Perforce acquires DevOps power Puppet

Once upon a time, and it wasn't that long ago, we controlled our servers with shell and command-line programs. As we moved to more complex servers and the cloud, we needed more. That more was DevOps, which bridged the gap between projects and operations by using Agile programming techniques. Puppet, born in 2005, was the first DevOps program. Now, it's being bought by Perforce Software. 

Perforce, a development and DevOps company, backed by Francisco Partners and Clearlake Capital Group announced on April 11th, that it's signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-owned Puppet. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Puppet, like most DevOps programs, automates manual scripting. The program, available in both open-source and an open-core commercial version, has its own language, the eponymous Puppet. This language is written in Ruby. You can also use Ruby with Puppet.

Don't mistake Puppet as just another advanced shell language, such as Windows PowerShell or Unix and Linux's Bash.No, Puppet uses a declarative, model-based approach to IT automation. 

Puppet, an "infrastructure-as-code" pioneer, has been very popular.  More than 40,000 organizations have benefited from Puppet's open-source and commercial programs. Yvonne Wassenaar, Puppet's CEO, claims Puppet has earned "$100 million in annual recurring revenue." Additionally, Puppet's annual State of DevOps Report is regarded as one of the top DevOps adoption reports.

Because of these factors, Wassenaar acknowledged, "There was a point in time where many of us, myself included, thought Puppet would be one of the great IPOs to come out of the Pacific Northwest." Instead, Wassenaar claims, this "acquisition benefits Puppet customers, partners, and the open-source community by enhancing Puppet's existing solutions, accelerating the development of future products, and providing access to the broader portfolio of Perforce offerings."

"This acquisition expands our product offering by adding new capabilities for enterprise DevOps teams to manage and secure their critical infrastructure," said Mark Ties, Perforce's CEO. "We look forward to welcoming the Puppet team and continuing to offer the level of customer support, services, and community Puppet has established in the market."

Wassenaar added, "Perforce's mission is to help technology teams solve the hardest problems in DevOps, so nothing stalls innovation... The missing link? Puppet's sweet spot: infrastructure as code."

But, it's more than just a good technology match. Wassenaar continued, "Puppet and Perforce both have a deep focus on outstanding customer service, open and transformational leadership, and a people-first culture that empowers team members to do their best work as part of a community that cares."

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