IBM Acquires Telco Solution Provider Sentaca To Up Its Hybrid Cloud Game

‘Sentaca is completely aligned with that strategy and with IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy. Sentaca’s cloud-native application development, testing, and future network capabilities are a great complement to what we’ve been embarking on in the last couple years,’ says Steve Goetz, vice president and senior partner for IBM Consulting.

IBM Tuesday unveiled the acquisition of Sentaca, a provider of telco consulting services and solutions, as a way to enhance its hybrid cloud capabilities.

The acquisition, the financial details of which were not disclosed, will bring Boston-based Sentaca’s personnel and skills into IBM Consulting, formerly known as IBM Global Business Services, said Steve Goetz, vice president and senior partner for IBM Consulting.

IBM’s strategy is to make IBM Consulting a preeminent systems integrator, Goetz told CRN.

[Related: IBM Services’ David Sun: ‘The Services Part Of The Company Has Always Been Agnostic’]

“Sentaca is completely aligned with that strategy and with IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy,” he said. “Sentaca’s cloud-native application development, testing, and future network capabilities are a great complement to what we’ve been embarking on in the last couple years.”

Sentaca’s contribution to IBM Consulting is a matter of degree, Goetz said.

“Sentaca specializes in cloud native, future networking, and automation,” he said. “These are very specialized skills they are bringing to the table. We’ve worked in these areas and have skilled people, and have been building our own capabilities for a number of years. So Sentaca is complementary to what we are doing. We believe this will accelerate us in the marketplace.”

With the acquisition, which closed Monday, Sentaca becomes part of IBM Consulting and will be integrated into its Hybrid Cloud Services business in North America, Goetz said.

Sentaca will remain a separate unit, and will conduct business as “Sentaca, an IBM Company.” Sentaca’s current executive team will continue to lead the company.

Sentaca is IBM Consulting’s 11th acquisition, and the 21st acquisition for IBM overall, since Arvind Krishna took over as IBM CEO in January of 2020, Goetz said.

Since IBM Global Business Services was rebranded as IBM Consulting, the organization has made two other acquisitions: the Adobe Workfront consulting unit in October, and SXiQ in late November.