SoftLayer
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Hosting |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Dallas, Texas, USA |
Key people
| Lance Crosby (Chairman & CEO) |
| Products | Dedicated Hosting, Managed Services |
| Parent | IBM (since 2013) |
| Website | softlayer |
SoftLayer Technologies, Inc. is a dedicated server, managed hosting, and cloud computing provider,[1] founded in 2005 and acquired by IBM in 2013.[2]
History[edit]
GI Partners acquired a majority equity stake in SoftLayer in August 2010.[3] In November 2010, SoftLayer merged with The Planet Internet Services[4][5][6][7]and consolidated the customer base under the SoftLayer brand.[8] In Q1 2011, the company reported hosting more than 81,000 servers for more than 26,000 customers in locations throughout the United States.[9]
In July 2011, the company announced plans for international expansion to Amsterdam and Singapore to add to the existing network of US-based data centers in Dallas, Texas; San Jose, California; Seattle, Washington; Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico; Houston, Texas; and Washington, D.C.[10] Most of these data centers were leased via Digital Realty Trust.[11] As of May 2015, the company has 23 data centers in 11 different countries.[12]
On June 4, 2013, IBM announced its acquisition of SoftLayer under not disclosed financial terms, but according to Reuters in a deal that could fetch more than $2 billion,[13] to form an IBM Cloud Services Division.[14][15] At the time of acquisition, Softlayer was described as the biggest privately held cloud infrastructure provider (IaaS) in the world.[16]