IBM to acquire cloud-based software tester Green Hat

IBM has announced plans to purchase Green Hat, a vendor of cloud-based software quality and testing services.

Green Hat uses cloud computing technologies to allow customers to conduct testing on a software application prior to its delivery.

Once the acquisition is complete, Green Hat will join IBM’s Rational Software business.

Kristof Kloeckner, General Manager, IBM Rational, said: “Together, we offer the most complete solution available today for agile software development and testing, with flexible options such as the cloud. Green Hat’s application virtualisation capabilities will help our customers accelerate their delivery of business-critical software.”

The Green Hat software testing solutions also will be offered through IBM Global Business Services’ Application Management Services (AMS).

Michael Azoff, Principal Analyst at Ovum, said the acquisition will complement IBM’s existing application life cycle management tools portfolio, by “providing a capability to rapidly set up test labs for complex heterogeneous systems spanning mainframe to distributed environments, including cloud and mobile”.