Just 90 days ago, Blue Box became part of the IBM family. At OpenStack Silicon Valley 2015, IBM announced that Blue Box will integrate with IBM’s OpenStack private Cloud options, where it will sit with subsidiary SoftLayer. Blue Box founder and CTO Jesse Proudman said that despite the company’s independent success, merging with IBM was a natural step forward.

“Of the companies we talked with in the OpenStack space, IBM had the most coherent story,” he told theCUBE cohosts John Furrier and Jeff Frick. “Public-dedicated-local is the model. They deliver the entire story as a service. Cloud is an experience. IBM is a unique organization that has enterprise experience, Cloud strategy … being part of that couldn’t be more exciting.”

Does the hybrid Cloud exist?

Proudman said that the 90-day time frame from acquisition to the SoftLayer announcement was necessary to make sure the company properly integrated into the IBM fold. “Just getting through due diligence process takes time,” he said. “IBM really scrutinizes its companies, and for good reason. The first 30 days we focused on human resources. Acquisitions are a tough time. We made sure everyone at Blue Box was excited. Then we began planning for initial releases. Getting Blue Box integrated onto SoftLayer was the logical first step.”

theCUBE cohost John Furrier asked Proudman the question on most technologists’ minds: does hybrid cloud exist? “Yes, depending on the definition,” Proudman said. “A customer of ours has a data center and a private Cloud. Those two things are interconnected. Being able to target workloads and connect environments is what hybrid Cloud is about. It’s the outcome of an effort, not a product.”

To find out what Proudman has to say about public Cloud, watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the OpenStack Silicon Valley 2015.

Photo by SiliconANGLE