You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text.

ARMONK, N.Y., Jan. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced an agreementto acquire Taos, a leading cloud professional and managed services provider. Today's news further advances IBM's cloud migration and transformation capabilities, an important aspect of its hybrid cloud platform growth strategy. "Taosadds the deep expertise, public cloud partnerships and innovative solutions needed to drive growth and adoption of IBM's hybrid cloud platform throughout the Americas," saidJohn Granger, Senior Vice President, Cloud Application Innovation and Chief Operating Officer, IBM Global Business Services. "The platform gives enterprises the freedom to choose from multiple providers to best meet their business and IT needs, and we are committed to helping our clients successfully navigate their open hybrid cloud journeys with those providers." Headquartered in San Jose, California, Taos is one of the largest multi-cloud consulting and managed services firms in North America. The company brings 30 years of experience with leading brands across technology, financial services, healthcare, retail, transportation and education. A leading adopter of public cloud technologies, Taos forged strong partnerships withAmazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure to deliver data center migration, platform engineering and hybrid cloud managed services. Taos is recognized as an industry leader and positioned on the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Professional and Managed Services.1 Leading IT industry analysts estimate the market for cloud professional services will exceed $200 billion by 2024.2 IBM's open and flexible approach to advising, building, moving and managing clients' hybrid environments gives enterprises the freedom to choose from multiple providers to best meet their business and IT needs. This acquisition is the latest example of how IBM is expanding the breadth and depth of its hybrid cloud offerings to manage complex integrations of technologies, people and processes. IBM announced its plans to acquire European cloud consulting leader Nordcloud on December 21, 2020. "Our laser-like focus on helping clients migrate to the cloud, modernize multi-cloud platforms, and manage hybrid cloud environments over the past several years is a natural fit with IBM Global Business Services," said Hamilton Yu, CEO of Taos. "Our team brings over 300 certifications with leading public clouds to serve clients throughout North America, and we're thrilled to join forces with IBM and tap into its global delivery capabilities." Financial details were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. To learn more about IBM Global Business Services, please visit: https://www.ibm.com/services. Media Contact:Clay HelmIBM External Relations[emailprotected] 1 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Professional and Managed Services 2 Estimates based on Gartner and IDC 2024 projections for cloud managed services and professional services. SOURCE IBM Related Links https://www.ibm.com

Answer: IBM Boosts Its Hybrid Cloud Consulting Capability with Taos