Research Notes

Research Note: IBM Consulting Acquires Oracle Specialist AST

Steve McDowell January 23, 2025

IBM announced that it intends to acquire Applications Software Technology(AST), a leading global Oracle consultancy. AST specializes in delivering digital transformation solutions via Oracle Cloud Applications, with a focus on the public sector, including local governments and K-12 education.

Research Note: ServiceNow to Acquire Conversation Data Analysis Company Cuein

Steve McDowell January 23, 2025

ServiceNow has entered into an agreement to acquire Cuein, a company specializing in AI-native conversation data analysis and insights. This acquisition bolsters ServiceNow’s strategic focus on Agentic AI—autonomous AI agents capable of processing data, making decisions, and executing tasks across enterprise workflows.

Research Note: Lenovo to Acquire Infinidat, Grow into High-End Storage

Steve McDowell January 21, 2025

In a surprise move, Lenovo has announced its intention to acquire Infinidat, a privately held enterprise storage company specializing in scalable, high-performance, and cyber-resilient storage solutions.

Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. This acquisition marks Lenovo’s strategic entry into the high-end enterprise storage market, complementing its existing portfolio, which primarily focuses on entry and mid-range storage solutions.

The deal is expected to close sometime in 2H calendar 2025.

Research Note: UALink Consortium Expands Board, adds Apple, Alibaba Cloud & Synopsys

Steve McDowell January 15, 2025

The Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium (UALink), an industry organization taking a collaborative approach to advance high-speed interconnect standards for next-generation AI workloads, announced an expansion to its Board of Directors, welcoming Alibaba Cloud, Apple, and Synopsys – joining existing member companies like AMD, AWS, Cisco, Google, HPE, Intel, Meta, and Microsoft.

Research Note: Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine

Steve McDowell January 15, 2025

Red Hat announced the general availability of Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine, a tailored version of its OpenShift orchestration platform for virtualization workloads.
The new offering utilizes the open-source KVM hypervisor and can run on-premises hardware with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and bare-metal cloud services.

Research Note: HPE Aruba Introduces Retail-Specific Offerings at NRF

Michael McDowell January 15, 2025

At NRF, HPE showed off advancements to securely connect IoT devices, deliver real-time AI insights at the edge, and provide reliable pop-up and backup connectivity for critical applications like credit card processing.