Samsung Acquires Cloud Computing Firm Joyent To Battle Amazon And Google In AI, IoT
Samsung recently acquired cloud-service company Joyent for an undisclosed sum. Joyent will continue to operate as a standalone subsidiary and provide infrastructure and software services to its customers.
Samsung stated that it had looked at a number of cloud companies, but decided on Joyent because it has “an experienced management team with deep domain expertise and a robust cloud technology validated by some of the largest Fortune 500 customers.” Joyent will provide Samsung with its own cloud platform to support mobile, IoT and cloud-based software and services. Joyent claims to have pioneered cloud computing and one was of the first to embrace serverless computers, or “compute-centric object storage”. It also nurtured and grew Node.js, an essential component of its cloud computing, into a web standard.
Joyent, in turn, will receive the scale and competitive edge it desires. Joyent CEO Scott Hammond stated, “But, until today, we lacked one thing. We lacked the scale required to compete effectively in the large, rapidly growing and fiercely competitive cloud computing market.”
Hammond also added, “Joyent and Samsung share a culture of innovation and technical excellence...By bringing these two companies together we are creating the opportunity to develop and bring to market vertically integrated mobile and IoT services and solutions that deliver extraordinary simplicity and value to our customers.”
Samsung will also become an anchor tenant for Joyent’s Triton and Manta solutions. Triton is Joyent’s container-as-a-service platform while Manta is its object storage technology. Its Triton business is doubling every quarter while the Manta solution is foundational for many of its customers. Samsung plans to use Triton and Manta as the server-side underpinnings for a new generation of mobile and IoT-based applications.
This purchase is simply one of many in Samsung’s quest to edge into the cloud market, including its 2014 purchase of start-up SmartThings for $200 million.
