The growing popularity of hybrid cloud tools has not gone unnoticed by IBM Corp.’s top brass.

The company today signed an agreement to buy Sanovi Technologies Pvt Ltd., a Bangalore-based firm that sells software for backing up on-premise workloads to and from the cloud. Its flagship Enterprise DR Management platform lets administrators manage recovery procedures through a centralized interface that IBM’s acquisition announcement describes as a “crucial differentiator.”

Of particular note are the console’s workflows controls, which make it possible to specify the exact order and manner in which applications should be restored after an outage. They’re geared towards large enterprise environments that combine databases, middleware services and other interdependent components. If, for instance, a company’s ERP system relies on its SQL Server deployment for data storage, then administrators can configure Sanovi’s software to restore the relational store first. And after such a recovery policy is set up, it can be tested using built-in simulation functionality to ensure that everything will work as intended in the event of an outage.

IBM will incorporate the technology into its existing business continuity portfolio to offer a more complete value proposition for customers. Along the way, Sanovi’s offering will likely be modified to use Big Blue’s public cloud for offsite recovery instead of Amazon Web Services and the other rival platforms that it currently employs. And the company also intends to add integration with its Watson Analytics service to let customers proactively address infrastructure failures ahead of time instead of just reacting to them after the fact.

IBM will sell Sanovi’s platform in two forms: under a standalone license and as part of a “managed” resiliency offering that is presumably set to include professional services from its recovery experts. Big Blue divulged that the acquisition is expected to complete by the end of the year, but didn’t share any financial terms.

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