CLOUD
CLOUD
CLOUD
Google gains a working IoT platform with $50M Xively acquisition
Google LLC has moved one step closer to delivering on its promise of a building a fully managed “internet of things” service by acquiring LogMeIn Inc.’s Xively IoT platform.
The deal, which is said to be worth a relatively small $50 million, will “complement” Google’s efforts to deliver a fully-fledged IoT platform, the company said in a blog post today. As part of the acquisition, Google will gain 45 employees from LogMeIn’s Xively team.
Google said the plan is to integrate Xively’s platform with its Cloud IoT Core offering, which is a fully managed service to easily and securely connect, manage and ingest data from globally dispersed devices that’s currently available in beta. The Cloud IoT Core platform will gain new capabilities, including Xively’s advanced device management and messaging features, which will be paired with the security and scale of Google’s cloud. As such, Google’s customers will be “uniquely positioned” to build turnkey IoT solutions, the company said.
“With the addition of Xively’s robust, enterprise-ready IoT platform, we can accelerate our customers’ timeline from IoT vision to product, as they look to build their connected business,” Antony Passemard, a director of product management for Google Cloud’s IoT and Pub/Sub team, said in the post.
The acquisition is a key move for Google because its Cloud Platform has always lacked a packaged IoT offering, said Holger Mueller, principal analyst and vice president of Constellation Research Inc. That has left it behind rivals such as Microsoft Corp.’s Azure and Amazon Web Services Inc.
“Xively brings a working platform and, even more importantly, customers to Google, which can now build out its IoT offering and compete more effectively with AWS and Microsoft Azure,” Mueller said. “On the flipside, it shows how hard it is to leverage enterprise wide synergies for IoT, which was the strategy of LogmeIn.”
LogMeIn effectively conceded that point in its own blog post announcing the sale, saying it’s leaving the IoT connectivity space for good.
“So the obvious question is, does this mean LogMeIn is exiting the IoT? Well, if you mean the IoT connectivity platform space, yes, we’re leaving it,” the company said. “We believe that Google Cloud, now armed with Xively’s team and great technology — and backed by their platform and developer heritage and reach — are a far better fit for the future of platform leadership.”
Image: Thomas Hawk/Flickr
A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:
Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.
- 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more
- 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network.
About SiliconANGLE Media
SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI.
Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.
