IBM Acquires Pliant to Drive Network and IT Infrastructure Automation

IBM acquired Pliant, a network and IT infrastructure automation company, for an undisclosed amount.
According to IBM, this acquisition will support IBM’s current software product portfolio, including SevOne, Cloud Pak for Network Automation (CP4NA), Hybrid Cloud Grid (HCM), IBM NS1 Connect, and Edge Application Manager. It will provide additional observability, connectivity, control, and automation options for the network infrastructure of enterprise customers.
Pliant’s clients include businesses, service providers, and hosting service providers, as well as companies in vertical industries such as education, healthcare, and retail.
Andrew Coward, General Manager of IBM Software Definition Network, said, “By acquiring Pliant, IBM will provide customers with a tool to securely automate, integrate, and connect platforms, services, and applications in their environments, thereby fundamentally simplifying the automation of their infrastructure and networks.”

Pliant, headquartered in the United States, was established in 2017 to provide network and IT automation by abstracting these functions into the application layer. The company’s software also supports resource supply and management, traffic and configuration management in traditional IT infrastructure and public clouds. Pliant’s products are provided in the form of client management software and software as a service (SaaS), and integrated with third-party vendors and technologies through application programming interfaces (APIs) or command-line interfaces (CLIs).
Coward said, “Pliant’s automation design approach aligns with IBM’s vision of building and developing a product portfolio that leverages low code and no code functionality, enabling a wider range of developers and engineers to use IT tools and skills.”
This is IBM’s second acquisition in 2024. In January of this year, IBM announced plans to introduce application modernization features through the acquisition of Advanced, which is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2024. Since Arvind Krishna took over as CEO in 2020, IBM has acquired over 40 companies.
Pliant’s investors include Permit Ventures, Osage Venture Partners, newfund, Leading Edge Ventures, Gutbrain Ventures, Brightcap Ventures, and more.