IBM Acquires Storage Solutions Company NovusCG

Additional Storage Capabilities Added to IBM’s Industry-Leading Services Portfolio, Helps Clients to Simplify and Improve Storage Management



ARMONK, NY.- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire NovusCG, a privately held storage solutions company based in Manassas, Virginia. Financial terms were not disclosed. Novus will become part of the Storage and Data Services business unit in IBM Global Technology Services.

The combined capabilities of IBM Storage and Data Services and Novus will provide clients improved access to business information, enable stronger regulatory and corporate compliance, and boost their overall information technology performance. IBM will integrate Novus’ storage service assets and best practices with IBM’s existing leadership in storage and data services, storage hardware and software solutions. As a result, IBM will be uniquely positioned to help clients reduce costs and better align their storage and data environment to their lines of business.

The acquisition of Novus follows the IBM Storage and Data Services acquisition of Softek Storage Solutions earlier this year, and is the latest example of IBM’s continuing strategy to provide standardized services which deliver high value and more predictable business results to clients. This will leverage Novus’ asset-based delivery model, proprietary tools, formalized methodologies and multi-vendor skills.

“Clients of all sizes are challenged to drive more effective utilization of their infrastructure to conserve energy and save money while serving their business goals,” said Val Rahmani, general manager, Infrastructure Management Services, IBM Global Technology Services. “The acquisition of Novus marks a turning point for our clients. This provides what clients have been missing -- the information that will allow them to align their IT and business strategies.”

“We are thrilled to become part of IBM. With our culture of innovation at Novus, we are an excellent fit,” said Sean Garvey, president, chief executive officer and co-founder of NovusCG. “Clients are facing a double-edged sword with the exponential rise in digital storage needs, coupled with concerns about optimizing storage to be more efficient. Combining our unique approach to analyzing and assessing data with IBM’s industry-leading storage services portfolio allows us to help clients solve a variety of storage-related problems.”

Novus’ assets and methodologies provide a standardized, repeatable approach for assessing and optimizing storage in multi-vendor environments. Its storage analysis and reporting software, tools and asset-based delivery model will enhance IBM’s ability to produce services engagement results in reduced time. Its Storage Enterprise Resource Planner (SERP) software solution provides clients an unprecedented view of their storage use at the line of business level, quickly identifies unnecessary duplicate storage and enables accurate chargeback and capacity planning. Novus also has a patent pending on one of its methodologies.

Novus serves a large client base, including multi-national Fortune 500 corporations as well as mid-market clients, across a broad range of industries, from banking and finance to government, health care, retail and telecommunications. Many organizations will be seeking external services for storage optimization in support of their movement to “green” storage environments, and this acquisition solidifies IBM’s leadership in supporting clients in this effort.

IBM has worked with Novus on services engagements since 2003. Novus is an IBM Premier Business Partner, and IBM is a top Novus global strategic partner. In addition to IBM, Novus has a strong global network of business partners including Cisco Systems, Computer Associates, EDS, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, Oracle, Sun/StorageTek, Symantec and Unisys, among others.

Novus’ technology complements IBM’s core System Storage disk and tape products as a key element for optimizing and establishing storage tiers. Novus will also integrate with IBM’s Total Productivity Center, Tivoli Storage Manager, Tivoli Storage Process Manager, SAN Volume Controller and the entire IBM System Storage portfolio.