IBM Buys Cast Iron

IBM’s (IBM) added yet another acquisition to its infrastructure portfolio, SaaS and cloud integration company Cast Iron Systems. The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, is a small but noteworthy one for IBM, which is staking out a big claim a global cloud computing market it believes will hit $126 billion by 2012. Cast Iron Systems’ business is making big cloud integrations easy. Its technology cuts down on the amount of custom code typically needed to integrate cloud-based applications and on-premise systems. By adding Cast Iron to its cloud portfolio, IBM can offer customers a canned cloud solution whose deployment is far more rapid and less labor intensive than those of its rivals — a nice way to distinguish its offerings in a competitive market.