IBM to acquire AI platform DataStax
Leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform DataStax announced overnight IBM’s intent to acquire the company, subject to close of the transaction and regulatory approval. This strategic move will combine DataStax’s cutting-edge NoSQL databases and AI technologies with IBM’s WatsonX enterprise AI stack to unlock innovation at scale, empowering enterprises to leverage their data for maximum value in generative AI applications.
DataStax is the creator of AstraDB and DataStax Enterprise, which are NoSQL and vector databases powered by Apache Cassandra. Additionally, DataStax is behind Langflow, the open-source tool and community for low-code AI application development, enabling enterprises to streamline the development of next-gen AI solutions.
With 93 per cent of enterprise data projected to be unstructured in 2024 (IDC), the acquisition enhances the combined ability to manage and leverage this data within generative AI applications. DataStax’s Langflow and AstraDB will provide the essential infrastructure to quickly, simply, and efficiently build AI applications, driving faster adoption of AI by enterprises.
Commenting on this latest development, Chet Kapoor, Chairman and CEO of DataStax said, “As enterprises adopt AI, they often struggle to leverage and deliver the knowledge locked in their enterprise data estate to power their AI agents and large language models. As they seek to deliver on the promise of AI in production, bringing these together with scalable, secure, and accurate production AI becomes essential. We have long said that there is no AI without data, and this vision will now be propelled as DataStax joins IBM. With our technologies and IBM’s WatsonX.data, their hybrid, open data lakehouse, we will be able to bring vector and AI search to the entire data estate and make IBM’s capabilities available to every developer. We respect the leadership and stewardship that IBM has demonstrated with OSS and we’re excited to become part of a company that understands the power of openness.”
In speaking about commitment to existing customers, Kapoor reiterated, “DataStax exemplifies serving our customers with inspired leadership. This mission will not change, and our commitment to support the many customers who use us as a key foundation of their most important infrastructure and mission-critical applications will be unwavering.”
This acquisition will unite DataStax’s deep expertise in managing unstructured and semi-structured data with IBM’s Watson AI capabilities, creating a platform that accelerates the development of AI-driven solutions at scale. Both companies share a strong commitment to open-source software, and this acquisition further enhances open-source AI technologies which are shaping the future of enterprise solutions. By combining forces, DataStax and IBM will enable enterprises to fully harness the power of unstructured data, advancing AI capabilities and delivering high-performance, enterprise-ready solutions that transcend traditional database technology.
DataStax and IBM have collaborated in the market since 2020, serving major companies such as T-Mobile, Audi, The Home Depot, and Intuit. During the past year, DataStax introduced HCD and Mission Control, further bringing Cassandra into the cloud-native era, deployed on top of IBM OpenShift.
This acquisition will shape the future of enterprise data management, AI-driven solutions, and open-source technologies, supporting clients with scalable, always-on, and high-performance data architectures.
