Skytap
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cloud computing |
| Predecessor | Illumita |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Founder | Brian Bershad, Hank Levy, Steve Gribble, David Richardson |
| Fate | Acquired by Kyndryl |
| Headquarters | Seattle , United States |
Key people | Bradley Schick (CEO), John Ludeman (Senior VP of Engineering) |
| Products | Skytap Cloud (formerly Skytap Virtual Lab) |
| Parent | Kyndryl |
Skytap, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Seattle, Washington that specializes in public cloud computing solutions. The firm delivers self-service platforms enabling the creation, testing, training, and operation of enterprise-grade applications. Initially established as Illumita in 2006 and rebranded to Skytap in 2008, the company’s services are also integrated within IBM offerings to assist businesses in migrating and modernizing their critical applications. In 2024, Kyndryl completed its acquisition of Skytap.
History
Illumita was launched by University of Washington academics Brian Bershad, Hank Levy, Steve Gribble, along with graduate researcher David Richardson, building upon their pioneering work in virtualization and cloud technologies. The transition to the Skytap name occurred in 2008, coinciding with the debut of its flagship product, Skytap Virtual Lab, in April of that year. Initial capital was provided by the Washington Research Foundation; by 2011, the investor roster expanded to include Insight Venture Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Ignition Partners, Bezos Expeditions, and OpenView Venture Partners.
The original Skytap Virtual Lab platform evolved into what is now known as Skytap Cloud, which earned the Best of VMworld award in 2011 for innovations in public and hybrid cloud computing. The company has been recognized consistently on leading cloud provider rankings from organizations such as Deloitte, Geekwire, Seattle Business Magazine, and the Puget Sound Business Journal.
In March 2018, Skytap bolstered its executive team by bringing John Ludeman on board as Senior Vice President of Engineering; Ludeman contributed three decades of experience from Microsoft. Later, in August 2019, former CTO Bradley Schick assumed the role of CEO following Thor Culverhouse’s departure.
The acquisition by global technology infrastructure leader Kyndryl took place in May 2024 as part of Kyndryl’s strategy to expand its hybrid cloud capabilities.
Skytap
Skytap offers an enterprise-focused platform tailored for developing and testing sophisticated applications. It allows users to either import existing virtualized workloads or build new cloud-based environments from scratch. Access is provided through contemporary web browsers, RESTful APIs, command-line tools, or integration with application lifecycle management systems such as Jenkins and Visual Studio TFS. The service includes a browser-accessible management console alongside a repository of ready-made virtual machine templates. Users can assemble shareable configurations using these templates or their own imported VMs and connect securely to running instances via a proprietary HTML5 browser client.
Further reading
- “Skytap Continues Public Cloud Onslaught.” Networkcomputing.com. November 16, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- “Virtualization Roundup: Four Lab Managers Tested and Reviewed.” PCworld.com. June 9, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- “Skytap Raises $10 Million for Cloud Automation Solutions.” Techcrunch.com. December 31, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- “Venture Firms Give Startup a Vote of Confidence.” The Seattle Times. August 10, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2012.