Rackspace Technology has announced it will be expanding its professional services footprint in the Asia Pacific and Japan region with the acquisition of Singapore-based AI data analytics firm Just Analytics.

Purchased for an undisclosed amount, Just Analytics will remain for the "foreseeable future" as its own brand, with Rackspace noting that the company has built "a well-known and respected brand among the leaders and customers of Microsoft Azure Data Analytics" that it aims to build on.

Just Analytics employs more than 100 employees at its headquarters in Singapore, with additional employee presence in Vietnam and India. The analytics firm also has its data platform, Guzzle, listed on Microsoft Azure Marketplace.

"[Just Analytics] fits us very well in the Azure landscape. It gives us capability, management, [and] technical [expertise] to claim the Azure landscape in a much more holistic manner. Second, of course, is data," Rackspace APJ managing director Sandeep Bhargava told ZDNet.

"Also, from a company point of view, all across the board, it is a fairly good fit for us. We were thinking about what our roadmap was on around data and Azure would be, and this comes at the right time because this company as it comes in can help us shape our thinking in that particular area."

He added that "over the last two years, APJ has grown out by almost 50% from a revenue perspective", and added he believes the acquisition would help drive further growth.

"In the space that we are in, there are very few companies that are truly global to build skills at a global level, to play in that commercial, mid-market space if we're looking at more point solutions across the regions around the capabilities and thought-leadership, so Just Analytics was just the right company at the right time," Bhargava said.

Looking ahead to the next 12 to 24 months, Bhargava said the focus for the cloud computing firm will be to focus on solving customer challenges.

"We're trying to build a whole practice around cloud-native app development and IoT -- there, the possibilities are limitless. Those are the kind of things we will work towards," he said. 

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