(iTers News) - IBM today announced that it has completed the acquisition of SoftLayer Technologies Inc., a privately held cloud computing infrastructure company based in Dallas, Texas. On June 4, IBM announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SoftLayer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

SoftLayer joins IBM’s new cloud services division, which combines SoftLayer with IBM SmartCloud into a global platform. The new division, led by General Manager James Comfort, will provide a broad range of choices to both IBM and SoftLayer clients, ISVs, and channel and technology partners. 

“Cloud computing provides a profound and transformative change in business and government,” said Comfort at IBM. "With SoftLayer in IBM’s portfolio, it will be easier and faster for organizations to adopt game-changing cloud services.” 

SoftLayer will enable IBM to deliver an industry first: marrying the security, privacy and reliability of private clouds with the economy and speed of a public cloud. SoftLayer offers a breakthrough capability that provides a cloud "on ramp" for born-on-the-web companies, government and the Fortune 500.

SoftLayer joins the more than a dozen strategic cloud acquisitions IBM has made since 2007 designed to accelerate its cloud initiatives. IBM cloud revenue grew by 80% in 2012. Already one of the world’s leading cloud providers, IBM expects to reach US$7 billion annually in cloud revenue by the end of 2015. IBM offers more than 100 SaaS solutions to help marketing, procurement, ecommerce, customer service, human resources, city management, and other professionals make better decisions and better serve their customers. IBM is committed to driving open cloud standards.