IBM Systems Storage general manager Andrew Monshaw told "Globes", "From now on, I'll be visiting Israel about once a month, and I'll try to do so at least during the coming year, in order to promote the integration of XIV and to develop the new center." He made the comment in his first interview following IBM Inc.'s (NYSE:IBM) acquisition of Israeli start-up XIV Ltd. last week.
During Monshaw's previous visit to Israel in May 2007, he met with a number of Israeli start-ups, including XIV, which IBM then went on to acquire. Little information about this acquisition has been disclosed, even though it has attracted considerable attention. A survey of recently written blogs about the deal implies that nothing is quite as it seems. Much drama surrounds the two names involved - IBM and XIV chairman Moshe Yanai. In general, in the past decades, the computer world was divided between IBM aficionados and IBM detractors, and this schism is reflected in the reactions to the company's latest acquisition.
"Globes": What are your plans for the new acquisition? Do you have anything a little more unambiguous about it?
Monshaw: "Our plans at the moment for XIV are to build on what we've achieved and not to insert it into our mechanism. I believe that we'll keep the XIV brand, and we'll keep the people in place, and expand its activity. Our plans are to increase our investment in this area. We had good capabilities even before the acquisition, which we've now greatly strengthened. We intend to more than double our investment in storage systems in Israel over the next two to three years, and we'll continue investing in this field in Israel in the following years."
How do you plan to carry out this expansion?
"We're constantly looking at opportunities in the field, and I have a pretty broad perspective about the meaning of investment. It could mean increasing the manpower in the field, the purchase of intellectual property, acquisitions, collaborations, and so forth. We mean to increase our capabilities. We intend to continue to grow in this field."
There is an Israeli involved in IBM Storage Systems and Technology Group's acquisitions team, Malkit Hayoun, who handles the unit's business development. Thanks to her Israeli background, she was closely involved in the acquisition of XIV.
Did the acquisition include the Moshe Yanai "brand"?
"For me, it's an extra. XIV's architecture is the real deal, and adding the people around it is a nice add-on, but it wasn't the reason for the acquisition. In a week or two, we'll officially announce that Yanai has become an IBM Fellow. This is the highest accolade in the engineering world. I think that he is a marvelous addition to the IBM team."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 8, 2008
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