IBM Corporation has reached an agreement to purchase Confluent, which develops solutions for processing streaming data based on the open-source platform Apache Kafka. Confluent was founded in 2014 by the creators of the Apache Kafka platform and, after going public in 2021, achieved a market capitalization of $10 billion. The deal with IBM will amount to $11 billion ($31 per share). Notably, the Apache Kafka platform was originally created by LinkedIn as an internal product, which was opened up and handed over to the Apache Foundation in 2011. In 2016, LinkedIn's service was acquired by Microsoft for $26 billion.
After the deal is completed, Confluent will continue to operate as a separate division and will retain its brand. Together with IBM, a data processing platform optimized for the deployment of AI solutions is planned, allowing real-time streaming data processing and simplifying data access in clouds and microservices. The platform will enable the integration of applications, analytics platforms, AI agents, storage, and data processing systems to enhance functionality and resilience in hybrid cloud environments.
Source: opennet.ru
