Red Hat to acquire Durham-based Ansible

Red Hat announced Friday that it is acquiring Ansible, a Durham open-source software company that was founded by former Red Hat employees.

Ansible makes automation software used to deploy and manage private computing networks. The company also offers a console and user interface product for managing complex IT networks.

Red Hat is very familiar with both Ansible’s employees and its technology, said Joe Fitzgerald, Red Hat’s vice president of management. He said the two companies’ products are already being integrated by some Red Hat customers.

“We’ve been working with them and their technology for quite a while,” Fitzgerald said.

Red Hat’s core business is designing open-source software that is available for free. The company makes its money by charging customers for maintenance, support and related services, such as training and consulting.

Red Hat plans to offer Ansible’s automation software in conjunction with a number of its products, including its Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, which allows businesses to build their own private computing clouds.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Red Hat said the acquisition, which is expected to close this month, will have no material impact on its revenue for the third and fourth quarters of its current fiscal year.

Ansible was founded three years ago. Two of its three founders and much of the executive team had previously worked at Red Hat. Today the 50-employee company has more than 500 customers, including a number of Fortune 50 companies.

Todd Barr, Ansible’s head of sales and marketing, said the company’s product hit the market two years ago just as companies were shifting their networks to the cloud and looking for ways to simplify management of their networks.

He said the decision to sell was driven by several factors, including the fact that the two companies are both based in the Triangle and have complementary technology.

“Red Hat really validates our position in this space, and it validates the Ansible technology,” he said. “ ... I think the demand is going to explode because of that validation.”

Fitzgerald said Red Hat, which has its headquarters in downtown Raleigh, plans to maintain Ansible’s downtown Durham office.

Fitzgerald said one of the attractive features of Ansible’s technology is that it does not require special coding skills to operate. This means companies can install and run the company’s software without having to hire highly trained people who can be difficult to find and retain.

“Management for a lot of IT companies is painful – it’s expensive, its complex, it’s error-prone,” Fitzgerald said. “ ... We think Ansible fits perfectly into our portfolio and our strategy of driving that complexity down.”

Red Hat shares closed Friday at $77.62, down 8 cents. The stock is up nearly 12 percent this year.

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Red Hat to acquire Durham-based Ansible."