Larger, more complex data sets require greater computing power to wring out the insights hidden within. This is why Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) is buying out supercomputer maker Cray for $1.3 billion as it battles rival IBM in the market for data analytics and management services.
HPE is to pay $35 per share of Cray (a 14.7% premium) in a deal that is expected to close in January 2020.
Pan Kwan Yuk filed this report in the Financial Times:
The explosion of data volume is driving a need for computers and services that can process and handle these massive data sets and workloads. HPE said it expects the deal to strengthen its ability to sell supercomputing products to the government, academia and corporate clients.
“Answers to some of society’s most pressing challenges are buried in massive amounts of data,” said HPE chief executive Antonio Neri. “Only by processing and analyzing this data will we be able to unlock the answers to critical challenges across medicine, climate change, space and more.”
Seattle-based Cray is a leading maker of supercomputing systems, with about 1,300 worldwide. It made $456m in revenue in its last fiscal year, a 16 per cent increase from the prior year. HPE said it expects the deal — which will close by the end of January 2020 — to “deliver significant cost synergies”.
“This is an amazing opportunity to bring together Cray’s leading-edge technology and HPE’s wide reach and deep product portfolio, providing customers of all sizes with integrated solutions and unique supercomputing technology to address the full spectrum of their data-intensive needs,” said Peter Ungaro, Cray’s chief executive.
