International Business Machines (IBM) announced that it will acquire database-as-a-service startup Compose. IBM did not disclose the exact terms of the acquisition.
Compose co-founder and CEO Kurt Mackey said in a press release, "By joining IBM, we will have an opportunity to accelerate the development of our database platform and offer even more services and support to developer teams."
Compose, formerly known as MongoHQ, is a startup company that operates numerous layers of NonSQL databases that serves as cloud services on behalf of other companies. Aside from NonSQL databases, Compose also supports MongoDB, RethinkDB, PostgreSQL and Elasticsearch, according to Venture Beat. The startup can also run all its supported databases on any cloud platform including DigitalOcean, Amazon Web Services and SoftLayer which was acquired by IBM in 2013.
An IBM spokesperson said that despite the acquisition, Compose's operation will not be affected and the change will not affect its users in any way. Compose claims that about 3,600 companies currently uses its services, according to Tech Crunch. Its databases which counts to more than 100,000 spans different industries ranging from marketing, retail to Internet of Things.
Many industry and tech analysts said that IBM's acquisition of Compose further solidify the unprecedented rise of cloud-based open source databases. On a similar note, CenturyLink acquired Orchestrate in April as part of the company's entry into the cloud database industry.
In contrast, IBM, despite being a huge technology company, is still playing catch-up in the cloud based infrastructure market. The market is now dominated by the likes of Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.