Lenovo has moved to beef up its cloud computing capabilities and ‘PC+’ strategy after the Chinese tech firm announced a deal to buy U.S.-based Stoneware, completing its first software acquisition, The Next Web reports.
Lenovo says that Stonefish will help it increase its cloud computing prowess to give both commercial and consumer customers more options to store, share and save content and files across multiple devices. The company sees particular value in the education and government spaces, where Stonefish’s products have seen the most traction.
Stoneware’s flagship service, software platform webNetwork, hosts cloud networks for organizations. The company is said to serve millions users, primarily in the education and the public sector fields.
This year has seen Lenovo rise to become the world’s second largest computer maker, and it says that it is aiming to leverage that visibility and presence to continue Stoneware’s work and develop the consumer-facing side of its business and products.
“Adding Stoneware cloud computing into the Lenovo line up presents a significant opportunity to leverage their success, and enhance our PC+ offerings, all to the benefit of our customers,” Peter Hortensius, senior VP and president of Lenovo’s product group, said in a statement.
Financial details of the deal were not revealed but Lenovo said that it will not affect its earnings.
The acquisition will not result in job losses and all 67 employees from Stoneware’s offices in Indian and Utah will join the computer giant over the next few weeks. The deal is expected to go through by the end of 2012 and Stoneware will continue to operate its products and service existing customers under Lenovo’s management.
Lenovo snapped up Brazilian electronics firm CCE earlier this month, as it looks to emerging markets to stimulate sales following a recent slump.
