IBM Corp. on Tuesday announced plans to acquire DataStax Inc. and its cloud database development platform in a push to turbocharge its WatsonX portfolio and accelerate the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) within enterprises.
DataStax’s technology will be built into WatsonX’s genAI products to help manage vast amounts of unstructured data used in genAI application development, according to IBM. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter.
The companies said the deal is intended to enhance IBM’s commitment to open-source AI. DataStax is the creator of Astra DB, a cloud database-as-a-service based on the Apache Cassandra database for managing large amounts of data distributed across multiple locations.
Under the terms of the accord, DataStax will continue to work with the open-source Apache Cassandra, Langflow, Apache Pulsar, and OpenSearch communities in which DataStax participates.
The acquisition, on the heels of MongoDB’s $220 million purchase of VoyageAI, is the “latest evidence that the AI gold rush for data continues at a fevered pace,” Aerospike CEO Subbu Iyer said in an email. “Whether it’s acquisitions, new products, or major investments, including Aerospike closing over $100 million in a single round last year, it’s clear that data drives the AI revolution. For AI to realize its potential, organizations need massive amounts of real-time data to provide timely, accurate and meaningful results.”
In a blog post, Ritika Gunnar, IBM’s general manager of data and AI, said, “DataStax brings cutting-edge capabilities in managing unstructured and semi-structured data to Watsonx, building on open-source Cassandra investments for enterprise applications and enabling clients to modernize and develop next generation AI applications.”
Added DataStax CEO Chet Kapoor said in a blog post: “We have long said that there is no AI without data, and this vision will now be propelled as DataStax joins IBM. With our technologies and IBM’s Watsonx.data, their hybrid, open data lakehouse, we will be able to bring vector and AI search to the entire data estate and make IBM’s capabilities available to every developer.”
In addition to its database, DataStax’s product portfolio includes Astra Streaming for building real-time data pipelines, the DataStax AI Platform for building and deploying AI applications, and an enterprise AI platform that incorporates NVIDIA Corp.’s AI technology.
“This week’s acquisition activity – IBM picking up DataStax and MongoDB buying VoyageAI – is the latest evidence that the AI gold rush for data continues at a fevered pace. Whether it’s acquisitions, new products, or major investments, including Aerospike closing over $100M in a single round last year, it’s clear that data drives the AI revolution. For AI to realize its potential, organizations need massive amounts of real-time data to provide timely, accurate and meaningful results.”
-Subbu Iyer, CEO of Aerospike
DataStax hundreds of customers include FedEx Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., The Home Depot Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc. Privately held DataStax, based in Silicon Valley, was founded in 2010.
