New Jersey-based Cognizant is to to acquire software company Bright Wolf, a privately-held technology provider specialising in custom industrial IoT for Fortune 1000 companies.

North Carolina-based Bright Wolf is certified by all major cloud providers and acknowledged as an expert in IoT. The company is a Microsoft Gold Partner and has been named an Amazon Web Services Advanced Technology Partner for its IoT competency. With the close of the acquisition, Cognizant will establish its IoT innovation lab in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Research Triangle, with the Bright Wolf team as its core.

“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 of Cognizant’s digital business. “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.”

Bright Wolf should enrich Cognizant’s smart products offering and expertise in architecting and implementing IIoT. Bright Wolf delivers design consulting, development and digital transformation services for clients such as Caterpillar and ITW Hartness in manufacturing, energy, transportation, water, healthcare and agriculture, among other industries. For example, Bright Wolf recently automated cold chain transportation and refrigeration assets for one of the world’s largest logistics companies.

“IIoT transformation can be a complex, high-stakes undertaking for any business,” said Peter Bourne, chief executive officer for Bright Wolf. “Bright Wolf has helped leading companies across industries realise 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.”

Bright Wolf’s specific expertise, centred on asset performance management, predictive maintenance and yield optimisation, includes:

• Connecting industrial equipment: Transforming manufacturing machinery into connected assets and systems for new data-driven services, predictive maintenance and customer value.
• Optimising industrial operations: Automating manufacturing, supply chain and energy operations while modernising legacy controls, human machine interface and historians with a more intelligent edge, including analytics, AI and secure cloud connectivity.
• Integrating enterprise data: Improving data visibility and operational insights to deliver better performance across multi-site machinery, enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems, as well as complex business workflow integrations.
• Leveraging proprietary accelerators for IIoT deployments: Increasing the time-to-value of industrial data with Springboard Cloud Services, connecting equipment to the cloud faster with Gearbox Edge Suite, and managing fleets at scale with GearBox Device Manager.

The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions. Financial details were not disclosed. Bright Wolf will mark Cognizant’s eighth acquisition to date in 2020 to accelerate growth in the company’s key strategic focus areas of cloud, AI and analytics, software product engineering, and IoT.

Bright Wolf is a strategic systems integration and technology company for industrial enterprises seeking digital transformation through adaptable connected systems and services.