Microsoft acquires New Zealand-based cloud computing company GreenButton

Microsoft is stepping up its cloud computing game after acquiring GreenButton, a New Zealand-based startup that uses its Azure platform and has an existing relationship with the Redmond company.

The deal was first revealed on a New Zealand government website, which shows that Microsoft is now the company sole shareholder, and Microsoft has since confirmed the deal to TNW and it has been officially announced on its blog. The value of the deal has not been made public.

GreenButton provides ‘on-demand’ cloud solutions, based around a high-intensity cloud burst technology — for example, customers can use its products to run high performance computer, or big data analytics in the cloud. The premise is that GreenButton saves them the pain of investing in and maintaining high-intensity hardware and network resources that are traditionally required to carry out these tasks.

Microsoft says that the GreenButton solution and the company’s SDK will be become part of a new offering from Microsoft Azure. Furthermore, the company says it will invest in developing the GreenButton team and services, which it says will remain in New Zealand following the deal, although the startup will become part of the Big Compute team within the Microsoft Azure business.

Wellington-based GreenButton was started in 2006 by Scott Houston, a 25-year IT industry veteran whose previous work included a stint as CIO of animation firm Weta Digital, which worked on the Lord of the Rings movies, and time at Compaq.

The company has offices in San Jose and Seattle, and it seems that Houston maintains many links with the entertainment industry, since GreenButton counts Pixar and Mexico-based digital studio Proan among its clients. Others include the the Georgia State Archives and the US Department of Energy.

The company already has many links with Microsoft. Aside from being an Azure partner (GreenButton is even featured in a case study), Microsoft actually invested $1 million in the company back in 2011. The opening of its Seattle sales office was related to GreenButton becoming a ‘strategic’ Azure partner — and now a full-on acquisition is the result.

http://vimeo.com/27319706

Headline image via amisb / Shutterstock