Credit: IBM
IBM has revealed the name of its US$19 billion managed services business to be Kyndryl ahead of its separation from Big Blue at the end of 2021.
The vendor claimed the name was a portmanteau of ‘kin’ in kinship and ‘dril’ from tendril, which it says represents growth and “advancing human progress”. Moving away from the provisional name of NewCo, CEO Martin Schroeter claimed the new branding “evokes the spirit of true partnership and growth".
"Customers around the world will come to know Kyndryl as a brand that runs the vital systems at the heart of progress, and an independent company with the best global talent in the industry,” he said.
According to Kyndryl’s new website, contracts will be moved from IBM to Kyndryl over the coming weeks, although customers’ key points of IBM contact and support will be unchanged.
Schroeter’s direct management team will be named “over the next few months”, with IBM continuing to invest in Kyndryl throughout until the final separation at the end of the year. After that point, IBM and Kyndryl will be independent and distinct entities. However, IBM stressed that the two will “both be each other’s biggest client and one of each other’s strategic partners” once the spin-off completes.
Kyndryl will continue to offer IBM hardware and software in its solutions, the vendor added.
“Creating a name is just the start of our journey as a brand," said Kyndryl chief marketing officer Maria Bartolome Winans. “It will help identify us and support recognition, but the meaning of the name will be built and enhanced over time from our behaviours, aspirations and actions, and what we enable our customers to do.
“Our vision is to be the leading company that designs, runs and modernizes the critical technology infrastructure of the world's most important businesses and institutions, ultimately powering human progress.”
The spin-off of its managed service business was first announced in October, with the Managed Infrastructure Services unit of its Global Technology Services division employing about 90,000 staffers and having more than 4,600 clients in 115 countries at the time of the announcement.
