More M&A: TCS grabs CRL

TCS is arguably one of the more successful services groups out there. Cloud computing naturally fits into this, as cloud is AAS (As A Service). CRL has a localized bit of expertise in Pune, as well as customers pretty widely spread out. We’ve worked with them in the past, they have some of our gear. Dr. Vipin Chaudhary, CEO of CRL is a good friend and business partner going back a ways. We’ve worked on accelerators and other fun things together. Hopefully the net of this is that Vipin can lower his average velocity and spend some more time with the family. For TCS, they get a good brand (made better by Vipin’s guidance), a large infrastructure, a good list of customers, and this is something they can bring into EVERY account they have. I know you probably haven’t heard much about TCS, but this is, if done right, a potentially HUGE cloud play, big data play, etc. TCS can help customers get onto Amazon. Or TCS’s system. Or others. And TCS holds tight contracts with many customers for services and support. Given the depth of HPC experience at CRL, this gets very intriguing going forward with regards to HPC in the cloud (certainly in Asia, but if they can improve the communications to the data center, this could be usable everywhere). I’ve said this many times in the recent past, but I’ll say it again … the M&A; happening now are not (mostly anyway) asset sales. Smaller ones could be acqui-hires, but many of these M&A; are girding for the battles ahead. Like the next post.