Dell snaps up cloud orchestration startup Cloudify

Dell Technologies has bolstered its cloud services business with the acquisition of Israeli cloud orchestration startup Cloudify.

Cloudify provides a multi-cloud orchestration platform that is designed to help enterprises run applications across multiple cloud or datacentres, enabling the automation of DevOps processes and management of cloud-native workloads across hybrid setups.

Although Dell has not publicly announced the acquisition, it confirmed the move to IT Pro via email this week, adding that "this transaction allows Dell to continue to innovate our edge offerings".

Additionally, the tech giant was found to have published a Form S-8 Registration Statement document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), titled 'Cloudify Platform Ltd. 2017 Share Incentive Plan'.

The official document lays out details of the Class C common stock that the company has dished out to Cloudify employees as part of the acquisition.

According to sources speaking to TechCrunch, the deal could be worth up to $100 million (£87.5 million).

Cloud movements

For Dell, the move marks its latest effort to refresh its multi-cloud service proposition. Last year, it unveiled Project Alpine, which delivers file, block, and object storage software to hyperscale cloud service providers, as well as Project Frontier’s edge operations software platform.

The company has also been busy offloading various software companies from its portfolio, announcing last year that it was shedding the Boomi integration platform, as well as selling VMware to Broadcom. Quest Software was also shown the exit back in 2016.

In January 2022, Dell launched Apexa as a service, an offering designed to deliver all-in-one solutions for a range of data and workload requirements, complete with deep integrations with a host of public cloud providers.

Multi-cloud orchestration

The Cloudify acquisition comes almost six years after the Herzliya-headquartered startup itself was spun off from computer firm GigaSpaces Technologies in 2017.

With additional offices in New York City, and San Jose, California, the firm has built a pool of technology partners that includes the likes of Intel, Fortinet, VMware, f5, and more. Cloudify also works with technology integration partners such as Atos, Amartus, and Antillion.

The company describes its product as an open source, multi-cloud orchestration platform, featuring technology that packages infrastructure, networking, and existing automation tools into certified blueprints.

Essentially, the offering is designed to turn all private, public, virtual machines, and Kubernetes workloads into certified environments that can automate DevOps, governance, and compliance processes – as well as support cloud migration.