SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 3, 2014) - Mesosphere, creators of software solutions for managing datacenter and cloud resources at web scale, today announced the acquisition of H1 Studios as part of the company's strategy to re-imagine the datacenter. The New York-based web, mobile and branding design firm has worked with market-leading brands such as Bitly, Desk.com, Heroku, Mesosphere, Phone.com, Quirky and Rdio, among others.
"The datacenter has not yet had its 'iPhone moment', but it will soon," said Florian Leibert, Co-Founder and CEO of Mesosphere. "The user interface on the iPhone transformed how we interact with mobile phones. As a company, we're going to make that happen in the datacenter. Acquiring H1 Studios is a step in that direction."
H1 Studios co-founder John Ashenden, who previously served six years as SVP and Creative Director at Grooveshark -- one of the largest on-demand music services -- will join Mesosphere as Head of Design. His primary responsibilities include developing an exceptional customer experience, crafting a cohesive family of products, elevating the Mesosphere brand and fostering creativity across a growing team of talented designers.
"The team at Mesosphere is pushing what is arguably the next step in the evolution of computing," Ashenden said. "They have a unique approach, an insanely talented team, respected investors, and truly visionary leaders. The phrase 'enterprise software' sends chills down my spine. The term has become synonymous with confusion. The goal of design in software is to provide structure, set boundaries, delight the user at every touch point, and build a clear line of communication with the individual using the product or tool. Why should 'enterprise software' be the exception?"
Design has emerged in recent years as a key differentiator in the success of consumer and enterprise technology. Apple pioneered this path with its Macintosh Computer in 1984, and again in 2007 with the iPhone. Top venture capital firms such as Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and NEA, among others, have established design specialist practices in-house to support their portfolio companies. Facebook acquired design firm Hot Studio in 2013 to bolster its own design team.
"The way people interact with technology is fundamentally changing and H1 Studios is in the middle of this transformation of our industry," said Leibert. "We're building an operating system for the datacenter and the user interface needs the same care and attention as the UX design on your iPhone. We're onboarding a world-class creative team that will be core to our vision that managing and operating a datacenter should be as easy, elegant, straightforward and delightful as using your cell phone or laptop."
About Mesosphere
Mesosphere (Twitter: @Mesosphere) is dedicated to helping enterprises unlock the next generation of datacenter scale, efficiency and automation with the power of Apache Mesos. Mesos is open source software that pools datacenter resources and automates IT operations. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective, Fuel Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mesosphere is headquartered in San Francisco with a second office in Hamburg, Germany.