software solutions to IBM mainframe customers deploying IBM DB2. Within the first five years, Rocket licensed all of its intellectual property to IBM, and all of Rocket’s products were rebranded and licensed to enterprises through IBM’s worldwide sales channel.

Since those early years, Rocket has expanded its software OEM business to cover a wide spectrum of enterprise infrastructure products in the areas of Business Intelligence, Storage, Networks, Terminal Emulation, Integration, Security, and Database. And in addition to IBM, Rocket has licensed its products to a number of major OEMs that include Microsoft, RSA, EMC, Nortel, Motorola, and HP.

In parallel with a significant R&D investment in developing software products, Rocket Software began a series of strategic acquisitions in 2000. As a result, Rocket now has well over 100 software products that are licensed both through OEM partners and resellers, and via direct sales through Rocket’s acquired branded sales channels, such as Mainstar, Servergraph, CorVu, BlueZone, and Seagull.

Rocket values the technical skills and deep domain expertise of the employees at the companies we acquire. We endeavor to keep the teams intact and entrust them to manage and expand the product lines that they initially created. This philosophy has allowed Rocket to grow to more than 700 employees, including international operations in Eastern and Western Europe, Australia and Asia.

Andy Youniss, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rocket Software

We are excited to announce this strategic acquisition. We believe that iCluster’s HA/DR offerings are a perfect complement to Rocket’s storage solutions and will help address the business continuity needs of our customers. In addition, developing and providing solutions for IBM i is a core focus area for Rocket, where we have multiple brands on this platform. We plan to continue investing in Rocket iCluster to deliver new features and functionality and will work to further enhance this solution for HA/DR on IBM i. Most importantly, we want to assure our new Rocket iCluster business partners and customers that Rocket Software is committed to helping you achieve success with this solution.

Over the coming months, Rocket Software will be working to establish direct relationships with iCluster partners, and introduce them to Rocket Software. During the transition of business operations, partners may continue to order iCluster from IBM as they do today. In addition, Rocket is working closely with IBM to ensure that customer support needs are seamlessly managed and support delivery is unaffected. In most cases, the product contacts with whom partners work today will not change given that the entire iCluster team has joined Rocket Software.

Source: Rocket Software