As much as IBM values research and development of new innovations in data center technology and pretty much every area of computing, it also understand the value of acquiring technology it needs and bringing such solutions to customers as quickly as possible.

So the news today that IBM is buying Blade Network Technologies is very good news to data center administrators.

Blade Network makes switches that connect servers, storage and networks in data centers and once again it’s a IBM move that illustrates Big Blue’s commitment to making technology better all the time. BLADE specializes in software and devices that route data and transactions to and from servers.

IBM is no stranger to Blade technology as the two vendors have worked together since 2002, and over 50% of IBM System x BladeCenters use Blade products.
Blade customers include more than half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list across 26 industry verticals, including automotive, telecom services, education, government, healthcare, defense and finance.

With BLADE, IBM can drive innovation at the systems networking level to enable clients to speed the delivery of key information from system to system, for workloads such as analytics and cloud computing, while also reducing data center costs,” states an IBM press statement on the acquisition.