Cognizant announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Chicago-based 10th Magnitude, a leading cloud specialist focused exclusively on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. The acquisition will expand the Microsoft Azure expertise within Cognizant’s new Microsoft Business Group, adding development and managed services hubs in major cities throughout the U.S. 10th Magnitude will be Cognizant’s sixth cloud-related acquisition in 2020, highlighting Cognizant’s continued acceleration and execution of its cloud strategy.
10th Magnitude – a Microsoft Gold partner with 150 employees – is one of just 70 certified Azure Expert Managed Service providers worldwide. Just this year, it received the Microsoft US Application Innovation Partner Award and the Microsoft US Solution Assessment Partner Award. 10th Magnitude’s increased focus on application modernization and data intelligence with AI-driven analytics and insights will be an incredible contribution to Cognizant’s acquisition strategy,” said 10th Magnitude Chief Technology Officer Ira Bell in a statement to CRN.
“Modernizing business platforms by shifting to the cloud is a key priority for our clients,” said Greg Hyttenrauch, President, Cognizant Digital Systems and Technology. “The acquisition of 10th Magnitude underscores our commitment to Microsoft, one of our leading strategic partners, and will further strengthen our ability to provide Azure expertise to our clients as they embrace the cloud. We are excited to unlock the power of this acquisition and to welcome 10th Magnitude’s outstanding team to Cognizant.”
“This is not the first time we have seen these extremely large systems integrators go down this path nor will it be the last time,” he said. “They believe that by acquisition they can change and fix the challenges they have that are systemic to those large integrators but it doesn’t work. It’ll buy them time and some opportunities but at the end of the day it doesn’t fix the overall challenges they have. It’s a Band-Aid approach.”
10th Magnitude is a Microsoft Gold Partner and one of 70 certified Azure Expert Managed Service Providers worldwide. In 2020, 10th Magnitude received the Microsoft U.S. Application Innovation Partner Award, and the Microsoft U.S. Solution Assessment Partner Award. 10th Magnitude has been recognized as the 2019 Global Datacenter Migration Partner of the Year, 2019 Global DevOps Partner of the Year, and the 2018 Open Source Applications and Infrastructure on Azure Partner of the Year. The company has also received accolades for its workplace culture from Inc. magazine and Crain’s Chicago Business.
Cognizant is also a Microsoft Gold Partner across multiple technology categories and is a Microsoft Azure Data Partner as part of a global strategic relationship. Cognizant was named 2020 Microsoft Partner of the Year for SAP on Azure and Government and as U.S. Partner for Modern Workplace – Apps & Solutions for Microsoft Teams. Cognizant was recognized as a Leader in Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Professional and Managed Services, Worldwide.
