Fortune 500 IT firm Cognizant to open innovation lab in RTP after buying NC company
Cognizant, one of the largest information and technology companies in the country, has acquired a Durham tech company in a deal that will create a new foothold in the Triangle for the New Jersey-based tech consulting firm.
Cognizant said Thursday that it had acquired Bright Wolf, a company that was founded by alumni from N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill’s computer science departments.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Cognizant said the Bright Wolf team would be the “core” of a new Internet-of-Things (IoT) innovation lab in the Triangle.
Bright Wolf currently has offices in downtown Durham. The company, which has received grants from NC IDEA in the past, provides customized IoT solutions for industrial companies. IoT often refers to the connection of physical devices, like a thermostat, to the internet so that they can share data and information across a larger network.
Bright Wolf’s customers include industrial companies like Caterpillar and ITW Hartness.
Malcolm Frank, president of Cognizant’s digital business, said in a statement that Bright Wolf will provide his company a competitive advantage in the industrial industry, as more companies look to gain efficiencies from new technology.
“Companies are increasingly embracing I (industrial) IoT, and Bright Wolf’s team of senior IIoT architects have delivered the business value others have struggled to achieve,” Frank said. “We look forward to this talented team joining Cognizant.”
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Tom Snyder, executive director of RIoT, an internet-of-things startup incubator based in downtown Raleigh, said the acquisition of Bright Wolf shows that the Triangle is making a name for itself in the IoT space. RIoT is an influential organization in the Triangle tech scene, and it hosts dozens of startups working on IoT solutions every year at its offices in downtown Raleigh.
“The acquisition by Cognizant demonstrates that the largest companies in the world are paying attention to what is happening here in North Carolina and making investments into this region,” he said in an email. “Not to steal talent or IP (intellectual property) from here, but rather to build on the solid foundation that exists.”
Snyder said he hopes the deal will inspire more entrepreneurs to build companies in the region.
In a blog post on the company’s website, Peter Bourne, Bright Wolf’s chief executive officer, said Cognizant’s resources would allow it to meet the needs of more large companies.
“Our customers are multibillion-dollar, multinational organizations with a wide range of needs. Bright Wolf is a relatively small team of highly skilled, highly focused, senior architects and developers,” he wrote. “We are able to impact our customers during the architecture, design, and implementation phases of their IIoT initiatives, which is critical, but is not a complete solution. By joining forces with Cognizant, we are able to expand our offerings to include a complete set of strategic services at both the front end and post deployment stages of our engagements.”
Cognizant, which boasted revenues of nearly $17 billion last year, already has a strong presence in North Carolina.
In 2018, the company said it would add 300 jobs in Charlotte, thanks in part to an incentive package of over $2.1 million from the city, county and state, The Charlotte Observer reported. Charlotte beat out Phoenix and Tampa, Florida, for those jobs.
Before that announcement, the IT firm reported having more than 2,700 employees across North Carolina.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 2:49 PM.
