Verizon acquires cloud software startup CloudSwitch

August 25, 2011 Off By David
Grazed from Boston Business Journal.  Author: Kyle Alspach.

Verizon said the acquisition would accelerate its capabilities in cloud computing, and that CloudSwitch will be combined with Verizon’s Terremark IT services subsidiary. Ellen Rubin, co-founder and vice president of products at the company, said in an interview that the company was attractive to Verizon for its software development expertise and proximity to the Boston area’s development talent pool.

CloudSwitch assists enterprises with more easily moving applications or workloads between company data centers and the cloud. The technology eliminates a key barrier to widespread cloud adoption, according to CloudSwitch…
 

Verizon vetted a number of companies before choosing CloudSwitch, Rubin said.

"What we had was really best in breed, and they (Verizon) are strong believers that to be a successful cloud provider, you need to have software development capabilities," she said, noting that Verizon and Terremark are oriented toward services, not software.

CloudSwitch is backed by Matrix Partners  of Boston, Atlas Venture  of Cambridge, Mass., and Commonwealth Capital Ventures  of Waltham, Mass. The company last announced a financing round, an $8 million Series B, in mid-2009, as the company also announced that former Solidworks Corp.  chief executive John McEleney would join as CEO. The firm raised a total of $15.5 million in VC, Rubin said.

The company employs 30, and the team will remain intact in Burlington, she said.