IBM Acquires Hybrid Cloud Consulting Business in Australia

SXiQ's skilled delivery professionals bring deep experience on multicloud platforms

ARMONK,N.Y.,Dec. 1,2021 --IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announcedthe acquisition ofSXiQ,an Australian digital transformation services company specializing in cloud applications,cloud platforms and cloud cybersecurity. Today's news further advances IBM's hybrid cloud and AI strategy by helping enterprises modernize and transform complex mission-critical applications on multiple clouds and platforms.

John Hanna,Managing Director,SXiQ and Katrina Troughton,General Manager,IBM Australia and New Zealand

"Companies are very clearly deploying hybrid cloud strategies asinteroperability,security,compliance and avoiding vendor lock-in are top of mind," said John Granger,Senior Vice President,Hybrid Cloud Services,IBM Consulting. "IBM's acquisition of SXiQ brings additional hybrid and multicloud expertise that is at the core of open innovation for clients."

Organizations are increasingly turning to multiple cloud providers and platforms to best meet a broad range of business needs. A recent global IBM studyfound that hybrid cloud is the dominant IT architecture with only three percent of C-level executives using a single private or public cloud in 2021.

SXiQ works with leading Australian enterprises,as well as the Australian operations of global Fortune 2000 companies,to successfully migrate and modernize their cloud infrastructure and applications across multiple industries including financial services,consumer products,energy,healthcare,and the public sector. The company also works with clients to monitor and optimize their spend on cloud resources,helping enterprises unlock greater value from their cloud investment to realize cost savings of 20 percent or more.

SXiQ will enhance IBM Consulting's capabilities in Australia and New Zealand to modernize applications and technology infrastructure in the cloud. This is the 20th acquisition – and tenth consulting acquisition - since Arvind Krishna became IBM's CEO,adding to the significant investments the company is making in its hybrid cloud and AI strategy. The announcement of the SXiQ acquisition follows recent acquisitions by IBM of leading cloud consulting firms – Nordcloud,Taos,andBoxBoat– earlier this year,which significantly expanded IBM's multicloud transformation,management expertise and capabilities in Europe and North America.

SXiQ will join IBM Consulting's fast-growing Hybrid Cloud Services business,helping IBM capitalize on a rapidly growing cloud professional services market which will surpass $200 billion globally by 2024.1 SXiQ's team of technology consultants brings expertise transforming and migrating enterprise workloads on cloud platforms including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

"Our digital transformation experience and track record of client delivery on leading cloud platforms will send a strong signal affirming our and IBM's commitment to clients' successful journey to cloud," said John Hanna,SXiQ. "Our clients can now take advantage of IBM's broad capabilities around ERP systems,Data & Analytics,Machine Learning & AI,deep platform partnerships and global delivery capabilities,allowing us to broaden the transformational capabilities we can bring to our customers,ensuring they can take their own digital transformation further and deeper."

Financial details were not disclosed.

To learn more about IBM Consulting,please visit:www.ibm.com/consulting

1Estimates based on Gartner and IDC 2024 projections for cloud managed services and professional services.