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Cognizant to Buy Bright Wolf, Its 8th Acquisition of 2020
Bright Wolf specializes in industrial IoT. The tie-up will form the foundation for a new Cognizant IoT innovation lab.
Lynn Haber
October 22, 2020
3 Min Read
Microsoft talks about augmented reality/mixed reality (AR/MR) changing the face of manufacturing on the plant floor, in the field and in design departments. With real-time IoT data, for example, plant workers can identify issues with a machine or process on the plant floor or help a service technician fix a piece of equipment.
Microsoft Azure IoT for manufacturing helps companies monitor manufacturing equipment, customer experience and improve field service.
Rick Beckers, president and CEO of CloudTech1, says he’s seeing use cases of VR and IoT in educational or training type scenarios.
“I’m seeing instances of virtual reality and IoT connecting to get at a piece of equipment that’s way out in the wilderness, for example. The person in the field is looking at it with a pair of goggles, and a subject-matter expert not in the field – maybe back at central headquarters – can see what’s happening with that piece equipment and advise on how to repair it,” he said.
Three key findings from an updated PTC white paper — The State of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): There’s significant opportunity for companies looking to build IIoT capabilities into their physical products or to provide IIoT solutions to their end customers; larger companies are primarily focused on internal use of IIoT technology as they recognize the opportunity for efficiency and to optimize processes across complex value chains; and the “service” use case tends to be the primary beneficiary of a company’s IIoT offering.Shutterstock
Cognizant is set to acquire Bright Wolf, making this the eighth acquisition for Cognizant this year. Bright Wolf, a technology service provider, specializes in custom industrial internet of things (IIoT).
Cognizant wants to bolster its smart products and industry 4.0 expertise with the Bright Wolf buy.
Cognizant’s Malcolm Frank
“Combining Bright Wolf’s experience in production-class IIoT deployments with Cognizant’s expertise in foundational IIoT technologies will increase our clients’ resiliency, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage,” said Malcolm Frank, president, digital business at Cognizant. “Companies are increasingly embracing IIoT, and Bright Wolf’s team of senior IIoT architects have delivered the business value others have struggled to achieve. We look forward to this talented team joining Cognizant.”
Here’s a look at the expertise housed in Bright Wolf.
Connecting industrial equipment. Bright Wolf transforms manufacturing machinery into connected assets and systems for new data-driven services, predictive maintenance and customer value.
Optimizing industrial operations. The company automates manufacturing, supply chain and energy operations. At the same time, it modernizes legacy controls, human machine interface and historians with a more intelligent edge. This includes analytics, AI and secure cloud connectivity.
Integrating enterprise data. The Bright Wolf team improves data visibility and operational insights. This improvement delivers better performance across multisite machinery, ERP and customer relationship management systems. Additionally, it improves complex business workflow integrations.
Leveraging proprietary accelerators for IIoT deployments. The technology service provider increases the time-to-value of industrial data with Springboard cloud services. It also connects equipment to the cloud faster with Gearbox Edge Suite and manages fleets at scale with GearBox Device Manager.
Cognizant is a U.S. multinational corporation, founded in 1994, and is a Fortune 500 company. Cognizant provides IT services, digital services and technology consulting, and operations services.
Acquisitions Strategic to Expansion
The company has a complex history, and many dozens of acquisitions over the years. However, in 2020, before announcing the pending acquisition of Bright Wolf, Cognizant acquired six U.S. companies and one French company.
Keep up with the latest channel-impacting mergers and acquisitions in our M&A roundup. |
Prior to the Bright Wolf news, Cognizant entered an agreement to acquire 10th Magnitude, a Microsoft Azure cloud computing-focused company in September. The acquisition will expand Microsoft Azure expertise within Cognizant’s new Microsoft Business Group.
From most recent, Cognizant acquisitions this year include Tin Roof Software, New Signature, Collaborative Solutions, Lev, El-Technologies and Code Zero Consulting.
There’s a method to Cognizant’s purchases. They aim to accelerating the company’s growth in four strategic areas: IoT; cloud; AI and analytics; and software product engineering.
Bright Wolf’s Peter Bourne
In fact, Durham, North Carolina-based Bright Wolf and its expert staff will form the foundation for a new Cognizant IoT innovation lab. The lab will be in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.
“IIoT transformation can be a complex, high-stakes undertaking for any business,” said Peter Bourne, CEO at Bright Wolf. “Bright Wolf has helped leading companies across industries realize their IIoT vision through our zero-waste engineering approach. We help ensure clients make the right investments at the right time and have the ability to scale as dictated by business and market needs. Our unique capabilities, together with Cognizant’s deep vertical industry knowledge, scale and expertise in predictive analytics, AI, cloud and IoT will provide clients with an unparalleled partner on their IIoT journey.”
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